Originally Posted by Colorado
ok, like i said earlier, my original post was poorly worded, and prone to being misunderstood. A few concessions i will make cramps=pain, yes. Maybe there is something wrong with me, but I have never in my life had a sensation besides a cramp, related to endrance activities that I would call "pain". I have felt my legs unable to push any harder, i have felt my lungs burn from breathing so hard for so long, but I just can't get a handle on what you guys define as "pain" while on the bike. I'm not trying to come off like an ass, just trying to understand this, for a long time i've wondered, what the hell are they talking about? "pain"? Do you experience an emotional pain when your body will not go any harder and you're starting to fall behind? Is it a physical pain that is solely from muscle cramping? i will not try to make any rash generalizations anymore, but i have read the words of many world record holders in running events, who say that they feel like they are floating on air when they set their records, that they feel like the race is easy, and races are only hard when they aren't doing well relative to how they usually do. I just wonder, is pain a function of disappointment? Does pain exist when you're performing to your absolute potential, or only when you fall short? I'm not purporting to be some cycling badass, i'm new to the sport, just having fun, working hard and reaping any benefits that'll come my way. I'm very familiar with the taste/feeling of lactic acid as well, i just wouldn't call that pain. and i just upgraded to cat 4, hopefully i'll continue to have success at this level and make upgrades in the future.
I like what Don Scholander (olmypic swimming champion from the past): When pain is so intense that the body is screaming at you to slow, the champion pushes deeper into it, while lesser athletes back off to reduce the pain.
58vw: From my years as a running competitor, I can tell you that the level of the pain never lessens. You simply can go faster with that same level of pain. That is what happens in cycling. VO2max typically peaks after about a year of hard training, but lactate threshold takes years to build. The upshot is that as we increase LT, we can more efficiently take advantage of our VO2max, and the same perceived effort, and same feelings of pain simply occur at faster speeds. Most people are wimps, and back off from pain. Winners push deeper into it! Others apparently don't even experience it!!