Pain lets you know you're alive. Pain is what pushes you to be better. Some people talk about your lactic threshold, or training to push it farther. Some of us just know that pain is what drives us. Pain is a good thing. Pain is crashing at 30 m/h and getting back on the bike to complete a task because you gave your word you would. Some of us love pain. I learned to love pain through cycling and football.
Pain: competing despite injuries
Pain: rehabing torn cartilage and strained knee ligaments on Saturday morning to be ready for next Friday night.
Pain: a 300 lb lineman rolling into the side of your knee and playing on it for the next 45 minutes.
Everyone of us who loves pain, knows that when you look back on what you've done, when you see your accomplishment or your victory, all that pain goes away for the moment. No matter what you have to do to come back from the injuries, you go back for more because you have a passion for it. Pure desire is what pushes you through pain. There isn't any preparation you can do. It's the mental toughness that defines an athlete. When the pressure's on, or your body says it won't go, your mind has to take over and tell it to push. Your ability to focus will allow you to push that extra mile, or get up that steep hill. You have to have it in your mind that no boundary can hold you, nothing can beat you. When you do that, you realize how much pain is your ally.