Ironman 70.3 Texas Race Recap

Practicing Gratitude

Trying to summarize a race shortly after it’s done is still a little like looking at trees instead of the forest.  It’s hard to step back and see how it fits into the big picture, but it’s also the best time to document all the tiny fun details that are often too quickly forgotten! I’ve had several days now to reflect, but I’m sure I’ll still be learning from the experience for a while.  

Going into the race I was feeling optimistic, but knew my training wasn’t exactly where I wanted it to be. A rather annoying ‘niggle’ near my 4th metatarsal about a month before the race had me sidelined from running for almost two weeks and didn’t allow for much running at all once I was back on it. Although it was a minor blip in the long run, here I was going to be another race coming off an injury. At least it wasn’t new territory!

  

I arrived in Galveston Wednesday afternoon and was picked up from the airport by my dad who had decided to blend race spectating with a road trip and drove from Iowa to Texas with my mom the day before (and making bike transport a LOT less stressful!). My sister Jenna also joined us Friday and we had a blast exploring the city the next few days mini-golfing, checking out good seafood restaurants, going on a dolphin boat tour, and of course doing lots of race course previewing and weather forecasting.  

Race Day Nails!

Don't worry, the margaritas weren't mine :)

Athletes weren’t allowed to train in the bay where the race would be held prior to race day, so my open water swim practice took place on a few different beaches. And as open water swims usual do, these involved a lot of adventure! No other athletes were spotted, so I got cozy with a few pelicans and (one fishing line)fishing lines and on a particularly windy day had way too much fun giving my mom a minor heart attack while fighting some pretty decent whitecaps. Overall, the salt water wasn’t bad, I was able to reacquaint myself with feeling like a stuffed sausage in my wetsuit, and got out with a nice layer of green slim I was told clung to my face like a green beard! (Times you're glad no one snapped a picture. #supercute)

The 10 minute stuffing process.

My friend the pelican.

A pre-race ride to get a sense of the whipping winds was definitely helpful! Thursday’s ride, that included some VO2 max intervals I’m so fond of (insert sarcasm here ;) ), actually went better than expected, but on my transition run was completed half bent over with an extremely annoying (and painful) side-stitch and some weird foot and hamstring pain. I chalked it up to the unaccustomed heat, some dehydration, and the expected ‘I feel like crap’ taper week training. Thankfully, this reversed when Saturday’s ride felt a little rough and the run felt amazing, so all was right with the world again! #cyclingnovice #firstarunner

I also biked the run course more than a few times to try to make sense of the 35 different twists and turns and varying road/gravel/grass (seriously!) terrain and wondered if I should have packed my trail shoes and compass! I did some quick transition practice with Jenna serving as a bike rack and fell in love with my new race belt (elastic fuel loops, zipper pocket, and bib hooks all in one!). I was ready to go!

Race Morning

My expert race sherpa/best show-mom ever and I arrived early to transition, so I had plenty of time to get set up, drink some coffee, choke down some beet juice (would rather eat the equivalent 6 beets), and make the mandatory port-a-potty stop (phew...). After a near panic attack when my mom and I got split up minutes before the race, we miraculously found each other by the water (another phew... and exchanged a good luck hug and prayer. Then I made my way on the pier and into the calm(!) bay water.

Transition.

Lining up at the start.

The Swim

Being a ‘the more warm-up the better’ kind of athlete, I was disappointed there was no pre-race swim warm-up, but being able to jump off the pier into the deep water made up for it a little bit (so fun!). The original plan to go out fast and find a good lead pack had been reconsidered in favor of slowly building into my cruise speed due to no warm-up. After two gut busting and failed ‘sprint then settle’ swim workouts the previous few weeks, this was definitely more my style. However, I didn’t want to miss a good opportunity to get out front, so I figured I’d see how I felt. And in true open water zoo-like fashion; the crowded, hectic start basically threw all plans out the window. Women were going in all directions, but finally after making the first turn about 700 meters in, I found a nice pair of feet to follow! The pace felt like I could have gone a bit harder, but I couldn’t see anyone else ahead, so I decided not to waste energy by going out ahead on my own and settled in for some play time in the water and for what I thought was a second place swim finish. (I also made sure to thank the women afterwards for pulling me along/apologize for hitting her feet about a million times). At the exit, I was excited to get peeled by a wetsuit stripper, but ended up laughing hysterically after I got drug across about 10 feet of grass before several volunteers had to grab each of my limbs as I hung in the air to finally get me out! (Times you wish someone snapped a picture.)

