Fitness Hopping and the Holidays

Date: December 27, 2018

Author: astottler

Hello, hello, and happy holidays!

I have a recipe to share at the end of this post, but first I wanted to talk a little about about what I’ve been up to over the holidays!

As I mentioned last post, due to the devastating wildfires in Butte County, we ended up having the whole week of Thanksgiving off of school. As a result, things were really hectic when we got back. I was able to help out with some of the wildfire victims though. We had 35 burned kitties come to UC Davis, and I was able to help with some of their treatments. In addition, the weekend before finals, I went up to Butte County with a few other UC Davis vet students and we helped vaccinate and give care to a ton of the kitties in a shelter up there. These experiences have been some of my favorite in vet school; this is why I’m here—to be able to help when something terrible happens. It also amazes me how sweet all these homeless kitties are. It really puts things perspective.

On a brighter note, I’m currently home for the holidays! My first weekend home was the Santa Run in San Jose. Can you believe this is my7th year doing it, and it was my first 5k race ever?

Winter break has actually been pretty active for me. I tried out Classpass, and there is a free week trial which gives you access to a TON of classes in that week. It’s been really fun popping into new studios and trying new things. That’s part of why I wanted to post today. I know how scary it can be to walk into a new studio, and try something new. I do want to try and assuage some of those fears.

Classes I’ve tried out:

Barre at Barre3

Cycling at LIFT

Barre at LIFT

Reformer at Bodyrok (this was probably the scariest one for me)

Barry’s Bootcamp

Core Cycle at Core Studio (with real ryder bikes—they move!)

Barre was the first class I tried. I’ve done a fair amount of yoga, but never really any type of pilates, and CERTAINLY never anything ballet related. I’m not necessarily the most coordinated, especially when it comes to anything dance. One tip I have if you’re intimidated to try a class is to bring a friend! I brought my friend to try this.

What to expect: lots of burning and leg shaking, lots of squats. I was pleasantly surprised that it was pretty easy to follow and required less coordination than anticipated. I liked that it had the same intentionality of movement as yoga, but was a little faster paced. You can be barefoot or wear sticky socks. I did my first couple classes without socks, and my feet were slipping all over the place. Other people didn’t have that problem as much as I did though. I invested in some sticky socks, and they were a game changer for me!

Cycling classes are something I’m pretty comfortable walking into a new studio and doing. That being said, I know they can seem intimidating! Check ahead of time to see if the class requires cycling shoes/if the studio rents out cycling shoes. If you need help setting up your bike, don’t be afraid to ask! Team members are always happy to help! Especially since there area a lot of different bikes out there that have slightly different setup.

What to expect: lots of cardio! Definitely bring water. Some studios use small hand weights for 1 song near the end of class. Some classes ride to the beat of the music and do things like push-ups on the bike, whereas some classes are numbers based and show your bike speed. If you’re going to a class with real ryder bikes (these are pretty rare): these bikes move side to side when you lean one way or the other. My biggest tip with these is be patient with yourself! They take a while to get the hang of; I had been on them a couple of times before at IDEA World Conference, and even though it has been years, it does get better each time. Standing on the bike was the hardest for me; really focus on stabilizing with your quads!

Reformer classes were easily the most intimidating for me. I actually signed up for one on accident; I probably wouldn’t have signed up for one, but I’m glad I did! Bodyrok recently opened nearby, and they offered “cycle and sculpt” class. I didn’t realize the :sculpt” portion was on a reformer until I showed up, but at that point I said to myself, “well, I guess I’m doing it.” I actually really enjoyed it! If you’re not familiar with the reformer, it’s basically a machine that looks like a torture device, with sliding platforms and handles on cables. It’s a big core workout! The sliding platform is moved by pulling on the cables, so you can use for anything from core work to bicep curls.

What to expect: slow, intentional movements, and burn! Get there a little early to have the instructor help show you what everything is used for and how everything moves. The class I went to required sticky socks, so check the studio standards on that! It was also really helpful for me to be directly next to someone to see what they were doing if I was ever confused. The instructor was very clear though!

