Falls Duathlon 2016 Race Recap

Falls Duathlon 2016 Race Recap

Hey there! Just popping in to do a quick recap of a quick and fun race last weekend!  There are always good stories that come out of races and this one definitely had a few highlights!

 The Falls Duathlon in Cannon Falls had been on my radar for the last couple of months, but I held off registering early due to the inevitably variable and sometimes dicey weather this time of year.  I had heard reports of rain, wind, and even sleet at this race and for a warm weather-loving girl -- this sounded miserable! Running in the wet and cold? Tolerable. But biking? No thanks!  However, the weatherman predicted the rain would hold off the morning of the race and in a stroke of luck, I found out a few days before that several friends were planning on going, including RBM!  Fantastic!  With no pressure to win (with RBM there is no competition!), I thought it’d be a lot of fun to see some friends and see what my legs could do in a short race!  And in even better luck -- my mom, sister, and two nephews could make it to come spectate!  Having them stay with me the night before and being able to look for them on the course always makes the whole experience that much better. #nighttimecuddlesforthewin

 The 2 mile run,14 mile bike, 3 mile run course was intimidating.  While I had some pace goals in mind, I knew that with these shorter distances there would be no chances to ‘get comfortable’ and it would be a push the whole way! Not to mention I was going to have to try to keep up with the predicted competition!  RBM (a machine of a pro) and Jenn S. (a nationally well-decorated duathlete soon to be pro) would be no one to mess with!

Race Morning

 With a forecast of 40-45 degrees and clouds, I made a last minute purchase of knee warmers and was happy not be be chilly at all while setting up - a great buy!  After chatting with friends and other competitors setting up in transition (and drinking my good luck beet juice), we were off to the start line before I knew it.

RBM, Peter, me, and Dale excited to start!

Run 1

 The first mile clicked by a bit faster than I was expecting, but I was feeling pretty good. Nevertheless, I was fine with slowing slightly the second mile and was happy entering transition not too far behind RBM and the lead guys still in sight.

Clearing having a horrible time.

The Bike

 The out and back bike course had us battling the wind on the way out and flying in on the way back!  I tried to keep RBM and Peter in my sights, but could tell they were gaining on me, so I settled for holding my own going back and forth with another male (wearing wildly colored shorts on a road bike -- I was not going to let this guy get me!). The cooler temps were making my hands a bit stiff and it was getting hard to shift toward the end, but I managed to push the right buttons my Garmin (barely) and came off the bike still the second female. I knew Jenn S. wasn’t too far behind, so it was time to hold that lead on the last run!  

Bike Start

Transition 2

 Unfortunately, this is where the most excitement happened.  All I needed to do was simply remove my sunglasses and helmet and get my run shoes on.  It turns out; however, numb fingers do not function normally (or at all) and I spent almost the next two minutes! trying to unclip my chinstrap and get my helmet off!  This may not sound like a long time, but when you’re standing completely still fumbling with competitors flying by, it feels like an eternity!  My mom’s cheer progression mirrored the growing frustration and hilarity of the situation perfectly: “Way to go, Ruth’s only 2 minutes ahead!”... “You’re ok, take a deep breath and pinch!”... “Can you pull the whole thing off over your head?”...  “Geez! Just run with it on!!!”  Finally, a life-saving spectator yelled at a volunteer in the transition area to help, and after a quick snap, I was free and took off just in time to see Jenn S. come flying in off her bike!

"Get this thing off me."

Run 2

 I flew out of transition trying not to swear too loudly and slapped a high-five to my nicely mittened sister and nephews (not jealous at all...).  My goal was to hold the best pace I could knowing it would be over shortly.  I had fun seeing how the race was unfolding in the front of me thanks to the out and back course and being able to watch everyone at the turnaround.  RBM was flying and not surprisingly picking off all the boys and I got a good shout of encouragement to “push it” by Peter - and I needed it!  I was a little tentative given how my legs felt in my last ‘my legs tried to fall off’ run in Texas, but I was able to manage negative splits and had some juice to kick it into the finish.  

I <3 Running.

B

 Crossing the finish line and rehashing the details of the race was a blast and I was ecstatic to set a female amateur course record.  Mostly I was happy with a strong finish and to gain a little confidence back.  I’m excited for my upcoming season and am hoping to continue having the time of my life.  Even when things get hard, I remember how much I truly love pushing myself and seeing what it brings.

Yes, I finally got my hands in those mittens.

Best spectators ever!

*Note 1: Although I was gaining ground on him during the last the run, the wildly colored shorts guy must have retained his finger dexterity and didn’t waste precious minutes in transition, out-doing me by a mere 8 seconds in the end.  Hoping we cross paths for some redemption soon!  

*Note 2: Bananas and a Costco-sized jar of peanut butter should be served after every race. Thank you Final Stretch and Gear West for superb refueling! :)

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)