Summer's coming!

School is out or almost out which means summer is coming! Summer is the time of year that it is hard NOT to be active! It is daylight earlier and longer - plenty of time to walk the dog, bike with the family or go for a run. There's swimming and other endless other possibilities of fun outdoors things to do.

With the kids out of school, I'm taking the summer off from actively posting on the site to have fun with them, but plan to keep up with the calendar and post fun things on facebook. You will still hear about my adventures come start of school. We have several fun things planned - the Waterfront Challenge, Mighty Titans, and hopefully a triathlon. With a few classes to check out this summer such as hydrocycle along with the mixed apparatus class at Louisville Turners.

Hope you have a great summer with family and friends trying new things that get your heart pumping!

Weekend Workouts - May 23, 24, 25, 26

4 DAY WEEKEND!! If you are sticking around for the holiday weekend, there's plenty of  things to do bright and early to enjoy the rest of the day! Don't let these limit you, there are plenty of classes, parks, and walking bridge to be explored!

Friday morning - Trail Runs!
Join us Friday morning at 7:27am for the first Summer Trail run at Hogans Fountain in Cherokee Park. There will be 2, 4 and 6 mile routes.

Saturday morning - Burrito Ride!
Grab your bikes and pass at breakfast burritos to the homeless. Check the website and facebook page for meeting location and times.

Sunday morning - V02 Multisport Ride  or Sweaty Sheep Run and Yoga

Monday morning - Mayor's Hike, Bike, or Paddle

Homemade Bar recipes: Granola and Protein

  My family loves granola bars - from the youngest to the oldest. They are easy to make with endless variations and a quick grab and go snack.  This past month or so I have been experimenting with new recipes from our standard traditional granola bar which continues to be a hit with the family.

Here are 5 to get you started:

1) Granola Bars- This is the basic one I've been making for years

1/3c oil (olive, canola whatever you prefer)

3/4c brown sugar
2T honey
1t vanilla
1 egg
1c whole wheat flour
1t cinnamon
1/2t baking powder
1/4t salt
1 1/2c oats
2c cereal (form of Cheerios, crisp rice, or granola type)

Optionals: 1-2 cups of: nuts, raisins, chocolate chips, dried fruit, peanut butter chips, etc.

Combine oil, brown sugar, honey, vanilla, and egg.
Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Mix well.
Stir in rest.

Spray a 9x13 pan. Press mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan.
For chewy bars: 350 for 20-30min, until ightly browned on edges.
For crunchy bars: 300 for 40-50min until brown all over.

These can be frozen to be used for later.

Tips:
This is  a great base for granola bars so feel free to experiment with flax seed, bananas, dates etc.

2) Cashew Cookie Larabar -from a previous post - homemade Larabar

• 1 cup Medjool dates, pitted
• 1 cup raw cashews
• ¼ cup peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon water

1. Combine dates, cashews, peanut butter and water in a food processor and puree until mixture starts to stick together. Add a little more water if necessary to help mixture come together.
2. Pick up date mixture and using your hands work to squeeze it together into one big clump. Mash it down on a cutting board or sheet of wax paper to form into one even rectangle shape using the sides of your hands (or a knife) to make the edges straight.
3. Slice into 12 even squares. For best results store in the fridge, although bars can be kept at room temperature.

 3) Variation of homemade Larabars - Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups raw cashews (230 grams)
• 1/4-1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt (I used 1/2 tsp)
• 1 cup tightly packed pitted dates* (roughly 190 grams)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp mini dark chocolate chips (or simply chop larger pieces of chocolate)

1. If your dates are stiff or dry, soak the dates in a bowl of water for 30-60 minutes before beginning. Drain well and pat dry before use.
2. Add cashews and salt into a food processor and process the until the cashew crumbs are just smaller than peas, for about 3-4 seconds.
3. Now add in the pitted dates and process until the mixture comes together, for about 15 seconds, or longer if needed. The mixture should stick together easily when you squeeze it between your fingers. If it doesn’t stick or it’s still a bit crumbly, add a very small amount of water (1 tsp at a time) and process it again. I added 1 tsp of water and it was perfect.
4. Add the vanilla and process until combined. Finally, pulse in the chocolate or simply stir in by hand.
5. Line an 8-inch square pan with 2 pieces of parchment paper, one going each way (this makes it easier to lift out). Scoop mixture into pan and smooth out with hand until it’s level. Beginning at the centre, push down firmly all over the mixture. The more you pack it down the better the bars will hold together. Roll out with a pastry roller if you have one
6. Freeze for at least 15 minutes and then slice into 10-12 bars. The bars are a bit fragile and can break apart, so just handle them carefully. For on-the-go, wrap bars in plastic wrap or tin foil and store in the fridge or freezer. Or just store them all in an air-tight container if enjoying at home.
Note: You can use Medjool or honey dates here. Just be sure they are nice and soft.

4) Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter “Granola” Bars 
These were recommended by my running buddy, Quinoa. Since I'm not a big coconut fan, I left the shredded coconut out.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 1/2 cup natural unsweetened peanut butter (or almond butter)
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1/2 cup raw almonds
• 1/2 cup raw walnuts
• 1/2 cup raw pecans
• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 5 medjool dates
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
• 1/4 cup 80% cacao dark chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Combine the vanilla, honey, peanut butter, and coconut oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat.
2. While the mixture is heating, place all of the nuts and dates in a food processor and chop until the mixture resembles course sand.
3.  Add the shredded coconut and sunflower seeds and pulse a few times until the sunflower seeds are roughly chopped.
4. Remove the coconut oil mixture from the stove once it has melted, then stir in the nut mixture.
5. Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper, then pour the granola bar mixture into the pan.
6. Place another piece of parchment on top, and use your palms to press the mixture into the pan evenly. Make sure to pack it down as tightly as possible. This will help the bars bind and not crumble. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top and press them in lightly.
7. Place in the freezer to set for 2 hours. Lift the parchment paper out of the pan and place on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut the bars into rectangles.
8. You can store these in the refrigerator for 2 weeks, or the freezer for a few months. If storing in the freezer, remove the bars for about 20 minutes prior to serving

5) Homemade Protein Bar Recipe 
What you need

• 250 g/ 1 cup of natural peanut butter or alternative nut butter
• 340 g /1 cup of honey
• 270g / 3 cups of oatmeal
• 300g/ 2 cups of (chocolate flavoured) whey protein (optional) - I used ground almonds instead
• sprinkling of sesame seeds or flax seed-
• choc chips, raisins,dried cranberries or goji berries
• 5 drops of vanilla extract
• a little water if too dry

What to do
Combine the honey and peanut butter in a large non-stick saucepan over a very low heat until it’s runny. Mix in the oatmeal and optional protein powder followed by a sprinkling of whatever takes your fancy from the suggestions above. Don’t forget to add the vanilla extract and more water if you find the consistency a little dry, this will vary according to the optional ingredients you include. Stir together well and then press into a 9 x 9 ” tin. Allow the compressed mixture to cool before cutting it into 16 equal bars. At home, we wrap each bar in greaseproof paper and place them in a glass, not plastic container in the fridge, although it isn’t strictly necessary to refrigerate them.

Yield: 10-12 bars (shown in photos – 12 servings)


What's your favorite granola, energy, or protein bar? I'd love to try out some more!

 

Mini ROGAINE at Camp Stem by OLOU

Start of the meet

This past Saturday, we packed up the family and headed to our first family orienteering meet with OLOU. It was held at  Camp Stem, a girl scout camp, in Southern Indiana - about an hour away from Louisville. OLOU was offering a 2 or 4 hour mini-ROGAINE event with 2 starts - 9:30am or 11am. ROGAINE stands for "Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance" so a perfect event for our family to have some fun while getting our 'fit in'.

Control Point

We arrived a little after 9am. Ryan got our family registered for the 4 hour one. The meet cost only $10 for our family. We received our map with the 30 check points already on the map and our control card and stick which are used to mark the control points we find. We had a briefing prior to starting to go over the map. The topographic map was old so the trails were not as reliable. Also one checkpoint was worth 3 points instead of 1 because of the location and difficulty. The night before a post was made in the OLOU facegroup page about the easiest check points that would be great for beginners and/or families with young kids like us. In this meet, we were able to go in any order we wanted.