Barry’s Bootcamp is a trendy fitness studio that recently reached Northern California from the East Coast. I dropped into a class while my family was in San Francisco to see the Union Square Christmas tree and other holiday festivities. My parents had a coffee date while I took the class.

What to expect: a dark room, with loud music, and high intensity cardio. The workout is split into a treadmill portion, and a floor portion consisting of weights, bands, and bodyweight movements. On the treadmill, we did intervals at sprints and on hills. My only complaint is really a personal one: I didn’t run as fast as I would have wanted to get an even harder workout because I wasn’t comfortable running over a 8.5/9 on the treadmill for fear of falling off. The instructor gave plenty of modifications, but I’m not sure this would necessarily be the best workout for beginners. In addition, there was a lot going on in the room because there were people doing the floor portion while others were on the treadmill so the instructor was yelling out instructions for both at the same time.

I’ve had a lot fo fun trying things! Here are some tips to fight that first-timer intimidation:

Bring a friend (see above)
Check the website to know what to expect/what to bring/what to wear. You can even look at reviews or blogs (like this one!) describing the class.
Arrive early.
Watch other students to see where to go/what to do/what equipment to grab.
Don’t be afraid to ask the instructor questions and let him/her know it is your first time.
People are so nice! Seriously. The staff at all the places I went was super friendly and welcoming.
Let go of comparisons. The person next to you may have been taking this class for years. Take modifications if you need them!
Have fun!

On that note, let’s get into some of the other holiday festivities!

I made a list of holiday things to do while on break, and one of them was to go out to dinner at a particular restaurant and see a movie. This burrata and poached pear with balsamic is actually one of the best things I’ve ever eaten, and was a seasonal special I remembered from a visit a few years prior. Afterwards, we saw the Grinch. It was cute!

Just like every other year for the past 10 years, my high school friends came over for our annual sugar cookie decorating! This year was the first time with fur babies! My friend brought her cat over to play.

As mentioned above, we visited Union Square and the giant mall up there!

On Sunday, my sister and her husband came over with their kitties for a wine and cheese night. Cheese selections included, aged gouda, havarti with dill, goat brie, stilton with cranberries, and a hard cheese with syrah.

As per annual tradition, on Christmas Eve we had dinner at Benihana, a Japanese steakhouse.

And finally, it was Christmas! My family hosted everyone this year. Marie enjoyed her first Christmas.

Also per somewhat newer tradition, we took Chloe for a walk along the water on Christmas morning.

For food, we got a precooked turkey along with mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and gravy. My sister made an eggplant parmesan and I roasted brussels sprouts with aged truffle balsamic (amazing).

For dessert, I made an amazing GF pear gingerbread upside down cake from Sally’s Baking Addiction. My Grandma brought white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.

It was a great day of food and family!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Vegas: Rest is For the Dead (Chainsmokers)

Date: July 24, 2017

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello again! I’m still working on my IDEA World recaps, but we’ve made it to Friday! It was one of the longest days of my life, but not in a bad way! (Well, it didn’t feel so great on Saturday, but that’s a post for another day.)

Friday morning, I woke up at 4:30 and could not fall back asleep. I think my body was so physically stressed from all the exercise the previous day that it was on high alert. Around 6am, I got up and had a Luna bar and half a nectarine before starting the conference.

My first workshop was another Schwinn class, this one on intervals in cycling. The instructor went over different types of intervals, and talked about studies that supported them.

-HIIT: going above the lactate threshold for a short period of time, with varying recovery times.

-This type of interval has been around forever (early 1900s).

-When riders can decide how long to recover between intervals, most self-select 2 minutes.

-HIIT is really hard! It’s physiologically stressful, so only do it 1-2 times a week. Schwinn really emphasizes cross training (weight lifting/yoga), which I think is amazing! When cycling, you’re in a pretty crunched up position, so if this is all you do, there will be imbalances. Sidenote: I never realized how much shoulder/back is used during cycling until I took 3 classes a day, and then got on a massage chair.

-When instructing intervals, make sure the riders know exactly what they’re in for: how it should feel, and how long.

-Some real bike races start with a “cold start,” meaning the bike is not moving. We did a set of intervals from a stopped position, and that was definitely something different!

