Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Date: January 3, 2014

Author: astottler

I can’t believe this is basically my last day of break? Where did the time go?? I have so much I still want to do! I am not ready to go back to dining hall food!

Yesterday morning, I went to an early Crossfit class. We did a new movement I’ve never done before, and it smoked my hamstrings! We also had a double WOD-the first was 10 minutes long, with 5 burpees and 2 hang cleans every minute. This was brutal. The cleans were heavy, and I was huffing and puffing like crazy! The regular workout involved wall balls, box jumps, and chin ups. I used a pretty high box so I took my time during the jumps.

After Crossfit, I headed to the gym to do yoga. I had intentions of running a couple of miles before class, but my legs were totally smoked and I wasn’t keeping any kind of decent pace so I just hung around until class time. Class was awesome-lots of hamstring stretching. Between that and Crossfit, my hamstrings certainly are feeling it today!

After an unpictured lunch of Butternut squash soup, I headed off to meet up with a friend for some yoga by the bay.

We set up along the route I normally do my long runs on. it was perfect, and the weather was calm. After yoga, we walked along the bay trail and just caught up. Such a great afternoon.

For dinner, we had Asian Lettuce cups from Cooking Light, plus brown rice and snow peas.

Later in the evening, I met up with two other friends for a late Christmas Gift Exchange and a tea party. My friend was a wonderful hostess, and everything was set up so nicely!

The presents we received were some assembly required-they were ugly Christmas sweater kits! We each had a sweater, which came with all sorts of adornments, like bells, reindeer, plain felt to cut, and little presents.

Here’s my finished product!

My friends are much more artistic than I am-here are the sweaters all together!

Unfortunately, I didn’t get into bed until well past midnight, and spin this morning was very early. I had plans to run my treadmill workout after class, but with staying out late and eating cookies, I didn’t have the energy and called it quits after completing a mile. My morning was spent catching up on sleep-pot workout naps are the best! Followed by lunch-tomato soup with cheddar and a sandwich thin with homemade raspberry jam.

I have a lot to still do today-I need to go grocery shopping and do some food prep before returning to school, I also need to make some more canvases, and who knows what else!

One of my big focuses for the New Year is nutrition. Ironically given I started a healthy living blog, my nutrition has slipped in the past year. I don’t mean to say that I’m eating awful foods, but my eating lacks the scientific approach that helps with optimal eating. To PR my 5k, I’m fairly certain good nutrition is extremely important-I exercise enough. I’m taking a Nutrition class next quarter as well-I may start a weekly series where I share a few things that I’m learning in class-would anyone be interested?

I also got the new version of the My Fitness Pal app-the new version is much better! I was never consistent about using My Fitness Pal in the past to track food, but it actually is really nice-it even tells you where you’re lacking or over doing it on things like vitamins, sugars, and saturated fat. For instance, I’m already at double the recommended amount of sugar for today! It’s a nice tool to help see where to make changes. In a few weeks, I’ll give an update on how things go-I’m hoping I won’t get sick of tracking because I really do think it’s important to be mindful of what you’re putting in your body!

Have a great Friday!

Do you track what you eat?

Tips for Trying Crossfit

Date: January 2, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy New Year! I don’t have anything terribly groundbreaking to elaborate on about these past couple of days-on New Year’s Eve my friend and I took a train to San Francisco, but I don’t have a lot of pictures from that.

I rung in the New Year with whole grain pancakes (there were a lot more than this), some topped with maple syrup and others with blueberries.

The day was spent watching football, which was really depressing because things did NOT go well for Stanford football, and it was frustrating to watch thanks to some questionable play calling. But back to today’s topic.

Tips for Trying Crossfit

I want to start out by saying that I know a lot of people are intimidated by Crossfit-the culture, the throwing heavy things around, the idea that you have to eat Paleo. As someone who fairly recently (6 months) started Crossfit, I assure you this is not the case. At my box, never once have I heard someone even mention Paleo. Heck, when you graduate intro classes, they make cookies-yes with real wheat and real sugar-and champagne! The culture is just really nice! Everyone is incredibly friendly and welcoming. That being said, the culture definitely does differ depending on the gym and its owner. At this point, I’ve worked out at 5 different Crossfits (3 in Maui), and I have had a little of a mixed experience. For example, the Crossfit I go to at school doesn’t have the traditional type of Crossfit community, probably because it’s student heavy-it’s just not as friendly. That’s not to say that it is intimidating-the people are still really nice-it just doesn’t have the same sense of community. So-tip #1:

1. Do your research. Every box is different, and they are everywhere. There are 2 just 2 miles from school for me. Look on Yelp, check out their website. If the box is super hardcore, their website is a decent indicator. Don’t discount the box just because of that though! Don’t be afraid to visit a few places and try it out-almost every Crossfit gym offers a free intro class to give you a taste of what Crossfit is all about.

