Daren Endsley

here is the report from my most recent race. please click on the images to enlarge since they are so small. it is written very free flow so i paid no attention to grammar. enjoy!

Ironman Coeur d’Alene 2010

Pre-Race

When I got to Idaho I was stunned by how pretty it all was. Every inch of the northwest is awesome. I also began to notice the elevation, and its frequent changes. It is very hilly, or should I say mini-mountainous. We stayed in a house in the center of Coeur d’Alene about 6 blocks from the race site. The neighborhood was small, quiet and friendly. The race site was within walking distance if you were ready for a hike but it took 20- 30 minutes to walk there. Our first visit revealed a blue lake nestled in the valley of a ring of pine covered hills. The lake was a dark crystal blue and very clear and it had a rough rock beach that we would start and finish on during the swim. The water was in great condition to swim in, much better than Louisville from 2009. The water is snow melt from the mountains so that was a clear indicator to us it would be cold. I didn’t know though just how cold it was. The water temp climbed from low 50’s in the weeks before the race to around 59 the day we got there. Ground zero for race day was roughly 50 meters from the lake in a large grass park. There was a road leading out of it to the bike course and transition centered around this road. The expo was also set up here and we picked up our packets Friday to prepare for the race. Prerace meeting was held Friday night lakeside.

Saturday morning we completed a practice swim to get used to the conditions. It was very rough water, very windy, and terribly cold. Outside temp was about 60, water was at 61 and felt like to ocean it was so rough. We managed a few minutes of swimming and decided to call it a day. We were required to check in our gear bags for transition and bikes for the race Saturday afternoon so we went back to the house to get everything together. When we went back to race site Saturday afternoon we got to see the layout of the flow for Sunday. The swim to bike bags were between transition and the lake, and bike to run was between transition and the bike racks.

Transition

My bike was racked on the second to last rack as you exited transition so I would have a longer jog than most, but I also didn’t have to run with my bike for as long so it was a good position to be in. Once checked in we left the venue to prepare for the journey on Sunday morning. I finished out my last Paleo meal Saturday night while preparing for the race. I had been eating paleolithically since December and I could tell I was leaner and fitter for this race than I had been in years past and I do think it helped me, both in training and on race day.

Race morning

Race morning I woke up at 4. I ate a staple breakfast of 3 eggs, a banana, and water. I needed the protein and fat from the eggs, the sugar from the banana, and water to rehydrate from sleep. The meal also needed to be low in fiber so I didn’t have anything sitting in my stomach soaking up water during the race. I ate 2-3 hours before the start and took 2 apple sauce cups with me to eat 1 hour before the race. When we got to race site we got marked, dropped off special needs bags for the bike and run, did a last check on our bikes and found a pavilion to sit in while we waited for our start.

Swim- 2.4 miles

Mass Start

The swim was rough but it was also one of my best swims for a few reasons. Water was 61 degrees race morning, air temp around 55, calm winds, sunny skies. This swim would be a wetsuit swim for sure and I had my new full suit to try out. The swim started on a beach with very unfriendly rocks. I remember my feet hurt just standing on the “sand” while we waited during the last 10 minutes before the start gun. I had a bottle of water, 3 endurolytes and a gel 5 minutes before the race start to compensate for the requirements my body needed during the swim. I’ve had trouble in the past with dehydration during the swim, so I knew this time how to fix that. This race was a different swim start from any that I’ve done so far. It was a beach start. That means 2800 competitors lined up in a rectangle 30 yards wide by 15-20 deep.I was on the second row of people next to Michael, ankle deep in water. There was also no countdown this year. I don’t know if we didn’t hear it or what but I remember hearing “ ok 2 minutes to race time” over the speakers then less than 2 minutes later, bang, the gun went off and people started running in the water. The start was absolute chaos. It was a pure brawl.

