Answers

Date: December 17, 2015

Author: astottler

I had an interesting day on Monday. As you probably know, I’ve been dealing with some sort of mysterious stomach condition since February. I’ve had tons of tests, and everything was coming up negative. There was one last test to try and since I was feeling significantly better I put it off until winter break because it took 5 hours. But the reality was although I was feeling better, I don’t feel like a normal person.

All this led to be fasting for 16 hours and then eating radioactive eggs.

It’s weird going to the doctor and having them feed you, right? I did a gastric emptying study. Basically, they fed me radioactive eggs that they can then track through my stomach with an MRI type of thing, over the course of 4 hours, beginning with a 30 minute long picture. The process was long and involved a lot of waiting, but was relatively painless. While waiting, I googled symptoms/treatments for delayed stomach emptying and found myself nodding along with the symptoms, so I wasn’t too surprised when the test came up positive for delayed stomach emptying.

After a follow up appointment, it sounds like this is likely what is causing the problems. Treatment is mostly managing the symptoms and changing eating habits. I basically have to avoid eating too much. I have to eat more mini meals throughout the day, instead of full meals. I’ve actually been pretty good about eating fairly light over break so far, and I think that has kept most symptoms at bay. So I will be eating lot of small meals, and soups (since liquid can be easier to handle).

Lunch today was a mini bowl of soup and a baby piece of cornbread.

I have mixed feelings about this. I’m glad to finally have some answers, but I’m nervous this lifestyle change will be either difficult to adhere to or won’t “cure” anything. When I think to how bad off it was when it first started, I can’t imagine that smaller meals would make a difference. Thankfully I am better than that, but the threat of that worries me. I just want to be normal! If mini meals might get me there, then that’s what I’m going to have to do. But I feel like at least for now the threat of a full on flare is still very present.

So what else have I been up to?

More soup-Greek lemon chicken. We added carrots and lemon juice. This was topped with chives and feta, and the feta linked all the flavors perfectly. On the side was Trader Joe’s Gluten Free cornbread (from a mix). I really liked it! With butter and honey.

My first ever flat white.

Peppermint hot chocolate with my sister from Peet’s.

Last night’s dinner: sage, chicken, and mushroom soup, with a gluten free rosemary roll on the side. The roll is from Mariposa in San Francisco. Yesterday my mom and I went up to San Francisco to go to the Ferry Building.

We started out with a gluten free lunch at Mariposa, and I got a turkey sandwich with cheddar and cranberry sauce.

We also stopped by the gourmet ice cream shop. I was hoping they would have olive oil ice cream like I had last time, but they didn’t so I settled for some delicious chocolate.

We wandered the shops a little bit before heading home.

Another food excitement—new energy bars! It’s nearly impossible for me to find bars that meet all my various restrictions, so when I saw a website for custom bars on Kaila‘s blog, I jumped at the chance.

I got mine with a date and sunflower seed butter base, and then had whey protein, chia seeds, chocolate chips, vanilla, and honey. SO delicious!

In terms of workouts, this morning I went to the track to do my simple 6x200m. Love the view from this track though!

The other night, I went to a fun Santa Themed spin class, which I dressed up for with Santa socks and a holiday bow in my hair.

I’ve also been going to my home Crossfit, which has been SUPER fun. My first workout back was Tuesday, and the WOD was 5 rounds of 400m run, 30 sit ups, and 15 back squats at 115#. This is exactly the type of workout I LOVE, and it was fun! However, I haven’t done a ton of back squats since hurting my shoulder (I think the first time I was able to do them was like a month ago?) so while the weight wasn’t too heavy, the underuse plus high reps has left me unbelievably sore! Man!

Currently, I am blogging from under both a cat and heated blanket. Winter break isn’t too bad!

Puppy Day

Date: September 5, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Have I mentioned I’m obsessed with my cat? I think maybe once or twice.

Today is my first day on full time puppy duty. My parents are out of town, so we’ve spent all day together. Thankfully, she’s been an angel.

