MIMM-Christmas in the Park and Santa Run

Date: December 15, 2013

Author: astottler

I’m linking up with the fabulous Katie today because this weekend has been fun and marvelous! What could be better than getting in the Christmas spirit and spending time with cats and family?

The first marvelous thing? I finished bringing my stuff home from school, including my plant. It’s a plumeria I got from Hawaii, and it’s thriving in my room. I guess the humid, warm climate that seems to mold everything is good for it? Proud plant momma right here!

Then, my mom and I shared an amazing sandwich-turkey and avocado from Ike’s, which is kind of a big deal around here (and there’s one on campus!) Yum!

Then I did some Christmas shopping. I’m really excited about some of my gifts this year, and I cannot wait to share it with you guys…after Christmas though!

Which brings us to Sunday. Sunday I did a Santa Run 5k. I did the 5k last year, which is the only 5k I’ve ever done. After finishing training for halves, I’ve been working really hard on getting faster. I had countless 6am wakeup calls for 30 degree track workouts. I really wanted to PR this race.

For breakfast, I had something a little unusual-cottage cheese, cocoa powder, and a little honey, topped with raspberries and served with a persimmon.

Before leaving for the race that afternoon, I had super light lunch-persimmon, more banana bread, and a little spinach bread-like stuff. I was more concerned about having stomach issues than being hungry since this was such a short race, and I remember being stuffed going into it last year.

The race is in its second year-it benefits Christmas in the Park, and Christmas display the city puts up every year, which was ranked top 10 in the world! Here are some pre-race photos-everyone dressed up as Santa, but I wanted something more comfortable to race in, plus my parents requested I wear something that didn’t blend in so much as they had trouble finding me in my last race, so I wore my Santa Run shirt from last year.

The race itself? It was tough. I was super nervous before the race, and they nervousness kind of turned to nausea as soon as I started running. I most likely definitely went out too fast; I didn’t wear my Garmin because I was worried it would freak me out, but I know my second half of the race was much slower than the first.

Lately during my races, I question why the heck I keep signing myself up for them! SO painful. At least halves are slower so you can enjoy the first half of the race or so comfortably and not be dying until the end…

I definitely did not feel as prepared as I should have been. I haven’t been out of breath in this way in a while. My endurance base? It’s great. I haven’t done much sprinting though, and that needs to happen.

I didn’t PR this race. I realized that pretty quickly. My official time was 25:36, which is 37 seconds away from a PR. Here are some very unattractive running pictures:

I felt pretty awful right at the finish. They were handing out cookies and milk (cute, right??) which i grabbed for my dad.The thing about 5ks though? You recover pretty quickly, so it didn’t take long before I was game to try a s’mores pizza. Because why not?

It was pizza dough with nutella, dark chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers. It was delicious! And messy. Check out the aftermath.

Walking around after the race, my calf started to cramp a little. Nothing major, just felt on the verge of a cramp. After some salt, it was much better though!

I also got a new friend.

And here are some pictures from Christmas in the park:

My sister ended up meeting us there and then inviting us to her place for macaroni and cheese. It just so happens my favorite froyo place is on the way home…

A bit of tart with fruit, salted caramel pretzel, and pumpkin pie, with toffee, brownies, and chocolate pretzels.

And after some time in front of the TV prepping for tomorrow’s trip (more in a second), a little snack that included cheese, crackers, and these guys:

Have you guys had Jo-jos from Trader Joe’s? Get them. Now. They’re decadent and addictive. They’re basically chocolate covered oreos but in cool flavors-these are gingerbread and peppermint.

So my thoughts on the race? While I’m a little disappointed, I’m not really surprised. Based on my training, I knew hitting my goal pace would be really hard. I have two more 5ks in the next few months; the race made me both want to never run a race again and train even harder at the same time. Races hurt. But if I’m in better shape they hurt less, right? Or I just go faster and they hurt just as much. I have a couple of ideas of what I can do to get faster. I want to do more sprints-I need to do more agility types of drills anyways because my ankles are weak. I need to do longer runs OUTSIDE at my goal pace-like without breaks in the middle. I love doing workouts with intervals, where you get to rest in the middle. But you don’t get to rest on race day, so I need to prepare myself for that as well. And I need to click with the nutrition. To be perfectly honest, being lighter means instantly faster because there isn’t so much to carry around. I’m heavier than a year ago, and while some of that is muscle, it still has to be carried 3.1 miles. For the next couple of months I may put weight lifting more on the back burner and focus hard on running.

