Without Pain, Without Progress? Are Iron Men ‘Self-Torturers’?
Regardless of whether it's training or competition, you will always find a certain type of person, no matter how much pain he experiences, no matter how others start to plan to abandon training early, he can always firmly complete the training. In the competition, he can always bite his teeth and still chase the final point even in the last moment. He arrived at the finish line early.
Maybe you will think that these types of people just have better physical fitness, or have special training methods, or are simply...aliens. In fact, the real reason may be that they possess a higher pain tolerance than others.
What is pain tolerance?
From a definition perspective, pain tolerance refers to the maximum extent to which a person can tolerate pain, and this pain refers to both physical and psychological states. But these two aspects are not necessarily in the same balance point, sometimes physiological condition is good, but psychologically, training fatigue; or psychologically craving for training, but the muscles are in a state of fatigue unable to withstand the intensity of training. Only when the body and mind are in a state of excellence will the degree of pain tolerance reach the highest.
Pain Tolerance and Heart Rate Zones
Taking training heart rate zones as an example, 1-3 zones are within the aerobic zone, approximately 87% of the maximum heart rate, which can be trained for 1-3 hours without too much fatigue, and the perceived pain is not too high (usually boredom and impatience prevail).
However, entering the heart rate 4th zone (maximum heart rate 87%-93%, lactate threshold zone), you start to enter the anaerobic system, the glycogen in the liver starts to be consumed in large quantities, and lactic acid accumulates quickly. You can try to recall the speed you used for the 10km run training, or the FTP training feeling. You know that the body is painful, but it doesn't reach the point where you have to stop immediately.
Finally, the heart rate 5th zone is generally only encountered when performing interval training, and it is unlikely to reach it during the competition unless the final point needs to be fought to the death to grab the first place. But most of the time it's just a very short time, compared to the ‘long torture feeling’ in Zone 4, interval training is probably a little easier.
Your pain tolerance determines the strength of your physical fitness
We will slow down our speed in training or competition not because the lactic acid has exceeded the load, but to maintain the same pace, the body will become more and more painful, and the simplest way is to: give up.
The biggest difference between elite athletes and general athletes is that they can tolerate pain for a longer period of time. Taking the IRONMAN world championship 226km super triathlon as an example, male professional athletes can use 78-82% FTP to complete about 180 kilometers, including the 2014 runner-up Ben Hoffman riding 82 kilometers for 180 kilometers; 2013's runner-up Luke McKenzie riding 82% for the entire course. General athletes are between 65%-75%. In other words, for professional athletes, they can push themselves closer to the lactate threshold and tolerate it for a longer time.
Fig: felt2020 model disc brake wireless 12 speed triathlon bike
Train Your Pain Tolerance!
Can pain tolerance be trained? Of course it can. Let me give an example, have you ever had interval training experience? That is to continuously repeat 8-12 rounds of continuous high-intensity training and then followed by 1-5 minutes of rest to soothe the body. Every time you reach the 5th or 6th group, you will often feel the most painful and difficult to bear. You will naturally want to give up. Perhaps you have already given up, but later you will regret it, because you will realize that it doesn't seem so exhausting after thinking back. Or, even though you feel painful and chase the number during each round, you are still able to achieve the fastest speed during the last interval training.
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, pain tolerance is affected by physical and psychological states, so training pain tolerance must break through both physical and psychological limits. To provide several suggestions to strengthen pain tolerance:
1. Stick to your training plan: We can't deny that we have work, family and life worries, and plans are disrupted. But once you allow yourself to miss a lesson, you will inevitably miss the next one. If you reduce the plan, the reduction will continue to decrease, and the final pain tolerance auction will not be unexpected.
2. Combine high- and moderate-intensity training: As mentioned above, Zone 4 lactate threshold training tests the ability to continue and confront the devil in the pain zone. Zone 5 interval training quickly forces you to the edge of the most painful. The two training methods, the former improve the continuous time in the pain zone, and the latter expands the pain tolerance.
3. Maintain a healthy body state: The way to increase pain tolerance is not always in pain, but to maintain a healthy body. One week of training will inevitably have high-intensity training, as well as low-intensity but long-duration aerobic training, but more importantly, rest and relaxation to welcome the next wave of training. No one can train high intensity every day, except for the psychological fatigue, with tired muscles, the training is meaningless.
Finally, remind everyone that ‘pain tolerance’ does not necessarily mean ‘pain’. If you have discomfort or a tendency to injury, you should stop immediately. I often say: ‘Moderate self-encouragement, but not reckless’.
