Baby Quilt #2

Here's a shot of the quilt I made for my friend at work. It was trickier than I thought lining up everything for the sashing w/the squares. I think a wider sashing and larger squares would of looked better, but overall I liked how it turned out. The majority of squares used were some of the first piecing I've ever done. 

Showing Up is Half the Battle

I went to the neighborhood gym this morning for 60 minutes of cardio -20 mins on the bike and a 40 minute interval session on the treadmill. I pushed too hard on the TM and could smell the burning rubber right before it came to an abrubt stop....talk about a buzz kill, I was flying at a 8.5 mile pace!! Not to be short changed on my cool down I hopped on the next one over and finished up. I like the neighborhood gym for the TM workouts cuz unlike the Y there's no 30 minute time limit on any of the cardio machines.

Swimming was good tonight. Once I got past the fact that it was cold, dark and rainy. As much as I consider myself a morning exerciser, the night time swimming is kind've relaxing. We had a substitute, and he got into the water and demonstrated...I like him better than our regular instructor already! I decided to drop the private lessons for now and ordered the Total Immersion Video that I can study and do drills from on my own in addition to the Tu and Thu nite classes.

Tonight we focused on rotation and arm and hand entry. We used some funny looking flotaion device you hold in between your knees and w/o kicking we worked our way down the lane while trying to maintain 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock positions with our arms, then pulling back one arm at a time then exiting the water with high elbows and "quietly" re-entering with "diving" finger tips vs slapping the water.

Oh Lord, I have so much work ahead of me in the pool and I wouldn't mind it at all if any of you swimmers out there had a tip or two to share!! I'm all ears. Speaking of ears, I've got water in my right ear still and class was over nearly 2 hours ago!!

Spring Break Fun!!

While I don't have a photo to prove it, M and I had a delightful day at Marine World yesterday and we had the pleasure of meeting Mia and her family. She and I live pretty close and we knew we were both going to MW on Monday. We didn't plan to meetup but she spotted me while I waiting for M to get done with her ride and we spent the entire day hanging out. And yes, Scotty and Tommy are adorable, I even got to hold Scotty for a bit. Eric was just as nice as could be. Mia is just the best, and I feel like I have made a new friend.

Look what I did!

I finally took the time to figure out how to post pictures. This is me and M at the Marin Trail Race. It was one of the few dry days last month. woohoo more pics on the way!

Oh Happy Day

Firstly, I was so moved by LouBob's recent post. She is the rockinest cowgirl around.


I really enjoyed my 60 minute run this morning. It's been awhile since I've run outside in the morning and with the threat of rain at bay I peeked outside around 6am and was glad to see dryness. Out the door by 6:30 am I headed over to the Berkeley Marina. Running along the mile pier that stretches out/back a little over a mile I tried to visulize what a quarter mile in open water would look like. I've been so stressed about the swimming and not running much the two have proven to be toxic combination. The fresh ocean air really cleared my head and I feel better than I have all week.

The group has a ride scheduled this morning at 9, I feel up for it. I left a message for the swim coach but she hasn't got back to me. I'll have to call again and leave more details I guess, as I was hoping to speak to her about my learning style and preference for more demonstration.

So yeah, the run this morning was exactly what I needed to get out of my funk. No watch, just checked in a couple time w/people on the streets to keep track of time so T could get to his appointment (Bloodwork and treadmill test) The ironic thing is I want to learn to swim so I CAN run longer, reap the ben's of x-training ya know. My new friends from triathlete.com have been helpful too, so now I don't have to yak so much about tri stuff here.

special needs

I was too tired to go to grp. swim lastnight, for some unknown reason (maybe it was the previous days not-so-great swim lesson, the pm track workout, or the dryer finally dying and the mounting piles of dirty laundry.....) I woke up way too early..2:30 am too early on thursday. i tried to go back to sleep but after an hour it was clear that it was not gonna happen.

i packed up my bike and gear w/the intention of going for a ride at lunch time as it will most likey RAIN again this weekend. T called me around 11am at work and agreed w/needed to buy a new dryer and washer too! so i scrapped my plans for ride and we went to SEARS on my lunch break.

