The Best Moment

Date: October 17, 2014

Author: astottler

WHEW! We made it to the weekend! Mine will be chock full of work, but that’s not important right now. What is important?

1. AHHHHHHHHHHHH WE’RE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES! OMG OMG OMG. I was watching the game prior to my Chem midterm last night, and the minute I got out, my mom texted me saying we won! Such an amazing finish too. AHHH. Best moment-chem midterm done and Giant’s win!

2. I am SORE. Especially my calves. Going down stairs is immensely painful. Why did I have class on the 3rd floor? Ow. I did the Filthy Fifty yesterday morning at Crossfit and those box jumps…man. The whole workout kicked my butt! The last time I did it was on my birthday!

3. The reason #2 is a problem is that I am doing a Crossfit competition tomorrow, and I really need to practice my double unders, but the thought of jump roping is making me cringe right now. Ah well.

4. I’ve been running again! I did 5 miles on Wednesday, which is the farthest I’ve done since healing up my feet. It’s interesting-it’s hard but not in a cardio way-my legs get tired!

5. Food. I think I’m finally getting into a more consistent eating routine, which just makes everything better. Breakfasts have been yogurt bowls with sun butter from the dining hall.

I also had a latte this morning. It was super milky though, so not the best in my opinion!

Lunch yesterday was roasted carrots (!) from the dining hall, salmon from the dining hall, and my own sage mashed sweet potatoes.

Today, I had more leftover sweet potatoes, plus a turkey and brie sandwich. I ended up running back to my room a bit later for some more veggies.

Roasted carrots are currently my savior. First of all, I love them. Second of all, when I get out of class at 4 and am hungry, they’re a good pre-Crossfit snack because they digest pretty quickly.

Dinner last night was gobbled down during the Giant’s game. For some reason, I was STARVING when I got out of lab. I was definitely that person waiting outside the dining hall until it opened at 5. Favorite on this plate were the black bean chili and chicken masala, which had a really great warm flavor. Plus, I was starving.

Some other snacks lately have been fancy cheese (all my friends are cheese obsessed-I can’t really complain) as well as chia pudding. For the chia pudding, it’s simply chia seeds, milk, and preferably dates (which I am now out of).

And now I’m off to one more meeting before my weekend of schoolwork!

What are your plans for the weekend?

Freaking Out

Date: October 1, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

So, I’ve been freaking out a lot lately.

First, I freaked out over pumpkins. And of course pumpkin products. And while I’m mentioning that, I tried a pumpkin Oreo! It was ok. It didn’t really taste pumpkin-y to me but it wasn’t bad. It tasted like cinnamon graham crackers.

Then, I freaked out over this box my roommate brought in.

Yep, it’s the start of persimmon season! OMG. These are still very early but some are ripe now likely due to the drought. You guys. These are amazing. My roommate lives in farm country and brought back a ton last winter. I probably ate 4 a day. Obsessed.

Now, I’m freaking out over post-season baseball. The game is still going so I don’t want to jinx anything but GO GIANTS! I’m watching alone in my dorm lounge and I screamed so loudly when the grand slam was hit! I’m seriously so happy right now. Fingers crossed this game keeps going well. I’m a huge Giant’s fan and one of my summer highlights was seeing the Giants play in DC.

(AHHHH ANOTHER BASE HIT AND RUN AS I WRITE THIS!!!)

In other news, it’s October! Yay! I’m also obsessed with fall/holidays. My friends and I are thinking of throwing a Halloween party and I’M SO EXCITED! (Sensing a theme here?)

It’s also officially time to bring out the candy bowl.

In other, other news, who celebrated National Coffee Day? I started Tuesday morning with a beautiful latte (and proceeded to be on the edge of over caffeinated. I have zero tolerance now.)

And then that evening, my sister and I had a coffee date and took advantage of free coffee (in honor of National Coffee Day). I most definitely got decaf.

In terms of food, breakfasts have been yogurt bowls. This one had plain yogurt, maple sunflower seed butter (from the Farmer’s Market), and blueberries.