Having too much fun.

The Bike

Once on the bike, I quickly passed the female who came out of the water ahead of me (and did get quickly peeled) and was surprised to also pass another. Apparently there was another woman out of the water way before the rest of us! From there on, I was able to keep my cadence at above 80 rpm (for once!), but was a little disappointed at my lower than targeted power output. I yelled at my legs to ‘get going!’ a few times and just hoped I wasn’t losing too much time. I was also very thankful for an uncrowded course with few penalty worries and not getting blown around by the wind too terribly.

Coming into transition.

The Run

Coming off the bike, my legs were a little more tired than expected, but I was excited to start my favorite part of the day - the running! I had decided to dedicate each mile of the run to special people in my life and was looking forward to spending each mile practicing some much deserved gratitude for each of them. These gratitudes turned out to be my saving grace on what ended up being an extremely difficult run. There were three loops on the course and the first went by pretty quickly. I felt mostly comfortable at my targeted pace and focused on picking off a few of the pro females ahead of me. I grabbed water, ice, and cold sponges from each aid station; but somewhere along the second loop, my pace began to slow and my legs felt pretty heavy. By the last loop, I still forced myself to smile as much as possible to the cheering crowd and my family who were holding ridiculous signs (this always lightens the mood), but I was definitely throwing in a few fierce grimaces too. A million thoughts run through your mind when things get tough. “Come on legs. Pick up the pace. Just a little more effort. Only 4,3,2,1 miles to go. You got this.” My pace was slowing quickly, but given how dead my legs felt, I was actually surprised the splits didn’t read slower! It was almost amusing how my legs, and even arms, had gone completely numb and on the last slight incline about 1.5 miles to go, I’m convinced my legs tried to fall off altogether! I somehow forced them into moving forward and every ounce of effort was placed on reaching the finish line and refocusing on my mile dedications. “How thankful am I for Joe and Ann? I can’t wait to call my nephews at the finish. Come on Dad, let’s ‘give ‘em hell’! My mom is my biggest support. Do it for Grandpa Ray, I know he’s watching.”

My gratitudes.

The run.

Coming down the finishing chute, there was no final kick and in tears of relief/exhaustion/disappointment, I managed to find one last smile and throw up my hands to make it under the final arch and immediately collapse into several volunteers.

Half smile/half grimace.

Zoom in on the look on my face on this one!

Lessons Learned

In the words of my coach, you can only ask for doing your best on any given day. So here is what I know. Did I give it my all? I think so. Although the slowed run pace and tough finish were disappointing and a few tears were shed, I was brought back to reality very quickly with that fact that I finished extremely well and better than I had expected. I’ll continue working on getting my run back where I’d like it to be (and good news this is my favorite thing to do!) and tweaking my nutrition plan a bit. But most importantly, I’ll continue staying grateful. This is what I’m most proud of. Yes, I was happy with the results given what I consider a very rookie status, but staying focused on why I race was even more of a success. I race not only because I love doing everything to reach my full potential, but I also race to practice gratitude for all the blessings in my life. I’ve come a long way in a short amount of time and I am so thankful for so many things: my health, my family, my faith, my friends, and the opportunity to give it my all. These are what make it all the pain and time (and even aqua jogging) all worth it. Most days, I truly feel like I’m living the dream. :)

(Bonus lesson learned for Jenna: Sunscreen.)

Providing a few laughs.

Best support crew ever.

Suns Out Buns Out...10 Things I've Learned About Potty Training

Hello again! H here and just wanted to share some interesting facts I have learned about potty training while working with L & B. Definitely a 2 steps forward 1 step back process! Huge shout out to the kids' daycare who have been allowing us to send those little walking messes to school in underwear from day 1. They deserve 90% of the credit for our successes (I think that you know where the failures probably lie).

Be forewarned....there will be lots of references to #1 and #2. This will not be a sophisticated, well-vocabed post. The word poop is used 47 times. Not for the faint of stomach. Turn back now if needed! 

Here it is!

1. Boys will be boys.... these days I can't turn my back for 10 seconds without turning back to discover L 'watering the lawn'. Seems great, until you are in a park along side a highway. I just stood in a strategic spot that shielded him from as much traffic as possible. "Oh, hi neighbors!"