by the time i got home from work, i was toast, but i also think i need to rearrange the swim schedule 3 days in a row of swimming is too much. while the grp lesson was fun, the 1:1 session was discouraging. i'm also not so sure of my instructor. she showed up in street clothes and never got into the pool. nor is she a great communicator. sure, she's nice, but i have special needs and i already can tell i'm a challenge for her. after showing her what i could do on my own i.e. thrash maddly down the lane..........head bobbing upwards the whole time....
she asked "how far to you have to swim in the event?"
i said "a quarter of a mile"
and she said not so convincingly, "huh, okay that's doable"
( good fucking thing lady, cause you have some work ahead of you!!!)

the track workout with the tri group was fun, i was back in my comfort zone. we did an interval session, 3 slow laps 2 fast 2 slow 1 fast 1 slow. i shouldn't of ate pizza and hour before, but aside from a little tummy upset i led the pack. i'll remind you most of the folks in my group are NOT runners, a few of them are older, and most of them come from a strong swimming or biking background. after the discouraging 1:1 swim lesson it felt good to be good at something!

so here in lies my dilemma. fun is in most cases my internal motivator. if i'm not having fun i usually don't follow through. running while it wasn't always fun (speedwork, yuk) i have enough proficiency at it to get me through the less funner aspects.
swimming is a totally different thing. i suck at it. the swim instructor touched abit on muscle memory, and the need to practice good form but she's never demonstrated it only TALKED about it. i'm considering buying the TOTAL IMMERSION DVD, but hell, why spend MORE money??? i think she needs to talk less and get her ass in the pool and demonstrate. i need to open my mouth and ask her if she'll do this.

FUN

geez, all day yesterday i was in a funk, feeling neglected, taken for granted, the self-pity was in abundance. i got home a few hours before my swim class, feeling apprehensive, unmotivated and unfocused. i kept fiddling w/my swim bag but never really getting around to getting ready. i asked t for a ride to the Y just so i could skip the aggravation of parking, one less thing ya know.
i head for the pool locker room and to my horror realize i've forgotten my swim suit.wtf!!! surprisingly, my funk gave way to determination as i booked over to the lost and found and managed to scrounge up a bikini top and some boy's swim trunks! i was totally lucky there cuz the choices were slim, it was this or the waaaay too big one piece, you know the ones with the padding in the boobs.
lindsey, our instructor was way cool and my 6 other classmates ranged in ages and abilities. we're a good crew. the focus was on side breathing and rotation, we used kick boards and fins (a first for me, like the road bike, fins are wicked fast, now if i can figure out how to sneek them in the event i'll be cruising for sure! lol!!) we also did some goofy looking "chicken wing" drill. the 45 mins flew by and i regretted having t drop me off cuz i would've stayed to practice longer, but then on the other hand, had i had my car when i realized that i'd forgotten my swimsuit i mighta gone home, who knows? one thing i do know is i had FUN and am looking forward to this afternoons lesson. woohoo!!!

Striving to do more

This weeks wrap up:

Tue: 30 min treadmill.
lunges/10# and squats/45# 3x10
leg presses 3x15 45#

Wed: 60 min Yoga class

Fri: 45 minute run outside (the one day this wek the sun was out);
Headwinds and Hill repeats, oh yeah!!

Sun: 70 minute run

Doesn't look too impressive for a multi-sport training week, however if you count the many hours I've spent finishing up this damn quilt, er, I mean this darling quilt that'll be finished tonight if I have anything to do with it!!!...it's been a pretty balanced week. Throw in chaperoning a field trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium on thursday and working 32 hours this week, I'm not feeling too slothful. No swimming or bike riding though.

Spent most of saturday cleaning up the nest and sewing, taking care to stretch periodically.
I skipped the tri-club get together on saturday, they headed over to the city for a gait and running shoe clinic. This wednesday night though, we're meeting at the Berkeley H.S. track for a workout w/coach woohoo!!
Good sleeps and eats all weekend. M made the yummiest banana bread w/chocolate chips and walnuts.
I was asleep by 9:00 pm on friday!!

Okay, back to the sewing machine . I'm going in for the kill!!