How do you get yourself psyched up for running an Ironman triathlon? You might try listening to “Ironman” by Black Sabbath over and over until the words become your own. Or, you could do as Amazon Alanna does and read up on a few books that provide much Ironman inspiration. Alanna digs Becoming an Ironman (edited by Kara Douglass Thom) and Be Iron Fit by Don Fink, and we dig her straight-up reasoning for why she finds the latter so motivating:

“[B]ecause I’d like to look like a triathlete, instead of people looking at me like I’m a liar when I tell them I’ve done triathlons.”