Luckily this morning, she was plenty sleepy and let me eat my breakfast while she slept in her crate. Breakfast was a handful of berries and sweet potato bread with soy milk. Sweet potato bread recipe to come!

Our only bump in the morning came when she ate a few bites of breakfast and then threw it all up. I gave her something to calm her stomach, and waited a bit before giving her her food in small increments-she was hungry! Also big news this morning-for the past week or two she’s had all her adult teeth with the exception of the canines. For the past few days, the canines have started to grow in, but the sharp baby teeth are still there so she’s had a double set of canines that are about the same height! This morning, one of the baby canines was gone! Yay! I’m ready to say good riddance to those needle-like puppy teeth.

I put her in her crate, and then went to Crossfit. We did bench presses, and then the following WOD:

10 minute AMRAP of 5 squat cleans and 5 dips. I didm the cleans at 95# and the dips assisted. I got through nearly 7 rounds, slowing a bit because I’ve spent all summer working on my cleans and I have no intention to reinforce bad technique because I am tired!

After Crossfit, I made myself an early lunch because I knew I’d never make it through a puppy walk without fuel, and I wanted to get our walk in before it got too hot. Lunch was a wrap, the same as lunch yesterday.

A veggie wrap, turkey, monterey jack, spinach, avocado, and garlic sauce. (Love that stuff, and love the ingredient list!)

Eaten with a side of puppy, as it should be.

I was trying to figure out what to do for our special day together, but in the end I decided to settle for a nice long walk for her and tanning time (LOL) for me, plus a trip to Petsmart. It was her first ride in my car, and she was really good!

Our walk was by the bay. I was hoping it wouldn’t be too warm, and I wanted a trail with minimal leaves. My puppy likes to put EVERYTHING in her mouth-leaves, acorns, rocks, and it’s a toss up what she’ll actually eat. Even still, there was a fair amount of dragging her from nature’s sweet bounty (aka rocks).

Overall, she was pretty good. I had planned to go for about an hour, but it was warm and she was starting to drag a bit so the walk only ended up being about 50 minutes. We stopped a few times for water, and during our break she laid down in the shade with no indication that she wanted to leave.

(I know everyone thinks they have the cutest dog ever but I actually do ;))

She was more than ready to get into the air conditioned car, and I got drooled all over in the process. With a puppy plus my job at the vet this summer, I’ve given in to the fact that I’m going to constantly be covered in some form of animal bodily fluids. We took some selfies while enjoying the air conditioning.

We then headed to Petsmart, and got 4 Halloween themed toys. Hey-it was buy 2 get 1 free-I couldn’t pass that up! With the edge taken off her from our walk, she was pretty good in the store, and enjoyed a treat from the woman who checked us out.

The aftermath?

She was 100% out all afternoon, so we stayed downstairs and watched Netflix. I woke her up to feed her dinner, and she scarfed it down and was suddenly reenergized. Around dusk, we headed out for walk #2. She was SO good for her walk. Very little dragging, very little attempting to eat things on the street. She surged forward like a puppy on a mission, and I had no idea where she thought she was going! On the way back, I couldn’t help but laugh at her. She was prancing ahead with purpose, with her little puppy booty swinging side to side and her ear totally inside out. I really enjoyed our time together. The puppy was so good, and despite the warm day, the night air had that bite of fall. I half expected to turn a corner and see the lighted face of a jack-o-lantern smiling back at me. We enjoyed views from above the entire Bay Area, and being out in the night also brought back memories from the summer before college, a summer to remember. It was my last time without responsibilities or worries but with freedom, and the anticipation of starting a new and exciting chapter of my life. At the same time, it felt like the victory lap of college and many nights like this one were spent with great friends doing what carefree teenagers do.

Another bonus? I avoided the mischief of a steadily reawakening puppy, and she is currently passed out by my feet. Not a bad day for the two of us!

SUMMER

Date: June 13, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Guess what? It’s officially summer for me! Which means more blog time and puppy time!

I finished my last final Wednesday afternoon, and was almost immediately on puppy duty-she came to school and got to meet all my friends!

