geneman

I want to talk about pain.
Not the acute pain associated with crashing or poking one's self in the eye, but the pain of pushing yourself on your bike. For it is in this pain that we are stripped of all pretense. It is in this pain that we face our limits.

... it is the presence that hitches a ride up that hill ...

Pain is such an important part of cycling that one's ability to manage it, perhaps even embrace it, defines his experience, defines his riding. Those of you who avoid pain at all cost either have no interest in testing your personal limit or have other aspirations when it comes to cycling. But for those of us who hate being dropped or aren't content spinning up that hill in a 30-24, pain is inevitable.

My personal experience is that pain manifests as either the burning, lactic acid clogging sting in my legs and/or as the failure to catch my breath as my CV system struggles to clear CO2. The sad news is that I haven't yet come to terms with it. It effects me. It pulls me down. It lingers well after the ride to discourage the next outing. My non-cycling life is good and I lack important negatives upon which to fixate. I'm too comfortable.

How do you cope?

-mark

auricpoe

WOW......I try to think of it like this.."what doesnt kill me makes me stronger" SO i try to think of the pain as a good thing and something that in the long run will help me become a better cyclist.

It does hurt like hell though...HAHA

dgaddes

"No pain no gain"... or has that too simple?

sm266

Pain is where the progress is made. I just keep reminding myself that my legs will not fall off.

Moonshot

I tell myself "they're suffering as much as I am."

What some bikers don't seem to realize is if they can tough it out for the hard effort an easy effort is almost sure to come where you can recover with the rest of the riders.

SchreiberBike

Mantra:
- Pain is Knowledge.
- Knowledge is Power.
- Learn.
- Feel.
Repeat

TriDevil

I've taken to thinking 'they are suffering too' as well. I also love that feeling of getting home after a ride where you busted your ass, legs barely turning over as you coast down your street and you get off the bike. Another ride done. That feeling of accomplishment and relief is great. I also tend to think of the pain I'm putting into the bank so that at other times I can deal it out to others. Only when I feel pain and burning do I feel I really did something worthwhile on the bike. I try to be like lance in some respects in terms of trying not to show pain on my face. There is no reason for anyone else to know how I am suffering. If they think I am simply spinning up the mountain and they are dying, my look of ease will only add to their burden and perhaps push them to crack.

geneman

You mean like these guys? Baldies up top.

-mark

geneman

Hmmm ... banking the pain ... I'll have to see if this philosophy agrees with my psyche. As for the end of the ride collapse, I love that feeling as well and often it's my primary incentive. Thanks for the words.

-mark

nemo

that is funny in that my street ends in a large hill so after that pussh thru the pain there is one more push up the hill to home that haven of ?comfort?

Guest

Rather than cope with the pain, why not train so that you can overcome it? If I were to hazard a guess offhand, I would say that you were spending too much time training at too high of a heart rate, while neglecting the opportunity to build your aerobic base. Once you've built the base, then you can start teaching the body to train higher and build a better fitness level so that you're not sitting around well after the end of your ride wondering how you'll make it to the next ride. Once you've built up your cardiovascular system, and you've built a solid training program (takes years of training), you'll definitely find your aerobic capacity and VO2 has increased, and you'll find your body is trained to use fats as its primary energy source as a result. Yes, you'll still have pain when you take your body to the extremes, but at the same time, with a higher aerobic capacity, you can push farther for longer, and your recoveries will be quick. There is definitely a better way to train, and I think you would do well to find a coach out there or get some reading in so you can construct a better training program. If you're not training, you're just moving the legs, and then, what's the point?

Good luck!

Koffee

geneman

Pain is pain as far as I'm concerned. In my cycling career I've seen pain (and humiliation) at 15MPH on a flat road and I've seen it at 18MPH on a 8% grade. Performance comes with training as you point out, but the pain can never be trained away as long as we continue to push ourselves.

Regardless, I appreciate your advice. I've actually put some of your words into practice while training this winter (where do I send the check?). Your point about recovering is dead on. At peak fitness, I recall being able to bounce back from a tough effort with relative ease (assuming I was hydrated and fed). As long as suffering remains a part of the game, I would rather do it at a decent performance level. Obviously, there are right and wrong ways to get there.

-mark

Guest

Well.... pain is pain, but one's ability to cope with it and recover is what separates the bad athletes from the recreational ones and the recreational ones from the semi-professional ones, and the semi-professional ones from the professional ones, and the domestiques from the leaders... so if someone came to me and told me your story and then asked what to do, I would tell them that first, they need to get professionally tested, then I would tell them exactly what I told you, and I would start them on the path to a good, solid training program. I don't think any of us deny the fact that pain is necessary- there's no way aerobic capacity can be increased if you aren't pushing it, but the number of workouts per week (when you are close to your peak just before you start tapering for the big race or the big event) that you are training at this intensity is like...1 workout per week. Sometimes 2. Professionals like the folks in the Tour will probably do 2, but not more than that- any more would compromise your training and give you inadequate opportunity for recovery, which would defeat the purpose of training at such a high intensity anyway, since it's the recovery that allows the body to heal and adapt so that you are stronger and can push harder without feeling so much pain (again, of course, this happens over time, not overnight). or without feeling the pain but being able to tolerate it to the point to where you can continue to perform at your best without being slowed down as a result of it.

