Sweater Weather

Date: October 9, 2013

Author: astottler

Hey guys! It’s currently 9pm, and I’m camped out in the lounge blogging because my roommate is sleeping. I’m not sure if she’s asleep for the night or just napping, but I thought I’d give her some peace and quiet. I’m currently trying to burn off a sugar high-and if you know me at all, this likely means I won’t be sleeping for the next 3 days. Me+sugar=bad combo.

But let’s start from the top, shall we?

I woke up bright (well, dark) and early for a morning gym workout. The workout was 10 minutes working on snatches, followed by a WOD of 21-15-9-9-15 deadlifts and squat jumps. The workout originally called for burpees, but that would have taken me much more time than I had. The bar was SO ROUGH. My poor hands were getting torn up so badly! I looked around-and there’s only one bar out of like 8 like that at the gym, but they were all full. I then did 5 rounds of 250m row/7 rdls, and finished with some abs. This workout was nothing too crazy-just something to get my blood flowing!

When I walked out of the gym, I was greeted by this:

The weather is starting cool down a little too-it’s sunny but with fall skies and a little bit of bite in the air. I had a long day ahead of me, and it was chilly, so on the way back to the gym, I stopped for a cappuccino.

BEST. THING. EVER. So worth the extra trip-and I went before getting ready instead of on my way to class, so there was no line.

I seriously love this weather-Sweater Weather! Do you guys know the song Sweater Weather? I think that’s going to be stuck in my head any time I wear a sweater. What I wore today was basically the epitome of fall-boots, a sweater, and a scarf.

I’ve been feeling so put together lately in terms of my outfits (ok, technically I’m still wearing leggings…), and I really do think it makes a difference on my outlook of the world. Here’s a sunny selfie of yesterday’s scarf.

Yes, I live in California. Yes, 70 degrees is considered cold.

Today was just such a productive day, and I feel so much better about my classes. I love Mondays and Wednesdays because I have all afternoon to hole up in a library or cafe and just accomplish things. I actually am not minding problem sets-minus Physics. I don’t mind spending hours working things out-as long as I eventually get it. I’ve said it before, but this is really something I was missing last year.

After class, I tried this new to me yogurt.

I saw it on Beth‘s blog a while ago, and have not been able to find it anywhere! Needless to say, I was super excited.

It was delicious! I ended up throwing a couple of dates I had packed for snack on top, and those really complemented the flavors perfectly. Next time, I would throw chopped dates on top.

Here’s a shot of the cafe. Kind of a basement, but cozy and quiet. Several study snacks happened as well.

Like my placemat? I really need to stop eating ON my school things.

Pumpkin bread. Because we know I’m obsessed.

After finished most of my work, I headed back to my room for a run. Since it was in danger of getting dark, I threw on the only long sleeve neon shirt I had. Is it too soon? I don’t think so.

So I set out for 4 miles-I was really in the mood to run. The weather was perfect, I was feeling great…until like .2 miles in when my calf reminded me that I did 600 jump ropes yesterday…and doing that many after not jumping rope in a month will make me sore. I immediately turned back-with my history of calf issues, I was NOT going to push anything this close to the race. So not worth it. I switched gears and went to dinner instead-not a bad alternative!

A really delicious turkey burger, salad, polenta, and fruit. I love turkey burgers. I should seriously just get 2 turkey burgers and veggies and call it a day-and not mess around with the other suspect items.

Paella-it tasted really fishy, so not really my cup of tea. Oh well, can’t win them all.

Then, tonight I had a sorority recruitment event-cookie decorating. Hence the sugar high. It’s the worst kind too-store bought cookies and store bought icing=my body hates me. Eh, live and learn. Here’s my first creation. Not my best work.

And now let’s talk running. Let’s talk races. Let’s talk about the future. I (obviously) have my next half in ELEVEN DAYS. I am SO incredibly excited-and I feel strangely prepared. It helps I’m not injured (knock on wood) right before the race…But being the overeager person that I am, I’m starting to think about what comes next. Life after half marathon training? Huh? First off-I know if I’m not training for a race I’ll never run. It just won’t occur to me. I’m doing a 10k Turkey Trot in November (obviously), and then I’m doing a Santa Run in mid December. This one is a 5k, and I’m racing it to PR. To be fair, I’ve only done one 5k (last year’s Santa Run). And I hadn’t run in a long time-I was in really good shape from rowing, but there wasn’t a ton of running happening. After my half, I’ll be focusing a ton on running fast. I obviously want to PR, but I THINK if I work hard between now and then, I can break 24:00. We shall see.

