14 Replies to “The Pain Drain: Keeping Your Brain in Check When the Pain Sets In”
eeek I love the topic of PAIN! 🙂
I have three different sectors for pain in my brain=
~Training pain ~Racing pain ~Injury pain…when I’m racing I want to get into the racing-pain zone as quickly as possible 🙂
I definitely think that good distance runners must become masters of pain…but I think racing distances often allows some runners to sit right bellow the pain threshold and carry themselves to a good time because they finish (the marathon) and I’ve been guilty of calling myself a kinda good runner because I have a high-pain tolerance and endurance so I can pull out kinda good marathon times just relying on that…but to me FAST running is where the pain is at…
if you’re racing a marathon FAST, then it’s definitely the ULTIMATE pain-game…but most people don’t. I’ve ramped up my training to include speed-work and OMG it’s a new dimension into the pain-region!
I can’t wait to put a lot of practice into fast running and see what a fast-marathon feels like, I’m also a little nervous cause I know it will HURT a lot! 🙂
…eeek sorry if I rambled too much about pain! 🙂
I hope you had a great weekend!!
xoxo!
please, i’m the QUEEN of epic comments, so i loved reading all u had to share on pain!! 🙂 it is something that all runners continually work with and battle. and true that, there are different categories of ‘pain’….racing hard is all its own! 😛
breaking it down and zoning out are KEY to me. sometimes i just have to focus on the goal and how good it will feel to know that i KICKED THIS PAIN IN THE BUTT and got stronger as a result 🙂
For workouts I just tell myself not to be a baby. But for races and such I’m like “you worked your butt off for this, what’s a little pain?”
My favorite trick I think is just kinda verbally beating myself. 😛
The way I tell is by listening to my body. I know the difference between discomfort pains and legit pains. So if I notice something I know I gotta back off.
I think that pain management is 90% mental. It’s hard to overcome that little voice telling you to stop, but you’ve got some great tips here girl. I know that visualization and mantras are what work for me.
Ah pain! I’m still working on callousing myself during training, especially for running. When I was doing aerial work full time I was always in pain during shows and I would use a yoga trick of envisioning myself pulling energy from the air and people around me. I’d picture the air full of golden specs and try to breathe in the gold and sort of picture it filling my lungs, occupying my bloodstream and giving me bursts of energy. I always got through the show and the work. Thanks for reminding me of that, i haven’t tried that during runs! ps. I totally run on Jelly Bellys too!!!
i LOVE the picture you describe with the golden specks!! gosh, i honestly find you aerial artist SO beautiful up there, but i know how incredibly painful it’s got to be…thanks for suffering on our behalf, so we can all gawk and be amazed at u! 😉
eeek I love the topic of PAIN! 🙂
I have three different sectors for pain in my brain=
~Training pain ~Racing pain ~Injury pain…when I’m racing I want to get into the racing-pain zone as quickly as possible 🙂
I definitely think that good distance runners must become masters of pain…but I think racing distances often allows some runners to sit right bellow the pain threshold and carry themselves to a good time because they finish (the marathon) and I’ve been guilty of calling myself a kinda good runner because I have a high-pain tolerance and endurance so I can pull out kinda good marathon times just relying on that…but to me FAST running is where the pain is at…
if you’re racing a marathon FAST, then it’s definitely the ULTIMATE pain-game…but most people don’t. I’ve ramped up my training to include speed-work and OMG it’s a new dimension into the pain-region!
I can’t wait to put a lot of practice into fast running and see what a fast-marathon feels like, I’m also a little nervous cause I know it will HURT a lot! 🙂
…eeek sorry if I rambled too much about pain! 🙂
I hope you had a great weekend!!
xoxo!
please, i’m the QUEEN of epic comments, so i loved reading all u had to share on pain!! 🙂 it is something that all runners continually work with and battle. and true that, there are different categories of ‘pain’….racing hard is all its own! 😛
breaking it down and zoning out are KEY to me. sometimes i just have to focus on the goal and how good it will feel to know that i KICKED THIS PAIN IN THE BUTT and got stronger as a result 🙂
so true, imagining being DONE is always sweet motivation. 🙂
For workouts I just tell myself not to be a baby. But for races and such I’m like “you worked your butt off for this, what’s a little pain?”
My favorite trick I think is just kinda verbally beating myself. 😛
The way I tell is by listening to my body. I know the difference between discomfort pains and legit pains. So if I notice something I know I gotta back off.
haha…i do that too; odd how sometimes telling yourself to stop being a weenie works wonders! 🙂
I think that pain management is 90% mental. It’s hard to overcome that little voice telling you to stop, but you’ve got some great tips here girl. I know that visualization and mantras are what work for me.
sooo true, keeping that mind in check will work wonders for the legs! 😉
Ah pain! I’m still working on callousing myself during training, especially for running. When I was doing aerial work full time I was always in pain during shows and I would use a yoga trick of envisioning myself pulling energy from the air and people around me. I’d picture the air full of golden specs and try to breathe in the gold and sort of picture it filling my lungs, occupying my bloodstream and giving me bursts of energy. I always got through the show and the work. Thanks for reminding me of that, i haven’t tried that during runs! ps. I totally run on Jelly Bellys too!!!
i LOVE the picture you describe with the golden specks!! gosh, i honestly find you aerial artist SO beautiful up there, but i know how incredibly painful it’s got to be…thanks for suffering on our behalf, so we can all gawk and be amazed at u! 😉
Pingback: What the Heck Has Luck Got to Do With it? – Running is hardly a sport for the lucky |
Pingback: Blinded By the Light: Visions on the run |
Pingback: The Fascination of Mental Toughness: When we pass the point of running and into training it’s the mental aspect that really comes into play |
Pingback: Track Your Rest – What’s the ‘Right’ Way to Recover Between Intervals |