-For all out efforts, make sure to offer proper recovery. Suggested: sing-a-longs. If not properly recovered, riders won’t be able to sing.

-HIIT intervals are all out efforts. They are usually shorter workouts, and the studies backing them up are of short workouts. An hour long HIIT class is not true HIIT.

-Tabata interval is 4 minutes with 20s work, 10s off. The study only looked at 4 minutes of work, not tabata after tabata after tabata. This is way over applied. It’s not necessarily bad, but the science isn’t there backing this up one way or another.

-Here’s a sample of a workout you can do: the Copenhagen intervals.

5 minutes. Each minute is:

10s anaerobic (breathless)

20s hard effort (edge of breathless, difficult work)

30s moderate (still working, but not crazy)

Rest for 2 minutes, and do 5 sets.

After my fueling issues the previous day, I wanted to be smarter and more efficient with my calories. I immediately made a flapjacked protein smoothie with the mix and some milk. This was absolutely perfect.

My next session was ICG, and the focus was on power numbers when cycling.

Power is a equation of leg speed x resistance in cycling. The ICG bikes calculate different power zones based on your FTP, or functional threshold power. This is the highest average power a rider can generate when cycling for an hour. The bikes can calculate your FTP based on a 5 minute time trial, and then they light up different colors based on the percent of the FTP you’re working at. It’s super cool! The instructor then gives you instructions based on what color zone you should be riding in, and the front of your bike lights up in that color. It seems like focusing on power is the new trend in cycling (more on this later), and in a lot of ways it’s better than training based off of heart rate because the heart rate is your physiological response to the intensity, whereas the power is the raw intensity.

For this session, we did a really extensive (read: hard) warm-up before doing the 5 minute FTP test. The bikes can also estimate your FTP based off a variety of factors, such as general fitness level, gender, and bodyweight. This is great because you wouldn’t have to do an FTP test for every ride, and new riders would have something to go off of. However, my estimated FTG was way higher than my measured FTP (possibly because my legs were already dead), so trying to stay in the color zone combined with an already tough workout was HARD. Finally, we did our FTP test and then continued the ride with our calculated FTP.

After class, I SPRINTED to the cafe at the Convention Center for lunch. Need. Fuel.

I got a southwest salad with chicken and used light Italian dressing and BBQ sauce as dressing. I also had baked chips because I also felt like I really needed salt! (And carbs.)

After eating, I went back to the expo to check out a few more things.

Highlights: cheerios overnight oats and monk fruit sweetened chocolate/hot chocolate.

Then, it was back to the Schwinn room! I broke into my emergency Cheerios.

This session was on how to WOW as an instructor. Basically, how to make your classes love you! Takeaways:

-Know the club culture, know the class culture.

-Know the members and the staff. Learn names!

-Know your brand. I talked about this in my first post that I wrote on my phone immediately after exiting this session. My brand is my passion. My why is getting to watch and help people transform.

-Study motivation speakers and rock stars to see their presence.

-Have a consistent instruction style, do drills that are actually backed up by science and then share that information!

-Change up your coaching language to keep it interesting.

-Pretend the mic doesn’t work and practice commanding the room (you are forced to have a bigger presence without a voice.)

-End with a “mic drop” moment. People are giving you an hour of their lives, bring it home strong and make them feel glad they came.

-Know your own coaching style and own it.

This instructor was up for the group fitness instructor of the year award, and I can see why. This class was awesome. The best classes are the ones that make you really dig deep and get emotional. The ones that push you to the place that’s almost magical, where you can feel yourself changing. This was my third cycling class of the day, but as I mentioned in the other post, I hit a crazy high power number.

After class, I typed up the post and drank a (free) LaCroix from the expo.

I didn’t even know this was possible, but I got a nasty and super painful bruise on my ankle after class. The rooms had chairs next to the bikes, and when unclipping from the pedals I hit my ankle super hard on the chair, and it immediately started swelling. LaCroix as a fancy ice pack…?

After the session, I left the Convention Center for my next session and was exposed to the elements. I was inside most of the week, and it was SUPER cold.

