"Pain is weakness leaving the body." - US Marine Corps Recruiting Statement
Life is filled with all types of pain, both physical and mental. Some of it is good, some of it isn't. The good kind of pain can be a sign of weakness leaving your body. After a hard workout your muscles ache as the fibers that have been damaged are rebuilding stronger. Similarly, after losing a tough battle, say a hockey or soccer game where you gave it your all, you feel emotional pain that represents your hard work falling short. This emotional pain will allow you to learn from your loss and move forward stronger and ready to take on any challenge.
Then there is the pain that isn't weakness leaving your body and it can be either emotional and physical. For instance, when you lose someone you love and truly care about, that emotional pain isn't a sign of your weakness. This is a sign that you lost someone who was very important to your life. You can still come out stronger in the end, but at no point is what you are feeling a sign that you are weak. In fact, getting over a lost love will be very painful. But as the old saying goes, time heals all wounds. More on emotional pain tomorrow.
Brief overview on physical pain (for more, talk to Dr. Pete Murray!): Physical pain is simply a sensory experience that occurs in response to a noxious stimuli. A variety of pain receptors (nociceptors) exist throughout the body and their activation triggers unique signaling cascades. The actual amount and type of pain one perceives following a noxious stimulus is dependent on the hundreds of millions neuronal connections that make up both the central and peripheral nervous systems. Since everyone's nervous system is unique, so is the amount and type of pain we feel from similar stimuli. Thus, pain is subjective.
For today, consider pain from over-training or carelessness during training. The pain that results represents damage to the body which may or may not heal properly. It's a result of being irresponsible and it's a sign that you are pushing yourself too hard. When these types of pain occur it's important to recognize that it's not normal and you must allow time to heal your injury. You've been training hard and pushing yourself, so taking a few days off will do more good than trying to work through it. Take the time off to focus on nutrition, spending more time with the people you love, and reflecting on your fitness, professional and life goals.
It's important to acknowledge pain, identify whether it is good or bad and decide to either work through it, or allow yourself time to let the hurt subside and wounds heal. A part of being strong, mentally and physically, is knowing when you have to rest. Be honest with yourself and fair to your mind and body. In the end, you will be stronger for it.
Today's Training
This morning I was supposed to meet with my new swimming coach who is going to help me become a stronger, efficient swimmer for the Ironman. Sadly, I received a message that she was in the hospital. I haven't heard anything else and wish her the best with whatever is going on.
It was 93 degrees here in Baltimore and the Crossfit workout only required a pullup bar so I headed to my local high school track to do the Workout of the Day (WOD). I started with a mile warm up around the track.
Crossfit.com Workout:
"Tabata Something Else"
Complete 32 intervals of 20 seconds of work followed by ten seconds of rest where the first 8 intervals are pull-ups, the second 8 are push-ups, the third 8 intervals are sit-ups, and finally, the last 8 intervals are squats. There is no rest between exercises.
My total repetitions for this workout were:Pullups: 40
Pushups: 70
Situps: 109
Squats: 80
Total reps: 299
My hands are still pretty torn up from the last few days of pullups and deadlifts but I made it. I would have liked to hit 60 on the pullups and 100 on the pushups...that will be my goal for this workout next time.
I finished the day with some sprints. I did ten 100 meter sprints, with 30 seconds rest in between each and keeping each 100 meters under 15 seconds. All but two were under 15 seconds. I'll blame those on the heat!
Lately my body has taken well to pain. The workouts on Crossfit.com tend to create soreness in places I didn't remember existed. I think most of the pain has been good, though I've had a sore knee and a sore ankle that were a bit unnerving. I am spending a lot of time pushing myself to my limits, but I'm also focusing on staying healthy and injury free. I welcome the good kind of pain. It means I'm working hard enough.
USMC Image from wikipedia commons. http://www.wikipedia.com
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