D32 – What is motivation?

Since Saturday’s triathlon debut at the London Triathlon I’ve become more and more eager to get some serious triathlon training started. This just to I realise and remind myself that I’m actually aiming for two other goals. Goals I’ve had in mind and decided to prioritise way before I knew about my newfound love for triathlon. If it’s a cliche? Maybe. Who cares to be honest? I don’t, and won’t let my lust conquer my determination for achieving what I’ve encouraged myself to do.

As the triathlon is now among other beautiful events and achievements in the past, I’ve used this week to zone into half marathon training, think about how much swimming and biking I should allow myself to incorporate, and review my diet to make sure I’ll get the most out of the last five weeks of training. I’m no pro at all and doing this has been based on former experiences and advices alone. Though, I’m meeting my Danish PT on Saturday and will naturally discuss my plan with him. He helped me getting a stronger body for Berlin Marathon last year, guided me nutrition wise, and helped me stay motivated throughout the entire preparation for the race.

Everyone having gone through longer periods of training know that ones motivation for getting the workouts done declines more or less midway through your program, where you should actually be killing it. Finding something or someone to keep you motivated through stages like this is key, and being far away from the people usually motivating me to keep going, encouraging me not to give up but push through the pain and get the miles as well as supporting training done, has forced me into finding someone else. Luckily this haven’t been difficult. I mean, if I just stand still for a second to look around myself, I’m literally surrounded by amazing athletes booming race after race, wonderful people who are there for one another and have a real interest in each others successes, and a solid amount of strong women, in it together to show them men that we can do extreme things too.

So, what is motivation for me? Other people aiming high, fighting for achievement and never giving up should this not happen in the first attempt. These people, my friends and sportive family, they are my motivation.