I ate a NuGo bar in my next session. I really wanted to wait for food until dinner, but I was dying. It was amazing.

My last session was a lecture only: food myths. It was pretty good, but not amazing. I think everyone has their own nutrition philosophies. I don’t agree with everything she said, but I agreed with some of the things.

-Addictive sugar studies have only shown sugar is addictive in rats. Is this really applicable to humans?

-1% of people have Celiacs, and 6-7% have a non-Celiac gluten sensitivity. However, 20-30% of people have cut gluten from their diet because they think it’s healthier. It’s not unhealthy unless you have one of the above issues.

-Coconut oil? Unsaturated fat has heart protective fats, so if you replace those with coconut oil, you’re losing that protectiveness. Not necessarily bad alone, but bad because it replaces something healthy.

-Most people eat too much protein. You only really need 0.8 g/kg bodyweight per day.

-95% of people who lose weight will regain it in 5 years.

-The “all natural” food label doesn’t mean anything legally.

-Juicing can offer a lot of antioxidants (depending on the juice) but still offers a sugar surge.

-Organic foods are not shown to be healthier for consumers, but better for the health of farm workers and the environment.

After the session, I rushed to the magic baseball room to catch an inning of a game before foraging for dinner. My hotel had a number of restaurants, including sushi. I wanted sushi, but there was a wait so I hit up the buffet since I figured they would have sushi. I for sure didn’t get my money’s worth at the buffet, but a Las Vegas buffet is for sure an experience.

I’m pretty sure the foods were 50% fat/oil.

I made myself a salad bar salad, and then got my sushi. I also tried some “Mexican street corn,” which was super mayonnaise-y and soggy, mashed potatoes (mostly butter), and salmon. I left most of the corn for obvious reasons!

I had a small dessert of soft serve and a few bites of cheesecake.

As far as my night, I actually had big plans! I decided that I’m in Vegas and I’m 23 years old, so I should actually go out an do something! When I was walking around with my sister, I saw a few signs for things. I ended up being myself a ticket to see the Chainsmokers at Encore. *Another note: dress code is enforced. I saw someone get kicked out of line for wearing shorts. Here’s a look at my outfit:

I got there a little bit early and explored Encore, looking for a TV playing the Giant’s game.

I finally found a bar with the game on and watched while sipping a gin and tonic.

Can I just say though, going to a NIGHTCLUB in VEGAS is so intimidating. But I decided I needed to just own it and go for it and have fun.

The club was apparently (one of if not) the best in the country? And it was absolutely incredible.

After waiting in line FOREVER, I was finally in. I grabbed another (CRAZY expensive) drink and walked around a little, exploring. I tried my luck at Blackjack and instantly lost $40. I just got really unlucky, and decided that there was no reason to throw away any more money. I see how it would be so easy to do though!

The thing about going to a club alone is that it’s not a huge deal. I made friends.

I did learn, however, that The Chainsmokers were not supposed to come on until 1:30am. Gulp. It was 11:30pm at this point. Would I stay for them…?

I did. And it was absolutely amazing. The club was really awesome and had great energy. Everything I like about this atmosphere is what I like about a spin class. I honesty think they cane really similar. It’s all about the music and the energy!

Here they are!

There was this cold steam that would sometimes shoot out of the floor.

And confetti.

As much fun as I was having, my energy was majorly starting to drop. Around 3, I decided to call it a night and take a cab back to my place.

By the time I reached my hotel room, I think I was more tired than I’ve ever been in my entire life (except maybe 3 hours later when my alarm was going off).

I almost slept in my clothes, and I was rushing around the room trying to get to sleep ASAP. I realized that I had been hungry around 10pm that night so I should probably eat something, so I literally ate cheerios out of a measuring cup while getting in bed.

It was honestly such an amazing night, and I’m glad I decided to just go out on my own and do something I wanted to do.

More adventures to come!

Vegas: Schwinn and the Craziest Drink

Date: July 23, 2017

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! I’m currently blogging at you from the Las Vegas airport! I have….a while…before my flight, so I’m going to knock out some of my recap posts from this weekend. If you didn’t know, I went to IDEA World, a huge conference for fitness professionals. I’m going to go in chronological order and share some of the information from the sessions, as well as Vegas adventures! My heart is full and my metabolism is blazing (seriously, constantly hungry). I also want to share as much as I can about what I ate during this conference, because what you eat during something like this is an interesting new challenge.

