Day in the Life: Winter 2017

Date: January 24, 2017

Author: astottler

I’m at an awkward phase of life. I’m not in school full time. I’m not working full time. (I will begin working again when my 10000 interviews are over and I’m home more regularly!) I always wondered what people do with their days, especially when they aren’t working. I have a lot of friends who have taken time off between college and now, and I’m always curious what their day-to-day life is like. So I wanted to share my experience. Here goes nothing! (Well….hopefully not nothing.)

5:15am: Alarm

I mostly go to 6am Crossfit. Which is a little annoying that I have to get up that early for no particular reason, but I like getting things done in the morning and the 7am Crossfit class is being phased out. I get ready and go downstairs for a pre-workout snack.

5:45: Leave for Crossfit. BRRR. It’s either pouring or frosty in California these days.

6:00: Crossfit. I actually found the workout really frustrating. They’ve been programming so much STUFF into class lately that we haven’t really had time to work on things. After a warm up, we had about 5 minutes to do cleans. We worked up to 80% for 3 sets of 1, but I literally only had time for 2 warm up reps moving up in weight, and I didn’t feel ready when the clock started. We did a clean every 30s, and I just didn’t feel warmed up or recovered enough. It felt heavy and I actually missed my last set and had to re-do it. At this point I was super frustrated as we moved on to 5 sets of 6 non-kipping toes to bar (my toes did not reach the bar…) and 30 double unders. THANKFULLY my double unders cooperated today. Finally, the WOD. 7 minute AMRAP: 12 burpees, 8 Russian kb swings (53#), 6 pull ups. I got 3+3.

7:15: Arrive home to a beautiful sunrise.

I wanted to hold off on breakfast as long as possible since my lunch was going to be so late, so I distracted myself by packing a lunch and cleaning up.

Salad: pear | grilled chicken | blueberry chèvre | lettuce

8:00: Breakfast! Blueberries+flapjacked mighty muffin.

8:30-10:30: Get ready for the day, write up a blog post, get my spin playlist up on Spotify (I used an old one but it was on iTunes not Spotify), work on studying for my final.

10:30: Eat my Cheerio snack.

10:45: Leave to drive down to Stanford to teach spin. It’s about a 25 minute drive, but parking lately has been impossible so I have to allow an extra 25-30 minutes. Blah.

11:15: Arrive on campus and find a (legal!) parking spot right away. Yes! I hang out in my car for 30 minutes or so and do some research on my phone.

12:00-12:50: Teach spin! It went well. I used a playlist I made a year ago, and it’s one of my favorites so I’m pretty familiar with it!

1:30: Arrive at the library. I’m STARVING (as per usual on my lunchtime teaching days), and sit in the cafe area (a vending machine with tables…) to dive into my packed lunch. Salad that I made with champagne vinaigrette and GF cheddar cracker crumbs.

1:50: Get to work on studying!

3:10: Break for a snack. Nothing new here.

3:20: Finish my chapter and then realize the library is far too loud with the influx of high schoolers to study (I require silence, unfortunately, or I get so distracted!) so I start this blog post.

3:50: Leave library and head to the grocery store+GNC. I needed some more protein powder, and wanted to try some protein bites that I’ve seen on Instagram (I’m a sucker for advertising…). I also found a new brand of protein bar that comes in a ton of flavors that I’m actually not allergic to, which is rare, so I made out quite well!

5:00: Arrive home and start making dinner. It’s a breakfast for dinner type of day! I mix up the GF waffle mix and then start making a scramble while my mom is on waffle duty. I’m a firm believer of carrots in scrambles.

The scramble included grated carrots, green onions, mushrooms, garlic, tomato, spinach, and English cheddar.

I decided to dip my waffles (this plus one more) in maple syrup, and was a little overly ambitious with how much syrup I would actually use. Whoops.

With a side of pup!

After dinner we cleaned up and turned on some Netflix.

I bought some half price holiday popcorn and tried a few handfuls. SO good.

I also broke into one of my GNC finds. A Red Velvet protein bite. It was good!

