Real Pain

One great thing about sports is that it allows you to experience different types of pain. The pain response is a deep seated evolutionary mechanism that tells you to PAY ATTENTION, SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE!! Pain has been tuned somewhat by evolution - there are different types of neural pathways, yes. But there is little frontal cortex application to the pain sensation unless we train it. Pain does not get intillectualized, rationalized.... Even if you knowingly do something painful, it feels the same as if the pain had been caused out of the blue.... unless you train yourself! That is a big part of sports... to train yourself to realize when the pain you are feeling is not a helpful indicator to let you know that something has gone wrong.... a marathon runner knows EXACTLY what is going on inside his body. "Painful" track practices or weight-lifting sessions let you figure out what is real pain and what is simply a counterproductive relic of evolution. At the hardest part of a workout, I'll often ask myself, "Is this real pain, or just fatigue?" and ill realize that the intense sensation I am feeling is just that: a sensation in my head. And I'll push through.

I would like to end with 2 of my favorite quotes.

It's not a secret, but it bears remembering: If you do not flirt with pain and exhaustion in your workouts you won't know what to do when they start a conversation with you on the field.

-HH

To be a good athlete, you must get comfortable with Uncomfortable.

-James "OPT" Fitzgarald


Jokes of the Day:
Why did the surrealist cross the road? Seventeen.