As for the trip-tomorrow I’m going to Solvang, a little Danish town near Santa Barbara, which should be adorable and Christmas-y. In preparation, we had to re-watch the Psych episode where they go there. I can’t wait!

What did you do this weekend?

Anticipation (T-7 days)

Date: October 13, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello friends! I finally found an enjoyable way to do laundry-blog while it’s in the washer! And sheesh, apparently SUnday night is the best time to do it, every single washer was free!

Here’s some random food from yesterday. Since this is a food blog and all.

Pumpkin+honey+tons of spices, with sunflower seed butter and cottage cheese.

Dinner-teriyaki tilapia, grain mix, thai chicken, salad.

I had every intention of studying bio last night, but I got hijacked by/crashed a quidditch party. My sister is the captain of the team, and her boyfriend is Jewish and makes latkes. Which were delicious. Plus, they made homemade applesauce-AMAZING! My sister also made butterbeer, which is WAY too sweet for me, so I went for the less sweet ice cream with caramel sauce. WHich should give you an idea for the sweetness of the drink. And then-genius: applesauce, ice cream, caramel sauce. You all should go out and make applesauce and then try this. Needless to say I ate way to many latkes and ice cream, and my stomach has been hating me lately. I was worried it would be an issue on my run, but it was fine!

Guys. This is where I run. This is seriously the prettiest and most scenic place I can think of around here.

I wasn’t pushing the pace, but I felt really good.

So what do I do when my ultimate goal, pushing hard race pace turns into a comfortable run? I have no idea how fast I should go out next week now! This felt really good! The run featured rolling hills, with a decent sized hill around mile 4. I’ve done this run 3x: the first while training for my first half, and then early in my training for this half. The first time: I took the big hill at a 12/13:00 pace. Last time, I was proud to be around 11:00. Today, I did it sub-10. To be honest, I didn’t really feel the hills that much. I guess I was a little more out of breath. It’s amazing what hillwork/speedwork will do for you!

Also, I’m fairly certain of one thing. I’m going to be sobbing the first 3 miles. I get choked up just thinking about the race-I can’t explain it, it just makes me so happy. I’m unbelievably excited! My last race, I felt so lucky to even be physically able of running, so I’m not really sure what my excuse is this time!

I’ll probably be sobbing the last 3 miles as well…my feet starting killing around mile 4 of today’s run. That means what, only 9.1 miles of intense pain? Funnnn.

After my run, I went to get gas, which happened to be next to the grocery store, so I grabbed a quick lunch there: mango kombucha and a turkey sandwich.

Aaaand the aftermath. I’m a bread picker for sure.

And since I was right next to my favorite froyo place…I mean I couldn’t not get some!

They had toasted coconut, which is a new flavor! I got some of that alongside chocolate and my all time favorite, salted caramel pretzel.

I then went to the Stanford Nike store to pick up my race day packet…only to be greeted by an hour long line. I simply didn’t have the time today-3 midterms next week have to take priority. It means I have to fight the crowds at the expo, but that’s ok since I wanted to go to the expo anyway. I also learned that right next to the Nike store, a Soul Cycle is coming! I’ve been wanting to try that for forever, and here it is, an easy bike ride from my dorm. As an avid spinner, that makes me pretty freaking happy.

On the way out of the mall, I picked up some oatmeal cookie type things, which were delicious.

And after a night of homework, I had a random snacky dinner, which included a granola bar, figs, chicken, and this plate.

I swear, my stomach hates me. If I eat the wrong food, I get a stomachache. If I eat too much of the right food, I get a stomachache. If I eat the right food at the wrong time, it rebels. And given I did all three this past weekend…I think a week of clean eating is in order! I can’t afford to have stomach issues on race day!

Which is a weird note to end on. Here’s a cat picture.

Enjoy your Monday!

