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Study Break: Future Plans and Free Weights

Date: June 9, 2013

Author: astottler

Seeing as I have finals coming up, I’ve just spent 4 hours at the library, and thought that blogging would be a great study break! It took me a long time to realize how much more efficient I am in the library than in my room. Plus, today was really hot and our fan is not working (expert tip-if you kick fans, they may not continue to work), and the library is air-conditioned.

Let me back up. I’m sure all you guys care about is my morning- or rather, kitten pictures! I am sooo excited to be volunteering to care for kittens this summer. Most of them are under 4 weeks old! I will be going once a week, on the 7am shift. But enough of that, here are some pictures! They are all sleeping, so the pictures kind of look like lumps of fur.

These pictures really don’t capture how tiny they are! Lilly was definitely a lot older when we got her. I think towards the end of the season, I’ll pick up more shifts. I go back to school a lot later than most, so towards the end of the season, they will probably be short of hands. SO EXCITED.

Less exciting is my last (good) brunch of the year!But then, when is avocado ever boring?

And then my pre-study necessity:

An iced latte was soo perfect. I was really drowsy from a nap, and hot because my room is not air conditioned!

Last night, I did my 4 mile training run. While running, I realized that I really need to make running my priority this summer. By that, I mean, it has to take priority over my other workouts. Last summer when I trained for my 10k, I just tacked the running on to the rest of my other workouts. Most of my training runs were not with fresh legs. However, I can’t really do that this time around, because the mileage is much higher. Running has to be what I do first thing in the morning. If I want a Spin class or yoga recovery, then that’s great. But running needs to come first. The reasons for these thoughts? My legs were pretty much shot on my run. I also decided after the Nike Women’s marathon in October, I want to start training for a 5k PR. To be fair, I’ve only run one actual 5k, and I have run faster than I did that day, but I think it would be a good change of pace.

5k last year- Santa Run! My time was 25 something….

Also, I have a question for you runners- I love strength training, and am going to continue that through my half training. Do you prefer running the day after lifting while sore, or the day of while tired?

I bring this up because I am quite sore. I really love free weights-almost everything I do, I use the bar for. It is more of a total body workout. For example, I hadn’t done deadlifts much lately, and during those yesterday, my core was definitely getting a workout! And despite doing doing but squats and deadlifts yesterday, my shoulders are SUPER sore. That really is a mystery to me. Maybe from holding up the bar on front squats? Hmm.

Ok, back to studying for me!

Do you cross train? What do you do? What is your schedule like?

Five Things on Friday

Date: June 7, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Friday! This is a weird week-no school Thursday or Friday for me!

This morning’s workout I got from Shannon.

5 sets of 8 reps:

Back squat

Deadlift

Front Squat

Plus half a set of split squat.

Then, I added 4×250 sprint on the erg and an abs circuit. Still on tap for today is a 4 mile training run (because I didn’t do it yesterday), and maybe yoga since it’s been a while!

5 Things:

1. After seeing Sunnie’s post about her Coconut Lemon birthday cake, I was inspired to make something delicious with coconut for lunch. Given the like 3 ingredients I still have in my dorm room. Unsweetened coconut, vanilla protein powder,vanilla, a little sweetener, milk, and a touch of salt (this is key!) all microwaved for about 45 seconds. I’m not sure how I feel about my protein powder, so when I get home I think I’ll try a version without, that is still high protein.

2. I’ve decided that I am actually a fan of Psychological Thrillers. Since we’re learning about mental disorders in Psych, I thought that the most logical way to study was to watch a movie. Did you know you can rent movies on iTunes?? I watched Black Swan and Side Effect, and really liked them both. #productive day

3. I think I need to revisit the whole “grains make me fall asleep” thing. I hadn’t really been noticing anything, but the past 2 days I’ve been seriously dragging after having a giant waffle for breakfast. Last night I got plenty of sleep, but was seriously dragging after breakfast, so I took a nap and pushed back working out. I haven’t avoided grains lately and I’ve been dragging a lot lately. Coincidence? Seems unlikely.

4. Training for a race while in school is way harder than in summer. When I trained for my 10k last year, I did maybe one or two training runs off schedule. This time around training for my half, I feel like I’m always a day or two behind. Since this is my first half, I want to follow the plan as much as possible. However, when I do the Nike Women’s half in October, I need to realize that flexibility is necessary, since a majority of the training will be during school.