2. Don’t be afraid. You DO NOT have to be super fit to try Crossfit. EVERYTHING is scalable to your level-most people in fact scale the workouts. And everyone has to start somewhere-other Crossfiters understand this.

3. Just get through the workout. If you’ve gotten through the initial intimidation phase and are there and working out, don’t be a hero. You’re new. You will not finish the workout first. If you come out balls to the wall, you’re going to a) burn out super quickly and it’s going to stink. A lot. b) injure yourself-if you’re new and aren’t used to these kinds of movements or this kind of exertion, you’re more likely to get hurt. Some people claim Crossfit to be super hardcore and that everyone pukes after the workouts. This is simply not the case. I’ve never seen this happen-you take the workouts at your own speed, and nobody should be pushing themselves to the point of vomiting.

4. Use the runs as recovery. Not all workouts involve running, but the ones that do, I don’t recommend sprinting the run. Running is a lot harder when supersetted with lifts-a lot of times I’m panting prior to the run. I often use the run as an opportunity to catch my breath and recover a little bit. I may get passed on the run at the beginning, but by the end of the workout I’m passing people because I didn’t burn out right away.

5. Ask for help. Not sure about a movement? Don’t know what weight you should scale to? ASK. The trainers are there to help you-don’t risk getting injured by lifting too heavy before you’re ready. Each workout is programmed in a particular way-no workouts should be at weights of your one repetition maximum, and some call for much lighter weights and a faster pace.

6. What do you need? Exercise shoes. That’s it. That being said, there are other things that may help you. I have special Crossfit shoes-the Nano 2.0s.

The purpose of these is that they have a flat bottom. Traditional running shoes tend to push you to move your weight to your toes, which makes weight lifting much more difficult. The nanos are better for running that straight weight lifting shoes.

I usually wear workout pants and a t-shirt. I’m not a fan of lifting in a tank top because I’m also worried the bar will scuff me up, but most people don’t have any issue. Some people have weight lifting gloves or belts. I never learned to lift with those, so it’s probably not something I would use, but some people love them.

Hopefully this was helpful-if you have any further questions, just let me know!

Would you ever try Crossfit? Why or why not?

Ringing in the New Year with a PR

Date: December 31, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy New Year’s Eve! I hope everyone has a fun and safe night to bring in the new year!

A lot of people are doing reflections on the new year posts, but to be honest, I just don’t see the need, since I basically did the same thing for my Blogiversary. I’m also not really doing New Year’s Resolutions this year. I have some general goals and ideas of things I want to do or change in the future, but it’s more of a concept and the fact that I have no idea where my future lies in terms of exercise.

(Not relevant but I had to share this picture.)

I could set running goals, but I really don’t know what my running future holds. I want to PR a 5k this winter. I’m signed up for a half in April and am planning on one in the summer. But here’s the thing. I’m REALLY loving 5k training and speedwork and running fast. It’s fun. And right now it’s a little hard to look past the constant pain in my feet. I have tendonitis in my achilles, which is straining my feel and part of my arch, which is really painful. And that doesn’t include my mystery pain and numbness that comes with longer distances. I have a doctor’s appointment in a couple of weeks to hopefully begin treatment, but once again, it’s hard to look past this issue which for some reason popped up in the last couple of months. My 10 mile run a couple of weeks ago was painful and pretty much demolished my feet. In addition, I’m starting to get serious about teaching spin, and I have no clue where I want my weight lifting to go.

But let’s back it up a little, shall we?

Yesterday morning I went to an abs class, which was really hard and I’m currently suffering from the aftermath. Then, I took some of my high school friends over to my college campus for a hike.

We tried to eat lunch at a couple of places on campus, but everything was closed. We ended up going off campus and making an amazing discovery-a little place that was pretty much an Indian food version of Chipotle! You could choose a bowl or a burrito type of thing, and choose rice, meat, sauces, and veggies.

My masterpiece was a bowl with brown rice, chicken, tikka sauce, yogurt sauce, date sauce, and veggies. So delicious!

Then, we finally tried a fancy gourmet ice cream place called the Tin Pot. I sampled sweet cream with balsamic swirl, but ended up deciding on the San Francisco chocolate Tcho ice cream. Such a good decision.