I’m typing this up as we finish our last episode of Gillmore Girls. I still need to shower, but I’m shooting for being in bed at 10:00 to read a little!

Day in the Life: Fall 2016

Date: October 13, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

It’s that time again! Day in the life!

5:45am: FREAKING YOYO. We were both feeling sad the night before (post-baseball blues. As heartbreaking as it was, I honestly think the Cubs were the better team and deserved to win, that’s just not how you want to go down…) so I let him sleep with me. Around 5:45 he got sweet and especially restless and wouldn’t stop walking across my face and chest.

6:15: Alarm goes off.

6:45: Leave for 3 mile run. It’s dark in the mornings! Also chilly! Upper 40s.

The run actually felt better than expected! I basically always do the same 3 mile route. I live in a good neighborhood but there isn’t a ton of space to go in different directions. I also am pretty much limited to 3 miles right now. I spent so much time on my feet and walking at work that my stress fracture spot sometimes gets a little sore if I pass 3. And I’m ok with that for now. Decent speed though! Good negative splits—I’ll take it!

7:20ish: Make and eat breakfast. I’m in the mood for a flapjacked muffin, so I eat a S’mores one with mango.

The key to these is to slightly undercook them so they stay gooey and don’t get tough!

7:45: Pack lunch for the day.

7:50am: Shower and get ready; pack up my bag.

8:25: Run out the door and drive to work.

8:45: Arrive at the zoo!

I was at a colder part of the zoo this morning, and was determined not to be cold. I packed layers on layers. Fleece lined long sleeves, sweatshirt, fleece north face, gloves.

9:00: My day officially begins! I walk to my first observation, and see one of the cheetahs! They weren’t out much earlier this fall so it still feels like a treat to see them!

Then it’s time for my first observation.

Somali Wild Asses.

10:30: Our next observation is cancelled due to construction so we head back by way of the warm bird house.

And then it’s back to the lab to work.

12:00: Lunchtime! I haven’t managed to fully warm up so I’m grateful for my soup! I made it Tuesday night, another wing it recipe, but the same as before.

Chicken, ginger, garlic, mushrooms, soy sauce, asparagus. Essentially. I added a little coriander too for some warmth, because why not?

I also had a few sweet potato tortilla chips and some Vans Say Cheese GF crackers.

1:00: Lunch is over, back to work!

2:00: Next observation starts.

3:00

4:00: Snack!

5:00: Off for the day! After some debating, I decided to go to Crossfit. Like I said before, I’ve been suffering a little bit with post-baseball blues and wanted something fun to do after work. I ripped my finger doing toes to bar and snatches the previous day. (I also hit 110# for 1 RM thrusters…I was happy with that!)

This is the time of year when I start to look like a weather confused CA girl. Shorts. 2 jackets. It’s cool.

5:15: Arrive at Crossfit, and sit in my car for a few minutes before heading in.

5:30-6:30: Crossfit!

For strength, we did 1 rep max weighted ring dips. Which for me was find the lightest band, because ring dips are not my strong point.

Anytime I see pull ups in a WOD, I try to make it. It’s one of my newer skills, so I have fun with them! This workout was 50 pull ups, 75 push jerks, and 100 front squats. You work every other minute and rest every other minute. I was a little worried about my torn finger, but as I learned in the middle of my workout the previous day, I found the best possible place to tear a finger. I made it through! I used 55#.

6:45: Make dinner! You know I have to snack while I cook.

7:00: Dinner on the table. Nothing crazy here. Avocado toast, scrambled eggs (1 whole+1 white+milk) with Irish cheddar, and spinach with nutritional yeast, coriander, and garlic.

I ate while watching Netflix. I’m watching the United States of Tara, which is about a woman with DID. The way the show is done reminds me a little bit of OITNB.

Dessert: a few GF cookies. These new ginger cookies from Trader Joe’s +WOW chocolate chip.

