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How to Push Past the Pain, as the Champions Do

nytimes.com

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Re: How to Push Past the Pain, as the Champions Do

#21

Post by aspir »

I'm a former NCAA wrestler who's finished 2 marathons (with the blazing times of 5:01:00 and 5:00:30). All I can say is that anytime you push through a mental barrier, you become that much stronger. Your mental limitations are like muscular limitations - the more you push to the limit, the more powerful you become.

I absolutely believe that there's nothing I cannot do, given the time and energy. I've run 2 marathons at the point of mental fatigue. I've cut as many as 20 lbs in a week for wrestling. I finished a college degree with honors while getting at least a dozen confirmed concussions, who knows how many unconfirmed, and while still competing.

I really feel like I can conquer anything. I actually gave up NCAA to work for free at as many startups I could during my 4th year to do the jobs that no one wanted to do. I definitely feel like a made the right decision. I can't be a pro wrestler these days :)

Edit: Typos -- the head bonks are showing :)

Re: How to Push Past the Pain, as the Champions Do

#22

Post by davidw »

eiji wrote: post #20

The nyt should add some disclaimer to that kind of article, knowing people with little experience in elite sports would read it and maybe try to learn from it! I did two sports on national elite level and whenever you train or race beyond the "threshold" you put yourself into great danger, and only because you spend years near that threshold you are able to handle it. An elite runner or cyclist or whatever can tell t…

Lance cutting the switchback was likely not in 'unbearable pain', because it was towards the bottom of the descent. The only guy in unbearable pain in that situation was Joseba Beloki - because he crashed and broke his leg and some other bones. They rode down that same road this year, by the way... it was kind of cool - someone had cut a path through the grass.

> An elite runner or cyclist or whatever can tell the difference between pain that will go away when you slow down, and pain that will get worse or could put you into a wheelchair.

I don't think you need to be all that 'elite' to figure that out. You don't need too much training to start feeling what sort of pain is from effort and exertion, and what might be tendons or joints or something like that that should not be pushed beyond a certain point.

Re: How to Push Past the Pain, as the Champions Do

#23

Post by cullenking »

matwood wrote: post #12
edw519 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They crave pain and can push their pain threshold... These two things seems contradictory. If they crave pain, why would they need to push their pain threshold? (Disclosure: I'm a wimpy athlete. I always thought pain was the body's signal that something was wrong, so I backed off. Your remark confuses me even more. Just trying to understand.)

Pain is an interesting thing. When you first feel pain, it's scary and, usually rightly so, is the body telling the mind to stop something. The problem is that in order to get better in most athletic endeavors, athletes must push their bodies into an area that often causes some sort of pain[1]. A couple things eventually happen. First is the athlete starts to associate pain with progress. This is actually a bad thing…

I am an "endurance athlete" that regularly rides my bike 60+ miles. It's not a serious physical pain, like when you twist an ankle - I know when I am doing my body harm. It's pushing past a major amount of discomfort in order to achieve a goal. Granted, doing so without proper nutrition and hydration can cause injury, however your body is better off when you push through your concept of "too much".

Seriously, my body used to tell me "oh god stop stop stop this is too much" after 30 miles of flat riding. Now it take 60 miles of hilly riding to experience that, and it's not nearly as strong.

I guess to sum it up, it isn't normal pain, it's more of a mental wall that you push past.

Re: How to Push Past the Pain, as the Champions Do

#24

Post by cullenking »

noginn wrote: post #3

I'm no elite athlete/champion, but this makes complete sense to me now. The last couple of weekends I have been taking part in hill climb events. Knowing every inch of the course definitely helped me pace myself and achieve a far better time than I expected. Like the interviewee in the article, I definitely didn't look pretty in the photos: http://flic.kr/p/8KQANq

You look like every other cyclist I've ever watched climbing a hill :) shameless plug while on this topic, you should check out my cycling site, http://ridewithgps.com - really cool if you have a garmin edge 500, 305 etc.

Re: How to Push Past the Pain, as the Champions Do

#25

Post by runjake »

edw519 wrote: post #6
davemabe wrote: post #2

I was a competitive runner for many years and trained with some of the best. The difference between great runners and cyclists and everybody else is that they learn to tolerate pain - a lot of it - on a regular basis. They crave pain and can push their pain threshold far beyond what normal people would be able to tolerate. If you've ever seen a great runner working out - it's almost painful to even watch - but always…

They crave pain and can push their pain threshold... These two things seems contradictory. If they crave pain, why would they need to push their pain threshold? (Disclosure: I'm a wimpy athlete. I always thought pain was the body's signal that something was wrong, so I backed off. Your remark confuses me even more. Just trying to understand.)