I also made it to the dining hall for lunch yesterday, and had a panini and salad.

And then today, I had class straight through lunch so in the afternoon, I stopped by a cafe and picked up a turkey, cranberry, and brie sandwich.

And my first pumpkin product of fall (I think). This appeared to be a pumpkin and carrot muffin.

In terms of fitness, yesterday evening was Crossfit, where we worked on cleans, and then did the following WOD:

15 minute AMRAP:

5 db push press

5 front squat (I used 95#)

200m run

12 pull ups

Then, this morning I was up bright and early for 7am Crossfit because it looked like a good workout and there was no way I was missing the game this evening for Crossfit.

The conditioning portion was 3 rds:

400m run

21 wall balls

18 push press

15 sit ups

It was a great way to start the day!

In terms of life, I can’t promise how much I’ll be blogging in the near future. I’m taking computer science this quarter for the first time, and it’s quite time intensive. Or more specifically, after coding for 4 hours straight hours, the last thing I want to do is spend more time on the computer. It’s bad. Once I’m working on something, I literally cannot stop. I dragged myself away last night after 4 straight hours to go to Crossfit, and when I got up I could barely see straight! I think this past assignment took me 12 hours. And that’s only the first assignment. Soo we shall see.

Also, my race was supposed to be this weekend. While seeing the emails makes me a little sad, I don’t regret the decision at all. My feet feel 1000x better and I have made plans that should make up for it!

Have you taken CS? Any advice?

Who’s excited for October? Baseball team you’re rooting for?

Moved In

Date: September 21, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Well, I’m all moved into my dorm and sort of ready for school to start! I also only sort of have Wifi so there’s that…It has been so nice to catch up with friends these past couple of days!

In terms of fitness, I went to my last class at my home Crossfit on Saturday morning. The workout was tough, and I barely made the 20 minute time cap! It was the following:

10-1(start with 10 reps of each, then 9, then 8, etc.)

overhead squats

chin ups

-Between each round: 5 strict press and 10 pistols

I used 55# for the overhead squats and 45 for the press. I’m definitely sore today!

This morning, in lieu of a 9 mile run, I took the opportunity to squeeze the last bit out of my gym membership by going to one of my favorite spin classes, and it was fantastic!

Foodwise, I just had my first dining hall meal. My closest dining hall this year is known for having the best food, and it’s also nut free! They even have sunflower seed butter!

Dinner was veggies with a vegetable pot pie:

Plus plain yogurt, rice chex, raisins, and sunflower seed butter.

In terms of other food, brunch after spin was from Whole Foods because I needed to buy dairy there. I had huevos rancheros and fruit.

Breakfast the other day was eggs and berries-I love this plate! It used to be at school but I ended up taking my DC dishes to school.

The other noteworthy food was roasted plantains that we made at home. My parents ate them with brown sugar and cinnamon, but I went to sea salt route because they were cooked in butter and it seemed just right!

In foot news, I’m trying to treat them well. One thing that was recommended to me was getting a night brace. This keeps your foot in the flexed position so there isn’t so much stiffness in the morning. The one I got is basically just a sock with a strap that connects the knee and toes. I sort of feel like it’s a foot straight jacket. And I’m sure some night I’ll get up in the middle of the night and run into someone in the hallways, and said person will think I’m insane.

But it seems to be helping!

In the next few days, look for another recipe post and a little tutorial on watermelon cutting!

How was/is your dining hall food?

2 Recipes!

Date: September 16, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! Since my Internet has been down lately, I’m getting ahead on catching up (?) and sitting at Starbucks right now. Not sure if I really need caffeine right now but it is what it is. This morning I went to 7am Crossfit and it DEMOLISHED me. I ate when I got home, but I was feeling sort of light headed so I got a pumpkin muffin to go with my (plain) latte.

The aforementioned killer workout? First we found 1 rep max of squats. I was stupid and didn’t bring my lifting shoes (which add about 20 lbs to my 1 rep max) so I was about 15 pounds of my max, but at least I lifted a tiny bit more without lifting shoes than I have before, so I’ll take it! The WOD though. Whew.