7:30: Start to watch the Dodger-Nationals game. I stream it while cleaning up my room a little bit. It’s SO good to watch baseball again, and while I do care about the outcome of this game, it’s not the same type of crazy stress as with the Giants. (My superstitions were getting a little ridiculous for our games. Knock on wood by knocking on my head, then Yoyo’s head, then hand on Yoyo for the pitch. #noshame)

8:00: Start this post while watching the game+snacktime.

I have some of these+snap pea crisps+pumpkin spiced pumpkin seeds.

9:30: Start Saturday’s spin class while watching baseball, and continue this post.

Somewhere 10-11: Bedtime!

Day in the Life: Summer 2016

Date: July 8, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hi friends! We’re back for another day in the life! Sadly, this may not be the most detailed, but we’ll roll with it, right?

5:40am: Alarm goes off

I get ready for Crossfit. This involves eating a bit: half a slice of zucchini bread (the last of my minimal freezer ration that I brought from home) and a few GF cheese filled crackers (SO addictive).

I’m not normally one to workout in just spandex, but workouts have been SO sticky with the humidity. The gym is unairconditioned an dust holds heat, so it’s gross even at 6:30am. When I wear shorts, they just stick to my skin and make it hard to move around.

I actually end up taking less time than I allotted to get ready. It’s only 1 mile away too.

6:20ish: walk in and start to warm up. We don’t do warm ups as a class; you’re responsible for doing your own beforehand.

Here was the workout:

When I saw tempo deadlifts, I knew it was my jam. I’ve been doing that tempo for deadlifts every week until last week for about 2 months, thanks to my foot limitations. The MetCon was sweaty and hard! I’m not fully functional at this point, so I did my jumps onto a 16″ box, and stepped back and forth for the burpees. I used a band for the pull ups. The second part was essentially a plank, on the hands. We went for as long as we could in the 5 minutes. I lasted over 2 minutes before resting, and I was pretty proud of how I did overall!

I left dripping and feeling like I accomplished something for my morning!

Upon arriving back at the dorm, I showered and got myself ready for making breakfast. Outfit of the day? Scrub top, khakis, hiking boots.

Plain Greek yogurt with blueberries, sunbutter, and vanilla cereal. I also snacked on cherries while I put it together.

8:30: Leave to start my day.

9:00: Begin the day’s tasks. I don’t think I should go into much detail but this week involves horses.

12:00: Break for lunch. I have more of those cheese crackers, plus a salad with goat cheese, mediocre blueberries, and chicken. I didn’t want to put my nectarines in my salad anymore because they’ve been crazy good lately and it feels like a waste!

I actually also ate my nectarine that I had packed for a snack. Oh well. I was extra hungry thanks to Crossfit.

I broke mid-afternoon to eat a peppermint Luna bar as well.

I actually had a lot of time to think about my vet school app essays, and I’m feeling good about my direction, which is important! I need to schedule some low key time to sketch them out a little.

6:30: Leave, as a giant storm is rolling in. It actually wasn’t as bad as it was projected to be, but there were flashes of lighting everywhere I looked as I drove back.

6:45: Arrive back at the dorm and throw some zucchini in the oven with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Scarf down some cherries and more of those cheddar crackers.

7:00 Phone meeting about vet school stuff while the zucchini cooked.

7:20: Throw a slice of GF bread in the oven to toast while I get the rest of dinner ready.

Nice and black, just the way I like them! (In all honesty I could and should have probably taken these out sooner, but oh well.)

7:30: Dinnertime!

Zucchini, avocado toast, chicken, and a veggie patty.

Settle down to eat with Grey’s Anatomy (I’m on Season 10). Dessert is a chocolate mint Yasso bar.

Throughout the rest of the night, I also have a GF blueberry muffin and part of a Bobo’s lemon popppyseed bar.

After finishing my episode, I do some vet school app stuff, watch a few youtube videos, and settle down to read.

Projected bedtime: 10:30-11. If I had work tomorrow I would probably be in bed sooner!

Day in the Life Spring 2016: Classes

Date: April 25, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! I mentioned last week I wanted to do another DITL post for a day that I had classes, so I recorded Monday. I know I’m a day early, but I’m still linking up to WIAW because this included all my food.

