4 weeks and counting.... any motivation left???

These last couple of weeks have been pretty hard. In a sense, like we said after Galveston we think that we got a confidence boost after finishing it and knowing that we had plenty (well not really plenty) but that we had a bit left still that would probably be what we needed to take us to that 140.6 finish line. As we spent the week in Galveston, we had a hard time getting back to it, it was even worse when we got back home to a sick puppy which made it even tougher for us. Last weekend was full of emotions and an emotional roller coaster when we had to put her to sleep on Sunday afternoon after being diagnosed with the C-word on Thursday upon our return. So needless to say this past week has not been easy. It has been busy with work stuff for both of us and definitely emotional.

We were able to get 100+ miles in last Saturday, of which 80% were outside and the remainder was after we came back home to be with her, we were so glad we did. Sunday we were supposed to have a swim and a run (both long) neither of which we did.

This week was off to a rough start already, to top it all off, Monday was a sad day for the running community after the Boston Marathon bombs that really put a lot into perspective. We had people asked us if that was going to make us stop racing or even considering not doing our upcoming Ironman because of it, our responses were, no we're definitely going to swim, bike, run, no matter the circumstances.

We managed to get a few workouts in, about 50% of them. Considering it was a recovery week, we were actually glad with our workout rate. Don't think we could've done much more than that. Yesterday we went for an 80 minute run, we put in about 8miles which was pretty good, longest we've gone since Galveston, so it was a good one. Today we had a swim/bike brick... temperatures in the 40's in the morning, water probably in the 60's guess what... we skipped the swim, not a good time to push our luck and get sick by just going in ice water. Then we waited for some crazy ones (who didn't do Galveston) that were doing the swim and we headed off to a 56 mile bike ride. It was actually a good one, logged in 53 of the 56 by the end, in 3:11, winds of 12-15 mph didn't make it easy but we were pushing.

Talking to teammates we found out that the motivation is not there anymore. We all have been struggling our own battles with lack of motivation, injuries, plain ol' pain, too much work, and in our case grief. We know we are only 4 weeks out and definitely we all seem burned out with the training, pain and other issues that come from the crazy journey to be an Ironman. It definitely has been a journey, a learning experience. We've learned to know our bodies, trained our bodies to have the endurance needed for the long day but more importantly we are learning to train our mind. If the mind is OK, then the body will carry you. This past week was proof of it and we managed to still get some work done. We will continue and we will come out of this one and get to our final goal... all we need is that little push. It definitely is a mix of physical endurance but more importantly mental strength.

This week now is off to a good start, we are more motivated but it is more of a "let's get it over with" type of motivation. So with 4 weeks left let's get this over with.