Learning how to read the map

We packed our bags with water, food, first aid kit, and kids and started the race. We followed trails and creeks, made our own way through ravines and uphills while trying to stay in contact with our map using the compass to locate the next control point. Our oldest found the first couple of checkpoints since he was leading us. Near the end, our middle son found them since he had a pretty good view from the backpack that he was riding in while my husband carried him. Our boys had fun trying to find the checkpoints, but they also enjoyed just seeing everything in nature. We found a really cool turtle shell. The boys tried their hands at trying to catch frogs. I was able to practice my orienteering skills which led us through some tricky parts that everyone did great traveling through. Fortunately we did not encounter any snakes which my boys would have loved to have pointed out! Just about everyone found a tick crawling on them, but that is too be expected going into the woods for an adventure.

We were out for 3.5 hours and found 13 control points. By the end, everyone's fun bucket was getting full as we were getting tired. The meet was well run with friendly people.  I found it a bit harder to navigate as compared to the MISSION LITE from last weekend because the trails in the woods were hard to follow. We saw the markers on the trees occasionally, but the paths on the ground were pretty much non-existent. Looking at the map for features such as re-entrants and spurs were more important in this meet. Despite losing Pixie's pacifier and one water bottle, we had an enjoyable time and got a great hike carrying 2 of our kids through most of the course.

Hiking through a creekbed

Pixie enjoying her first meet

 

Weekend Workouts - May 16, 17, 18

Another weekend is upon us! The calendar is full of active things to do this weekend!

Checking out the trails at the local parks are always a fun option or just a walk around neighborhood is a good start to getting some fit in.

Friday, May 16
Black Light Zumba - $3 at FitMe Studio

Quest Outdoor Adventures Demo Day - Test drive one of several dozen boats and paddle board, and have your questions answered by the experts at Long Run Park Lake boat ramp. - CANCELED!

Saturday, May 17
Waggin' Trail Walk - A 5k trail, a 0.7 mile trek around the Egg Lawn, or laps of the Egg Lawn to set up whatever length walk you want! In addition to the walk, there will be food, music, booths and lots of family friendly activities.

Breakfast Club - Free Bootcamp

Sunday, May 18
Try some geocaching at a local park or the permanent orienteering course at EP Tom Sawyer.

Gardening 101

 Isn't that the truth? I struggle with nutrition. I get by, but know I have so much to improve.

One way to eat healthy is to have your own garden. Nothing like eating some fresh vegetables and fruits.There is a garden design for just about any budget and space!

Here are a few I have tried:
Container Gardening - I did this when I lived in an apartment with herbs, tomatoes, and peppers.I had the containers on my patio. I did have to fight squirrels off.

Square-foot Gardening - Buying a home and having kids, I wanted something a little more permanent so my husband built 2 raised beds for us. I read and used Mel Bartholomew's book, Square Foot Gardening as guide when planting. 

Strawbale Gardening - We moved from the home that had the raised beds, but I still wanted a garden. My brother introduced me to strawbale gardening. He tried it for the first time last year and was successful, so I am trying it this year. I bought Joel Karsten's book so I would know what to do.  So far it has been pretty easy. My kids have enjoyed helping. The strawbale garden needs more water than the square foot garden, but there should be less weeding. We planted a variety of vegetables and fruits (tomatoes, peppers, squashes, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, herbs, arugula, carrots, strawberries) to see what works best. You can even plant in the side of the bale!

There are community gardens in the area too if you prefer not having it on your property. Blackacre also has space to rent for your garden. 

If you decide gardening is not for you, there are plenty of farmer's markets in the area for fresh produce to keep your nutrition in check throughout the week!

Progress of our garden so far:

10 bales for the garden

Bales layout with tarp to keep weeds out

Rooster planting with me. The soaker hose in place for easy water

All planted. Now the waiting begins.

Race Report - Mission Lite - May 10, 2014

Canoeing, mountain biking, running, and orienteering - all in one race! This is what Mission Lite was all about - my first adventure race.

Transition Area

This year's race was held at Versailles State Park in southeast Indiana. The park is a very beautiful park with a covered bridge, hiking trails, lake, biking trails and more. It is Indiana's second biggest state park.

Mission Lite is a 4 hour race. There was also an 18 hour race going that had started 2 hours prior to ours. You can race solo or in 2 or 3-person teams. My husband (Ryan) and I were a team calling ourselves "The D Team" since we needed a team name for the race. Our last name begins with D and I am also a fan of the old TV show, "The A Team" so it fit us.

