full day

today i did a 14-16 mile whitewater rafting trip for time. class 2,3,4 rapids. lots of fun.

the only problem was trying to bend my knees to anchor myself to the boat so i wouldn't fall out. i spent most of the day in a balancing act because my knees are still hurting so bad that its close to impossible to bend 90 degrees, let alone hold them in that position. straight legged is the only way to go. the knees are still swollen, my quads and calves are still swollen and the bottom of my foot still hurts after 10-15 steps. Guess i need to make an appt with dr. distefano again to see what real damage I've done. Idaho is beautiful, I'm eating like a machine, not really interested in alcohol still which is weird but i think its too much for my stomach. with how bad I'm feel physiologically I'm estimating about 6 weeks of recovery. it will truly take about that long to heal, repair and be ready for any strenuous activity again. I've been checking up on the gym I'm helping run and they are killing the workouts i left for them, i can't wait to jump in with them but it looks like it will be a while, and that is without any real injuries which i don't think I'll get away with this time, i hurt too much. its still hard to get up from sitting and i tried to roll out again this morning before rafting. i think that is hurting more than it is helping so I'm done with it for a few days. After 2 hours of sitting in a car in the morning, 1 hour on a bus, 6 hours in a raft on the river, another hour in a bus, and 2 hours back in the car this afternoon i think it is time to ice my knees again. plus its dinner time, peace

iron hangover

just got done eating breakfast. it was good to get some real food in me. Just to let you know what i ate this morning:

3-4 egg omelet with sausage, bacon, ham, swiss cheese. 1 biscuit with gravy, home fries, one 12 inch blueberry pancake with honey butter, a few bites of another buttermilk pancake dressed similarly, and 3 glasses of water. Amazing, and i'm already hungry again.

The morning after a race is always exciting. My quads are pretty much rocks, my calves are definitely feeling the cramping from yesterday, my knees are very swollen and sore, the bottom of my left foot still hurts like crazy, i really think i tore it, i have some sweet sunburns on my quads, and i'm just generally moving slow. All for glory!

Thanks again to everyone who kept up with me. i was in a state of delusion 14 miles into the run, had someone let me quit i think i would have.i kept thinking about everyone watching me and knew i had to set an example for you all. Like kristen said, when i saw her at mile 14 of the run i didn't say anything, just stood there shaking my head, trying to stand up and wanting to quit. I literally didn't speak for the minute or two i was there while they tried to push me on and finally i turned and start running again. i'll post a whole write up on the race later today or tomorrow or wednesday. so look for that. thanks again.

Michael finished in 14:09! Mission complete. Goodnight!

My feet are bleeding, I think I tore my plantaris(bottom of foot), beyond dehydrated, sick to my stomach, covered in salt, and can't walk but thank god I'm done. Probably the hardest ironman I've done thus far. I'll update more tomorrow, thanks for following me!

"You are an Ironman!" Those are the words the announcer said to daren at 12:09. Yall will never understand how amazing it is to see these athletes finish this amazing race until you've seen it for yourself. Daren did say a few words when he finished. I got a smile out of him too! He talked about how difficult the bike was...going 6 mph up the hill and then 40 mph down. He's in such good spirits to be done! Thank you everyone for watching the blog today. It means so much to daren to have all of yall supporting him. You've now heard my perspective of the race and I'm guessing daren will give you his when he can actually think straight. Now to go watch for Michael to finish. He wasn't doing well at all...vomiting for a couple of hours and walking the majority of the marathon. Hopefully it's getting better and he will finish soon. He told me that he would finish and that he was having a beer afterwards no matter what!

Saw daren at mile 15. He already has himself beat. I think the weather has been too hot. His pace is still a 9:37 but he didn't say much and looked really beat when we just saw him. Tried to offer some encouragement and even a little coaching words to pick up the pace and negative split the second half of the marathon. It's not gonna happen though until he believes that he can. We won't get to see him until he finishes. He will finish. Just not in under 11 hours like he wanted and maybe not even in under 12. Keep your fingers crossed that he finds that fire within and pushes through the pain for 2 more hours. Might have an update before the finish based on ironmanlive.com

Ok so here's what happened...daren was literally the person behind Michael coming into transition but we thought he was going to be at least 3 minutes behind him so when we saw Michael we only yelled for Michael and only took pictures of Michael. Going back to the pictures though afterwards we realized that daren was in every single picture in the background. Guess I'll be cropping some of those :) glad we got some pictures at least. Then they came out of transition together but Michael took a potty break so that's how daren ended up out in front. Darens now been working out for almost 9 hours. What have you done today?

So we went to see daren transition from bike to run and we totally missed him. We were really worried that he got a flat or was hurt. We saw Michael go through transition and waited 25 minutes then we checked ironmanlive and he had finished the bike so we ran out to our chairs and just saw him on the run. He looked great. No idea how far into the run he is but maybe 2 miles or so. Waiting to see if we see Michael now. Op there he goes. Looks like daren is about 3 minutes ahead of Michael now. Over and out!