Do you have any random pains when you run? How do you deal with them? Do you prefer races, or just running solo? How sick are you of me talking about running? I promise things will change up a little more in a week!

Running Mistakes

Date: July 15, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Monday! First off, go check out my guest post today on Positive Thinking!

Since it’s Monday, let’s catch up on some weekend eats and things.

Mango Chobani, mango, granola, and sunflower seed butter.

Saturday morning I had to go to the doctor’s office to get my blood ~~stolen~~ drawn for my nut allergy test. It was one of the best experiences I’ve had getting my blood drawn-I only left with one hole in my arm. Yeah, I’m one of those people with impossible veins to find. Last time I walked out with a bandage on each arm, shaking. I’ve had enough really bad experiences with it that it really is traumatizing for me now.

I also saw Despicable Me 2 on Saturday! My biggest takeaway! I want a guacamole hat! Where can I get one? Anyone want to make one and send it to me??

Also, fellow rowers out there, please tell me you thought about rowing when Gru was in that boat rowing and the minions were ‘coxing’ him? My whole family laughed at me because that sounded just about right.

After my intense desire for a guac hat, we decided to go to Chipotle. Fun fact: I’ve never been to a Chipotle before. I got a burrito bowl with chicken.

The verdict? It was okay. I feel like I’ve had something else better somewhere else. I mean I liked it, but not sure I’d go there a ton again.

And frozen yogurt was conveniently next door, so it’s no surprise what came next…

I had a big dilemma here. See that pink blob? I REALLY didn’t want that there ruining the picture, but I REALLY wanted to try watermelon sorbet. So guess what won out? Yeahhh. So the rest there is dulce de leche and chocolate froyo with blueberries and candy. At this particular froyo place, I always get too much candy. It’s in these dispensers where it comes out WAY too fast.

Other Saturday highlight? Watching Tim Lincecum’s no hitter 🙂

Sunday was my big run day. My longest run of half training. Unfortunately, I ate WAYY too much on Saturday and woke up with a stomacheache. I ate my normal breakfast and tried to wait it out, which worked. However, that kind of came back to bite me in the butt a little later on…

I actually have been really enjoying these long runs. My 6 mile and 8 mile long runs at the beginning of training were torture, mostly because I took them too fast. I felt really good on this run-I felt better at the halfway point than I have in my other, shorter runs’ halfway points. I felt like I could push the pace a little more, but my feet were kind of an issue. I had to walk a few steps every few miles to try and shake some of the pain out of my toes. I swear I’d be way faster if my feet didn’t hate me!

Around mile 9, I started to pay for some of my mistakes. Mistake 1: I tossed my water too early. I hate having to carry it, so when I’m close enough to being done I toss whatever is left. Not only did I toss it too early, I didn’t drink that much earlier in the run. I tossed it around mile 7 or 8, and my stomach started cramping at the end of the run, and especially badly in the last .3 miles. Mistake 2: eating breakfast too early before running. Since I delayed my run due to a stomachache, I was STARVING by the end of the run, and I definitely ran out of gas in the last few miles (in comparison to my 11 miler last week where I ran my fastest mile as the 11th mile). So in the future, I need to stick to my normal time frame (and eat better the night before). I think for race day, I’m going to carry an extra goo in case some thing like this happens.

But in the end? Who cares. I ran 12 miles. Pace Shmace. All I care about now is that I’m confidant I can finish the 13.1 miles.

I put my compression socks on first thing when I got back (and I immediately felt better-how is this possible?). I also drank a TON of water. I wish I had weighed myself before I left so I could have figured out how much water I lost. Next time. My legs were actually feeling pretty ok by the end of the day.

Post run lunch!

Smoothie with pineapple coconut water, pineapple, and mango.

Turkey burger and chips and guac.

I spent the afternoon basically not moving. I did write out my training plan for my next half though! How exciting is that?? Most of my training is actually before school starts, which is a little easier.