I remember running into the water right next to Michael until it was up to our hips then diving forward. We started the swim slower than usual. Most of the time it’s an all out sprint for 400m until you realize what you are doing and back off. My experience has finally taught me something, aka don’t sprint right off the gun. Before I knew what was happening we were getting mauled. I was getting pushed under water, I got kicked in the face and my goggles filled with water. People hitting, pushing, pulling on feet, it was the craziest swim I’ve ever been a part of. It also took a good 5-6 hundred meters to fan out enough to take a breath without someone beating on me. Michael and I stayed together, eye to eye for the entire swim. The swim course was a 2 loop down and back. Swim out 900m with buoys on your left, turn left, swim ~100m, turn left, keep buoys on left and swim back to the beach, get out, run 20 meters(which hurt like hell on my feet), dive back in and do it again. The course was nice because they set buoys at every 100m. It was great for pacing and served as a distraction having those buoys there. I simply counted each one I passed, focused on swimming to the next one and broke the swim into 100m sprints instead of a 2.4 mile hurdle. I did have a few issues during the swim, which is expected in a hour long event. For one the water was rough. There were times I would breathe and put my face back in the swim again but I would have no water underneath me. The waves would literally throw you into the air like when you are at the ocean. Also on the 100m cross section the waves came in against the side of us instead of straight at us. I remember one time I breathed and saw Michael about a yard away from me, felt a wave hit me and I was on top of him. It was pushing us around a lot. All the more exciting I guess. Also the water was cold, very cold. It was so cold we had to wear earplugs to keep the water out of our ears because it was painful and would make us nauseous. Not only were our ears a problem but my face, feet and hands burned because they were the only things not protected by the wetsuit. I also kept cramping in my quads and calves from the cold so I’d have to kick to generate heat in the muscles. Cramping would be a theme for this race and this was just the begging. If I kicked for 30 seconds my legs would warm up enough to stop cramping. I hate kicking when swimming and with a wet suit it isn’t really necessary so it was annoying to have to do so. After about 200 meters my legs would cramp again so I’d have to kick and the cycle continued the entire race. At the last 200m of the swim I lost Michael in the confusion of the finish so I just put my head down and gave everything my arms had. I got to the beach where I could touch the bottom and started climbing out. I took off my cap and goggles first so my family could see me, then removed my earplugs and started the 30-40m jog to transition. Time=1:03.

T1- swim to bike

swim to bike bags

The chute to transition from swim to bike was confusing. You run down this chute, have someone pull off your wetsuit, hand you your bag of gear and run into the change tents to put on bike gear like helmet, shoes, jersey (shorts were on under my wetsuit). Problem is I missed the strippers so I had to back track about 10 m to go to them, then I had to find my bag in the pile because the volunteer getting it ran the wrong way. I don’t blame her at all, out of 2800 bags trying to find mine without knowing where it was could be tough.I remembered where in the line it was so I just ran to it and took off to the change tent. It was so damn hard to get my jersey on, being wet and trying to put on a dry race shirt is not a good combo. Michael caught up to me while I was throwing on my bike shoes(no socks) so I helped pull his jersey on for him. I loaded up my pockets with gel, endurolytes, drink powder, and chapstick, then pulled on my skins sleeves since my jersey is a race tank and it was still 60 degrees outside and I was soaking wet and took off to my bike. I grabbed it out of the rack, ran about 50m with it, mounted and took off. Time =8min

Bike- 112 miles

I started off really slow on the bike. I had to. I always go hard on the bike and then crash out so I had to start slow. It felt like I let every person in the damn race pass me, but I stuck to my plan. The bike course was 2 loops, roughly 60 miles the first lap and 52 the second. It started off through neighborhoods in and around downtown Coeur d’Alene and wrapped along Lake Coeur d’Alene, turned around at mile 12 and headed back down the same road. At mile 8 there was a long slow uphill, probably half a mile in length. I climbed it slow. I was not going to waste any more energy than I had to that early in the race. We turned around at 12 and headed back down towards the city. The downhill was fast, I just coasted and let gravity do the work. The first 20 miles of the race I focused on pace and food. I had to eat, had to drink, had to catch up then try to get ahead. An hour swim takes it out of you in terms of nutrition and I had to catch up. After tracking back through downtown we took a road north into the hills.

