Gotta Wanna

"You gotta wanna" is the "motto" for the UCSD masters swim group that I swim with. It makes me laugh because it makes me think of our CRAZY (crazy good that is) coach, Sickie (ya that obviously isn't his real name). I think they came up with this motto to motivate people to swim at 6am during the cold(er) and dark mornings of January and February. However this weekend the motto came to mind during my long, largely solo riding session on Sat. While most San Diego triathletes were livin' it up at the Multisport surf monkey competition, I was out riding. It was the return of the long ride. I couldn't wait to get up Sat and get onto the bike.
First, I made sure to not repeat Wed's nutrition failure. Calorie filled drinks, banana, homemade fruit & nut bars, and Gu's:

I convinced a few buddy's to join me 30mins into the ride. But their schedules only allowed them to keep me company for 2 hours. Once we said our goodbye's I still had 4 hours to go. I was off to play in the mountains....alone. I settled into the aero position, thanked Apple for the iPod invention, and became one with my thoughts. These thoughts included:
1) Man, I'm lucky to have amazing training partners. How do people do all of their long rides alone? I trained solo for my very first Ironman. It isn't nearly as fun. My training partners are often my inspiration!
2) "You gotta wanna." When it comes to ironman training you MUST love what you're doing. Thanks to my 2 week break this love for training returned.
3) Wow, I am going back to Kona. I NEVER thought I'd qualify once. After going last year I NEVER thought I'd qualify once I entered the W30-34 dominating age group. Wow, I'm going back to Kona!!!
4) I better enjoy every moment of training leading up to Kona. So many would die to race there. I owe it to these athletes to leave the aspects of this venture that are stressing me out, and enjoy the entire experience. 9 weeks and I'll be racing on the big island again. It's amazing how that one thought can numb my legs and allow me to dig deeper and push harder.

For 105miles/6hours I was lost in my own motivating thoughts (the reason there are zero pics of the ride). I found a lot of mental strength during this time! I am so excited to be back on the road to Kona!
Sunday I got in a VERY slow long run. It was only my 4th run back after about 5weeks off from running. It wasn't fast, but it was 11.5 miles. Have I mentioned yet that I'm SO happy to be back to Ironman training?

Happy training to all!