Wake Up: 6:00am I got to bed at 1:00am and slept quite deeply until 6:00am on the dot. I just woke up then and once I was awake, I was up, because it was apparent just how horribly sore I was.

Breakfast: 8:10am

Things started to get hard today with the Whole30. I'm finding that getting fat in while traveling is tough. I've eaten all my avocados, mac nuts, and coconut. Restaurant meals are so carb heavy and when you take out the carbs leaving protein and veggies there is very rarely any fat on the plate. We dragged ourselves out of bed and made it to a restaurant. I had an "omlette" with no cheese and extra veggies and a side of fruit. No fat to be found. It made a dent in my hunger but did not really fill my belly.

Breakfast #2: 9:40am

We went to the awards ceremony and they were serving breakfast burritos and fruit. I took the insides out of the burrito to find some spinach leaves and mass produced eggs. I ate a 1/2 of it and all the berries. The berries were so good.

Snack: 11:30am

After awards we went back to the hotel and were so tired. We crawled in bed for an hour, watched a show and I had some dried pineapple and the last bit of my mac nut trail mix.

Lunch: 2:30pm

Michelle and I decided to see a movie and went to an AMC theatre that had food service in the theatre. This was tough from a Whole30 perspective. I felt like there was literally NOTHING on the menu I could eat. Nothing! I ended up with a burger, which I just ate the patty and the lettuce and the tomato, and I had it with a side "garden" salad...that was lettuce, tomato, and shredded cheese. I piked off all the cheese. It was so lame and a total waste of money. I had trouble not feeling bad for myself a little bit here.

So, after I ate all the veggies and protein I could muster, I dug out a PaleoKit and ate that as well with an Apple. It filled me up, but I'm really missing my kitchen at this point. I feel like I haven't had really good food in a few days and I just want some solid meals at this point.

Last Meal: 7:30pm

Ug, so over the travel. The best quick option I could find at the airport was a container of fruit and nuts. Whopee. So glad to be back home tonight.

Homework:

This is funny, I am really feeling like the honeymoon is over with Whole 30, and the email today told me to spice it up! Haha! The constant accommodating is frustrating and my body is extremely sore from yesterday. How do you celebrate when you are sore? FOOD, That's how I usually celebrate athletic accomplishments. Ice Cream, Starbucks, Margaritas. But this time, after the best race I had had...none of that. I won't regret it in the long run, but it's a little frustrating in the short run.

Sitting in the airport right now and not getting a Starbucks is bumming me out, I'll be honest. And I have had a headache about 1/2 of the day because my neck muscles are so sore and they are pulling on my head!

Race Thoughts:

I promised that I would discuss my Whole30 and Ironman combo thoughts. Okay, I really think that it helped! Although I haven't stepped on the scale (that's the rules) I know I got a bit leaner in the 12 days leading up. I think that helped my run. But the biggest thing was that I'm pretty sure that even in such a short amount of time, I think my body got more fat adapted, and was able to use more fat for energy. I went through less nutrition than I even have in an Ironman. My bike was much more consistent and my mood through the race did not jump up and down. I was more level headed and I made better decisions during the race. Ironman is all about good decision making and I negotiated the day extremely well. I think a lot of that was the Whole 30 both going into and during the process.

Going into the race my biggest fear was no grains. Was I going to have full glycogen stores? I definitely did. I was afraid just eating fruit would fill my liver glycogen and not my muscle glycogen. Not true, the sweet potatoes and veggies were more than enough and my stores were full. I did not bonk, I was more even during the race than usual.

Hard Boiled eggs are your friends! They go down easy, make a great pre race breakfast paired with a banana.

All in all, my Ironman was definitely enhanced by Whole 30, not detracted from at all. It was an amazing day that I really truly feel was in part to having clean happy healthy emotions, hormones, gut, and inflammation.

Mood Grade: C

Getting my Kona slot and attending awards was wonderful, and a total highlight of my year. But I am sore and tired and hungry and trying to just get by today. I'll be home late tonight and can get back on a consistent schedule. I am overwhelmed and still in shock from my performance, a bit weepy today, and quiet. Lots to process.