They may seem contradictory, but they aren't. Pain is wonderful. Pushing through new thresholds brings new truths.

As a person who regularly runs marathons and ultramarathons, I often get asked "Why?".

I usually offer the "joking" response "I like suffering" with a chuckle. Except it's not really a joke, I DO like the suffering. When I'm out there suffering on the trail, I learn many truths about myself. There's no facade or BSing. I either press on, or I quit/fail.

But you can't explain or rationalize this to a layperson who doesn't seek similar ventures. They aren't of the right mind. So you make it a "joke".

I love the quote "Suffering is the sole origin of consciousness", but I suspect it's for a different reason than what Dostoevsky meant.

You don't need to be an "elite athlete" to experience this or push past the pain. For some people, it's running a 5k.

Re: How to Push Past the Pain, as the Champions Do

#27

Post by balding_n_tired »

davemabe wrote: post #2

I was a competitive runner for many years and trained with some of the best. The difference between great runners and cyclists and everybody else is that they learn to tolerate pain - a lot of it - on a regular basis. They crave pain and can push their pain threshold far beyond what normal people would be able to tolerate. If you've ever seen a great runner working out - it's almost painful to even watch - but always…

I was a decent recreational runner in my late 20s. But pain tolerance is not "the difference", just "a difference". I do not have the classic marathoner's frame, and at above 60 miles per week, I would start to feel twinges here and there, which likely would've developed into injuries had a continued to train at that level for more than a couple of weeks. Now, 60 miles per week is nothing for a marathoner, about half what the true stars run.

As with any form of highly competitive athletics, the best advice is to choose your parents carefully.

Re: How to Push Past the Pain, as the Champions Do

#28

Post by BrandonM »

wallflower wrote: post #8
davemabe wrote: post #2

I was a competitive runner for many years and trained with some of the best. The difference between great runners and cyclists and everybody else is that they learn to tolerate pain - a lot of it - on a regular basis. They crave pain and can push their pain threshold far beyond what normal people would be able to tolerate. If you've ever seen a great runner working out - it's almost painful to even watch - but always…

> and trained with some of the best. If you don't mind me asking, what were your PRs? I got lapped on a mile in high school (the guy ran a sub-5!) Have you read Once a Runner? Was that what your training life was like? Interesting offshoot - The whole point of training 20 hours a week for the Ironman triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile marathon) is so that the body never goes anaerobic during the actua…

Thanks for that marathon monks link, it was a great read. Is it weird that I want to do that now?

Re: How to Push Past the Pain, as the Champions Do

#29

Post by kmfrk »

edw519 wrote: post #6
davemabe wrote: post #2

I was a competitive runner for many years and trained with some of the best. The difference between great runners and cyclists and everybody else is that they learn to tolerate pain - a lot of it - on a regular basis. They crave pain and can push their pain threshold far beyond what normal people would be able to tolerate. If you've ever seen a great runner working out - it's almost painful to even watch - but always…

They crave pain and can push their pain threshold... These two things seems contradictory. If they crave pain, why would they need to push their pain threshold? (Disclosure: I'm a wimpy athlete. I always thought pain was the body's signal that something was wrong, so I backed off. Your remark confuses me even more. Just trying to understand.)

Runner's high[1] is one factor - I would presume that the dopamine from mastery (a new discovery compared to the previously believed dopamine release from completed tasks -don't have a citation on me right now) is another factor; the pain reminds you that you are pushing your boundaries and getting better physically and at your discipline. The pain itself is probably awful, but it symbolizes a lot to the athlete.

[1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/health/nutrition/27best.ht...

Re: How to Push Past the Pain, as the Champions Do

#30

Post by beagle3 »

aspir wrote: post #21

I'm a former NCAA wrestler who's finished 2 marathons (with the blazing times of 5:01:00 and 5:00:30). All I can say is that anytime you push through a mental barrier, you become that much stronger. Your mental limitations are like muscular limitations - the more you push to the limit, the more powerful you become. I absolutely believe that there's nothing I cannot do, given the time and energy. I've run 2 marathons…

Would you be able to share a little about the 20 lbs in a week?
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