All the ingredients were local, and the texture was insanely smooth. And in the cone was a little surprise-they fill the bottom of the cone with chocolate to keep the ice cream from dripping, and the chocolate at the bottom of our cones was still warm and gooey.

That evening, I was off to Crossfit for Crossfit totals, with dreams of PRing. Crossfit totals is basically taking one rep maxes of the back squat, press, and deadlift.

I haven’t done a ton of max lifting in the last year and a half, and I’m definitely lacking mentally here. It’s silly, but I get nervous for the lifts. However, after failing to PR my backsquat, probably due to lack of focus and losing some of my form, the nervousness turned to fire. I PRed my press my 10 pounds, and my deadlift by 30 pounds! For anyone interested, my total was 495 lbs, which is all the maxes of the three lifts added together. I’m really happy about this-I also feel that I would get a lot stronger at my home Crossfit. I may try the weightlifting class at my school Crossfit though. I love power lifting and I don’t think I get to do it quite as much at my school Crossfit. Anyways, this was a great end to 2013. It was funny-I only did a few reps of each exercise in the hour, and felt simultaneously like I was totally normal yet I was about to fall over. Lifting heavy is a strange thing! Dinner afterwards was a good one-turkey burgers with brussels sprouts and parmesan, and sweet potato rounds.

This morning, I went back to Crossfit to tackle “Murph.” Murph is a hero workout, meaning it was named after a fallen soldier. Hero workouts are usually long and brutal. This one?

1 mile run

100 pull ups

200 push ups

300 squats

1 mile run

This might be one of my favorite Crossfit workouts ever. And I’m glad I was able to do it at home! There’s a lot of strategy involved with pacing. I did the first mile in 8:36, which I was super happy about because it felt good, and means my speed work is probably paying off! I broke the middle part into 20 rounds of 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, and 15 squats. The pull ups were with a fairly light band, and the push ups were form my knees since we have to touch our chests all the way to the ground! The squats made my legs very heavy by the end! I had to push hard to make the 45 minute cut off, and finished my last mile under 9:00, so that my overall time was 44:29. Another great workout conquered!

I spent the rest of the morning helping my mom take my kitties to the vet. Charlie is the biggest scaredy cat, and it was quite the task getting him into his crate. In the vet’s office, he hid in under the table the whole time. It’s so sad!

When we returned, lunch was leftover butternut squash soup with cheese and crackers.

I guess I don’t want to set any fitness goals because I don’t know what my future holds. After my halfs, I may be done with distance running, at least for a while. Or maybe not. Maybe I’ll run a marathon. I don’t want to torture myself through tons of long distances if my feet can’t take it!

In terms of life goals, I guess I don’t see it as much as a new year, but more as a new quarter in school. In general, I just want to be more put together. I want my room organized, my homework always done ahead of time, productive hours in the library, healthy and balanced meals. I guess I also want to spend less time on my phone or the Internet-it makes me a little more unaware of the world, and my attention span is currently non-existent. I think I’d prefer to set aside a particular amount of time for reading blogs or social media, instead of having it leak into my life.

As for tonight? My friend and I are going to San Francisco, which I am insanely excited about!

Have an amazing night and be safe!

Butternut Squash Soup with Citrus Cranberry Relish

Date: December 29, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Ok. This may come as a big surprise, but I have some recipes to share with you! To be fair, they’re from my grandma. But I’ve been doing some more interesting cooking!

On the fitness front, I’ve had a couple of rough Crossfit workouts, and then this morning I went to a spin class with one of my favorite instructors, which was awesome, and followed it with my new favorite treadmill run. If you’re interested, here it is!

I love intervals because it is much easier for me mentally to push myself for a shorter amount of time. I just plug in my audiobook and zone out-right now I’m listening to Divergent-has anyone read it? I really like it!

Back to food-I have a couple of things to catch you guys up on!

The other night for dinner, we roasted up a spaghetti squash and made homemade marinara sauce with fresh tomatoes, basil, garlic, and olive oil, topped with fresh mozzarella.

Yesterday, my family went to the farmer’s market and picked up a few things-most notably dried persimmons and Afghan food, which has served as a couple of lunches these past two days.

This is spinach and pumpkin bolani-the sauces are unpictured.

For dinner last night, I made stuffed sweet potatoes, filled with an over easy egg, gruyere, and sauteed kale. With a side of broccoli, ketchup, and fig balsamic tapenade.

Last night, I also prepped a big bowl of overnight oats made with frozen cherries and cherry greek yogurt. I think I’m going to do overnight oats more next quarter because it’s a pretty complete breakfast and I can just take a bite here or there pre or post workout.

