Work Hard, Play Hard

Date: October 15, 2018

Author: astottler

Hello from Cardio Finals week! It’s going to be a rough one over here, I’m not going to lie. Since starting out Cardio block (class), I’ve made an effort to do at least one fun thing on weekends. I’ve had a great time—visiting a college friend, having my family come up and meet kitten, having friends from back home come up. I have a lot of fun things coming up as well…but also a lot of work! I’ve always thought that I could easily study 10% better to make time for the fun stuff. That’s what the next few weeks are going to look like! After Friday. Until then, it’s study central over here.

I figured I would pop in with a quick full day of eating. My current emphasis is to actually eat up the food I buy, and to increase my protein. I’m doing quite a bit of exercise these days now that I’m teaching 3 cycling classes a week. I’m also attempting some long runs (more on that later), and recovery is feeling more important than ever!

Pre-teaching: A handful of pumpkin spice cheerios.

Class was awesome. I love the morning crew. I’m amazing by how full a 6:15am class on a college campus is!

Breakfast:

Smoothie with a frozen persimmon, frozen cranberries, chocolate protein powder, plain greek yogurt, and cocoa powder. Plus a few crackers.

Lunch: I went to a lunch talk on treating respiratory distress in the emergency setting, which was really relevant given I was in class all day learning about respiration. We were given Mediterranean food at the talk. I had some chicken, a falafel, and veggies with hummus and tzatziki.

Snack: Luna bar and some dried carrots (still obsessed).

I had been planning on going to crossfit this evening, but I was pretty sore from yesterday, and I just couldn’t justify a second workout for the day on a week with so much studying.

Dinner: This was a good one! Spaghetti squash with parmesan and garlic, topped with Trader Joe’s Fall Harvest pasta sauce and fresh mozzarella.

For dessert, I had some pumpkin bread that I made over the weekend. I’ve been using the same recipe for years, and honestly it didn’t turn out too well. It was dry and too flour-y tasting. I realized that I don’t think I’ve made a good batch since I’ve been using GF flour so maybe that’s it. I froze most of it, and it should be better on ice cream.

Later in the evening, I had some dark chocolate and dried persimmons. And now it’s back to the grind!

It’s the Last Week of School!

Date: May 21, 2018

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I can’t believe it’s the last week of my first year of vet school. Things are pretty crazy for me right now between studying for finals and getting ready for all kinds of travel. 2 hours after my final, I will be on a plane to DC for a wedding, and a week later I head to Nashville for the summer! I’m definitely a little worried about traveling with my little one.

He’s great in the car, but he gets scared of new people and new places.

I also just discovered he still has some residual baby teeth on his back molars and I need to have them taken out. I’m trying to figure out when and where I can get that taken care of.

For now, I thought I’d share a super fast full day of eating from today before I get back to studying!

Breakfast:

I got this super amazing apricot jam at a farmer’s market back home. It’s basically all apricot with minimal sugar. I’m trying to finish it up this week so it doesn’t go to waste! It’s super delicious with sunbutter and yogurt. Mango on the side.

Lunch:

Salad with grilled chicken, blueberries, honey goat cheese, and balsamic vinaigrette. GF cheddar crackers on the side. Plus a little something sweet.

I ended up doing my workout on my own this afternoon, since the Crossfit workout called for deadlifts and I’m not quite ready for that yet with my back. I figured I might as well share what I did!

5×5 back squat working up to 165ish# I say “ish” because I’m pretty sure I had a 2.5 plate on one side and a 5 on the other and kept feeling off balance. That explains it…

8 minute AMRAP: push ups and box jumps I like this little couplet and do it a lot because I work on my strict push ups from my toes, and the (padded) box is higher.

8 minutes: 20 seconds max effort on the assault bike/40 seconds rest

2×25 hip strength exercises My hips are still a little jacked up from squatting but they’re a lot better. I figure some focused strength + stretching couldn’t hurt.

Snack:

Bar+freeze dried grapes and then some real grapes.

Dinner:

Leftover cauliflower crust pizza and a kale salad massaged with poppyseed dressing and topped with parmesan.

Dessert:

I’m in the “eat things up” phase and I realized I had a mostly full box of this vanilla cereal left. I decided it would be good with chocolate chips, and then kicked it up a notch by heating up some gourmet marshmallows (seriously the best I’ve ever had) and making an impromptu rice crispie treat type of deal.

Snack #2:

Mid studying I had a brown rice cake with whipped chive cream cheese.

Back to it my friends. We’re almost at the finish line!

Lemon, Dill, and Chicken Salad+ Other Spring Salads

Date: May 11, 2018

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Guys. I created something amazing. I tried to make a Sweetgreen copycat one of their spring salads, and while it actually tasted nothing like it, it was SUPER delicious and insanely easy (thanks to Trader Joe’s.)