5. Yesterday was a complete rest day, mentally and physically (hence the 2 movies). I think that was much needed going into finals! Although some studying would be helpful as well…

Have a great weekend everybody! Tomorrow is my Kitten Nursery Orientation! SO EXCITED.Throwback to Lilly’s kittenhood 🙂

Crossfit Countdown and Dead Day

Date: June 6, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey everybody! It is Thursday….which means officially one week until my first Crossfit class! That’s right, I signed up for the first Intro class offered when I get home. And the other benefit? It’s free! While I am totally pumped, I’m not looking for the initial stages of everything. Every time you start a new workout regime, there is always that adjustment period where you have to get comfortable with everything and familiar with all the exercises. And it will be a little different for me since I know all the Olympic lifts already…I don’t really want to relearn everything! I remember going to the gym to lift weights with my trainer for the first time the summer after my sophomore year of high school…I was sitting there thinking, “I am never going to be comfortable here!” Hah. Little did I know I would fall head over heels in love with weight lifting and that gym in general! And speaking of weights, I did my Leg Demolisher workout again! I do those sets of 8 minutes of back squats so often…while it is still hard, I am never as tired or sore afterwards anymore. I need to mix it up! Either change the amount of rest, the duration, or the weight. Or maybe try it with front squats! When I woke up yesterday, I was not feeling a workout, and I dragged around a bit before getting there. But while I was there, I was thinking, “I have never regretted a workout.” Haha, how cliche of me!

Since I had fresh-non-dining hall milk in the fridge, I was drawn to it after a sweaty workout! This is another habit from my trainer. He always told me to drink chocolate milk after my workouts. I used to drink Silk Chocolate Soymilk, since we always had it around, and then I advanced to either plain milk or homemade chocolate milk with honey and cocoa powder, because it was less sweet.

Sadly, I am out of paper cups. That’s what I get for eating literally everything out of them! Sign. My choices were either a mason jar or a mug. I decided to take the hipster route. Is it possible to make a glass of milk artsy?

Yesterday I was sitting outside at lunchtime, in the broad daylight (if that wasn’t obvious) when I saw this guy:How cute is he? I’ve never seen raccoons during the day before. He was just scrounging around for food, and climbing in the trashcan!

After class (it was my last day of classes! One of my Professors got all choked up!), I decided to take a much needed nap. I set my alarm to get up for yoga, but when it went off, I was soooo groggy (and hungry!) that I canned the idea of yoga. Plenty of time for that in the summer!Dinner! Greek salad with hummus, potatoes, a stuffed tomato, and cheese enchilada. I really didn’t like the cheese enchilada-it was nothing but cheese and soggy tortilla!-so I went back for chicken instead. Overall, a very satisfying dinner. My friend also make coconut brad, which was sooo good! Hint-it is partly my inspiration for a baking experiment I am planning 🙂

I stayed up too late last night. When my alarm went off for spin, I kind of felt like I had been run over my an 18 wheeler, so I decided, hey, there’s all summer for spin (noticing a theme here?) It was unfortunate, because I really shouldn’t have had to be up so late but I had to turn in a group project my midnight and at 11:45, I still was waiting on my group.

Sugar that was consumed last night probably didn’t help my morning state. I went to a birthday party last night, and then later to an event by the Chem club with more sweets. Do you guys ever feel like this? I like to call it a sugar hangover. Headache, sluggish, stomachache…But I mean lack of sleep obviously isn’t helping matters! Plus, I only just realized that my legs are actually pretty sore from yesterday…

I went to a dining hall I recently discovered, and I AM IN LOVE WITH THEIR SALAD BAR. That was where I got the Greek salad with hummus last night! Check out this bad boy!Plus, they have yogurt! Which I had some of later. Corn, carrots, soybeans, black beans, tomatoes, broccoli, some random grain mix, and shredded tuna. As a general rule, I don’t like tuna. I have lived with cats all my life, and it reminds me WAY too much of cat food. But I actually enjoyed this. In a “this tastes kind of weird but it’s good for me so I like it
kind of way. I’ll take it!

It’s so weird for me to blog mid-day. I almost always blog at night, although I suppose everything will change come summer. I can see myself at Starbucks with my computer between my AM spin and yoga classes. And from my spring break experiences, blogging at night does not work because I usually end up watching baseball or TV with my family.