And now for the recipes! My grandma made both the soup and relish for Thanksgiving this year, and I gobbled up the leftovers. The citrus cranberry relish has been a staple at Thanksgiving or Christmas for as long as I can remember, and the soup was a new addition this year because my grandma knew I am in love with butternut squash soup!

Cranberry Relish with Orange

(From Mark Bittman’s Cookbook)

1 large navel orange

4 c (about a bag) fresh cranberries

1/3-1/2 c sugar or to taste

Instructions:

1.Remove orange zest and set apart. Remove and discard white part of orange and separate orange into sections discarding white part.

2. Put orange zest and flesh in food processor with cranberries and sugar-chop.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

(From Jeanne Lemlin’s Veg. Classics)

2 T olive oil

2 medium onions, finely diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 T minced fresh ginger root

1 T curry powder

4 c water

7-8 c peeled, seeded, and diced butternut squash (about 1 large 3 lb squash)

2 t sugar

1 1/4 t salt

1 (14 oz) can coconut milk

2 T lemon juice

Instructions:

1. Warm oil in large stockpot over med heat. Stir in the onions, garlic, and ginger root and cook 5 mins. Sprinkle on curry powder and cook 1 min, tossing constantly.

2. Pour in water and bring to boil. Mix in the squash, sugar, and salt, and lower heat to a lively simmer. Cook 30 min or until squash is very tender. Pour in coconut milk and simmer 5 mins. Stir in lemon juice.

3. Puree soup in blender (let cool a little first).

My favorite way to eat this is topped with creme fraiche and the above cranberry relish!

In other baking news, I was looking through Cooking Light and made the spur of the moment decision to make the Triple Chocolate Muffins.

I think this was a good recipe, but I went wrong by using whole wheat pastry flour in place of normal-as a result the muffins were a bit dry and crumbly. I usually don’t think twice about swapping the two flours, but I guess most of my baking is banana bread, or variations on banana bread, and the banana gives it a little extra moisture.

On the life front, I spent most of the day trying to figure classes, declaring major, spin jobs. I think I found a couple of places to apply once I do my CPR certification this week, but one of them I think is a pretty long shot.

Have a great week everybody! Anybody have exciting plans for New Year’s? I currently do not-but I’m working on it!

DIY Canvas Prints

Date: December 27, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! Today I want to share with you how I made the presents I gave everyone this year!

But first, since I claim to be a food and fitness blog, let’s go over some food and fitness, shall we?

Lately, I’ve been obsessed with trying actual recipes for brussels sprouts-you know, instead of just in the microwave. We made Christine‘s Garlic Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts. They were delicious-the balsamic gave them a wonderfully sweet tang, which was definitely different than I’ve had before. We had these with leftover Christmas chicken. And ketchup. Duh.

This morning I woke up way too early for a spin class, and followed that with an interval treadmill run. I did the same workout last week after spin, and the good news is it felt much easier this week! I did one mile at an 8:00 pace, since this is about race pace for my 5k and I just need to get used to pacing myself at that speed. Then, I did 10 rounds of 2 minutes at 7:30 and 2 minutes walking. I covered about 5 miles in total.

Post workout breakfast-pumpkin spice Siggi’s! How cool is that?? I wish I had discovered this in my crazy pumpkin phase!

Aaaand lunch-after a much needed nap-leftover chili with added spinach.

And leftover blueberry coffee cake.

Ok-now for the crafting!

I used this article for the instructions, but I’ll elaborate a bit more.

What you need-canvas, mod podge, sandpaper (optional), black paint, brushes, foam brush. Not too hard-one stop shopping!

First, chose a picture and crop or edit as needed, and print to fit the canvas size (I used 8×8 canvases). This step was especially hard and frustrating for me because our printer flat out stinks, and 5 different ink cartridges had to be cartridges. The fact that that thing even has 5 cartridges says enough about it!

Cut the picture, preferably with a paper cutter, to fit the canvas exactly.

Rub the canvas with sandpaper, and then use the foam brush to brush with mod podge.

Place your picture on the canvas and let dry for about an hour.

Once dry, use the foam brush to brush the top with mod podge.

The avocado was my tester photo:

Then, paint the sides of the canvas with black acrylic paint and let dry.

There are several different types of mod podge-for the tester photo (the avocado), I used matte finish, but I used glossy finish for the actual gifts. They have various other types of finish-even sparkly finish! I think I liked the look of the matte a little better, and would probably use that in the future. Here are the finished products!

Overall, I was very happy with how they came out! My roommate and I are thinking about making some food pictures for our walls.