My flight landed right around dinnertime Tuesday night. The Vegas airport cracks me up. Thanks to slot machines right at the gates, you instantly know you’re in Vegas.

Balloon at check-in, because why not? I was staying at the host hotel for IDEA World, which was SO SO SO nice. Also, not a terrible price!

(View from my room.)

I went to this conference 2 years ago and had an absolute blast. The energy actually felt life-changing. On the way to my hotel, I was thinking about where I was 2 years ago versus where I am now. Had 2 years ago Aurora seen what I am and what my life is now, she honestly wouldn’t have changed a thing. While this was my last hurrah before vet school (in two weeks…eeek), I really felt like I was living the life. I got to spend all day learning and doing what I love, and got to do the whole “fun young person thing” at night.

The first thing I did was grab a Greek salad from the hotel cafe. I got ketchup for the chicken, and the cashier definitely made fun of me for that…#no shame.

Knowing I had a big week ahead, I called it an early night. I spent some time wandering around the giant hotel, and found a room with the biggest sports TVs and every imaginable game on. It’s for betting, but whatever. I definitely spent some time there pretty much every day. I love my boys!

Before I knew it, Wednesday morning was here! I did a pre conference Schwinn indoor cycling certification. I am currently certified through Spinning, but my certification is expiring in a few months and I chose not to renew it again. I feel like Schwinn is a little bit more in line with the future, and I was no longer able to find any Spinning in-person workshops for continuing education. And honestly I think a lot of the online options for credit are a waste of money for what you gain.

I packed a ton of food, and grabbed a few fresh things at the airport when I arrived. Day 1 breakfast was yogurt with cheerios and a nectarine that I brought. I knew I could have something a little bit heavier because it would be a few hours before I would be riding. Most days I had a Luna bar for breakfast.

Let’s do it—Day 1!

The certification was 8-5, and taught by 2 of Schwinn’s top master trainers, Jeffrey Scott and Amy Dixon. I went to some of their workshops at IDEA last time!

We learned the basics of bike fit, as well as the main tenets of a good class. We had 2 bike rides during the day, one right before lunch and one at the end of the day.

For lunch, I packed food from home before I left. A sunbutter and peach jam sandwich on GF bread, plus snap peas.

I had a bar in the afternoon, as well as a GF sea salt chocolate chip cookie that my sister brought me from the airport restaurant at SFO with amazing GF cookies.

I want to talk a little bit about Schwinn, and the difference between Schwinn and Spinning, because I am now currently certified in both. Both are based on riding like you would outside: no gimmicks; if you wouldn’t do it on a real bike, we won’t do it in spin class. This is definitely how I teach. Honestly, I think I teach about halfway between Spinning and Schwinn (maybe because I went to a number of Schwinn workshops before!). The biggest difference is in class structure and music selection. Spinning I think is a little bit more old school: you mimic a real ride with hills and flat road, and music is not necessarily the banging modern music; a lot of times they encourage instrumental. Schwinn is more of what you might see at Equinox or a high end gym: while it is divided into hills and flats, it’s more time interval based, both for sprint efforts and steady state. They also really emphasize the science behind each type of work, and HIIT (high intensity interval training) is a big focus. This day honestly really solidified my knowledge, and my identity as an instructor. Here are a few of my big takeaways:

-Most people have their seats too low. A longer leg=more power. With one foot at the top and one foot at the bottom of a pedal stroke, there should be a slight bend in the knee (Spinning always says a 30 degree angle).

-Schwinn really emphasizes their “coaching pyramid.” The main tenets are content (how long you do something, the intensity, the leg speed), clarity (what the ride is) and perspective (where you are in the class). The frame is coaching.