2. I estimate 78% of my at home time is now spent in a bathroom. I have taken to multitasking so if you receive a text from me, I just might be sitting on a stool waiting for the 'magic' to happen (who knows...I could be in a bathroom right now.....). This leads me to #3.

3. Apparently going to the bathroom is a group activity. I think my kids must follow the tree-falls-in-the-woods philosophy, if I'm not there to see it, then it doesn't exist. Never been so excited to see a 'log' drop in my life. "Mom, get in here!"

4. Little boy tip: sit them backwards on a grown up sized toilet...this has saved me an estimate of 387 hours of clean up time.


5. My kids lie.... "Did you poop?"  "No." "Then what is that laying on the ground?"  

6. Bathtub peeing is the best. L purposely holds it so he can pee in the bathtub. Gross? Yes. Do I allow it? Hey, I never claimed I was going for a mom of the year award. In my defense I do remind him 'Just don't pee on your brother'. That's got to count for something.


7. Bathtub pooping is NOT the best. Luckily this very rarely happens in my house. But, a couple days ago B was taking a shower and I noticed 'something' clogging the drain. I said, "Oh no, is that poop?" He notices it, screams, and runs to the other end of the tub. Um, why the surprise? You made it. #doody!  (This is the 2nd time I've told a story like this on this blog...I hope you are impressed with the maturity of content I am providing you.)


8. They lie (did I mention that already?). Do not believe them when they say "But I'm potty trained, I can wear undies to bed" and than pee in your brand new bed that you don't even have a liner for yet. Not that I'm bitter.  


9. Buy LOTS of undies!!!! We are constantly on the last pair, it's like they can sense it "there are more clean underwear in this house, I must pee in it!"  Also, I got each boy a clearly different style and that helps a TON when sorting laundry.

10.Which reminds me.... Laundry. Minimum one load per day...minimum. And I'm ignoring the fact that almost all of my clothes have now been washed with pee or poop. Well, I was ignoring it and now I'm thinking about it. I might have to go shopping. For cleanliness purposes only of course. When does my next Stitchfix arrive?


Well people, there you have my 10 totally useless tips on potty training. When you see me next you can thank me, hope I'm wearing new clothes, or notice I am strategically blocking a bare butt.

Dinnertime improvements!

I’m back in the blogging world…. New Year’s Resolution #205 was to get back to blogging and only 3 months later…here I am!

Today I’m going to talk about my newest obsession, Wildtree®!   

This company has struck a chord with me as my little pal L has a nut allergy and this company caters to a wide variety of dietary restrictions (if needed). I joined the company as a representative so that I can save money, time and energy when meal prepping for my family without having to worry about L’s allergy. I love that I can order a pack that will include a grocery list and all items needed to make 10 freezer meals in one sitting, and that they have kid friendly (and Mr. M approved) options that they will actually eat.

This last week I tried my hand with my first Freezer Meal Workshop (put on by another rep).

Step 1: Buy and prep meat and veggies

Step 2: Get together, possibly have a glass of wine (don’t want to get dehydrated!), and add the Wildtree products to the freezer bags

Step 3: Defrost and eat as needed

How easy is that!! So far I have been more than impressed with the deliciousness factor and more importantly so has my family. The boys had eaten every bite of their meat (and sometimes even veggies) and Mr. M is actually looking hopeful when he sits down at the dinner table.

Now I have more time to help my little men get out of (and into) messes. (See Below)

*Shameless plug: If you are interested in giving it a try—here is a link to my website =)

www.mywildtree.com/hmmanske

Fall weekend adventure!

*This post is my shameless plug for our local pumpkin patch in attempts to lure friends and family to come down this fall and join us, so bear with me and my gushing =)

This past weekend we had the opportunity to visit Pinter’s Pumpkin Patch, a local pumpkin patch, corn maze, and so much more!!! We decided to head over for a couple hours to tire the boys out before naptime (which is ALWAYS a challenge for us on weekends—does this happen to anyone else?)

Here is my juicy insider tip! Visit in the morning; we arrived as they were opening and just as we were leaving at noon it was just starting to get busy.

Our highlights? I knew you would ask!

Jumping pillow (H’s pick)—This is where our early arrival really paid off! The boys had SO much fun bouncing and running on this but can’t hang once their dad the older kids get this thing hopping. Another bonus-moms are allowed on it too…and I love a good trampoline.

