30-Day At-Home Cardio & CrossFit Challenge

• Are you ready to get back into a habit of exercise? 
• Do you just need to mix up your same old workout routine? 
• Are you looking for a way to get into shape at home?

This 30-Day At-Home Cardio and CrossFit Challenge is for YOU!

With a little one at home, I have found lots of excuses for not exercising on a regular basis. When a friend shared a link to a 30 Day At-Home CrossFit Challenge (http://cleaneatsinthezoo.com). I found that the exercises were challenging, but relatively easy to accomplish. The daily workouts only took 5-10 minutes and could be done with a preschooler jumping all around - now that's my kind of exercise!  However, after completing the 30 days, I realized that I hadn't really done much in the way of sustained aerobic exercise for a month. So I decided to add a daily cardio challenge. The resulting 30 days of workouts are posted here.

Click on the highlighted exercises to see how to do them. Feel free to modify, add, delete, or change the order of exercises or days to suit your needs.

Remember, it doesn't matter how fast you go, just as long as you do it! As a friend once said, "Only exercise on the days you want to be happy." And in just 30 days, you'll be stronger and faster than you are today. Have fun!

WEEK ONE

Day 1 Cardio: Run 2 miles (jog or speed walk depending on your current fitness level)
Day 1 CrossFit: 20 walking lunges, 10 push-ups, 25 jumping jacks (4 rounds)

Day 2 Cardio: Bike 5 miles
Day 2 CrossFit: 10 burpees, 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (3 rounds)

Day 3 Cardio: Run 2 miles
Day 3 CrossFit: 25 air squats, 10 sit-ups (4 rounds)

Day 4: Rest Day!

Day 5 Cardio: Run 3 miles
Day 5 CrossFit: 10 walking lunges, 5 push-ups, 10 sit-ups (5 rounds)

Day 6 Cardio: Your pick - easy run, bike, hike, swim, or paddle for at least 30 minutes
Day 6 CrossFit: 10 vertical jumps (crouch down, then jump up as high as you can with arms to the sky), 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (4 rounds)

Day 7 Cardio: Your pick - easy run, bike, hike, swim, or paddle for at least 30 minutes
Day 7 CrossFit: 25 air squats, 10 push-ups (4 rounds)

WEEK TWO

Day 8 Cardio: Run 3 miles
Day 8 CrossFit:10 burpees, 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (3 rounds)

Day 9 Cardio: Bike 5 miles
Day 9 CrossFit: 5 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 15 air squats (Do as many rounds as you can in 10 minutes, taking breaks between sets if needed)

Day 10 Cardio: Run 3 miles
Day 10 CrossFit: 20 walking lunges, 50 jumping jacks (4 rounds)

Day 11: Rest Day!

Day 12 Cardio: Run 4 miles
Day 12 CrossFit: 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups (4 rounds)


Day 13 Cardio: Your pick - easy run, bike, hike, swim, or paddle for at least 30 minutes
Day 13 CrossFit: 10 vertical jumps (crouch down, then jump up as high as you can with arms to the sky), 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (5 rounds)

Day 14 Cardio: Your pick - easy run, bike, hike, swim, or paddle for at least 30 minutes
Day 14 CrossFit: 25 air squats, 10 push-ups (5 rounds)

WEEK THREE

Day 15 Cardio: Run 4 miles
Day 15 CrossFit: 15 burpees, 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (3 rounds)

Day 16 Cardio: Bike 5 miles
Day 16 CrossFit: 5 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 15 air squats (Do as many rounds as you can in 10 minutes, taking breaks between sets if needed)

Day 17 Cardio: Run 3 miles
Day 17 CrossFit: 30 walking lunges, 50 jumping jacks (4 rounds)

Day 18: Rest Day!

