No Pain No Gain?
Training hurts. Racing hurts. Often it feels like it hurts so much that we just have to stop. We can’t finish that session, those intervals or have to ease off and drop out of the leading group on a hill or in a race. We just can’t push any more….or can we? Are we being stopped by the pain, or is it all in the mind?
The old adage says ‘No pain no gain’ but this is far from the truth. In fact it’s just the opposite. PAIN is bad – pain is the body’s sign that something is wrong, perhaps an injury. It’s the body’s way of telling you to stop. I often tell those at my indoor cycling sessions when stretching ‘a stretch should be uncomfortable, but never painful’ and it’s exactly the same for your training. So if you think it ‘hurts’ think a little more carefully – is it truly painful? We very rarely get true pain in training.
So in the middle of those killer intervals or barley hanging on to that wheel, when you feel like you just have to stop or ease off, ask yourself this simple question; ‘Is it PAIN or is it just uncomfortable?’
Usually its discomfort. There is a huge range of discomfort. When training hard it can be very uncomfortable, or even very, very uncomfortable – but it is NOT painful. Pain is a separate thing and it’s important to recognise this fact and learn to tell the difference.
When it’s ‘merely’ uncomfortable, keep pushing until you simply can’t do any more! That’s where motivation comes in….how much are you prepared to push to get the results you’re after? For me, an element of competition means that I can push far harder than when training alone. Whether I’m in a race or merely trying to beat a friend up a hill in training, competition motivates me to take more discomfort and push through it. In training alone it is generally harder to summon up the motivation to embrace the discomfort and perhaps one’s limits when training alone are not quite so high as when in competition.
So don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re in pain and HAVE to stop. Ask the question – is this truly PAIN or just very uncomfortable? If it’s uncomfortable – even if it’s very, very, very uncomfortable, there is no reason to stop!
You will be able to push yourself that much harder in training sessions and racing situations once you recognise that there is an important, fundamental difference between pain and discomfort and learn to distinguish them, and when it ‘hurts’ remind yourself that there is no NEED to stop – no matter how uncomfortable it is!
