WIAW-SUMMER

Date: June 11, 2013

Author: astottler

Hey guys! Happy WIAW! Thanks a lot to Jenn for posting, as always!

First, what’s up with this being a running blog now? Haha, I feel like that is all I have been posting about lately! More on that in a minute. Some of you may remember way back in the day when this was more of a rowing blog! I started this blog during rowing training camp, so for the whole 10 days, the posts are pretty much:”We ate. We rowed for 2 hours. We ate again. We rowed again. We ate. We ran 6 miles.” etc…So in that spirit, more on running in a bit! First some delicious food.

After frying my brain in a 3 hour chem final, an amazing salad and frozen yogurt were necessary fuel to motivate me to study for my next exam.I LOVE FROZEN YOGURT.

My last breakfast at the dining hall of the school year!I’m cool and I eat french toast from a bowl. But that way the syrup stays separate and doesn’t drench it.

And then, FINALLY SUMMER! Yay!

After my final, it was packing time. It took me about an hour to move out, after I was pretty much already packed. Seeing an empty room was so weird!Yeah, I have a lot of stuff…And last dining hall meal of the year! Plus, since I had to thaw out the freezer, helping my roommate eat her frozen baked good was kind of a necessity.

And then….HOME! Home is where the heart is? Pshh. I disagree. Home is where the cats are.

And the first thing I do when I get home? I raid the pantry. This is what I found for a snack:These things are so good! I’ve gotten single serving packs from whole foods before in different flavors, but these are from Costco, so there’s no messing around with a wimpy single serving!

And then it was time to run. Last night I pumped myself up for a really good run today-on the treadmill. First, I want to thank all you guys so much for your advice and encouragement on running! I decided I would go at a good pace on the treadmill and just push through- after all, no matter how bad it was, it could not possibly be as bad as a 6k test (this is a test for rowers-it is 6k as fast as possible and it is basically torture. Like the worst thing ever. Seriously).

So I went out there today and had a really, really great run. I seriously could not have done it without you guys! I was thinking about you all during the entire run (as well as counting down every .01, and calculating how much I had left-1/50 down, 1/25 down). I busted out 3 miles in 24:27. This went way beyond my hopes- I am sooo happy with this! I can’t remember the last time I ran 3 miles this fast! I guess that’s what a day off, plus ton of foam rolling will do for you! So thank you all SOSOSOSO much, your comments seriously motivated me!

Post run happiness.

And after my run, it was straight to yoga! This was much needed. It’s been far too long since I’ve gone to yoga. I think it should help my tight legs as well.

And now for my first home cooked meal! Turkey burgers in a lettuce wrap, with homemade ketchup from this recipe, sweet potato fries, and brussels sprouts.

After dinner, we had some frozen cookie dough we were planning on getting rid of because no one was a huge fan, but I wanted to see if you could microwave frozen cookie dough and get a decent result. The answer? YES.

If I have learned anything from this past year of college, it is that you can make anything in the microwave. That and the many varieties of mold found on old food (oops).

And to celebrate summer, I had a small slice of my frozen birthday cake!

Sooo sleeping in on my first morning of summer? I’m still trying to decide how insane I am, and whether or not I want to go to a 5:45 am spin class.

In other news, my first Crossfit class is on Thursday! SO excited!What is your favorite thing about summer?

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?

Arts and Crafts

Date: May 12, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I actually writing this post Saturday night, but I’ll delay it until tomorrow. That way I’ll be all caught up in case things begin to get busy (they should get busy- busy studying).

First off- HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all the mother’s out there, especially my own, who has put up with me through a lot.

Also, to all mother’s out there: make sure you’re not the only on taking pictures! Many years from now your daughter may be writing a blog post for which she will have trouble finding pictures of the two of you together.

Although she does not know it at the time I am writing this post, my sister and I are surprising her my coming back for lunch! I’ll let you know how that is tomorrow!

There are a few things I want to touch on about Saturday. First. It was very unproductive. And I skipped some events because I wanted to get things done. But that wasn’t great. It’s ok though, it was only Saturday. Some R&R is necessary.