Ingredients:

Trader Joe’s Lemon Pepper Grilled Chicken

Steamed or Roasted Asparagus (I steamed mine, and then for my last salad of the week when I didn’t have any broccoli, I broiled it)

Roasted Broccoli (I roasted with Trader Joe’s Everything seasoning blend)

Feta

Fresh Dill

Mixed Greens

Trader Joe’s Tzatziki Sauce

This salad screamed “spring” to me. Also, I got that bowl specifically to house large salads.

Just basically mix everything together. The Tzatziki is the dressing.

I’ve also had some other delicious salads lately that I thought I would share.

Granted this isn’t the best picture. But right now, aged balsamic massaged onto kale is my jam. This also has dried cranberries, creamy goat cheese, and deli chicken. I actually think I prefer deli chicken to turkey at this point.

Same idea but with honey goat cheese. I don’t have a picture, but I’ve also been doing blueberries instead of pears in my lunch salads this week. Partly because they were actually really sour and not the best to just have plain.

Avocado toast, plus an amazing salad that doesn’t look like much. Amazing thanks to the aged TRUFFLE balsamic vinegar that I used. I think aged vinegars are my current favorite thing. The kale was massaged with a little olive oil, aged truffle balsamic, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, and salt and pepper.

And since I claim to be a vet student, here are some fun things from these past couple weeks:

Learning how to locate abdominal organs on ultrasound:

New bffs:

My first client simulation lab! My school puts a lot of emphasis on communication in our curriculum, starting in first year!

Day in the Life: Vet School Spring Year 1

Date: April 19, 2018

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

6:15am: Wake up. I usually get up at this time to workout, but I decided to try to get some extra sleep this morning because I’ve been tired so I try to force myself back to sleep. Jackson isn’t having it though.

6:45: I stayed in bed as long as I could, including getting up twice to try and kick Jackson out of my room.

6:45-7: Weight Jackson and snuggle. And take my (gummy) vitamins. He’s officially 10 pounds! Which means he’s tripled in size since I got him <3

Then I get dressed and eat breakfast.

A cracker, the rest of my blackberries, and a double chocolate protein muffin.

Pack my lunch. I pretty much always pack the same salad, but the fruit varies depending on the season. We’re not at peach season quite yet. Pear, goat cheese, chicken, with some GF basically cheezits.

7:45: Not really sure what to do since I’m awake an hour earlier than I needed to be, so I start this post and watch a youtube video, and then get ready for the day!

8:40: Leave for class.

9:00: First lecture is on imaging of the abdomen.

10:00: Lecture on anti-emetic drugs and gastroprotectants. We learn that long term omeprazole use can decrease calcium absorption. A couple of years ago when I was really sick with stomach issues, I was on omeprazole for probably a year, and broke my foot at the end of that time so I wonder if that contributed? I was training for a 10 mile race and doing a lot of other stuff, but I had also run like 6 half marathons while healthy without ever having bone issues so maybe!

11:00: Lecture on pathology of the stomach and esophagus, which I purposefully did not take much of a picture of because we looked at a lot of real images of the organs.

12-12:40: Lunch! I sit outside because it’s a beautiful day!

12:40: Change into scrubs and a lab coat for anatomy lab.

1-2:40: Anatomy lab. Today’s lab involved dissecting into the abdomen and seeing all the organs we’ve been talking about!

3:00: Return home to my little sidekick greeting me at the door.

Eat a snack while relaxing with a short TV episode, followed by Jackson cuddles.

3:30: Continue on this blog post.

3:45: Make some notes on today’s lab. Grab a handful of Cheerios before heading to Crossfit because I’m starving.

4:25: Leave for Crossfit.

I haven’t worn my ankle brace in a looong time but I wear it today because while my ankle is much, much better, I’ve already exceeded my use of it for the week and we have double unders. Usually my ankle is totally fine running once a week, and after that it gets sketchy. I ran 3 miles on Sunday and had soccer on Tuesday, so it’s sore. Which is an issue since I have a 5k on Saturday, so I’m babying it!

4:45: Crossfit. The 4:45 class is a 45 minute class but we still do the same stuff as the normal classes. Today is a longer workout so it’s a mad dash.

Part 1:

5 rounds:

30s assault bike MAX EFFORT (ouch)

90s rest

30s burpees to a target

90s rest

This was TOUGH because we were really encouraged to go all out on the bike! We didn’t have much time before heading right into the WOD, which was a fun one.

9 min AMRAP:

9 push jerk at 75#

15 sit ups

21 double unders

I finished 5 rounds plus 9 push jerks.

5:45: Return home and cook dinner while sipping on a lavender kombucha. Nothing unusual today. Zucchini noodles with pasta sauce and lots of cheese: regular and fresh mozzarella.