I didn’t actually move out of my dorm until yesterday though.

Moving out is always fun….I always forget how much stuff it actually is! I managed to be pretty efficient though-I think the whole process took 4 hours, which seems like a long time but could be much worse.

First item of business back was a workout at my home Crossfit! I have a feeling I’m just going to be really sore a lot of the time these first few weeks. The stuff we do there is harder. Thursday’s workout was rope climbs, ring rows, and bent over rows, and then the following WOD:

10 rounds:

10 push jerks

10 hand release push ups

10 knees to elbow or V ups

My arms are still so sore 2 days later.

Here are Thursday’s meals. I’m trying to balance my meals more with protein, carbs, and vegetables.

The dining hall was closed so a sort of random breakfast-formerly frozen mashed sweet potatoes, and cottage cheese with sun butter and blueberries.

Lunch was a Trader Joe’s salad with chicken, dried cranberries, kale, broccoli slaw, and sunflower seeds.

And finally, my first dinner home was guacamole salad with a side of brown rice/quinoa.

On the way home from Crossfit, I picked up some Greek yogurt bars. The verdict? Good! Light and perfect for summer, and not too sweet!

I have another post with some SF adventures to come!

My Honest Opinion on Crossfit

Date: March 30, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

This is something I’ve been thinking about a bit lately. And what better way to talk about it than at the end of the Crossfit Open?

I did 15.5 on Friday. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be feeling well enough to do it. 10 minutes before my heat started, I didn’t think I would be able to do it. But then I did a few thrusters and felt better, and was fine by my start time. Since I wasn’t feeling 100% at all and wasn’t sure I’d even finish, I decided to do the scaled version, which was 45# thrusters instead of 65# thrusters. I wasn’t thrilled about that, but it is what it is and I did what I could on that day. 15.5 was:

27-21-15-9

calories on the rowing machine

thrusters

I personally liked this. Everyone says I’m crazy and that this was way worse than 14.5. I disagree. 14.5 was the worst thing ever. EVER. It was 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 thrusters and over the bar burpees. Maybe it’s because I HATE burpees and love rowing that this year’s was so much better. I also am pretty good at pacing myself with the rowing and getting the most out of every stroke, so I didn’t gas myself on the rower. In addition, 45# thrusters aren’t that heavy for me-although my shoulders were definitely feeling it by the end! I went through the first set with 15 unbroken, but by the end I was breaking it up a lot more.

I ended up finishing in 12:15.

The atmosphere was really fun. I was at my home Crossfit, and in addition to having a party to celebrate the end of the games, we were having a going away party for a coach and a member. There were tons of people out, lots of food, and loud music. It was an awesome way to end the games, and I’m so glad I was able to do the workout. I actually felt SO much better after the workout. I don’t understand my body.

So….Crossfit.

I will say that I personally love it, but my honest opinion will be honest despite that.

First, the things I don’t love. I don’t necessarily agree with the intro programs. Note that every box is different, and I’ve seen a few different intros. I think that they teach you to lift too fast, and throw you into things too quickly. My home Crossfit is by far the best-you have 3x/week intro classes for 4 weeks before you go into the open class. I even think that’s pretty soon to learn all the olympic lifts and start doing them in a rushed manner (in the WODs). On the other hand, I’ve seen one box that only did one 3 hour intro session before getting thrown into the regular class, and another that doesn’t even have an intro class-the new students learn the movements as they go as they come up in WODs, which I think is totally irresponsible.

Another con-depending on what box you go to and your individual needs, Crossfit is likely not the most efficient way to get you to be in the best shape you are capable of. If that’s your goal, a personal trainer would probably be better because they focus only on YOU. I recognize this, but I do Crossfit because it’s fun and I like the community aspect-not to mention it’s much cheaper than a personal trainer. I don’t need to be in the best shape ever ever ever-I exercise for my health and for my own enjoyment.

Another important thing to mention is that every box is different. I’ve been to quite a few at this point, and I’ve gone to 3 full time over the past 2 years. Each one has a different vibe, different community, different exercise philosophy, and different style of workouts.