Brunch. I have a love/hate relationship with it. The food is really good, but it completely messes up my entire eating schedule for the day. This may be why I struggle with eating well on the weekends. I went with half of a whole wheat bagel, toasted with cream cheese and eggs, plus a salad with guacamole. Half of a waffle was also consumed, although it went unphotographed.

Brunch always leads me to snacking. Which causes problems. I had a big grand workout planned, but I kept eating and then having to digest. Here are some snacks:

Greek yogurt, cranberry orange quinoa, and cocoa sesame seed butter. Citrus+chocolate works, right??

Blueberry-pomegranite kefir, zucchini bread (from the freezer), and sunflower seed butter.

Numerous other snacks included bananas with sunflower seed butter, and granola with a protein bar. Dinner was just meh but here it is:

Well guys, this is it. It is the ending of an era. That’s right, I’m finally getting over my sunflower seed butter and my yogurt obsession. Since ditching some of the sugar in my diet, I don’t find these items as enjoyable. Or maybe consuming 10,000 jars of sunflower seed butter in a quarter is too much. I’m not sure. But I’m feeling ready to move on. It’s not that I dislike these things, but they don’t hold quite the same level of joy for me as they did in the past. :'(

I may try plain yogurt and see if that is more appealing. But as it is, I only have a bit of yogurt remaining anyways. I guess I’ve been more into produce lately: fruits and veggies. Produce kind of shaped how well my week went last week; I focused more on eating fruit and veggies, and it helped me eat more healthfully overall. Which takes us to the next topic of conversation.

As any normal American, I don’t eat as nutritiously on the weekends as on the other days of the week. For me, starting Monday on a positive note is crucial, and sets the tone for the week. Last Monday, I really focused on clean eating, and ate mostly fruit and veggies (minus the pizza that may have slipped its way in). As a result, I felt great the whole week, and had no difficulty eating well. Which is why I want to try something different this Monday. Before I say anything. let me first iterate that it is not necessarily something I believe in, but just want to give a try. A juice cleanse! I was inspired when last Monday I tried Trader Joe’s Green Juice and actually enjoyed it. It is a bit sugary (from the fruit) so the plan is to mix it with a more unpalatable and veggie heavy drink. I wasn’t sure whether to blog about this, but since it’s only a day, it’s not really going to change anything anyways. And the idea has always intrigued me.

But on to the title of the post! Lately, I’ve been finding workouts online and writing them on Post-its. I regularly take these post its to the gym with me when I work out, but they get really rumply and crinkly and gross. So I decided to laminate them with tape!

Most of them are WODs, and I thought it would be easier to have them in one medium, together. The ultimate plan is to make some type of pretty poster to put on my wall that I can stick all of them to for easy access when I want to pick one for a workout. I haven’t figured that part out yet, but I’m satisfied with the finished cards!Most of them came with names, but I gave names to most of the ones that didn’t for ease of reference. For example, the one I did the other day that featured pull-ups, push ups, and squats I titled “Popeye” because it killed by arms for several days after. And Popeye has huge arm muscles, right?

I’m slightly obsessed with Crossfit. Yet I’ve never even tried it. Sad. This summer though I want to try it!

Aaaand to tie this post together again: Happy Mother’s Day!

Tell me something awesome about your mother.

Running Musings

Date: April 11, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Today started off right, with an on-my-own Crossfit workout! I started by working on my cleans and deadlifts for 30 minutes before I moved on to me WOD. I didn’t max out either lift. One thing about lifting on my own is I could easily be getting into bad habits. I’m having a ton of trouble getting my elbows up on the cleans. The WOD was courtesy of Tina’s blog. It consisted of a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 rep of Bear Complex and burpees, with a prescribed weight of 55 pounds. A bear complex is a clean, front squat, push press, back squat, and then back push press. I knew going in the behind the head push press was going to be the limiting factor. I started at 55, but the second round I dropped to 50, and then 45 for the rest of the workout out. I was surprised I got as far as I did with the heavier bar though. It was a little weird because everything felt super light except the back push press, which I was seriously struggling with. Either way, it was an awesome workout, and I will definitely be feeling it in my shoulders tomorrow!