Dessert:

Enjoy life soft baked chocolate cookies in a new brand of vanilla cake “healthy” ice cream. I ended up really not liking the ice cream. I almost didn’t finish the bowl, and ended up just tossing the rest of the pint.

Then I go to ice my ankle while turning on the Giants game.

Watch the game a little longer before starting class work. This is his preferred position…

7:45: Snack on a bowl of Berry Cheerios.

And then this is the set-up:

Baseball (on mute), iPad with lectures, and then my notes.

8:30: Jackson wants to lay on my iPad…and play. So I do some clicker training with him. He’s been really bad about biting—play biting, not aggressive, but still a problem especially at night. I’m trying to teach him to “attack” this toy so I can try and redirect his behavior. I don’t appreciate dealing with teeth every night around 3am…

It’s about 9 now. I have another lecture I want to get through but it should be quick! I’m usually in bed with the lights out around 10:30.

And that’s a more or less typical day of GI in vet school!

Feeling Like Summer: Baseball, Vet School Prom, Zucchini

Date: April 15, 2018

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Last week was behavior week, which is one of my favorite things ever. It was technically part of Neuro, which meant that this weekend after our Behavior final, I had zero school obligations. It was glorious.

Last weekend I had minimal school obligations and watched maybe 8 hours of baseball? This weekend was a mix of relaxing and fun!

It kicked off with vet school “prom.” Not entirely sure what that means other than an excuse to dress up!

A lot of times I put pressure on myself to get up and get stuff done/workout on the weekends. Saturday I took that pressure off. I slept in until 8 and was shocked because that is unprecedented…I don’t think I’ve slept that late all year! I had a lazy day consisting of chores, reading, time soaking in some sun with my friend, and then a minor league baseball game! I love baseball. The Giant’s AAA minor league team is in Sacramento, so it’s really easy to catch a game!

Sunday morning, I had a great plan to find somewhere nice to run in Sacramento, and then to go to the GF bakery for their Sunday morning donuts. I found a really nice looking trail by the river in a park. Well, I couldn’t find an open entrance to the park. I spent 30 minutes driving in circles before giving up and driving to the bakery and just running around the neighborhood there. Despite that, the 3 mile run went well and my ankle actually felt good! The donut line took FOREVER but I couldn’t complain too much given I had very little to do that day!

I got a chocolate cruller and an apple fritter. Both were SOO good but I think eating 2 donuts at once is a lot for me because I didn’t feel the greatest the rest of the day…

My other big activity for the day was a slow pitch softball game! It was fun but I’m definitely rusty, and have some random aches and pains that are now more achy and painful…I swear I feel myself getting older every year…

Since my full days of eating last week were sort of repetitive, I wanted to share some from this week because of course when I’m not tracking full days of eating I actually keep it more interesting…

Breakfast:

It’s no secret I’m obsessed with these protein muffins, so I was thrilled that they recently came out with a bunch of new flavors. I love the lemon poppyseed for spring!

On Crossfit mornings getting out the door is a mad dash, so here’s a breakfast in class (it was a lecture that didn’t require much note-taking). Plain Greek yogurt, blueberries, vanilla cereal, sunbutter.

And another one.

I love the blueberry muffins with fresh blueberries stirred in, and blueberries recently started being amazing.

I decided to mix it up with a savory breakfast on Friday when I had more time. I was actually not a fan. I don’t like the way eggs make me feel in the morning.

This was my pre-run breakfast on my donut morning. If you can get your hands on these, you need to. I recently saw them on Amazon.

Lunch:

This salad is nothing new.

…and again.

My lunch pretty much every day at school. Salad with chicken and pear and goat cheese.

Weekend salad from Trader Joe’s—the Citrus Chicken.

Dinner:

Zucchini noodles tossed with fresh basil, fresh mozzarella, and heirloom tomato.

Stir fry with zucchini and frozen veggies over brown rice. I used a GF orange sauce that is good, but the orange is subtle.

Similar stir fry but with soy sauce and half orange sauce.

Zucchini noodles with pasta sauce, mozzarella, fresh mozzarella, and basil. One night I was out of mozzarella so I used a combo of parmesan and cheddar and it wasn’t bad!

Salad with egg whites and cheese puffs on the side.

Subway turkey salad before baseball since I was craving something on the healthier side.

Dessert and Snacks:

I discovered these and not only are they delicious, but they’re a really nice size for something small!

I never have celery so when I got it to put with turkey, I had to have the “ants on a log” snack. Sunbutter and dried cranberries (raisins are better but I didn’t have any).

I made GF brownies for a vet school bake sale, and naturally I had to do some quality control.

My most common dessert of late has been chocolate or vanilla Halo Top with chocolate mint sauce and whipped cream. I tried the Breyer’s Halo Top equivalent and it’s not bad! I maybe SLIGHTLY prefer Halo Top.

And as always, I’ll end with a kitty picture.