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psychology of pain
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Sorry about the title I wanted to get your attention.
I have been interested for a while now in how people manage to deal with when it gets hard/painful when training/racing.
I suspect there are many different solutions and what works depends on the person themselves BUT having said that I would be interested to hear what others do as my own techniques of coping are still evolving.
Here are mine.
Focus just in the here and now, usually this is bearable whereas looking into the future often is disheartening. i.e "I'm OK, it's hurting but I'm coping" works better than "Hell how can I keep this up for another 1/2 hour"
Relabel pain as less serious feelings i.e discomfort or that bit of your body working hard.
"It's just pain, it's not serious" Knowing the pain isn't indicting a problem and reminding yourself of this.
Focus on other feelings that are more positive, i.e I'm running fast.
Focus on maintaining form etc.
Try to calculate pace, how long left etc as long as it's complicated.
Practice hurting and pat yourself on the back for coping with it, esp if you set a new p.b in the process.
These are not the only strategies I use and sometimes I just wimp and easy up but particularly through marathon training and speed work I'm much more able to cope and keep going. When training for a marathon I used a long run 2 lap circuit with no possibility of short cuts so I had to run past the car just when it was starting to get hard knowing I had the same again.
Anyway would like to hear what you all do.
Roger
I have been interested for a while now in how people manage to deal with when it gets hard/painful when training/racing.
I suspect there are many different solutions and what works depends on the person themselves BUT having said that I would be interested to hear what others do as my own techniques of coping are still evolving.
Here are mine.
Focus just in the here and now, usually this is bearable whereas looking into the future often is disheartening. i.e "I'm OK, it's hurting but I'm coping" works better than "Hell how can I keep this up for another 1/2 hour"
Relabel pain as less serious feelings i.e discomfort or that bit of your body working hard.
"It's just pain, it's not serious" Knowing the pain isn't indicting a problem and reminding yourself of this.
Focus on other feelings that are more positive, i.e I'm running fast.
Focus on maintaining form etc.
Try to calculate pace, how long left etc as long as it's complicated.
Practice hurting and pat yourself on the back for coping with it, esp if you set a new p.b in the process.
These are not the only strategies I use and sometimes I just wimp and easy up but particularly through marathon training and speed work I'm much more able to cope and keep going. When training for a marathon I used a long run 2 lap circuit with no possibility of short cuts so I had to run past the car just when it was starting to get hard knowing I had the same again.
Anyway would like to hear what you all do.
Roger
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Comments
More seriously - I tend to focus on other parts of my body (and use some of the strategies mentioned).
Focus on the big goal (must be some reason why you're doing it!) and try to keep a positive frame of mind
Affirmations (however ridiculous) - ie if something hurts, tell yourself that "every time I move my shoulder, it relaxes the muscles..." rather than "every time I move my shoulder, it makes that pain worse.."
Training the mind is as important as training the body for major challenges, I think!
and its such a nice anglo-saxon word... "quit quit quit"
You cant conquer all pain and discomfort with mental discipline though - Its not just about battling on regardless - you also have to know when to back off/rest/slow down to stop your body getting to distraught.
i thought TriTalk was the best antidote to pain - anaesthesia
Sorry that will only make sense if your Scottish and watch Glen Micheal's Cavalcade
Roger