Day 19 Cardio: Run 4 miles
Day 19 CrossFit: 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups (5 rounds)

Day 20 Cardio: Your pick - easy run, bike, hike, swim, or paddle for at least 30 minutes
Day 20 CrossFit: 15 vertical jumps (crouch down, then jump up as high as you can with arms to the sky), 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (5 rounds)

Day 21 Cardio: Run 1 mile, for time, followed by 100 jumping jacks
Day 21 CrossFit: 30 air squats, 10 push-ups (5 rounds)

WEEK FOUR

Day 22 Cardio: Run 3 miles
Day 22 CrossFit: 15-20 burpees, 60-90 second  plank,  60-90 second side plank (both sides) (3 rounds)

Day 23 Cardio: Bike or Hike for 45-60 minutes
Day 23 CrossFit: 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 15 air squats (Do as many rounds as you can in 10 minutes, taking breaks between sets if needed)

Day 24 Cardio: Run 4 miles
Day 24 CrossFit: 20 Forward Leaps (jump as far as you can with both feet) (4 rounds)

Day 25: Rest Day!

Day 26 Cardio: Run (or speed walk) 5 miles
Day 26 CrossFit: 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups (5 rounds)

Day 27 Cardio: Your pick - easy run, bike, hike, swim, or paddle for at least 30 minutes
Day 27 CrossFit: 15 vertical jumps (crouch down, then jump up as high as you can with arms to the sky), 1 minute  plank, 1 minute side plank (both sides) (5 rounds)

Day 28 Cardio: Run 1 mile, for time, followed by 100 jumping jacks
Day 28 CrossFit: 30 walking lunges, 10 push-ups (5 rounds)

FINAL 2 DAYS

Day 29 Cardio: Run 4 miles
Day 29 CrossFit:10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 15 air squats (Do as many rounds as you can in 10 minutes, taking breaks between sets if needed)

Day 30 Cardio: The final CrossFit workout is also a great cardio workout!

Day 30 CrossFit: The final workout will be a combination of the various CrossFit exercises. 20 walking lunges, 10 push-ups, 25 jumping jacks, 20 air squats, 15 sit-ups, 10 vertical jumps, 1 minute plank, 10 burpees (5 rounds)

Congratulations!

(What's next?)

Disclaimer: I am not a physical fitness expert; just a woman who is trying to stay in shape and encourage others to do the same. Know yourself and your limits and don't do something if it doesn't feel right.

Hells Canyon Relay 2012

I received a message from an acquaintance one day that started, "Crazy question...are you doing anything next weekend?" She went on to explain that she was doing a walking relay with a team of women and they had a member pull out at the last minute due to an injury. Would I be interested in taking her spot? With nothing on the calendar and an amazingly encouraging husband, I found no reason to say no. I'd always wanted to go to Hells Canyon. I can walk. I like adventure. Why not?

That's how, one week later, I found myself in a minivan with five other women,  following another van of six up a dark windy road in search of a bed and breakfast outside the town of Halfway, Oregon.

And how, after a big lasagna dinner and a few hours of rest, I found myself with my half of the team, still in the dark, alongside just two other walking teams, the race organizer, and the mayor of Halfway, at the starting line of a 148-mile course through the Wallowa Mountains and Hells Canyon National Recreation Area. 

http://davidnevue.blogspot.com

We are talking remote, rugged, beautiful Eastern Oregon mountains. Our team would spend the next 34 hours race-walking through these mountains. We would gain 8,041 feet in elevation and lose 7,611 feet as we walked from Halfway to LaGrande, OR. Each van of six would alternate walking two sets of six consecutive legs, leapfrogging ahead and trying to get some food and rest in between.

My van of walkers would see two sunrises; take and then lose the lead from the "experienced" walking team; and walk an average of 13.4 minutes per mile (4.5mph). We would sweat, shiver, cheer, talk, stretch, blister, hoot, holler, laugh, yawn, giggle, and walk.

That's me coming up a big hill during my first leg.