I wrote out the same training plan as this time, but I’m not exactly going to follow it. I’m only planning on running 3x per week, instead of 4. I figured I’d have the 4 down though so I could pick and choose if I wanted to run more times. We shall see. Another major difference in my training will be the types of runs I’ll be doing. Most of my training runs for this race have been slow and flat. I’m going to work on running harder a little more the next time around, especially since I’m only doing 2 short runs (plus a long one). I also need to run more hills because I’m doing the Nike Women’s in SF, and let’s just say that it’s not flat.

Dinner was BBQ chicken salad. We had mango BBQ sauce so we added mangoes to the salad as well.

Also in the mix-corn, tomato, red pepper, and avocado. Tossed in an olive oil/lime juice mixture. Yum!

I also had a huge blueberry bread craving. While this stuff isn’t at all healthy, it is the best thing ever.

Can adding extra blueberries count as healthifying it?

And it’s in bread (not muffin) form because everything is better in bread form.

And who actually waits for it to cool anyways?

I’m pretty sure I negated my entire run given how much of this stuff I ate 🙂

So good.

I have a ton of random things that need to be done this week-figure out self hosting, maybe order a Fitness is Sweet shirt, do some long-overdue Nutritional research for a professor, study for a midterm, and decide/book Healthy Living Summit…I better get to work!

Bread or muffin form? Muffins or cupcakes?

WIAW and Graduation!

Date: July 2, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello everyone! Happy Wednesday- the one time in the week where we all come together and enjoy delicious food! And of course, thank you Jenn!

Guess what? I’m actually ahead on post ideas. As in, I have 2 posts that I’m planning on writing up. What?? Who am I? So be on the lookout for those. I also had some excellent suggestions from you guys for how to make my pictures pretty- pic monkey! So naturally I had quite the fun time today playing around with that! And…naturally this was my subject-so let us commence What I WISH I Ate Wednesday!

Heh heh. Editing is fun. Although this didn’t actually need anything to look mouthwateringly delicious. Did you guys know there’s even a spray tan and a nip and tuck feature? Although I assure you, this froyo does NOT need to appear smaller!

As you can see, I definitely have a type 😉

So let’s move on to what I ACTUALLY ate:

A salad inspired by Beth and my laziness. A salad with spicy avocado hummus and beautiful Farmer’s Market heirloom tomatoes, topped with a runny egg.

Normally I would have my hummus salad with a hardboiled egg since the yolk is delicious combined with the hummus. However, I was not about to hard boil eggs (that takes TIMEEE), so I decided to try this! My opinion? Two thumbs up!

As you may know, I’m trying to change my snacking habit. (It takes 21 days to change a habit, so that’s how long I’m skipping snacks for!) And just a clarification, I’m not necessarily trying to restrict food intake, just break the habit of mindless snacking. One thing that was interesting that without snacking, I didn’t want as much food at dinner. Interesting! So that’s one day down!

ANYWAYS. Dinner was delicious!

The breakdown: a couple of recipes courtesy of Cooking Light: Asian Lettuce Cups and Steamed Sugar Snap Peas. The lettuce cups are delicious- they have ground turkey, water chestnuts, and mushrooms. They’re fun to eat, and would also make a great finger food at a party (but granted they’re a bit messy). Also on my plate was a Garlic Brown Rice and Quinoa mixture.

I love this stuff-it’s more interesting and has more flavor than plain rice, and it’s still super versatile. I’ve seen it at both Whole Foods and Costco. For dessert, I had some papaya and dark chocolate.

I love Hawaiian papaya, I just wish it wasn’t so darn expensive! Blah.

I love super dark chocolate. The lower square is 91%.

So let’s get to today’s workouts! This morning I went to a yoga class, but I complete my 4 mile training run beforehand on the treadmill. I did some intervals and some steady. It’s amazing how much intervals can kill your legs! Yoga was really good as well. I haven’t gone in 2 weeks- not since I tried Bikram. I’m sooo tight. I guess that’s what running will do to you! I need to make it a priority to go more often. Also, my arms are pretty weak. I can’t remember ever before my arms having this little muscle. For years, I was playing softball regularly, which included pitching, which kept my arms strong and muscular. And then of course, rowing kept that up (I actually bulked up a ton in my shoulders during winter quarter…). Even after lying in bed for weeks with Mono, I still had a little of my rowing muscle left over. However, now with no sport, and running pushing weight lifting out of my routine, I’ve lost that. Yoga plus Crossfit tonight left my arms quite jello-y. At Crossfit, I worked on handstands-I was against the wall, and got about a foot away from a decent handstand. Not bad for my first time!