So…then what? I want to do the Giant’s race….in August. Maybe the Nike women’s again if I like it. But before then? There’s an abyss! BUT. BUT. I think I found a race-and I’m this close to signing up. Rock n Roll San Francisco on April 6. It should be a fun one-it goes across the Golden Gate bridge! I think it would be a good warm up for the Giant’s race, which is a much flatter course and therefore a better one to run hard for a PR. The timing is pretty good too. So…thoughts? GAHH I’m so excited about everything right now!

It’s almost race day!

What’s the best race you’ve done? Suggestions? Favorite part of fall?

New Loves and Eating a la Dorm

Date: October 8, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Monday everyone! I got a great night’s sleep last night, so I woke up well rested and ready to tackle the day.

Being the smarty that I am, I totally forgot to pack my lunch until I was walking out the door. Down side? I had to wait until after class and going to the lab to eat. Upside? No tubberware to sit on my desk and grown weird things.

A hummus salad, plus a million snap peas and a ThinkThin bar. Trader Joe’s has BY FAR the best snap peas! I ate a ton at dinner as well, and between that and freeze dried mango, I’m going to have to make a return trip soon!

After lunch, I headed out to get some Ochem work done. Guys. I have a new favorite place to study-my favorite cafe. It’s in the basement of a building, and they have amazing quick breads. Ok, maybe this new study place won’t be the best for my health, but it was perfect! Of course, I had to try their pumpkin bread. No shame.

I was there near closing-they close up the cafe, but there are still tables and chairs out in the open (inside). It was perfect-quiet, fairly deserted, and I had a table to myself to spread out. I liked that there were fewer people there than at the library-this may be my new study spot!

Which leads me to my next point. Being back at school has kind of facilitated a lot of reflection. Last year was rough. There’s no way of getting around it. I really realized that I’m in a really good place right now, both mentally and physically. Sure, I’m still working off the Freshman 15 (or for me, post-crew 15), but I have much better eating habits, and I know that in time I’ll get there. Being an athlete was hard-and this is going to sound kind of bad (sorry Mom and Dad), but I feel like one of the experiences I really missed out on last year when I was rowing was being a student. I have a tough class schedule with a lot of work, but I’m not stressed because I know I actually have enough time to get my work done. Before I went to college, I always imagined myself in a grandiose library or coffee shop for hours-something I simply never had time for last year. I have a lot of work this week…so I simply went to a cafe and worked for hours. It’s amazing to actually have time and energy to do all the reading, and take the time to understand the problems. While at times I miss rowing like crazy, I know it just wasn’t good for me to spend that much time doing. I feel like I have a good balance right now-I don’t have a ton of extracurriculars, and while I feel like “Oh, I should!”, I really don’t need that in my life right now. I’m happy where I am, and nothing really calls out to me. I guess I do a lot of things on my own-Intramural flag football, Crossfit, yoga, training to teach spin. Plus, I’ve had the time to just sit down with people in my dorm and TALK. Sure, there were a few nights last week where I didn’t get enough sleep, but some of the time was spent bonding with my hall mates over our love for guac parties. And that’s important too. As far as eating habits go, I’m in a better place also, but I’ll elaborate at that at the end.

Crossfit tonight was…interesting. I went to the later class, which I really liked because it gave me more afternoon time to work on Chem and it was less crowded. The strength portion was right up my alley- low reps and HEAVY. We went to 90% max back squats, 1 rep every minute on the minute. The WOD was a weird one-liners, atlas stones, and pull ups. First of all-I’m never going to the later class again if there’s any running involved. It was DARK. We had to run to faint chalk lines in the dark parking lot, and it was…interesting. I didn’t die. So there’s that. Atlas stones are definitely not something I’ve done before. You basically pick up a heavy concrete ball off the ground and onto your shoulder. These were hard! My “baby ball” got confiscated halfway through the workout, and it took me several tried to get the technique down for the heavier ball.

GUYS. I a literally SO CLOSE to being able to do a pull up. I can basically do a kipping pull up-I’m sure I could do it if I spent a little time trying and getting my timing down (I only tried like 2 times and was only inches away). I want to be able to do pull ups SO BADLY. I’m going to do a little work on the assisted pull up machine tomorrow after spin.

I also want to discuss dorm eating a little bit. I’ve been avoiding the dining halls a lot more this year-or I get back after they’ve closed (like tonight). I don’t trust myself to make good decisions on a regular basis-it’s just easier and less to worry about if I don’t put myself in bad decisions. With that being said, my eating habits are definitely more on the snacky side. I just focus on getting a total of all my food groups in, and to refuel accordingly after workouts. For example, tonight I wasn’t super hungry so I made hot chocolate with almond milk and a scoop of protein powder (and cocoa and honey).