I, personally, would get to know five other interesting, fit, intelligent, funny moms. I would lay down for a few hours, but never really sleep, over the course of three days. I would walk one "very hard" leg of 5.6 miles from 4028' - 5393' in 1 hour 13 minutes during the morning of the first day; and one "moderate" leg of 5.7 miles along the Wallowa River in 1 hour and 13 minutes well before dawn on the second day. I would become data keeper and photographer. I would eat, drink, ride, cheer, walk, and be merry. I would proudly put on the event shirt and finisher's medal after our team crossed the finish line. 

I would be glad I said "yes" to an unexpected invitation. 

My Daughter's Eyes

My daughter is beautiful. I know you think that I am biased just because I am her mother. While there may be some truth to that, the reality is that she is beautiful. I can claim no magical alignment of genes from my husband and me, as she is adopted. I can only imagine that her Chinese birth parents are both very good looking. I wish they could see their beautiful creation.

She was not a beautiful newborn. Indeed, few newborn babies are. But, now at nearly three years of age, she has grown into a beautiful young girl. She is tall and well-proportioned. She has long dark hair with an auburn hint when the sun shines on it. She has smooth glowing skin. Her lovely round face is accented by the perfect button nose, glossy lips, and dark smiling eyes.

almost 3 years old

Yet beauty is not comprised completely of perfect features. The secret to beauty is in the abnormalities that enhance the perfection and thus create something unique. My daughter is not perfect. She has a scar over her tailbone from the removal of a benign tumor when she was one month old. Her skin is prone to eczema and breaks out in little red bumpy rashes from the heat, the pool, the dry air, you name it. And one of her lovely eyes crosses inward.

I first thought that I noticed something was not quite right with her eyes when we received photos from around eight months of age. It really was barely noticeable and no one else seemed to see it. In the complex mess of paperwork and packing to go to China to meet our daughter, the vague concern about her eyes receded to the back of my mind. In a hotel meeting room in Beijing on the eve of “Gotcha Day,” we were handed a red silk fabric covered notebook with everything the adoption agency considered necessary for us to know before meeting our child. Upon opening the notebook and discovering a packet of new photos of our daughter, the rest of the information was deemed completely irrelevant and quickly ignored. Once again, I noticed her eyes, but thought that I was being paranoid and just searching for any sign of an undisclosed medical issue. I pushed the thought aside and absorbed the beauty of this child who was my daughter and would be in my arms in less than twenty-four hours. And once she was, we spent every moment of the next few months just trying to figure out how to meet her immediate needs. We were new to the whole parenting gig and had a lot to learn.

about 8 months old

11 (almost 12) months old

The first year of parenthood went by like a flash. Our daughter had plenty of doctor appointments during that year, catching up with all the necessary vaccinations and having her blood drawn to test for any signs that the teratoma she was born with would grow back. Thankfully, it did not and her development was right on track. Soon, friends started to comment on her eye. I had noticed it crossing more and more over the course of the year and had resolved that I would ask her pediatrician about it at her next annual appointment. After all, she did not show any signs that she could not see well or that it bothered her. A chance meeting encouraged me to make an earlier appointment with a pediatric opthalmologist.

The opthalmologist’s exams revealed that her left eye was indeed crossing inward, a type of strabismus called esotropia, and that her vision in that eye was weaker than in her right eye. He explained that, for a variety of possible reasons, her brain had selected to primarily use the right eye, especially for near focus, thus causing a “disconnect” between the left eye and the brain, called amblyopia. She was farsighted, not extremely, but more so than the average two year old. He prescribed glasses to correct the farsightedness and physically patching over the right eye a couple of hours daily to force the brain to use the weaker left eye and improve vision in that eye. At the three-month and six-month follow up appointments, the ophthalmologist noted improved vision in her left eye but no improvement in the crossing; although now the right eye was crossing almost as frequently as the left which indicated that the brain was reconnecting with that eye, a positive result from the patching. He discussed the possibility of eye muscle surgery and increased patching to achieve the best possible vision in the left eye beforehand. At the nine-month appointment, surgery was recommended.