Ummmmmmmm..... you owe me much money. Send it care of Joe to Bikeforums in a donation and I'm all good. Sneaking around using my training advice to become a better cyclist. How DARE you??!!



Koffee

TriDevil

geneman, I picture myself more as bjarne riis in that set of photos. You know hes working hard but you dont know HOW hard. Just the thing to piss everyone else off!! I often look like that, eyes fixed ahead mouth open, spinning the pedals up a hill.

MacMan

I did a metric century this past Sunday. The wind was blowing hard all day and at the end and was always against me on the hills (yes, these were actual hills in Illinois ... well, anthills if you're in Colorado) for the last 20 miles it seemed. I didn't feel the pain so much as I felt anger! For some reason, I just got really pissed off and shouted at the wind up each and every hill for that last stretch! I was in the 39-23 and had nowhere else to go ... should have got the tripple!

TriDevil

Ah yes, shouting at the wind. I have done that a few times myself! Mostly like when it kicks up a little more I'm thinking 'I know which way you are f***ing blowing!!!'. If I have bonked or am really having a bad day I start wondering out loud 'why are you blowing? There is no reason for you to blow. Why dont you be different today and NOT blow?' Alas, the wind has yet to heed my pleas.

geneman

In the past, I've used a couple of different techniques that have been successful at times. The first was to concentrate so hard on the burning so that I could effectively convince myself that it doesn't exist. The second, and a bit more effective, is to play games with my breathing pattern. This could include counting, or it could include concentrating on slowing it down. Same with my heart rate.

-mark

Moonshot

"I talk to the wind. My words are all carried away...the wind cannot hear."
KC

Laggard

The difference between a good pro and a great pro is his ability to suffer. Watch the peloton climbing the Koppe. Now that's pain.

geneman

This is what I'm talking about. The real question is ... how does one learn to suffer? Is this ability innate or can we learn to embrace pain? Maybe it's a simple matter of tolerance.

-mark

lotek 

For me it isn't so much a question of pain, as you say pain is pain,
its a question of where do I stop? when do I say enough and then
what does that say about me in general.
Stopping can be slowing cadence on a flat, or climb or it can be
really stopping.
For me its the last 10 miles of HHH, cramping and my legs seizing but still continuing
even if it is at a snails pace barely ticking over the pedals (coz I know the legs are
gonna seize). Its the first 50 miles on a brooks pro saddle, yeah I know its gonna
get better, but it hurts now.

Marty

geneman

This was really meant to be the kickoff point for the thread. That is, what defines our ability to push ourselves up to and beyond the limit? Specifically, what techniques to each of us use to get there? If you're hitting the limit of physical exhaustion, then I would say your current limitation is not the ability to tolerate pain or "to suffer" but it's your current fitness level. Then again, you're the only one that defines "physical exhaustion" and only you know how close to your limit you are before pulling the ripcord.

Obviously mental condition plays an enormous role in this process. Here's an example. Our interest in looking good in group rides (or perhaps just in pulling our weight) will often propel us to physical heights we've never been to before. At least for me, this is a great argument for training with a good strong group. I just seem to be able to tolerate more when I know the guy behind me is also suffering (which leads into TriDevil's logic).

-mark

SipperPhoto

I tend to take a Buddhist approach to pain... once you make the realization that you are in pain, you can then put it out of your mind, and just keep cranking...

I felt my first good pain of the year last Saturday on my club ride... I was riding well with 2 other guys, way ahead of everyone in the group... then all of a sudden I got a burst of energy going up a hill... I cranked it for the next 10 miles up hills in the big ring... I got there nearly 20 minutes before the other 2 guys did.... and it was worth it... once you realize it... you can make it go away

jeff

bitemail

I just did a really nasty 5 mile climb...for a heavy rider it quite a killer. it averages 5 miles of pure hill, no rests or flats. Average is 10% but there is a part where it goes to a 17%....I was in so much pain I almost lost control of the bike, dizzy from exhaustion, still I pushed on. The temps so hot that even gloves are too much...you wat to rest just for a second but there is no rest...no flat. Alas I completed it in 50 minutes with an average HR of 180....The feeling was great.

Race Condition

I would rather ride uphill than down. I love the burn of a steady climb.