WIAWbutton

Day in the Life, Monday 4/25/16:

7:00 alarm

Time to start getting ready for my workout!

Preworkout meal is lemon blueberry bread.

7:40: Leave for Crossfit.

8:00: Crossfit. Today’s workout is a 1RM strict press and 1RM push press. I had near/on my previous max for strict, and failed 110# for push. For push, my max is 120# but that was pre-shoulder injury. Honestly, my shoulder has been a little angry lately thanks to lots of pull ups and presses last week. It gets like this when I work it a lot and is strong again when it gets a break.

My good shoulder was feeling a bit wonky on the thrusters so I took them slow and did 55#. Since TTB is my current movement to work on, I spent most of my time with them.

Since I had to send my shoes back, I’m back to my old Reeboks.

9:15: Return to my dorm for breakfast! I’m pretty hungry this morning so I add cereal to my yogurt bowl, finishing off the bag of Gluten Free Maple Heritage Crunch. This is my new favorite yogurt topping, but the vanilla flavor is ever better. Also featured is homemade reduced sugar raspberry jam courtesy of my aunt, and sunbutter.

->10:15: Get ready for class, clean up, and dress up like the normal human I sometimes pretend to be.

10:30-12:00: Genetics. We get out 20 minutes early, which is really nice!

This is where I should mention something that is currently weighing on my mind. My foot. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this much, but it’s been hurting lately in a new and interesting way. And it’s getting worse. I just have a bad feeling about it. During our break in class, I made myself an appointment with a podiatrist, and luckily I was able to get a time early Tuesday morning. More about this later in the post, but I’m glad I can get it taken care of ASAP.

12:00: Lunchtime! Leftover soup+sweet potato tortilla chips. Super aesthetic, I know.

12:30-1:30: Bio library to start studying for next week’s test, because it was too cold outside! I think at least half of the people in the Bio library were asleep, so I guess it’s that time of year.

Oh, and here’s what I look like:

1:30-2:20: Evolution and Ecology of Animal Behavior

2:30-4: Human Behavioral Biology (We got out 20 min early.)

I had half a chocolate cupcake Luna bar in class, and was STARVING. This bar is so exciting for me guys. First time trying it. Still hoping I won’t react to the cashews. Fingers crossed!

4:15: Back at the dorm. I am hungry again so grab a few pop chips with strawberry cream cheese.

4:30: In the car to drive home for dinner+Biochem. I decide to listen to my audiobook, The Husband’s Secret. I’m near the end. I actually started it last August (what), but picked it up again recently with my long runs for the Cherry Blossom race.

5:00: Arrive home to my little Psycho Pup. (Disclaimer: I forgot to take pictures so I asked my parents to send me some after I left.)

5:15: Once she calms down enough, we sit down to dinner. Blueberry oatmeal muffins from the Nancy Clark Sports Nutrition book, plus a new and super interesting soup. This is Colombian Chicken Soup, and if you’re looking to switch up your soup rotation, I highly recommend this one. It had all kinds of interesting flavors and toppings. It was broth based with potato, chicken, asparagus, and corn on the cob. You then top it with yogurt, capers, rice, cilantro, and fresh avocado. YUM.

I also had a few bites of homemade chocolate.

6:10: Leave for Biochem

6:30-9:30: Biochem. I had trouble focusing for the first part because I was really worried about my foot. Like I said before, I just have a bad feeling about it. I’ve never had pain here before, and for some reason “stress fracture” keeps coming to the front of my mind. The place where it hurts, there is really not much but bone to go wrong. Like I said, I’m anxious for answers. A quick google search for recovery time for a stress fracture also included common running fractures. Guess where it hurts?

In the odyssey of a 3 hour Biochem class, I moved from denial to freaking out to anger to acceptance. So I guess we’ll find out tomorrow. I’m just grateful this is happening post-Cherry Blossom and Crossfit Open.

Snack at the midway point:

10:00: Finally arrive back at the house.