For a vegetable, I ate a ton of snap peas. These were my carbs:

This is one of my more unconventional meals-I do a ton of egg scrambles too, although dinner is usually at the dining hall.

I would like to cut down my sugar intake a little, especially the later at night sugar-I struggle the most with any free food. It isn’t conducive to sleeping, and isn’t really necessary. I don’t really have many sweets in my room (besides pumpkin pie filling and pumpkin butter), so it’s really just the sweets available in life. I’m not super concerned though-my mood is for the most part good, which means I’m not eating enough sugar to screw up my hormones. College really just is about making good choices-not necessarily perfect choices. For example, I skipped out on cookies at my sorority meeting, but I’m getting boba with my sister later tonight because we haven’t talked in weeks. It’s also about planning ahead-packing enough food to get me through the day.

And onto ONE last topic-my love for running. I actually have fallen in love with running. This love didn’t come until I was running my last race.

Throughout the training for my first half, I really had to will myself to get out there on those runs. Now, I don’t mind them at all-and I look forward to the long runs. It probably helps that I’m in way better running shape than when I began training for my first half-but I’m really loving my runs. I seriously felt like I was FLYING on my 9 miler. And I cannot accurately describe how excited I am for my race coming up. I’ve gotten so much faster and stronger since my last one! Looking beyond my half…I kind of don’t know what to do with my life. I have some short races planned-I want to PR my 5k in December, but beyond that, nothing. I kind of don’t want to lose all the endurance I’ve built, but my body could probably use a break. I’m tentatively searching for a half for late winter/early spring. Another thing-my running would probably be better if it was my priority…and while I do love it, weight lifting really has my heart. This means my runs are usually with more tired legs, which stinks at the time, but come race day when I’m well rested, it definitely helps!

WHEW that was a lengthy post! I’ve paused 2 times writing this, and now it’s late so…that’s all folks!

What difference has a year made in your life? Favorite form of exercise? MUST DO race suggestions? I kind of want to do Rock n Roll Las Vegas…

A Chill Day

Date: October 5, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Are you guys all having a good weekend? I definitely am! And Sunday marks the official 2 week out point for my race! I’m starting to get excited!

I haven’t really posted in a few days (besides my scheduled post) so I have a kind of random selection of pictures from the last couple of days.

Thursday morning started with Crossfit-lots of deadlifts! I refueled appropriately:

Nothing too crazy happened during the day- I got a veggie wrap for lunch with hummus. I didn’t actually bring money with me, and it was the only real food I could afford with the few dollars in my backpack.

And my pumpkin butter obsession continues (more on that in a minute!). One thing about dorm life-I have the tendency to buy something and eat nothing but that item until it is gone, which is really quickly. And then I buy something else and the cycle repeats. I guess this is what happens when grocery trips are infrequent…Well, the pumpkin butter is certainly disappearing quickly! I made “paleo oatmeal”-I wasn’t trying to make paleo or oatmeal, but I threw a ton of things in a bowl and that was what I got! This was applesauce, egg whites, chia seeds, coconut, and almond milk. Topped with pumpkin butter! It really was just a medium for pumpkin butter. I wanted pumpkin oatmeal, but I don’t have any oats….so there’s that.

That evening at flag football, the soreness from a full week of heavy lifting began to set in, and my hamstrings began a war on me that would last another day. I also did the spin class I wrote for myself that evening-it turned out to be pretty good! I definitely have a tendency to do a lot more in the saddle than out…talk about a quad burner! I really don’t like the spin bikes at school-they feel really plastic-y, and I don’t really get the feel of the road. It’s more like moving your legs with resistance that spinning-but the quad burn can definitely sneak up on you!

Afterwards, it was pretty late so I refueled with hot chocolate. Kind of. Another #dormlife problem-no milk. And as much as I love almond milk, it has almost no protein. I mixed (not very well based on all the powder floating around) chocolate protein powder, brown rice syrup, a little honey, cocoa powder, and almond milk and heated it up. Perfect. Kind of.

After my workout, a little socializing while drinking this concoction, and doing a pre-lab, I was beat. I woke up yesterday morning still really tired. I debated skipping my 5 mile hilly run, but I knew I’d never be able to fall back asleep because I had already gotten up. The run went pretty well-these are some intense hills. It took a while for my legs to loosen up, but I’m glad I got some hill work in. There was just one glitch-my shoe inserts. I think they do help prevent foot pain, but they give me the worst blisters-it’s only one foot for some reason, but I took them both out halfway through the run (so I’d be even). My foot hurt a little by the end of the run-so I’m not really sure what I should do at this point.