But like I said, I love Crossfit. I love the community. I feel like I always have somewhere to come home to, even as I move away through the years, I know I can always come back. On the flip side, Crossfit is one reason I have no fear about moving to a completely new city. I know Crossfit will always be there, and will always be a way to meet people.

As I said before, Crossfit is just fun. I love weightlifting, and Crossfit is a program that mixes it up a lot, and is something you can do every day. The workouts are varied enough that you can go day after day because it works different muscles. (Not that I’m suggesting anyone go 7 days a week). When I first learned about Crossfit, I knew it was right up my alley. That being said, I recognize not everyone is going to be into it, which is fine. But I would definitely suggest trying a couple of different boxes before discounting it!

Have you/would you try Crossfit? Why or why not?

More Thoughts on Athlete Identity and Next Week’s Goal

Date: March 15, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I love reading all your comments on athletic identity! I think that with all I do, I am still an athlete, but I just seem to have a mental block about realizing that. I think part of this recent feeling stems from the fact that I haven’t exactly been pushing hard in my workouts lately-while being sick for a while, I felt like I was just in maintenance and survival mode, but now I’m ready to get after it! This was especially apparent when I did Crossfit Open 15.3-I swear I used to be better at wall balls!

15.3 was 7 muscle ups, 50 wall balls, and 100 double unders, for 14 minutes. Since I am definitely not able to do a muscle up, I did the scaled which was 50 wall balls, and 200 singles for 14 minutes. I initially wanted to try double unders but after trying for a while, it was just taking too long. This one was tough-my arms were dead. Partially probably due to the fact that we did a TON of push ups the day before and so my shoulders were already sore!

Also-I’m feeling more like an athlete after today’s half training run. I’m back to double digits! I started the morning with my typical pre-run breakfast, jazzed up with some frozen blueberries. It’s basically a mess of egg whites, banana, and a few oats. I would normally put cocoa powder in it, but I’m not reacting too well to chocolate as far as I know, and didn’t want to take any chances.

After my foot felt really good all week, it flared up on me again yesterday. I used twice last night, and I still woke up with it sore. I even iced immediately upon waking up. I honestly didn’t have too high hopes for the run, given my foot and the fact that I felt pretty sluggish last week, but ended up surprising myself and having a great run.

My left calf had been a little tight this week, and strangely enough my calves get less tired if I’m running a little faster, so I picked up the pace a bit at the beginning and just got in a groove. I was well under a 10:00 mile for most of the run (minus a hilly mile) and kept up my splits right to the last mile. Ok? I’ll take it!

I think the fact that I was eating less junk this week totally helped! Also-in terms of race day plans, I’m not trying to PR. I just want to enjoy the race. In my last race, I ran all of my training runs at a pace to PR (in the heat and humidity no less), and went out way too fast, and ended up crashing hard at the end as a result, leading to one of my worse times. So no flying and dying for me this time!

Next week is finals week, so I went home after my run for Physics help and a home cooked meal. This is chicken and dumplings from Cooking Light-the dumplings are stops of whole wheat tortilla! The perfect mix of protein, carbs, and salt post-run!

We also had some blueberry pie, because pi day! I don’t have a picture of that, but here are the mini pies I had last night! My sorority sold them to raise money for our philanthropies (and yes, selling pie on pi day was totally my idea…). My friend and I split mixed berry and apricot.

In terms of finals, I have one Monday, one Tuesday, and one Friday. Luckily, I seem to be on track with my studying so far, which is why I actually have time to post this!

So-weekly goals. This past week’s goal was pretty successful-I think I nailed 5.5/7 breakfasts and lunches this week! So moving on to this week’s goal: no nighttime eating. During dead and finals week, there are treats and study snacks at every corner. While I know some people swear by their nighttime snacks, for some reason eating late at night always gives me stomachaches. While I would say I’m 99% fine after being sick, things that would normally give me a stomachache are magnified, and nightly snacks have not been kind to me as of late. So that’s this week’s goal-I’ll keep you all updated on how it goes!

Did you have pie for pi day?