I’m not in the mood to eat, but I’m hungry so I have a piece of chicken and a couple pop chips.

And some sips of aloe juice:

10:20ish: Start typing up this post.

Is that sufficiently meta?

11:00-12:00 (?): Probably finish this post, print out some reading for the doctor’s office, and possibly start Wednesday’s spin playlist.

Have you ever broken a bone? Or gotten a stress fracture?

Day in the Life Winter 2016

Date: January 27, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! As promised, I’m popping in for another day in the life! So here we go!

6:33: Get out of bed. I woke up about 15 minutes earlier, and am getting up an hour before my alarm thanks to an early bedtime!

Record the night in my sleep journal, which I have to keep as homework for my Sleep and Dreams class. It was a good night’s sleep!

Then it’s time to get ready for my morning workout. In this process, I accidentally started updating the software on my phone which took foreverr and was super frustrating while I was trying to take pictures of everything. GRR. Some photos had to be taken retroactively.

Daily vitamins: probiotics plus a gummy multivitamin. I know they’re mens, but the differences are not significant and when I couldn’t find my normal brand I went with what looked most delicious.

Next, I head downstairs for a pre workout snack and realize I have a friend.

Was not expected that! He has quite a presence in the corner there. We’re having a Star Wars themed dinner in my house on Friday, which I’m assuming is why he’s there!

I go in search of the gluten free crackers.

I usually do about 2/3 of a serving pre-run, and there were only about 5 crackers left so I supplement with another 5 from a bag in my room.

7:15: Check weather and bundle up (although not enough because #CAgirl).

7:30: Get going on my track workout!

I start with a one lap warm up and then stretch. I’m less than 2 weeks from race day, so I’m honing in the paces a little more. I planned to do 3x800m at 8:00 pace with a 3 minute rest in between because my track workouts have been around that distance lately, but then I realized that was silly because on Sunday I ran 1.5 miles at that pace with no rest, so I upped it to 4x800m plus a 400m sprint at the end. I’m happy to report that I felt good and solidly hit my paces!

I made it halfway through the workout before caving in to the gloves. #CAproblems

I finished around 8 am.

8:15: Back at the house, it’s breakfast time! The yogurt in the house right now is full fat plain Greek. I topped about half a cup of that with a peeled persimmon and sun butter. I spent some time trying to arrange it to not look like something the cat threw up, and I assure you it looks much better in the picture than in person.

While eating, I scroll through my Timehop and find this post.

1 year ago today was my first flare up, which means I’ve been dealing with this illness for a year now. I’m definitely doing better, but I had no idea what a rough road I had ahead of me at that point!

On a happier note, here’s a time hop of baby freshman Aurora.

After breakfast, I pack up my food for the day. I’m out of the house all afternoon and through lunch.

Then I shower and get ready for the day. I have a piece of this gum along the way! So good. I ordered like 12 of these off of Amazon.

It’s about 9:30 now and I don’t have class until 11:30. I spend this time finishing up my spin class—I didn’t choreograph the last hill—and doing some Psych reading.

Along the way, my stomach starts to feel a little funny so I have a few crackers hoping that it’s not in the process of flaring up.

11:15: Leave for class. I bike, but it’s clear across campus.

I love this shirt but it kind of makes me crazy to look at…

11:30: Animal Enrichment Lecture. This is an awesome class. Senior pre-vets have the option to do it, and we meet once a week for lecture and once a week for hands on time with the animals. Last week, we got to hang out with pigs! Today in lecture we talked about pigs—various breeds, behaviors, and how to handle them.

12:45: Lunchtime! Class ran a little bit late today. I have leftovers for lunch. Sweet potato chicken soup and a cornbread with a drizzle of honey.

Right before lunch my stomach started feeling a little funny and while I hoped it was just because it was empty, I suspected it might be more than that. After lunch I took my first stomach med of the day in hopes of staving off the issues a little bit. I love these new tums—they’re chews and are pretty tasty! Despite my concerns, I powered through my meal because I needed the calories for my spin class that night.

1:15: Leave for my 1:30 class.