-It’s really important to let riders know exactly what they’re doing and what’s coming (in the near future), as well as give a brief overview of what the class is going to include that day. This is something I really emphasize as an instructor for a couple reasons: 1. It drives me crazy when I’m in a spin class and it’s unclear what I’m supposed to be doing and 2. People will work harder if they have a known end point. For instance, if you tell riders they have to sprint for 15 seconds only, they will go all out.

-Build the class before the music. I used to find music as I built the class, but lately I’ve been leaning ore towards building the class first anyways. It’s just more efficient. I let the music inspire the class sometimes, but I do think I will build the class first more in the future.

-Have a purpose or a theme of class. This lets the students know what they should be doing, and it gives class a direction. It could be something like “HIIT intervals,” or “steady state,” or even something fun, with themed music, or simulating a ride outside. (Anybody remember my Thanksgiving ride that I taught in a turkey hat, and simulated Thanksgiving day?)

-Schwinn encourages teaching with a rate of perceived exertion. Instead of complicated numbers, it’s easy, moderate, hard, or breathless.

Things that I intend on working on: build my classes with more of a purpose, and my overall presence in the room (more on that in another post!).

The two rides were incredible. The instructors are the best of the best, and therefore they really were able to push and motivate me! I left totally beat, even though it was only 2 classes (note I’m saying “only” 2….there’s a little foreshadowing for ya!).

In terms of outside of conference activities, my amazing sister decided to come up and stay with me for one night (hence the GF airport cookies), so we made the most of it! She found a fancy restaurant for us to go to in the Wynn hotel. *Note: a lot of places in Vegas had dress codes that were definitely enforced, i.e. no shorts/flip flops.

We got all dolled up and enjoyed walking around Wynn en route to Andrea’s.

I’ve never been inside the Wynn before, and had no idea it was so fun and whimsical (and elegant, of course). (I’ve been to Vegas a number of times, but always for softball tournaments in high school, so I mostly laid eyes on the strip and didn’t go inside places).

This is how you know it’s fancy: they asked us if we had a water preference—Fiji, San Pelligrino, or “house water.”<- That cracks me up.

Our dinner came with a little cucumber garlic gazpacho taste.

To start, we got truffle salt edamame. Why have I never thought of this before?? Amazing.

We got matching beautiful cocktails. They had Asian pear, lime, hibiscus syrup (and I couldn’t tell you what else). Yum!

For my meal, I got a salad with sesame ginger dressing and fried scallions, and an avocado roll.

Then, we headed to Paris for a rooftop beer park, with over 100 beers!

The inside of Paris was super trippy. The ceilings were painted like sky and it was actually really realistic!

And of course, here’s the eiffel tower:

I liked the beer park a lot. Maybe it was because it was a Wednesday, but it was super casual and we had a chance to just talk. I got a brown beer that I really liked! My sister got a vanilla stout, but the stout was light in color…interesting!

After, my sister wanted to walk across the street to the Cosmopolitan because of their “wildly inventive” drinks and giant chandeliers.

Folks, wildly inventive was correct. My sister got something with passionfruit and curry (and coconut, so I couldn’t try it), and then we split the craziest drink. I’m not kidding. We looked at the menu, and ordered the drink without any idea what any of it actually meant. After getting the drink, we realized it was Willy Wonka themed. I’ll get the description for you off their website:

“SChNOzBERRIES TASTE LIKE SChNOzBERRIES

a multi-sensory experience

dragonberry Rum, Sloe Gin, Aperol, Pickled Strawberry Lychee Pink Peppercorn Shrub, over a Miracleberry Ginger Gobstopper Ice Sphere with a scented Lolligarden”

Check it out:

Imagine our surprise when our drink came with a plant! It’s literally a lollipop garden.

But wait, there’s more! It for sure was multi sensory because…

They put fruity essential oils on the plant, and “watered” it with liquid nitrogen.

The drink was pretty good! Did you catch it that it had miracle berries? If you’re not familiar with them, they’re the magic berries that make everything (including really sour things) taste sweet. So the drink got sweeter as you drank it! It was fruity, and had a ginger ball of snow “gobstopper.” I didn’t have much of this because it was getting late, but I did enjoy the lollipop! It was sweet on one side and sour on the other, but after the miracle berry, it was completely sweet until the berry’s effects wore off!