I’m planning on today being a low key day. It’s dead day. I’m not sure why it is just one day. The other quarters had Dead Week (although those had classes all week). FInals start tomorrow, and go Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, although all of mine are Monday or Tuesday. Plans for the day include a 4 mile training run, and catching up on my reading. In Psych, we’re reading about mental illness. I thought it would be a great supplement to watch a film on mental illness, but Netflix stinks and has hardly any movies available for streaming…Any suggestions?

Have you ever done Crossfit? What did you think? Any advice?

How do you feel about new workout regimens?

WIAW-College Edition

Date: June 5, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Aaaaand it is What I Ate Wednesday, once again! Thanks a ton Jenn!

As the quarter ends, I am getting down to the dregs of my food supply, so these pst few days have included more dining hall food and creativity. As a result, I’ll through some things from the past few days.

Yesterday night, I convinced myself I had strep throat. I have had allergies for a week, so my throat was a little scratchy. Plus, I was probably a bit dehydrated. In the afternoon I talked to someone in my dorm, who told me he had strep. That got me thinking…hmm maybe this isn’t allergies? Maybe I have strep? A few hours later, I was totally convinced that I was suffering from a severe case of strep throat. I was sitting in a meeting thinking, yeah, you know I AM kind of sore (yeah, that’s what lifting heavy things will do to you!). By the end of the meeting, I was burning up. Yeah, burning up at 98.6. So no, I’m not sick. I’m actually totally fine! (Physically, hah!) Phew! Since I was so sick a few months ago, the prospect of being sick again was kind of devastating. But never fear! I am fine!

Yesterday morning began with a great workout-weights plus a 4 mile run (training for my half). Weights included back squats, cleans to back lunges, push press, and assisted pull-ups. One set in to the push press/pull-up set, I realized how much I’ve been neglected my upper body lately. And now my armpits are sore. But on to the food!

I made something similar to my Dark Chocolate Blueberry smoothie. (It’s funny, the post with the recipe also talks about me thinking I am sick….I swear I don’t think that THAT often!) I can’t wait until I am home and can make this with better quality blueberries, and frozen bananas.

I packed a light lunch of hard boiled eggs and fruit. I realized halfway into my egg that I didn’t take picture. And then started to take a picture of a half-eaten egg, when I realized, this looks kind of gross, these people really don’t need to see this!

So here’s a sun picture!

After my lunch, I decided to go to a local cafe in search of my Mystery bread. I have no clue what is in it, but it is sooo good. Sadly, they were out, so I settled for Mystery Bread 2.0, which I think turned out to be zucchini bread (judging by the green pieces).

Awkward selfie while reading in the sun…

Dining hall dinner…I am counting the days until I can eat at home! This may not look bad, but when it is all there is every. single. day. It gets old.

Here is Sunday’s dinner.

Basically the same thing, but in sandwich form. And they put wayyy too much cheese on here for my taste…

And a late night freshly baked gluten free banana muffin. Oh how I love my roommate. We get along well. She likes to bake, and I like to eat 🙂

Breakfast after spin was basically a repeat. Leftover smoothie (the banana I made it with was HUGE) and another muffin.

For my 9 am class, it was the last class of the year, so my teacher brought breakfast. ANOTHER muffin, and some much needed coffee. I really liked the coffee. It seemed a lot blander than the kind at the dining hall, or my cappuccinos. Funny how that is a good thing for me. Coffee lover I am not.

Dining hall for lunch…meh. The salad had way too much dressing and was super soggy.

But in other news, I started packing today, and sent a carload of stuff home (yes, I have THAT much stuff in my room).

My mom stopped at Trader Joe’s and brought me some goodies.

These things are seriously the best. And it’s no secret I LOVE mango.

Also, today, I discovered the impossible. Given how many search terms I get for my blog relating to “healthy mug brownie” it seems like everyone is looking for the secret that is in itself a contradiction. Well guys, I think I may have stumbled upon the answer. Yes, the true meaning in life.

I wasn’t even trying to make a mug brownie. I was just trying to make a chocolate version of the microwave coconut macaroon I recently discovered. But we all know I am a bit heavy handed with cocoa powder. And apparently milk….This creation was a bit liquidy, but in the mix was milk, unsweetened coconut, chocolate protein powder, sweetener, and TONS of cocoa powder. Over break I’m going to play around with this a little bit and get back to you guys with a recipe. Expect a lot of deliciousness starting in one week! I have a TON of ideas. I think I’ll also do a review on said sweetener.

Also, guess what guys???