Corn box (B’s pick)—The boys had a blast crawling around filling up buckets and even found an innocent bystander to bury. 

Mr. M was intrigued with how much less messy the corn box was than our sandbox at home. I could see wheels turning and am a little scared what might come of this. Anyone that knows Mr. M knows about his ‘invention’ ideas.

Big slides (L’s pick)—L told me he wanted to ‘slide and slide and slide’ and could have played here all day. Mr. M and I had to sample the slides (for safety purposes of course) and found them pretty fun ourselves! And I have to say watching little smiling faces going down the tubes were some of my favorite moments of the day.

Pedal Go Karts (Mr M’s pick)—L and B each took a turn with mom and dad and had so much fun getting to steer while we did all the dirty work pedaling! A good workout and a lot of fun.

We also visited the animal farm saying hello to some turkeys, chickens and goats (B does the CUTEST goat impression); rolled ourselves in tubes; tried out the ball zone; explored through the tire maze; and wrapped it up with a grain cart ride.

Needless to say—3 of the 4 of us were in full snooze by the time we got home for naps (don’t worry, the 4^th was the driver!). 

Season passes were obtained and we will definitely be back for more!! Mr. M said if they would install a beer truck and TV he’d be the first to arrive and last to leave every Sunday. I tend to agree, I don’t see a problem with an ‘adult cider’ option =)

On our agenda for next time? I knew you’d ask!

--Snack shack (did I mention Pinter’s makes the world’s best cupcakes?)

--Corn maze

--Wagon ride to the pumpkin patch

--‘Wiggleville’ (doesn’t that just sound fun?)

--Duck races

--Pumpkin cannon (this is obviously #1 on Mr. M’s list for next time)

The Sunday Drive

Last weekend my parents took the boys and I on what was one of my favorite family traditions: the Sunday Drive.

L and my dad (Big Q) started the day with a trip to a Swap Meet and we hit the road. Best part? My mom packed everything! I should elaborate:

My mother is a savant in the art of packing….she has everything you could ever think of. Fingernail clipper? Has it. Sewing kit? Of course. Plug in for any electronic device ever made? Duh. AND the ever present necessity: the wet washcloth. My sister, D, and I joke that when we are packing to go anywhere we follow the mantra "WWDD: What Would D (mom) Do" because she thinks of EVERYTHING! #WWDD #WetWashclothMemories

First Stop: Quick stop at my cousin’s house to drop off a couple things. B took the opportunity during the 5 minute stop to get out and roll around in their sandbox. He would have been fine ending the trip right here as there was a park next door, a dog down the street, a sandbox, AND chickens….a 1 ½ year old's dream! Alas, it was soon time to head to our next location so after we (mostly) cleaned him up, we were back on track.

Second Stop: Starks Liquor Store. I know, an obvious choice for a trip with two little boys =)  But we were able to put together a craft beer sampler and pick up some of their delicious cheese curds so everyone left with a treat.

Third Stop: Walked across the street to the ‘world famous’ Pete’s Hamburger Stand. World Famous = Big Q watched a special on them on the Travel Channel so we had to try it. The boys enjoyed watching them boil the burgers and walking through the boat store next door.

Hanging with grandpa....

`

Fourth Stop: Took a ‘short cut’ to Pikes Peak (I think the quotation marks indicate how short this cut ended up being). Had a picnic, played in the park, and walked down to Veil Falls. L LOVED counting all of the steps on the way up and down. He can currently count to ‘twenty-thirty’ (thirty) and only skips one or two numbers in between. I know every parent thinks their child is a genius, but mine actually is. #saideverymomever

Child genius...

On our way to the falls

Fifth Stop: Phelps Park, Decorah. We had ice cream and than played in the park. L was so happy because they have three parks (play areas). By the end, Grandma, Grandpa, B, and mom were tired with bellyaches and L could have stayed another 3 hours.

Sixth Stop: Home. Clothes went directly into the washing machine, bodies went directly into the bath, and moms went directly into the couch.

L is still talking about the trip and it now ranks up there with Grandma’s house and the Waterpark as his favorite places to go. Those are some high praises my friends.

Sappyness alert! Those with weak stomachs read at your own risk:  Days like this make me so grateful our kids have all four grandparents that are always there to step in and lend a hand or make a memory =)  Family is the best!