It was so nice to have a girls’ night. It’s been SO long!

Since this is a mostly full day of eating, I had the second of the two GF cookies my sister brought me when we got back, this one a snickerdoodle!

We were in bed before 1, but my 5:30 alarm the next morning came far too soon.

More fun and information to come!

New Fitness Routine

Date: November 20, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! Look at this-back again already! Guess what? I’m officially on Thanksgiving break! To be fair my week was pretty low-key so it’s not THAT big of a deal but still.

I want to do some fitness updates today. And catch up on food. We’re losing our chef. Again. The new one ended up begin really good after adapting to the needs of the house, but now he’s leaving for a different job. So the search begins again.

In essays, I know you’re never actually supposed to flat out say the structure of how you’re going to prove an argument, but I’m still going to go right out and say-this is the structure of today’s post: Fitness thoughts with food pictures interspersed. Because I have lots of food pictures an don fitness pictures.

Is this not just the most amazing thing ever?? I went back to my favorite coffeeshop for the first time this year after a track workout and was treated to this.

After half marathon training, I was tired. I felt like I had 1000 aches and pains, and I was tired a lot. I felt like my body was put under a lot of stress (um, because it was). At the same time, I was rehabbing my shoulder. Prior to even hurting it, I felt like I had a lot of tightness/tiny aches building up.

Carrot ginger soup with gluten free ciabatta.

When I first returned to Crossfit, back when my shoulder was really touchy, I was really careful not to overdo it. After my half, I decided to make some changes. I want to be the fittest I can be, but I also want to be the fittest I can be for the longest time. I started to realize that I can’t put so much stress on my body. If I want to be running half marathons in 10 years, I need to put in fewer footsteps now.

Example A: Last summer (1.5 years ago to clarify), I was in pretty great shape. I ran a TON. I was half marathon training, and adding other running workouts on top of that. The result? I DEMOLISHED my feet. I could barely walk for a while. My half was far slower than it should have been. I had to take a while off of running completely, and my feet were still a problem for a long time afterwards. This year? I’m not overdoing the running, and my feet have essentially not been a problem (plus I’ve gotten better shoes).

Gluten free veggie panini and vegetable soup with my parents after seeing The Martian.

After my October half, I took it easy with the running. I ran consistently, but I didn’t follow a schedule. I fell in love with my 2.5 mile loop. As a result, it was casual and since my half I’ve been able to run whenever I want, without worrying about hurting myself. At the same time, I’ve also been doing lots of track workouts. Distance wise, they’re nothing. But in terms of intensity…man. (Sidenote-I’m officially done with my class project, and I will do a full write up of that.)

This was make your own burritos-I did a salad. Guac=life.

Additionally, I decided I would only go to Crossfit 3x a week. My shoulder doesn’t need more than this, and my joints don’t either. Every week, I go online and pick and choose which workouts I want to do most (which will be better for my shoulder and which lifts I should practice more), and then go on those days. I don’t need to go every day-I do enough other things.

And honestly? My body feels so much better. My runs don’t feel sluggish. I feel strong. I’m not less fit-there are some things I definitely still want to work on and improve, but with a well-scheduled week of workouts I can do that without stressing my body.

BBQ chicken over a salad with ranch+gluten free toast.

There are times when I feel like I can push myself more and want to do more-which is great! I just have to be smart about how I’m going about it. I want to get some more rowing in. Maybe more spin. Stick to track workouts. It’s all about efficiency and getting the more out of less!

Since this seems relevant-here’s my week of workouts thus far!

