After the Indialantic Boardwalk Tri, I didn't have any more races that I had signed up for and I was wondering what I would do to keep busy between then and starting my marathon training (more on that later). Ryan was going to be in Las Vegas for the weekend of 7/10 - 7/13 and I saw that there was a tri up in Orlando. It seemed like a perfect time to spend some more time with my friends who live up there and do a race at the same time. After work on Friday 7/11, I packed up my car with all sorts of goodies and headed up to Orlando (I dropped Willow off at the dog boarding place for the weekend).
I’m not sure why but lately I have been SOO unproductive. I’ve barely kept up with my chores like cooking and cleaning. It’s not horrible but not great either. I haven’t been sewing all summer and I rarely end up blogging. I’m not sure if it’s the new job, or how much I’ve been working out or what…I just can’t seem to get in the swing of things. I can’t promise it’s going to change right away but I’m going to try and get at least a little better. To start with, I think we’re going to have to implement a “no TV until chores and 1 thing off the ‘to-do’ list are done”. Maybe that will help determine if I’m just wasting time watching TV... Wish me luck!
After I got all the blocks sewn, I played around with a couple of different layouts until I found one I liked. I decided to have the columns of planes alternating directions and the different colored backgrounds going in a diagonal pattern. I also tried to make it so there weren't two planes with the same fabric near each other. Fortunately for me, Tabitha was perfectly happy with this layout so I was able to go ahead and piece together the top.
Over the past couple of months, I’ve been trying to improve my swimming endurance. At each triathlon, I usually would make it about 100m before I was gasping for air and switched to side stroke or breast stroke…for the rest of the race. Ugh. In previous years I tried to meet with a swim coach or follow regimented workouts that included drills and speedwork but it just didn’t work for me. So this time I made a plan for myself to swim twice a week and slowly build endurance. Instead of focusing on swimming quickly, I decided that the only rule I had to follow was that I wasn’t going to get to stop and take breaks. I started with 8 sets of 75m freestyle, 25m side stroke or breast stroke. That way I could focus on just swimming 75m before I got a short (active) rest and it allowed me to control the length of the rest more accurately. Each workout I increase the freestyle distance or number of sets. Recently I did 1200m total with 8 sets of 125m freestyle, 25m active rest. After the workout I was remember what all went on in my head during this swim and thought you guys might enjoy what 1200m feels like to me…
So I mentioned previously that I did the Pineapple Man Sprint Triathlon in early June. Well after that, I guess I caught Triathlon Fever because I just can't seem to stop. After Pineapple Man, I did the Indialantic Boardwalk Triathlon on 6/22.
A few months ago, a friend asked me to make a custom quilt for her daughter (she was still pregnant at the time). Her husband is a test pilot for Velocity and they own their own aircraft so when they saw the quilt below (click the pic to see the original) they knew they needed an airplane quilt for their daughter Ashtyn.
It's hard to believe it's been so long since I had sewing pictures and such to share. My sewing really slowed down in April & May but I did get one other quilt done - a baby clothes quilt for Bobbi Jo.
I told you about the 5k that I ran in on Saturday 5/30 but I didn't get to tell you about the Pineapple Man Triathlon that I did on Sunday 6/1. There were several of my friends running the race too: Tris, Nic and Angela (coworkers from Piper), Josh & Carolyn (friends from college) and Don & Rob (two of Ryan's coworkers). The race consisted of a .34 mi swim in the Intracoastal waterway, a 15.9 mile bike ride and a 3.4mi run. The swim was nice and calm but it rained on us during the bike and there was lots of wind and standing water on the roads. Of course the rain stopped just in time to make the run nice and hot, LOL. But it was a really fun race and I had my best average bike speed ever (even with the rain!) so now I'm excited to do more tri's. I've signed up for another one on 6/22 so more about that coming soon!
This past weekend, I did two races in two days! Now that I work in Melbourne and can't keep going to bootcamps in Vero, I have to do something to keep me active. So I've been signing up for races like crazy. On Saturday, we did a 5k to support our friend Al and show people how important it is to know CPR.
Hard to believe I haven't blogged in about a month! I'm sure everyone knows by now but about three weeks ago I left my job at Piper Aircraft to embark on a new adventure at Northrop Grumman! I worked at Piper for 6 years - ever since I graduated college. I loved all the people I worked with and I had some really great experiences while I was there. I found this old pic from when I first started working on the Jet - back in the good 'ole days :)
I am a part time quilter, full time engineer and hope to one day become a full time quilter. Feel free to read along as I explore quilting, cooking and anything else that strikes my fancy.