A second opinion by another pediatric ophthalmologist at the Elks Children’s Eye Clinic, part of the Casey Eye Clinic at OHSU in Portland, Oregon, confirms the recommendation of eye muscle surgery to correct the crossing. Unfortunately, the type of strabismus my daughter has often requires repeat surgeries over the years. Also unfortunately (and this is the part where I wish I could go back in time and make myself heed my maternal instincts), apparently the brain becomes pretty “hard-wired” to the eyes by the age of two years, so although surgery will correct the crossing of the eyes, it is unlikely to improve her ability to use the eyes together to achieve good depth perception, or binocular vision. The good news is that the brain and eyes adapt to poor depth perception by using other visual and sensory clues; and her beautiful eyes will be straight and should track together more often. Vision tests from this appointment indicate that her vision is actually now better without her glasses and that since both eyes are able to fixate and hold focus on an object equally (but not together), we can back off on the patching to just a couple of days a week. We will miss seeing how cute she is with her glasses, but we will not miss the patching as the adhesive from the patch aggravates her sensitive skin.

I do not like the idea of having my daughter undergo any type of surgery, but I want to do what is right and best for her. I am reassured by the second opinion and by having the surgery done by a surgical team that is dedicated to working just with children. I will update this post in November, pre- and post-surgery.

My daughter is not perfect, but she is perfectly beautiful. I want her to see this too, with her heart and with her eyes.

Mosier Twin Tunnels

Today's adventure took me to a place I had been to before, but this time I used a different mode of transportation and traveled more miles. 

The place: Mosier, Oregon's Twin Tunnels trail 

The mode: cruiser bike

The miles: almost ten? 

This is a really nice paved trail that used to be part of the original Columbia River Highway. It cuts a path through the mountainside by way of two consecutive tunnels. It offers sweeping views of the Columbia River below. There is a fair amount of shade from the fir and pine trees that line much of the trail west of the tunnels.

The last time I explored this trail, I walked. It was spring. I enjoyed the views of the wildflowers and took time to linger at the river overlooks and marvel at the construction of the tunnels. I watched as bikers passed by again and again. I wondered how far the trail went. I thought, hey, I want to come back sometime and bike this trail. I recalled the trail being relatively flat.

A few months ago, my husband got me an awesome new cruiser bike. Oh yeah, old school style with no gears, pedal braking, cushy seat, wicker basket, and a bike seat up back for baby. I convinced a friend to bike with me and convinced myself that the cruiser bike would be much more comfortable than dragging out my old mountain bike. After all, the trail was pretty flat, right? Except for that hill at the beginning, my husband reminded me. Bah, I was in shape and could do it. An extra 33 pounds behind and an extra 3 in the basket? No problem. I learned that it was only ten miles round trip. So, maybe there would be a hill or two, but I've got true grit. And I could walk on any big hills and ride the rest. It's only ten miles.

We packed up, drove to the parking area, paid our $5, ate a picnic lunch, cruised down the hill to the trail head, and started pedaling. Oh, there is a hill at the beginning. And all the way to the tunnels. It was hard. Too hard to keep pedaling, so I walked, pushing the hefty cruiser bike plus baggage. And more hills after you get through the tunnels. Then there is a huge downhill, which I tried to enjoy while my mind kept telling me that the trail is out and back and this downhill would later be uphill. At about what ended up being probably a half mile from the Hood River end point, but before another downhill, I suggested turning around. My daughter was hunched over for a cat nap in her bike seat and I was feeling the strain. It sure seemed a LOT faster to get back to the car. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the downhills, feeling good about myself for pedaling and pushing as much as I did on the way up. I enjoyed the sweeping views and marveled at the construction of the tunnels. I was worn out and very sweaty. Yeah, great cardio workout today! But next time, take a bike with some gears, silly. Remember - this trail is hilly!

Entering the tunnels from the west.

My daughter and friend being silly while I catch my breath.