heading out to the hills on 1st lap

The wind was whipping up pretty good outside of town and I was trying to move as efficiently as I could. I barely pushed into the wind, coasted on anything that seemed to be a downhill, and pedaled in my easiest gear on any incline. My tactic was simply survival. Survive the first lap and then figure out the second lap. It took about 35 miles to really get into the hills and when we did, oh man. They were terrible. The road met up with a lake in Hayden, Idaho. It was a gorgeous lake with very expensive houses but the road wrapped up and down. The hills through the back section of the race went like this: Put your bike into its lowest gear, pedal as smoothly as you can, struggle to save energy while sitting down, finally get to the top and fall down the other side. I looked back at some of my speeds during the bike. My garmin took a split at every mile and there were miles where my average would be 10-14 mph, obviously on an uphill, and the next mile would be 25-35 mph on a downhill stretch. That sucked. It was challenging, both mentally and physically and it occurred over and over again. There weren’t any nice hills, it was all or nothing. We spent the entire back half of the race in one giant group because we were all doing everything we could to save speed on the hill while also saving energy. I can’t believe I didn’t get any drafting penalties because I was riding right on people’s wheels the entire time. And people were riding on mine. It was annoying yes, and I’m sure I was annoying other people too but there was nothing any of us could do. The hills were that steep. I caught up to Michael at some point during these hills, and we switched places for a while, him chasing me, me chasing him. We stopped at mile 40, 60, and I stopped at 85 to pee. Here is where all my problems started. Idaho is very dry. College station is not. I went from 100% humidity to 0-5% maybe 10% at the most. Worst of all is that I didn’t even think about it, notice it, nor was I prepared for it. So I went about my ride taking in my normal amounts of electrolytes and water, never thinking about the fact that I was losing salt like crazy. I was getting worried because I was peeing so much and it was because of too much water and not enough electrolytes. When we stopped at 40 I was already cramping. If I stood up on a hill my legs would cramp, lock-up, and I would struggle to keep pedaling. So I started taking Gatorade but I think it was too late and my stomach really couldn’t handle the extra sugar. I think I also mixed my Perpetuem too thick so my stomach had to draw more water out of my body to digest it than it should have and I was hurting myself that way. I was getting energy but not enough water or electrolyte to allow my muscles to function properly.

heading out on 2nd lap

By the turn around for the second lap I was already feeling crappy. My stomach was sour, my legs were cramping still, and I was feeling pretty out of luck. I focused on trying to take in more pills to bring my legs back but I also couldn’t stop peeing. This was my main issue and the tipping point of the electrolyte balance. Obviously I had the right amount of fluids going in, maybe even too much, but not with the right amount of “stuff” in it. At special needs I missed my bag. I didn’t realize the numbers went from 1-2800 and not from 2800-1. So I got all the way to the end and got to do a victory lap back to my bag. I stopped and grabbed 2 packets of heed. Heed is a high energy high electrolyte drink. I wish I had more because it really helped but my quantities of it were low because most of it I had already mixed with perpetuem and I couldn’t stomach any more of that junk. It was a real battle. I dropped endurolytes all over the ground because I couldn’t hold on to my bottle. A volunteer helped pick them up for me. No telling what kind of road grime I swallowed the rest of the bike. I took 3 Aleve to help my aching back from all the steep hill climbs. While there I forgot to each some of my PBJ sandwich due to the excitement of dropping all those pills. This was one of my only opportunities for solid food and I missed it. I’m sure it hurt me somehow but thinking back it wasn’t the only thing that did. Just add it to the tab. Once loaded up, I threw some trash in the bag and left. As we headed out towards mile 70 I started to balance out. The cramping wasn’t getting worse, but it wasn’t getting better, my stomach was still sour but I was still keeping up with the people around me. At 85 I stopped again, refilled a bottle with heed, slammed 8 endurolyte pills, ate a banana, pee’d and headed in. The hills were beating me down. They were just hammering on me. My slowest bike mile recorded on the Garmin was 8 miles per hour. That’s nuts, I can run at and above that speed. I had a few 9’s many 10’s and 11’s but I had two 8’s. The mile immediately after 8 was 35mph. Again, just stupid. I made it through what I knew was the last triplet of hills around mile 90-95. Psychological beat down there. You’re coming over the first one and can see the second and third right in front of you. You fly down the back side and slam into the next one, dead stop, change gears, stand up, limp up, sit down, throw gear on, fly down, slam into the next one, same drill, and a few choice words later you are out of it. I caught Michael at 100 or so and he was hurting. I jumped in front of him and told him to stay on me and we picked it up. We alternated leading the rest of the way in and really booked it back to transition. I pretended to drink and eat but my stomach was on its way down. I did what I could but I really I just wanted off the bike.

