Man and wife on the road to Austin. On the road to accomplishment. On the road to run. 1.2 miles of swimming. 56 miles of biking. 13.1 miles of running.

AP English literature teacher Mike Motsney and his wife, Amber Motsney, are taking on the IRONMAN 70.3 in Austin on Nov. 8.

Training is very intense as there are three skills sets that have to be learned in order to be in shape for the competition.

“You know most people are familiar with training for them separately, but when you have to do them all it ends up being a six-day-a-week kind of thing,” Motsney said. “So Saturdays would be a long ride, like 50-ish miles with a run afterwards. I would swim on Tuesday and Thursday mornings before I came to school trying to get up at 5 o’clock in the morning to go swim.”

Mike’s serious training for this particular race started about six months ago. However, he has competed in many races in previous years alike his wife.

“My husband started running in  2012 and I thought it would be something fun we could do together, even though he is so much faster than me,” Amber said. “After running several 5K’s, a 10K and even a 15K, last summer I decided I wanted to try a triathlon. We trained all summer and Mike completed his first Sprint Distance in September of 2014.”

All of the running has caused damage to the couples’ bodies as they have both suffered from race-threatening injuries.

“My body says I’m 45 and my brain says I’m 18 and those two don’t always match up, so right now I’m struggling with a torn calf,” Mike said. “That has put my plans in jeopardy at this point.”

Amber had to suffer the consequences of her injury while Mike has yet to decide what the torn calf will mean for his race.

“While I wasn’t able to compete last year due to my injury, I worked all winter on running and completed two half marathons in spring and then my first Sprint distance triathlon in May 2015 and my first Olympic distance this past Sunday,” Amber said. “There is a saying: if your dreams don’t scare you they’re not big enough. After this Half Ironman in November my next crazy goal is to complete an Ironman the year I turn 40 (2017).”

Mike’s eligibility is still up under consideration as he cannot compete in his current condition.

“If [my injury] lasts any longer its gonna keep me from doing it,” Mike said. “The biggest problem is that if it goes as long as [the doctors] say then I won’t have run in about a month. So not running for a month and then trying to do all of that is going to be difficult.”

He doesn’t have to be constricted to the boot all of the time. The healing process is promising to the couple.

“Orginally it was two weeks, but now it’s four to six weeks, but I don’t keep [the boot] on all the time,” Mike said. “Obviously I can swim and I can take it off when I go home. We are trying to transition out of it.”

Amber is able to empathize with Mike’s situation as she sprained her ankle before her first triathlon.

“I have high hopes that he will still be able to compete, if he isn’t able to then when he picks another one I will be his biggest cheerleader,” Amber said. “I know what it is like to be injured and not see your dream come to fruition in the timeframe you had hoped.”

They each have their own worries for the day of competition. For Mike, the 8 hour time limit increases the competitiveness of the race.

“I want to finish and I want to do it under the time,” Motsney said. “I’m not trying to win anything. Obviously there are people that are really serious about it, I just want to do it for the accomplishment and if I can’t do this one, then there are other ones that are a little further out that I can maybe try to do.”

Amber finds the course to be the most anticipated aspect of her race.

“I’m most excited for testing all of the hard work I have put in over the last year,” Amber said. “I’m most nervous about the hills on the bike and run.”

Despite the physical demand that this half Iron Man presents to the Motsneys, they aim to take it all as learning and for the benefit of their relationship.

“Training and competing with Mike is awesome, he pushes me when I need to keep going and I try to do the same for him,” Amber said. “He is quite a bit faster than me so he is always waiting at the finish line cheering for me.”