Here are some random eats from Friday:

My roommate and one of my other friends baked banana bread-you better believe I was all over that!

After my run, my legs kind of tightened up and all the soreness from the week hit. My hamstrings felt like death-I can’t even remember the last time they were that sore! After a 2 hour Chem lab (we finished 2 hours early!), my legs felt 100x better. Which was good given I had flag football practice. I swear, I’m so bruised up right now! I may or may not have bar shaped bruises going up my legs…at Crossfit, I got a big bruise on the front of my leg because I kept dragging the bar against my leg doing cleans. Smart one Aurora.

(Finally fading)

Plus, I’m getting a little beat up playing football. I guess that’s just what happens in sports-I used to be pretty bruised up from softball regularly.

Back to food. GUYS. I had the best idea. Pumpkin butter. Cottage cheese. I really liked how the pumpkin cream cheese was creamy and a little savory-but it’s too rich to eat with a spoon (or is it?). I found out that a little market on campus now uses meal plan dollars (part of our dining plan-I NEVER use them) and they actually sell really good, useful stuff. It’s basically a mini grocery. And meal plan dollars are like free money.

I immediately dug into the cottage cheese.

YUM. But for my next snack, I kicked it up another notch.

Cottage cheese. Sunflower seed butter. Pumpkin butter. Apple chips. That’s gourmet my friends. Or at least college gourmet. SUCH a good combo. Too bad I’m out of cottage cheese…and apple chips…and almost pumpkin butter.

This morning I managed to sleep in until 9-which is a pretty big accomplishment for me! I hit the gym first thing-but I wanted to give my legs a complete rest day after this past week, and before tomorrow’s 9 miles. I did something I’ve never done before-arms and abs day. I NEVER do arm workouts-I usually do full body workouts, and occasionally leg days. But I didn’t want to do anything that put any stress on my legs at all. My workout ended up consisting of mostly pull ups and planks. I’m so close to being able to do a full pull up-only 25 pounds of assistance, which is such a huge improvement. My goal is to get it by Thanksgiving! And with the quantity I did today, I should be able to get there!

After my workout, I was starving and more than ready for brunch. I was really hoping to get a smoothie, but the line was insane, as was the waffle line. I still haven’t gotten a waffle yet this year!

But then again, I’m never going to complain about copious amounts of guacamole.

Giant Mexican salad. I also had a biscuit and this frozen fruit.

I spent the day doing nothing too crazy. I realized that Netflix streams season 8 of How I Met Your Mother. I was considering going to the football game today, but I decided to just hang out. Dinner with How I Met Your Mother? That sounds just right to me.

I made a scramble with the last of my spinach, plus laughing cow garlic and herb and pesto. I finally peeled myself away from the screen to do laundry, which is where I am right now. I discovered that blogging is the perfect thing to do while doing laundry!

And with that, I’ll leave you all to your weekends! I’m going back to the trail by the bay to run, so I’m visiting my cats and grabbing lunch with a high school friend also home this weekend.

What are your favorite TV shows? What other things should I put pumpkin butter on? What amazing pumpkin products should I try? Can you tell I’m obsessed with all things fall?

Phantoms and Quick Snacks

Date: September 26, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

One more day until the weekend! Woohoo! It’s a long day for me-early morning run/workout then class 9-5, then flag football practice.

Crossfit this morning ended up being particularly brutal. The posted workout was one I had done before in about 8 minutes. When I arrived, I was greeted by this marathon WOD.

I was DONE after this one!

There are a few topics I want to address today.

1. Phantoms

2. Dorm Snack Tips

So let’s start with the phantoms. I was visited by an old friend today-a phantom- in the form of a phantom pain. Fitting, right? My calf has felt kind of off since yesterday’s spin workout. I felt a tiny twinge then, and it’s felt kind of weird all day. I can’t exactly find the pain, but something is off, but it’s in the same as my calf injury I suffered before my last half. Which naturally freaked me out. I didn’t feel any pain running in Crossfit. I’ve felt a tiny bit of SOMETHING here or there on random steps. I was scheduled to run a hilly 6 miles today, as well as go to flag football practice. Well, I decided to do the smart thing and scrap those both. It’s not worth the risk. There’s another important lesson here-I used to always go to practice for my sports team no matter what, sick, injured, dying, etc. If I made a commitment, I HAD to stick to it. That attitude almost convinced me to go to practice. But I had to think about it-in the long run my half is way more important for me, and I have to do what’s best for my body, even if it means saying no.