Monday: AM run 4 miles, PM teach spin+softball

Tuesday: AM timed 400m trial (plus 800m warm up), PM Crossfit:

At 0:00, 9:00, 18:00, 27:00, 36:00

5 Box Jump Over
200m Sprint
7 Thruster (95/75)
12 Cal Row

Wednesday: AM 5 mile run, PM teach spin+softball

Thursday: AM Crossfit (This one was killer):

5 Min AMRAP @85%-90% x 5 rest 3 between sets

Round 1, 3, 5

4 Burpee
8 Push Press
12 KBS

Round 2, 4

4 No Push Up Burpee
8 Front Squat
24 Double Under

Friday: AM Crossfit:

A: Back Squat @21×1 – 75-80% x 2 x 5; rest 2-3 min
B: BB Reverse Lunge – 6-8/leg alternating x 3; rest 2
+
Alternate OTM x 12

5 DB Row/side
30s Hollow Rock
In 40s – 15 squats + double under

I may do a short little run this evening, or may walk the pup (she’s visiting). Saturday or Sunday will probably be a rest day-depending on how I’m feeling/what my schedule is each day. I want to get a longish run in one of those days though because I’m doing a 10k on Thanksgiving and I haven’t done more than 5 miles in a while (aka my half).

What does your week of workouts look like?

TOL-When 200m Runs Are Homework

Date: October 7, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Alternatively titled, “When 200m Runs Feel Like Death.”

After yesterday’s WIAW fun, I thought I’d continue the link-up trend another day for a new to me link up-Thinking Out Loud. This is basically a chance to share random thoughts in a way we can pretend is organized. Yay!

So here we go-shall we?

The title of this post. For my exercise physiology class, we have to chose an exercise (from a list), do a timed trial, then design a training plan to improve by the end of the quarter. I chose the 400m run-so glad I didn’t choose the mile because the 400m is over so much more quickly! Plus training. Anyways-I did my timed trial yesterday. I ran 9 miles and taught a spin class on Monday, but I’m pretty sure that my legs were aching Tuesday night from that little 400m. It’s amazing how much different sprinting is! I did my first training workout this morning. I expected it to be practically nothing-I was only running a mile!-but it knocked me the heck out. Whew. I did a 400m warm up followed by 6 200m all out sprints with recovery in between. My legs still hurt. I think I should see some improvement!
Since I wasn’t doing a long sweaty workout, I slept in a bit and went straight from the track to class. Zero to presentable in 10 minutes flat.
Lemon Luna bars taste like summer to me. I haven’t had them in a while!
Fun fact-exercise increases the size of your heart, but different exercises do this differently. Resistance training increases the thickness of your heart, while endurance training increases the volume.
When I look at old pictures of myself, I always think my hair looked so much better. Not that my hair is bad, but I feel like it used to be fuller/thicker/straighter. I’m trying to stop sleeping with my hair up in hopes that this will change.
I’m at that point of half marathon training where things tend to be a grind, phantom pains pop up, and everything aches. At my softball game, I felt so slow, old, and creaky. Granted, this was after 9 miles+a spin class, but still, I think it’s time I gave my body a little more respect. Especially with my intense 1 mile workout this morning, I’m realizing I need to be putting fewer footsteps into my fitness going forward. I’m sure this won’t be my last half marathon (knocking on wood of course), and I’ll definitely still keep running because I like how it makes me feel, but I need to be more efficient with my footsteps, and with high impact exercise in general. I’m also limiting myself to 3 weight lifting sessions a week (including Crossfit) because while that may not be a lot of footsteps, it can be a lot on the joints, and I had various things pop up over the summer from lifting so heavy. Plus, I need to be kind to my healing shoulder!
I’m one of those people who dwells on the past, and now more than every that I’m a senior! As I do things for the last time, it’s like deja vu. I also miss being a freshman! Honestly I think I view that time now as far better than I did at the time, but I miss a lot of aspects about it, like rowing, the freshman dorm community, freshman experiences, and that freshman eagerness. Then vs now-oh hello baby face!
I’m also so nostalgic of my freshman fitness level. #rowing Seriously guys, I was so fit. With my new plan to do less high impact exercise, I’m hoping to build my fitness by hopping on the erg again. I always miss my old workouts!
I have been at school for 3 weeks and I still find cat fur on all my clothes.
I can’t believe I’m a senior in college. I know I keep saying that, but where the heck did the time go? I feel like it was yesterday that I was that easier baby-faced freshman. I’m determined to make the most out of the year and out of the future.
I’m so happy I dropped a class. I finally feel like I have time to devote myself fully to my other classes, and with the super full schedules I’ve had in the past, I haven’t always felt I’ve been able to.

What are you thinking today?