For more information about this trail, check out The Columbia River - Mosier Twin Tunnels, Oregon and
 Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail - Oregon State Parks ....

  

Handstand

I am thin.

I am strong.

I am not an athlete.

I can paddle a canoe.

I can hike.

I cannot do a handstand.

I am insecure.

I am lazy.

I am not a couch potato.

I can walk.

I can run.

I cannot do a handstand.

I am flexible.

I am open.

I am not a gymnast.

I cannot do a backbend.

I cannot do a double flip.

But I can do a handstand.

Sweet Sweet Peas

My favorite subject for photos these last couple of years is a beautiful, funny, sweet, and amazing little girl. Okay, I may be a bit biased as I happen to be lucky enough to be her Mama. But she realy is all those things and more. So, here I share with you a couple of recent photo shoots of my daughter.

SWEET SWEET PEAS
This first series was prompted by my dear friend who got a kick out of a photo she saw of someone surrounded by green peas with the caption "Surround Yourself With Peas". On the day my husband agreed to move forward with our adoption application, he simply said, "We will call her Swee' Pea." That was three years and five months before we were matched with our daughter, Yi Xiao Dai. We continued to call her Swee' Pea until we decided on her American name. Our close friends and we still lovingly refer to her as Sweet Pea on occassion. So, this friend of mine, who happens to grow the sweetest sweet peas in memory of her mother, thought it would be cute to take a photo of my daughter and give it the caption "Sweet Sweet Peas." I couldn't pick just one to share, so here are my favorites.

HAMMOCK GIRL
This next series shows Sweet Pea's silly side, and her first experience with a hammock. Enough said. The pictures speak for themselves.

Dinner Tonight: Fresh Homemade Thai Salad Rolls with Peanut Sauce

One of my family's favorite treats to get when we go hiking near Hood River, Oregon, is the fresh salad rolls from Lampoei's Thai food cart. So, when I was browsing the aisles at an Asian market a week ago and saw packages of rice paper with a pretty picture of salad rolls on the label, I thought, "I could make those." It is so easy to find good new recipes online. I often read through the first two or three I see that have positive reviews and loosely follow one or more, thus creating my own variation of a recipe. The approximate recipes I used follow the photos of my creation. I plan to stir fry some snow peas from the garden with some red bell pepper, mushrooms, garlic, and ginger to go with it. Maybe I'll also put in some chicken or tofu to make a complete meal. This meal would be great for a hot summer day. We are about 10 degrees cooler and 15mph windier than ideal, but we'll have to find a way to enjoy it anyway.

Fresh Thai Salad Rolls

carrots, cut into small matchsticks
cucumber, cut into small matchsticks

rice vermicelli (size XS; I found some from Jiangxi Province in China, where Ellie was born!), cook/soften in hot water, ten rinse, let cool, and chop
mixed salad greens, chopped (I used some from my garden, which has been loving our cool early summer)
cilantro, chopped
scallions (green onions), diced

I tossed the above four ingredients (vermicelli through scallions) with the following light dressing:
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs rice vinegar
a little less than 1 Tbs fish sauce
a pinch of brown sugar

rice paper (banh trang; I used medium size, 25cm)

Soak the rice paper in warm water. Put on some of the greens mixture. Layer on some carrots and cukes. Roll up carefully.

Salad Roll prep

Assembling salad roll

Peanut Sauce:
The amounts are approximate, as I wanted it a little thinner so kept adding a little more water, coconut milk, lime juice, and soy sauce to thin it out and get the taste I wanted.

1 C creamy peanut butter
1/2 C coconut milk
3 Tbs water
2 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs fish sauce
hot sauce (I used about 1 tsp chili garlic sauce, because that's what I had; use up to 1Tbs hot sauce of your choosing, depending on how spicy you like it)
1 Tbs fresh ginger, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped

Put it all in a food processor and puree until smooth.
Add some chopped cilantro just before serving, or as a garnish.

Enjoy!