Breakfast was a smoothie with the random fruit the dining hall had out (after waiting for a while). They were out of fruit for a while, and never restocked the frozen fruit. Annoying! My smoothie included strawberries, apple, and soymilk. It was ok.

Today was absolutely beautiful out. Sorry to all you guys who are experiencing snow/rainstorms right now!

I had a quick lunch at the bookstore.

Minus the bread though. I couldn’t afford to fall asleep in Chem (again-ish). The difference I felt between sitting in class today, with no bread in my system, was like night and day between how I felt Monday. I felt amazing and alert. I’ve felt great and happy all day. Maybe it is the weather, or maybe it’s my super clean eating. I don’t know. Either way, yay!

I had to break out the new sunglasses!

Sorry for the lack of smile. I was in a VERY public place…

I wore them a bit before realizing something was off…

Whoops…

I love these new sunglasses. While I have been known to rock the neon green shades, they simply don’t stay on my face very well…

Exhibit A. (Me and my sis in Santa Barbara 2 years ago! Also note the bash on my shin from box jumps…)

Exhibit B. (End of Senior year.)

Where was I? Outside in the plaza, there was a mariachi band playing.

Also, can I just say there are a lot of tourists this time of year? It’s difficult not to run them over. Meh.

I arrived at Chem early so I sat in the shade of a tree. I overheard some guy talking at the next table about the tons of caterpillars that fall from the tree. “Hmm,” I thought. “I don’t see any caterpillars.”

A minute later a noticed a ton on my backpack. Which led me to believe they could be crawling all over my body. They weren’t, as far as I know…

Snacks after class:

Boring, boring. But delicious. A little while later I went for a run (roughly 4 miles). This was my first time since I was sick doing a double day. Not counting yoga, that is. Mannn was I feeling it. Plus running hasn’t been terribly easy as of late anyways…I guess two-a-days take some getting used to. But it got me to thinking what great shape I was in at the end of last summer, when I ran my 10k. I think I was in the best shape of my life then. Which is probably why I could never PR on my 6k test for crew, I couldn’t really get better. It’s sad how much I’ve lost. I was doing 3-a-days at the end of summer, with some regularity. Mostly because I wanted to do tons of different classes/training sessions, and was training for my 10k on top of that. And a lot because I was bored. I had a lot of time, and nothing else really to do! I would regularly get my butt out of bed super early (5:45 am spin anyone?), go to spin, then go straight from there to do my 10k training run, then straight from there to do my softball conditioning. 3 hours of exercise before 10 o clock! And it wasn’t THAT big of a deal. Just to be clear, I am not recommending doing this!

At the beginning of the year, before crew started, I regularly ran the Dish, which is a roughly 5 mile run from my dorm, with 2 miles of straight uphill. I ran this 2 or 3 times a week, because I had nothing better to do (still wasn’t comfortable with the gym/didn’t know the best time to go). Now the thought of doing this run seems impossible. My run was really a great time to reflect on how much I have lost though. But at the same, all the more motivation to get super fit again! On a similar note, if avoiding bread/grains (and possibly dairy) makes me feel this awesome, then I need to just stick with it! It wasn’t really hard, minus the momentary craving for pancakes at breakfast…but I guess the knowledge that it will put me to sleep is enough to deter me…

Post-run, hot and sweaty picture. Since so so many of you guys post them, I figured I might as well jump on the bandwagon…

Snacks before yoga.

Dinner should have been awesome and ended up being not very good. I thawed a sweet potato (I roasted them at home so they would get that nice flavor),, which was good, but put it in my salad, which was a bad decision. Bad decision #2 was putting in zucchini and carrots which turned out to be seasoned in a sweet way. Ick. The thought of that seasoning…I don’t know why but I really dislike it.

I went back for more chicken and veggies, so get that weird taste out of my mouth….

And since it’s prom season, throwback to my proms!

Junior prom:

I curled my hair. It doesn’t hold a curl.

End of the night (don’t ask):

Straight…

So Senior year I curled my hair and didn’t put hairspray in because I figured, I’d rather have straight hair at the end of the night than straight, stiff hair.

Basically straight already!

How were your proms? What do you think about while running?