So after posting my last musing I received loads of messages on FB etc regarding a wide and varied range of topics… Mostly “How do I get to Kona” “What training do I need to do” “Whats your nutrition plan” All very good questions, and at some stage I may lets some secrets out. But for now I will answer this one ” How do you keep so motivated year round”
The short answer is I love…absolutely love my sport!
Sometimes though motivation goes low… So lets rewind to this time last year, I had already got my Kona slot in AZ with a great result.. I was happy with that.. real happy! But something was bothering me.. Actually had me quite deflated! rewind to Kona 14 and the result was not what I had wanted.. A combination of a bike smash and in general some real bad luck was bad enough.. But what was bugging me was fact I got of the bike knowing I could not achieve what I set out to do.. ( Podium) And just gave in… Threw my toys out of the cot! I ran the run grumping and not appreciating where I actually was! So spring forward to Dec 14.. I really did not see where I was going to get the motivation to get myself up for the challenge of Kona15… Until!
One night at one of Emma’s shows in my local GAA hall, when the show was over I was standing at the bar when a guy who coached me from the age of 10 until I stopped playing football came over to me.. Conversation went something like this..
So you still doing that Ironman stuff??
Yeah just back from a race in Arizona!
How’d you do
I won my age group and done really well..
You know in all my days I have only ever seen two people at this club with the natural gift you have… I always was amazed at how every time you walked on that field how bad you wanted to win.. And the effort you put into winning!
This made me feel very proud.. I do not know if it was the beer I was having, but such a flood of memories came back to me.. I honestly could smell the changing room again.. I could remember sitting in the changing room looking at my team mates, thinking how I would out play..out run them all… How when we stepped out on the field for the warmup and if there was 6 balls in the air.. I wanted to catch them all.. I did not want my own team mate’s to catch them… Just how at every kick off there was no doubt what so ever in my mind we would not win… Just great great memories!
So that night I got all the motivation I needed to get me motivated for Kona 15… Every long day’s training this year… Every start line I lined up at! In my mind I was not training in the rain.. I was not racing against the best athletes in the country.. And in the case of Kona some of the best in the world… I was simply a 12 to 17 year old boy stepping out onto the field for a game of football!
I think every single person out there… Some may have Kona ambition.. Some may be training for there very first Triathlon.. Has something hidden inside, that something is worth looking for… Because when you find it…. Sky’s the limit!