Saw the boys go by on the bike at mile 70. Pace is about 17.5 mph. A little faster would be good but we think they stopped at their special needs bag this last time around. They should finish the bike in about 2.5 hours. We are currently enjoying a beer on the back porch of the coeur d'alene brewing company...great spectators aren't we?!? I told yall I was the perfect spectator :) Michael is only 45 seconds ahead of daren which is great for both of them!

Just saw daren at about mile 15 of the bike. Looked happy! Wind isn't much of a problem. Probably only 5-10 mph winds. Completely clear skies and a wonderful 57 degrees. Won't see them again for another two hours. They are headed out of town now.

Boys are out of the water. Darens swim time was 1:03.37 and his transition time was 9:01. He's out on the bike now. Looked good especially with his cheeks slathered with sunscreen. Hopefully no burns this year! Don't know the next time we will see them yet

The boys got in the water for the swim about 10 minutes ago meanwhile the first pro just finished his swim in 46 minutes. It's an interesting swim because it's two laps with a very short beach run in between. We were unable to spot daren or Michael in their black wetsuits and red caps since everyone is wearing the samething. More to come soon. Team Ends-atino Out!

Good morning! It's 5 am race day here in coeur d'alene. The boys woke up at 4 am and daren ate 2 eggs, a banana, and one slice of watermelon. He also took 2 applesauces with him for right before the race. Both boys were really quiet this morning. Maybe because it was early, maybe because they are nervous, or maybe they are just being focused. Patsy, Lauren (michaels wife) and myself walked the mile to the race site at 4:30 and got the perfect spot for our group to sit at for the swim. The pro athletes will start their swim at 6:25 and then at 7:00 daren and Michael will be in the water. They just announced the water temp is 61 degrees. It'll be cold but hopefully bearable. Keep checking back every 2-3 hours as I will be posting as often as I can to keep you updated. You can also keep track of him at ironmanlive.com his bib number is 163

Game time

just under 12 hours away now. Thanks again to everyone who is following me and everyone who has wished me good luck. i'll have plenty of time to try and convince myself i'm not as tough as i used to be and you all will keep me going, i have too many people i'd let down if i don't finish. Kristen will be updating this blog all day so keep it here for updates tomorrow. you can leave her comments because she'll see me 5-6 times throughout the race and can relay me messages. Also you can follow me at ironmanlive.com and enter my race number (#163) for updates of my times and stages throughout the day. it may get backlogged so be patient and remember the race doesn't start until 9am college station, tx time. The blog will be your best choice to get instant updates. I'm tired, nervous, anxious, worried and excited so i'm going to try to get some sleep. These things never get easier... Here is the playlist and order of the songs i'll listen to in the morning on my way to the race site to calm down and get ready...

kings and queens, 30 seconds to mars
sing for the moment, eminem
your hand in mine, explosions in the sky
your disease, saliva
its better to learn, soasin
this is war, 30 seconds to mars
memorial, explosions in the sky
air planes pt. II, b.o.b. feat. haylee williams and eminem
Undead, hollywood undead
teardrop, massive attack

Course and area pics.

How was your friday? mine was great, obviously,update below that.

friday is wrapping up here in coeur d' alene idaho. I woke up early and went for a swim in the lake we will be swimming in saturday.

it is very cold. like make your face sting, take your breathe away and make your toes cramp cold. The wetsuit was great after i warmed up some but my face and head never really got better. it will be a long hour swim. also the water was very choppy this morning. worse than some oceans i've swam in. the swim will head straight out into the current, left turn, then other left turn, and head back with the current. get out, run on the beach for about 100m then complete second lap. it will be good to get out of the water for a second and hopefully grab something to drink. i don't know if they'll have an aid station on the run, i would assume not, but i can still hope. The bike course goes all over idaho, i don't even know how to describe it, so here it is..

The run follows along the lake, as does some of the bike. we drove it today while out touring the area, it has a really good long hill. i would say at least half a mile long, realistically closer to one mile. so that will be fun. the run is a two loop out and back, just like louisville was. it will be great for pacing but mentally difficult. its a long way to run 6 miles in a straight line. it'll have to do. the area is still somewhat of a mystery. the crews started putting it together today so tomorrow i'll have a better idea of what is going on. Hope everyone is doing well. Waking up to 60 degrees with the sun rising at 5am can't really be beat. nor can a high of 75 degrees and not having to use a/c in the car, even on a 2 hour drive.  here is an idea of the area i'm in for the next 6 days, it looks over the lake we are on and swimming in...