My 1:30 is Sleep and Dreams, and today we talked about Lucid Dreaming (being aware that you are dreaming). It’s pretty cool how they proved it! The lucid dreamer was able to give eye movement signals from within a dream.

2:20: Break between classes. I was supposed to eat my pear at this point to meet my morning calorie goal, but it was clearly not happening. My stomach started getting angrier.

I spent more time doing Psych reading. The reading is on Depression.

2:45: Pop a single pepto to try and quiet my stomach enough to eat my afternoon snack because I HAVE to get at least those calories in before teaching spin that evening. Hate my body a little bit. I do develop a theory about what caused the problems today though. I had a persimmon this morning, and can link flare ups to two other instances where I ate a persimmon. This was a late variety persimmon, and both other instances were this same type, so maybe it’s this particular type that is an issue, and the other ones I had earlier in the season were ok? I can’t actually think of any cases where I had this type of persimmon without a flare up. So I suppose persimmon season will be prematurely ending for me :/

3:00 Sex and Gender in Physiology. Today we’re talking about hormones.

Thankfully, I’m starting to feel better and have a Luna bar in class. I have to be pretty precise with the timing so that I’m neither full nor starving by 5:30.

Dealing with my stomach is such a freaking process.

4:30: Arrive at my dorm. I ordered more stomach meds on Amazon and am pretty pumped that they’ve arrived because I’m out of the orange flavor and am getting a bit tired of berry. I think I just need to accept that these are my life right now.

I’m feeling a lot less like death than earlier, but still a bit rough and since I’m teaching spin, I take a full dose of pepto and of my new Tums. I really try to avoid taking these when I can, but Spin can be rough so it’s worth going all out. Thanks to my stomach, spin teaching days are especially stressful because I HAVE to be feeling good come 5:30.

4:30-5 Get ready for spin. The stomach meds are working. They are amazing. They are a lifesaver. My stomach returns to its normal size and I get pretty hungry. Uh oh. Nothing to do now though—my stomach is definitely not happy enough to eat right before class.

5:10: Bike over to class.

Again, bundled up. I was freezing all day, so 2 jackets it is.

5:30: Teach spin! Last night I was inspired to choreograph an epic, disgustingly heavy hill, and my class just nailed it. It was awesome! Even better? My stomach 100% behaved itself. I thought I might have problems from being too hungry, but it behaved! Yippee!

6:30: Dinnertime! On the menu is turkey with olive tapenade, and rosemary roasted potatoes (with ketchup of course). I had some greens on the side with light champagne vinaigrette, which I bought myself because I’m sick of the sugary dressings we have! I also grab some greens for second dinner later on, and for lunch tomorrow since I’m packing again.

This much meat is probably not wise, but I’m starving and don’t have too many other things on my plate.

For dessert, I have a few chocolate covered gluten free pretzels.

I also grab part 2 of lunch tomorrow to claim for myself: gluten free pizza, AKA pizza made on a tortilla! There’s only one without sausage, so I don’t want it to get eaten up!

7:15: Start typing up this post while trying to decide if my stomach is going to rebel again or if the flare up actually seems over.

7:45-8:15: Work on more Abnormal Psych reading. Decide my stomach is happy enough for second dinner.

This absolutely hit the spot. Gluten free bread, spinach, egg, and a sprinkle of mozzarella. Egg cooked in the microwave because I don’t need anything fancy! I also had a couple of bites of potato and half of a kettle corn rice cake for “dessert.” I’m trying to work more real foods (plus veggies and protein) into my late night meal, so this was perfect.

I spent the next 30 or so minutes doing more reading and then headed to a women’s health event downstairs where I had a couple of pieces of chocolate.

Now, it’s approximately 10pm. On the agenda is the rest of my reading. It’s definitely not imperative that I finish tonight because I have plenty of time tomorrow morning before class, so I’m going to pack it up around 11 and get ready for bed then most likely!

That’s my day! I guess it turned into a “day in the life with stomach ailments” but hopefully that gives you some insight into my day to day happenings!

What does your day look like?