Bike leg is done! i'm 3rd in line

We pulled in to transition right behind each other, threw our bikes away, and hobbled to the change tents to begin the next part of our journey… the marathon. Most people think it’s an epic thing by itself… I’ll take mine at the end of a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike thank you…

T2- bike to run

I sat down. That’s all I wanted to do. Sit down on something other than a torture device with wheels, and not use my legs. I pretended to put on my socks and shoes quickly but I was in no hurry. It was shaded, it smelled horrible in the tent, and I didn’t want to be anywhere else. I grabbed the rest of the crap out of my bag. The only things I’d use were the heed, the recoverite, the endurolytes, and the Chap Stick. Everything else would get thrown away or turn into a paste mess in my back pocket because I ripped a perpetuem bag without knowing it during the run and poured water on myself at some point and made really expensive glue. I put on my trademark visor cleaned my sunglasses, told Michael good luck and waltzed out of the tent finally. Next was supposed to be my favorite part, but it wasn’t.

Right after mile 2

Run- 26.2 miles

I didn’t grab my watch off my bike. My Garmin had 5% power left. I was pissed. I like running without a watch sometimes but not during a race. I’m a pace person. I follow the watch and this time it was just me running and the mileage markers guiding me. The Garmin lasted for the first 2 miles of the run or should I say shuffle. It’s key to start off slow and I did. 9 minute miles felt good so I ran at 10 minute miles. I had to wait until mile 5 to run how I wanted to. Any earlier and I’d go too fast and pay for it. I was already paying though. My quads locked with every step. My toes were curling under my feet from calve cramps. And I couldn’t even run how I wanted to. I filled my bottle with heed and drank it in about 3 minutes. It isn’t super sweet, and at the time was delicious. At the time I really wished I had another pack of it. I think that would have really changed my run. But I didn’t plan for the conditions or how I was feeling at that point when I planned out the run. I put that heed in there last minute and am glad I did. After 20 minutes I could feel it helping me. Problem was I was running in the heat, in direct sunlight, I was out of heed and I couldn’t handle the perpetuem any more. Every time I drank it I got nauseous. I had to really dilute it and I was taking endurolytes every time I would hit an aid station. They were located every mile and helped me know where on the course I was because mile markers were at random intervals. The run wrapped along the same road as the beginning of the bike. It took us out along the lake but it was very long. Something like 5 miles out along the lake, straight line and you could see the whole way out. The turnaround was on the same hill as the beginning of the bike. We ran half way up it and turned around at mile 6 or 7, I don’t really remember. I was just pissed they were making us run up that hill. It wasn’t a run it was a shuffle, it was one foot in front of the other so you didn’t stop or go backwards. Get up there, run around this little cone, with a timing mat that beeps at you, no congrats you made it out here, just a beep and a mile marker with 21 on it. I thought to myself thanks for rubbing it in. I’m only like 7 miles into this thing. On the pilgrimage back in I focused on trying to catch up but nothing was working. Pills, nope, Gatorade, nope, cola would give me a caffeine boost but energy is no good with muscle cramps. I kept hobbling towards town as best as I could. The people were great and the city was beautiful but I was down because I couldn’t run like I wanted to. I physically couldn’t do what I know I was capable of doing and it started to wear on me and my mind. My Left foot started hurting at mile 10. It hurt just in front of my heel on the bottom of the foot. It started as soreness, and then grew to something noticeable, then a sharp pain with every step. I tried to change my gait but it didn’t work. I took my last 2 pain pills hoping for some relief and just kept going. There was nothing I could do and it wasn’t as bad as the cramps so I pushed on.


if you look closely my left leg is cramping

I finished my first lap and got to special needs at 15 and filled my bottle with recoverite. It would give me lots of endurolytes, lots of sugar, and glutamine to help start recovery. I started drinking it but I was still feeling low. My run had turned into a game. I couldn’t run slowly because I would cramp from trying to hold myself back. I had to run fast but I could only run fast until just before each aid station. At each aid I was literally sucking the salt off of pretzels to get as much as I could. I would take a handful, shove them into my mouth, drink some water and once they were no longer salty spit them out. After a few times of doing this I got some relief but it was short lived because the salt was coming in stages. So I would run until the salt ran out again and cramp. I would do a ridiculous speed walk shuffle while trying to drink and suck pretzels and after the aid station take off again. This kept on mile after mile, from about mile 8 until the end. I turned a corner after special needs on the loop back through transition near mile 15 and saw my family, Kristen and her parents and lost it.