Some of the gear

With adventure racing, there is certain gear you have to carry with you at all times, some just when on
a bike, and some when canoeing. Fortunately, my camelpack is smaller than Ryan's, so he carried most of the loot. Everyone had to carry food, water, and a whistle. One person on each team had to carry a pen, knife, compass, first aid kit, map, passport (paper that you stamp at the checkpoints). When riding bikes, everyone had to have a helmet and bike tire. One person on each team had to carry a bike pump and multi-tools. For the canoe, just the life jacket and paddle which were pretty obvious why everyone had to have one.

When we arrived to the race area, we checked in and were given a map. There is only one map per team. We marked our points from the Master map which had about 15 check points on it. The race started at 8am so about 7:30am, Brian (the race director), gave instructions on the race. He handed out a piece a paper with our first 4 checkpoints which was the same for everyone. We started the race by running about 300 feet to the canoes that were at the bottom of the steep dam! Ryan started pulling up the canoe while I ran to go get the paddles. He was halfway up by the time I met him. We were able to launch off and get paddling fairly quickly. Since, Ryan had more experience with orienteering, he kept the map and compass. The first 3 checkpoints we could find in any order, so we stopped by the first one on the map. We had to get out of the boat and find it.  The next 2 checkpoints were the same way. One of them was in a very marshy area, so pretty much impossible to keep the shoes dry. There were a few boats that tipped over, so just having wet shoes was nothing!

Can't tell what color my shoes were

The next stage was the mountain bike stage. I had not been mountain biking for over 5 years. Needless to say, this was the most challenging part of the race. There were rocks that were slick because of the rain which my tires were slipping on. I was fine on the descents, but going up hills, I crashed and slipped like crazy. The check points for the biking portion were right along the path so much easier to find than the canoe section. One trail was called,  Cliffside trail and lived up to its name. 

The next stage was the running part. We only had time to get one more checkpoint. You get penalized for every minute past the 4 hour end time. We finished with about 10 minutes to spare.

2nd place!

The adventure race was quite an experience. Having competed in canoeing, running, and biking races, I really enjoyed the added element of orienteering. Having grown up stomping through woods, it was fun to get to do that again while hunting down the checkpoints. I also liked the strategy aspect of how are you going to get from one checkpoint to another. You  have to use your team's strong points. For example, during the canoe we decided to portage through a small island since there was a headwind. When I first stepped out, I sank up to mid calf in mud, and I had not even put my whole weight out there yet. Fortunately, Ryan was able to push us up a little more for a bit firmer ground.

Believe it or not, we actually came in second for the co-ed division and 6the overall out of 41 teams! It has been fun to look back over the race to see what we might have done differently to cut off a few minutes here and there.

The Dino race was well run. Everyone was friendly and encouraging. The race even provided a meatball sandwich, salad bar, chips, fruit and dirt pudding after the race for lunch. This gave us a time to talk with the other racers about the course. I am definitely up for another one soon! If you are interested in orienteering or adventure racing check out OLOU or Flying Squirrel Adventure for more information.

Mother's Day Weekend Workouts: May 9, 10, 11

Warmer weather means lots of new, fun, and active things to do! Being still spring, though, showers are still around. There's a chance of rain everyday this weekend! I have my first adventure race on Saturday. As long as it is not cold, the rain could just make it more interesting and fun, right?

If you are sticking around the area here are some things to get out and have some fun getting your fit in:

Friday, May 9
Bike Up Movie Night - Bike up to Taco Punk for some food and a movie - Caddyshack - thanks to Bicycling For Louisville

Saturday, May 10
Burrito Riders - Make burritos and or ride your bikes to pass them out to the homeless in downtown Louisville

Yoga Fundraiser for My dog eats first - Infinity Bliss

Sunday, May 11 - Mother's Day
Mother's Day Stroller Walk - Beckley Creek Park at 2pm. FREE

Check out the calendar for more options!
Happy Mother's Day!

May is Bike Everywhere Month!