10 rounds:

15 wall balls (20/14)

3 cleans (135/95)

I did this Rx with 14 lb wall balls and 95 for the cleans. Sadly, the cleans were actually the resting portion of this workout. The wall balls killed me, and I was sucking air immediately. Wall balls really get your heart pumping! I don’t always eat before morning workouts-not usually before morning runs or spin, but I was glad I ate a little something before this class or I would have actually passed out. WHEW.

In terms of food lately, I have a couple of recipes to share! The first was one of the veggie salads from the culinary bootcamp I went to for work in DC.

This dish is the first time I’ve ever actually enjoyed eating beets. And I could eat it by the plateful. I even had some for breakfast this morning.

Gingered Root Veggie Salad

Ingredients:

.25 oz fresh ginger (1/2 tablespoon)

4.75 oz carrots

4.5 oz beets

4.5 oz parsnips

1.5 T honey

1.25 T lemon juice

1 T tarragon

1/8 T salt

Peel ginger, carrots, beets, and parsnips. Shred them in either a food process or a grater (I used a grater). Mix up the remaining ingredients in a small pour, and then toss everything together.

We had this with turkey burgers and roasted sweet potatoes. While I’m certainly not Paleo, I had a Paleo phase about a year ago, and discovered that I actually prefer turkey burgers in a lettuce leaf, rather than a bun!

Recipe #2 is another fall dish. I was craving pumpkin, and just happened to find a jar of Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butter in the pantry from last year so I decided to experiment a bit. I’ve perfected banana custard (I still need to post that recipe), so why not pumpkin? This fall dish is light and fluffy, and the flavor is a bit subtle. This is healthy enough to eat for breakfast, and is packed with protein. If you want more pumpkin, feel free to add more pumpkin butter or add some cinnamon/pumpkin pie spice.

Pumpkin Spice Custard

Ingredients:

2 cups fat free milk

1 cup egg whites

1/4 cup cornstarch

1 T butter

1 t vanilla extract

4 T pumpkin butter

1. Heat milk until boiling. Meanwhile, in a medium size bowl mix together cornstarch and egg whites.

2. Once the milk is boiling, add it to the bowl (and not the pot it was in). Add milk slowly, stirring the mixture constantly. If possible, pour the milk on edge of the bowl to avoid cooking the egg on contact (i have yet to mess this up so don’t worry!).

3. After stirring the milk and egg mixture in the bowl, return to the pot and cook on medium high, stirring constantly,

4. Cook until the mixture thickens to a custard texture.

5. Once off the heat, stir in butter, pumpkin butter, and vanilla.

What pumpkin items have you enjoyed so far this fall?

Crush Cancer

Date: September 4, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I want to talk about something a little bit different today. My Crossfit box is putting on an amazing event called Crush Cancer.

This event utilizes the great community of Crossfit to raise funds for an amazing cause. Cancer affects so many people’s lives. According to the American Cancer Society, over one million people in the United States alone get cancer every year. (Source.) Crush Cancer is a fundraiser in its 4th year that brings Crossfitters together to raise funds through a friendly competition. All funds raised go directly to Stand Up to Cancer, a charity that funds cancer research.

Crush Cancer was started by DogTown Crossfit 4 years ago, and this year gyms all around the world are participating. The WOD for the event offers scaled divisions as well as Rx (advanced) so everyone can participate. It is as follows:

3 rounds of 1 minute each exercise, with one minute rest between rounds of:

Burpees

Shoulder to Overhead (65/95#)

Power Cleans

Kettlebell Swings (16/24#)

Double Unders

The event takes place in October, and if anyone is interesting in getting their gym involved, check out this page here.

If you are interesting in donating to an important cause, you can find my fundraising page here:

https://www.crowdrise.com/CrossFitVISPerformance/fundraiser/aurorastottler

Remember, every little bit helps to fight this terrible disease!

Thank you!