The Breaking Point

I was done. I quit in my head, gave up, and stopped by them. I couldn’t speak, didn’t want to, and just stood there. Kristen wanted me to pick it up but I couldn’t and I thought I was letting them down. At that moment it wasn’t fun anymore. It wasn’t enjoyable. It was a battle, a war even. And I didn’t think I had the strength to do it anymore. I looked at my support team and knew how far they had traveled to see me finish this. Not quit, not wimp out, not make excuses, just finish. They knew what I could do and what I wanted to do. I took a deep breath, knew I had to keep going and just started running again. Hobbling really but I wasn’t stationary anymore. I have video evidence of it thanks to my sneaky dad. I broke and all can see it. I ran down the street, upset, sniffling or crying if you want to call it that. I was mad, tired, hurting and frustrated that I was getting beat. I kept on. Run-walk-run-walk station after station. Pretzels, Gatorade, perpetuem, water, soda, banana, pills, again and again. I was an assembly line. I did everything I could think of to improve my condition but I couldn’t. I was still dehydrated. My calves were getting worse. On the way back down the lake I had to stop many times because I physically couldn’t run anymore. This was now a race run purely off of desire. Any plans I had were gone. No strategy, no tricks, no tactic. Just move and don’t stop. The sun began really setting as I made the final turn around. At this point I’m just thinking make it back. I walked up the last hill. My quads couldn’t handle the incline. I had no climb left it just wasn’t going to happen. I also walked down the hill because I couldn’t slow myself down. If I ran I would cramp and fall forward and I wasn’t sure I could catch myself so I walked. Mile 21, just make it back. I Kept eating pretzels and drinking water. I couldn’t stand bananas anymore and gel was gross long before this point so I was hoping I had enough left. I had a few swigs of Gatorade on the way in but it tasted awful. The miles were long. I remember on the way in not remembering the course at all. This was an effect of the lack of sugar in my body. I was breaking down muscle for fuel and had been for a while and my brain was stuggling to keep up. I really thought they had changed the course on the last loop but I had run it before. The sun and lack of sugars played with my mind but I remember thinking over and over, “hm this looks new”. As I neared the finish I could hear it. That’s when you know it’s over, that’s when everything ends.

Your feet don’t hurt anymore, you aren’t tired, you aren’t hungry, you can run again, and you are ready to be done. The last mile I lit up. I didn’t care what happened, injury, fall, whatever, I took my chances. I got a little boost of adrenaline so I used it. I hate finishing in a group, I want the whole finish line to myself and I was going to take it. I sprinted past six or seven people into a gap and made it to the end.

I saw my mother-in-law just before the finish line and gave her a wave, and carried on to my destination.I crossed the finish, hands in the air, so glad to be done and have another one under my belt. It wasn’t my best but I wasn’t my worst either. I had big plans and even bigger dreams but the course decided otherwise and that’s ok. You have to have bad races to make the good ones that much better. Honestly, I’ll take a 12 hour finish any day. I got my medal and shirt, was knighted an ironman once again and carried on through the finish line.
Final time- 12:09

Just got my 4th medal. Kristen said i had to smile.

Post-race

Immediately after the race I saw my mom and dad and gave them a hug. All I could do was sigh and smile when my dad asked how I was. That summed it up. I Finished, I felt like crap, and I was ready to sit down and he knew that.

immediately post-race

I went to the food after I saw everyone and had 2 cups of chicken broth to rehydrate. After that I had a sprite, 2 pieces of pizza, a cookie and some pretzels. I went and got a massage which was terrible because I was so thoroughly covered in salt, dirt and filth that it felt like a scrub not a massage but I’m sure it helped. After the massage I put my prerace clothes back on, grabbed 3 more pizza slices, another soda, and a cookie and had some more to eat. As I waited for Michael to finish all my ailments came back, I had trouble walking, and my toes started killing me. Before we left I went and stood in the cold lake as a pseudo ice bath which I’m sure helped too but that was pretty unpleasant.

Beer

That night I had a few sips of the beer I promised Michael we would have and then went to bed. The next few days I was incredibly sore from all the cramping and my feet were killing me. One was the original injury the other was a result of compensating for the injury. I loved the Coeur D’Alene course and race as a whole. The swim was very tough and cold. The bike was by far the hardest and most beautiful I’ve been on, but it was a great course. The roads were smooth, scenic and wide. The run was moderate. There were a few little hills but I liked the out and back along the lake, even though I could see where I had to go 5 miles away from me. The volunteers and city were the best part of this race. The planning was amazing and everyone embraced the race. I plan on going back to this race again, I feel have some unfinished business with those bike hills. 2012 maybe?

More pictures