So travel is over. Idaho is a gorgeous state but it is also pretty darn hilly. I've been riding mostly in college station which is very flat but I did do 7 or so rides on the hills of Austin mostly rides over 50 miles so hopefully that will pay off Sunday. We checked out the lake we are swimming in today, it's water from snow melt so it will be very cool, right now it's around 58 degrees. The athlete village is huge by the lake so there will be lots of room to roam around tomorrow and then plenty of space Sunday for the race. We haven't picked up our race info yet so no major details on the route but I'll update with that tomorrow. Also hopefully have my day before the race and race morning playlists. I think those will suprise you firebreathers. Out...

We got to Spokane. We are two hours behind college station time. The weather is an amazing 75 degrees with no humindity. Headed to coeur d'alene in our yellow camero. End transmission.

Just landed in denver, 2 hour lay over then to Spokane Washington

First leg

made it to austin. feel very tired. i had to put together my snacks for tomorrow because airports are not paleo, not at all. still have to get up at 4 am tomorrow, even without crossfit. plane leaves at 7am so we have to head to the airport early, around 5 am. Thanks for all the good luck wishes so far. i keep forgetting what i am undertaking, its going to be nuts, but i think i'm ready. update tomorrow.

comment

you can comment on here now, i fixed it, for some reason i had locked it.

on to the next one, plus some nutrition info

I'm 24 hours away from being on my way to idaho for ironman #4. i'm already packed up which is incredible for me, i usually procrastinate terribly. tomorrow i have a pretty big workload so it'll be hard to squeeze in one last training swim but think i can manage. today i put all of my nutrition stuff together. i'm guessing i'll take in 3,000-4,000 calories during the race but i'll be burning anywhere from 12,000-15,000 for the day. thats a big deficit. lots of muscle wasting will be going on. the key will be to put it off as long as i can. as well as dehydration. you can't stop it, you can only hope to delay it as much as possible. i have a mix of gels, drinks, and electolyte tabs, that i will be consuming along the course. my goal is one gel every 45-60 min(100 cal) one bottle of perpetuem every hour or so(270 cal) along with some bananas thrown in there somewhere towards the end. All in all it should be 4440 cal for the day if the plan works. Notice i didn't include any solid food. i will eat nothing but gel and perpetuem for 12 hours. exciting huh? think of me while you enjoy breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and then dinner. 3-2-1-go.

Packing up and strange events.

i'm spending the day packing today. working all tomorrow so i have to have it done tonight. i got a call today that really shook me up and here is why. I race because i can. i do it to show myself that i can achieve incredible things and push myself to limits most have never encountered. have you ever been exercising for 12 hours straight? with no real food, no one to talk to, nothing to do but sit and breathe and move, and hear yourself for the entire day? its something else, you should try it. anyway i have the ability to, and why not do it now when life is so short? i had a reinforcement of this fact saturday and again today, back to the phone call in a second. thrusday night my grandfather(the last grandparent) took a nasty fall outside his apartment building. he shattered his eye sockets, and had bleeding into the brain among other things. he spent the night in the icu. saturday he was moved out because he was improving, swelling reducing, gaining awareness, some good brain function. he was awake long enough to pray with my uncle and aunt before he fell back asleep sunday night. yesterday the doctors went to evaluate him in the morning. unresponsive. poor sodium levels which indicate limited brain function. to put it squarely his brain is giving up. the tubes, ivs and assistance were removed yesterday and its a waiting game now.about that phone call... today i got a call from one of my best friends and fellow ironman athletes(who is competing with me sunday) that his grandmother died yesterday. what are the chances? its unreal that we both are hit with this days before such a big race. The week will move forward as planned but it will be bitter sweet. we can only live today and not worry too much about the future, and you can bet we will be racing our asses off, until we have nothing left, and then we'll finish the second half of the race. so to the grandparents, please watch over us and keep us safe. Game time.

Prep run

gotta keep up with me, gonna be lots of posting this week, so make sure you scroll down to the other posts. Anyway did one of my last prep runs this week. the best part of a race is the tapering in the 2 weeks leading up. today i only had to do a 2 mile run! amazing compared to 8 or 10. anyway i killed it so that is encouraging. i just ran, and ran hard because it felt good.

2 miles
13:09, 231 cal
mile 1- 6:48
mile 2- 6:19

Race Day packing list

observe all the crap i have to remember to pack and or will need on race day...

Warm-ups
Day bag


Swim
Flip flops
Body glide
Goggles
Swim cap

Monday prep

ok so the week begins. i have tons to do before i leave for Idaho. first off i must pack. not only am i doing a 12 hour long race but i have to also pack for a full vacation. I'll put my packing list up for y'all to see just how crazy and meticulous it has to be. i have to also plan out meals for this week. half the week is spent in Idaho too so i have to plan a grocery trip when we get there and what we'll eat there. i have a lot of stuff lined up this week so gotta get to work. update tonight