I also worked on deadlifts. It was a super light weight for me, but I was technically still in an Intro class. I was able to Rx the WOD though in terms of weight! Here’s what it was:

4 Minute Tabatas (20″ on 10″ off 8x) of each:

Deadlift (95)

Kettlebell Swing (35)

Hand Release Push Up

I finished with a total of 171. I did the hand release push ups on my knees though since I wanted to maintain good form, and there were a lot of them. This WOD was HARD. My arms were jello. Yoga plus hand stands+ push ups=jello arms.

But you want to know the best part? The coaches determined that I don’t have to do the “on-ramp” which is the 1 month program beginners of Crossfit have to go through to learn the lifts, since I already have a really strong lifting background and basically know all the lifts. Yay! (Hence-graduation. I’m no longer an ‘Intro’!) What does this mean for me? I get to do the regular WODs, come in for any of the workouts, and save $75! Woo hoo! I can’t wait to go in again-not sure when that’s going to be though! See you all tomorrow!

What is your favorite way to eat froyo? Are you going to the Healthy Living Summit? Crossfit-love it or hate it?

Shaping Up My Summer (and Future)

Date: June 26, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hi friends! We’re almost to the second week of Summer Shape Up.

Technically I haven’t finished Week One, but I decided to do a post earlier with my plans. Paleo eating went pretty well for me, although I found my self resorting to several Paleo crutches. I’m looking at you coconut milk yogurt. For this next week, I’m not going to exactly be eating Paleo, but I want to focus on lean proteins and produce.

Although it may not be apparent from this blog, I actually love fitness…more than food. And yet I hardly ever post about fitness, in comparison to food! I want this to change! On a similar note, the new eating focus is eating to fuel my workouts. This is kind of getting back to my nutritional roots. An increase in intensity of my workouts resulted in my discovery of Nutrition. I feel like I have gotten away from this is the past year(s). Hence, the new week’s goal! I want to do well (ok, I want to complete) my upcoming half, and fueling well is really the only way I can do this. I’m going to add back in some dairy, but keep the grains out due to a possible allergy (I made a doctor’s appointment-yay!). Also, with Crossfit, I want to be able to do my absolute best on the WODs!

On a kind of sidenote, I’ve fallen in love with turkey burgers as of late. The next plan is to try them in the microwave, so I can continue this love affair next year back at school!

I also wanted to talk about my future fitness goals and plans. I love having something to train for, but I’m not sure running long distances is my true love.

So with that said, here are my upcoming race plans. The Giants race in early August (you know, the one I’ve been training for for the last month?). Then, head straight into training for the Nike Women’s marathon in October. After that, I want to take a break from distance running.

I am kind of dying to do a Turkey Trot, and a 10k sounds just about perfect. I take my Thanksgiving meals very seriously, and 6 miles sounds great to really rev up my appetite.

(Plenty of space for expansion in that dress!)

I also want to train to PR a 5k. I did a Santa Run last year, and got 25 something. I hadn’t run much (although I had been rowing a ton), so I think I can crush that PR with proper training and speed work.

Longer term, I’ll probably do some halfs in they are interesting. I might do the Giant’s race next year, but do the 10k and try to PR. (Because PRing is fun). I trained hard last summer for the 10k, and actually won my age group! (I’m super proud of this!) Sadly, next year I’ll be going up an age group, with super fast people. But with proper training, I should do pretty well (based on last year’s results).

In summary, more of this:

None of this:

(Grains are not working for me right now, and peanut butter makes my face break out like crazy. Yeah, I’m basically a mess.)

And some of this:

I’m thinking of making Sunday fro-yo a thing. I Yelped the best fro-yo places in SF, and I’ve already picked one out for after my half. Priorities people.

One more interesting thing I forgot to note-I’ve definitely eaten fewer sweets this past week. I guess eliminated grains takes away a lot of the unhealthier sweets options. I’m fine with that!

So expect more about fitness and exercise on this blog in the future!