So today, I’ve rolled out a ton; my calves, arches, and achilles are all tight and sore, so I hope I’m nipping this thing in the bud and it’s just tightness. I did the best thing possible too by making it to a yoga class. My legs and calves feel 1000x better now. Taking care of yourself is so important! I think I’m feeling up for a run tomorrow, although I won’t be doing the hill sprints I had planned, just an easy run.

And now-dorm snacking tips! Two of today’s snacks are some of my go-to fast, healthy, and dormable eats. The first is guacamole. I buy guacamole mix, which is usually just a blend of spices. Then, simply make as much as you want. I used half an avocado-the perfect amount for one serving. Then, just add the mix to taste, reseal the rest, and BOOM. Instant guacamole.

I love eating this with veggies. Today, I dipped snap peas and carrots because that’s what I have stocked in my fridge.

Now-dorm snack #2. Make quick bread and freeze it. It seriously stays fresh forever. I had pumpkin bread all spring, and the bread I found in my freezer today moved home from college with me in May, and back with me now. It’s a great healthy snack, and will curb those incessant muffin cravings (I CAN’T be the only one?). It’s also great if you don’t want to eat a whole loaf at once.

And if you’re me, you’ll probably break pieces off before it’s finished heating up. Confession: most of my bread pictures look like this.

And on one last note-my parents had to move to a hotel for a few weeks while they fix up the house, and they moved the kitties today. Isn’t this the saddest thing you’ve ever seen?

Poor thing.

Can you ever sense an injury coming on? What are your go-to snacks?

The Wrong Feet Forward

Date: September 19, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey all! A lot has been going on lately, so let’s do a bit of a brain dump.

1. Today I half-moved into my dorm. I unloaded all the stuff from a storage unit, plus my bike and food. Which turns out to be pretty much everything except for clothes and me.

2. Instead of carting my protein powder and cocoa powder to the dining hall to make a smoothie, I put together some “smoothie mixes” with cocoa powder, xantham gum, and chocolate protein powder. Just add milk, banana, and ice!

3. I absolutely killed this WOD last night. I knew it was up my alley-any time when we do only a few reps of a heavy lift is my forte. Since lifting over speed is more of my strength, I’m never the first to finish the workout. Well, on this one, I lapped everyone in my class and was the fastest of the day. I didn’t Rx it-hardly anyone did, but I still did the deadlift heavier than almost everyone. #winning

4. I decided to start my Mini Whole30 today, instead of having an entire day to think about and go crazy eating all the things I won’t be eating for the next week. Success? I think so.

Mango iced tea, chicken chop salad, plantains.

Egg whites, potatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms, spinach; topped with avocado and nutritional yeast, plus bruscetta. A side of papaya.

5. It was really awesome seeing some of my friends again! I love all my blog friends, but it was great to see real live people.

6. I recently ordered a ton of things online, and my boots just came! Thoughts?

7. I had THE WORST run today. It was a 5 mile run-I started off at a good pace, but I made a poor shoe decision. GIven I can barely stand to run in my normal shoes, wearing my Brooks (which cause me the most foot pain) was probably not the best move. For some reason I got it in my head that they would be better. Running is becoming kind of tortuous. I had to keep stopping to walk because it felt like I was running on knives. And it’s so annoying because it’s definitely a shoe issue-I just can’t find any shoes that work. I think minimalist shoes would be better. Anything with a completely flat inside. The problem is the part on the inside of the shoe where it’s slightly raised where it’s supposed to be between your foot and toes. That just digs into my foot, hitting a nerve. After today’s run, I can’t even imagine my 11 miler this weekend. I got custom inserts made, but I conveniently don’t get them until AFTER both my 11 and 12 milers. Awesome. I have one more trick up my sleeve to try-my old running shoes which I LOVE (but are really old and worn out) plus a cushier insert to help take out some of the impact. It’s just REALLY frustrating. I swear, on some of these runs I’m THIS close to going shoeless. Grrr. Well, at least the scenery was pretty.

I hate my feet folks.

8. I’m a little bit Crossfit obsessed. I know I really SHOULD skip it tomorrow-I’ve gone a lot this week, plus have to run and go to Spin tomorrow, but I’m sort of drooling over the workout. I guess I’ll see how my legs feel tomorrow evening.

9. Today was my last day in the kitten nursery. 🙁

Happy Friday!

What’s going on with you right now?