CycLOUvia. Tour De Lou. Biking events are springing up everywhere in Louisville and surrounding area! To top it off, this month is Bike Everywhere Month! Bicycling For Louisville and Bike Louisville are expanding off the Bike to Work Day (May 30). They are hosting morning commute rides, movie-night meet-ups, history bike tours, and bar nights this month (List of the events - one is this Friday - Bike Up Movie Night at Taco Punk). B4L and Bike Louisville are making it super easy to get your fit in this month by biking. If you have ever thought about biking, now is the time to do it!

Family at CycLOUvia

Biking is a great way to get some fresh air, exercise and can be done solo or with a group. Bikes come in all different shapes and sizes that there that is a perfect fit for you!

There is a National Bike Challenge as well.  "The Challenge aims to unite 50,000 riders to pedal 30 million miles from May 1, 2014 until September 30, 2014."

There are so many ways to get involved with biking in the Louisville area (besides B4L mentioned above) that I am sure I will miss some, but here is a list of all things related to biking in our area:

Burrito Riders - Meets second and fourth Saturdays - ride bikes to pass out burritos to homeless people

Trikes for Tikes - Refurbishes bikes in Crestwood and then gives them out to the needy

Falls City Community Bikeworks - community bike shop - opening this month!!! Mission :FCC BikeWorks will serve a two-part mission: providing the space, tools and expertise to any community member who wishes to learn and practice bicycle maintenance; and channeling the donation of refurbished bicycles (and related equipment and skills) to Louisvillians who rely on bike transportation, but cannot afford to purchase roadworthy bicycles."

KYMBA - Local mountain bike chapter - helps maintains the trails

Louisville Bicycling Club - also offers New Riders Clinic


Kentucky Wheelmen -keeps bicycle history alive, list of events

Southern Indiana Wheelmen  -biking club with group rides

Get Fit 24/7 - Spin classes including new Rhythm Cycle

YMCA - spin classes, downtown Y has hydrocycle which I hope to check out very soon!

VO2 Multisport - Group rides, including women's only

Eva Bandman Park - Cyclocross

Louisville MTB Short Track Series - starts in June - kids race free, men, women races

Derby City BMX

Local Bike paths and routes - road and trail routes

Parklands Biking

Louisville Loop 

List of a few local multi-day bike rides

Map of Cycle shops

And just yesterday I was seeing things about The World's First Underground Bike Park coming in the near future on facebook, so looking forward to see what this is all about!

Orienteering at EP Tom Sawyer Park

Map and a compass are the basics

So I have another race coming up on Saturday. It is Mission Lite up in Indiana. This race will be my first orienteering race with canoeing, biking, and running. Fortunately, it is a team race and my partner, aka my husband, knows how to orienteer and is trying to catch me up to speed. We checked out the orienteering course recently at EP Tom Sawyer Park.
I am part of the Louisville Orienteering facebook group so I found out about this course through them. My husband has a few orienteering races under his belt and has enjoyed them. This group helps to stay up to date on races and events relating to orienteering in the area.
What is orienteering? From the club's website, "Orienteering is a sport that involves using a detailed orienteering style topographical map to navigate one's way around a course with designated control points which are drawn on the map."

Start and finish location

The map and hints for this course are on their page. The hint page also gave safety suggestions which you should read before going out. We had trouble printing the map and ended up doing just a screen shot. It was sufficient enough for us to use. After our picnic dinner at the park, we were off chasing our first checkpoint with our 3 kids. We were able to find the first 5 checkpoints before realizing we needed to head home since it was past the kids' bedtime. Everyone was so engrossed in finding the next checkpoint we lost track of time. We look forward to doing the last half of the course soon.
We have not really explored EP Tom Sawyer Park much outside of the playground and the fitness trail. The orienteering trail gave us a nice  tour of the park. We saw the RC planes, lots of huge ant hills, the creek, and more cool things. It was a fun, active thing to do with the family while learning something new - at least I was learning something new with orienteering.
I would highly recommend giving it a try for something different to do while hiking at the park. However, I would also make sure you have someone that knows what they are doing to teach you as you go along.
The Louisville Orienteering club is starting to have their summer sprint events this Tuesday evening. The first one is meeting at Brown Park. This would be a good way to meet others interested in the sport, get out into fresh air, and get a little 'fit in'.



And we are off!

Checkpoint in the background - 34

Helpful Links
Louisville Orienteering Club
OLouisville Facebook group