NYTimes Article: How to push past the pain

Nice article. I was especially intrigued by the "disassociation" aspect. It made me stop and ask myself, am I doing this when I'm swimming? I know when I am swimming a long distance, like a 2K, I tend to let my mind wander. I'll catch myself and focus more on my swimming, but after awhile, it wanders off again. But, after reading this article, I'm going to purposely try to keep my focus on my swimming while swimming to see what kind of difference it makes.

The Times sure does like to publish articles about running. Well.. the NY marathon is coming up so I guess they're thinking about it. Gina Kolata like most health reporters likes to talk about herself and she's a runner.

My longest events that I care about are over in less than 3 min so this is in a slightly different context,but I notice during a race I process pain differently than at other times.It is like it is just information,it doesn't have the negative associations it has at other times.For me,it isn't about forcing through pain,it's more about "if I hurt more, my body will slow down"(from lactic acid build up,etc.) or "this doesn't hurt enough(for this point in the race)speed up."Again this is for short races,but do others have this experience?

The Times sure does like to publish articles about running.

I definitely find that if I am not "associated" with my swimming (in longer distances) that my stroke gets sloppy and I start to get more relaxed and thus don't stay on pace. I have to refocus on my stroke and my swim. I like this article.

I agree with Chris' points about the good points in the article. I also think another good point is that runners/cyclists who have "done the course" do better in the actual race. Any swimmer who misses warm-up in the competition pool can attest that it helps a great deal to "do the course" prior to the event. However, with the crowding at warm-ups, and many meets forgoing prelims for timed finals, increasingly fewer of us get to do the "entire" course at race speed. I wonder how well we would/could do if we got to do just that? As for the spit thing, at least we get that washed off before we finish! =)

I think that a lot of this is true - at least in my case. I remember a race not long ago (well, okay,10 years or so) where I was swimming a 500, and not doing well, and began so much negative thinking that I basically talked myself out of the race. The elite swimmers obviously don't do that. My son happen's to train under Steve Lochte - so I have access to his son, indirectly. I think I may ask Ryan, next time I see him, if he feels the way the article suggests while seriously racing.

I'm sorry, but I hate these kinds of articles. They imply that elites have some sort of mental ability to ignore pain through sheer will-power, and that this is the reason they are great. It is no secret that most successful athletes are incredibly driven -- and that this is one part (but only a part) of why they are great -- but mostly I call BS. There are some good points in the article. The idea of a successful athlete being "in touch" with his pain and using it as a guide for proper pacing is a good one. I think you need to listen to your body during training and during a race, and I think that athletes who are more "in tune" -- pay more attention -- to such feedback will do better. I believe that's where Allen is going with his post. I pretty much do exactly what he does: pain is information, it is important only in that it slows you down b/c it can signify that your muscles will become less efficient (and your stroke mechanics will probably also degrade). The point about race duration made in this thread is a good one too. I think the proper focus and mental state (not to mention things like nutrition and warmup) are far more important than some sort of mystical ability to "push past pain." Dealing with pain -- paying attention to it, pushing past it, whatever -- is, I think, more important in training than in racing. (The article does talk about this aspect of "pain management" too.) Just my opinion, of course.

You can see it in the saliva-coated faces of the top runners in the New York marathon, Ms. Wittenberg added. “We have towels at marathon finish to wipe away the spit on the winners’ faces,” she said. “Our creative team sometimes has to airbrush it off race photos that we want to use for ad campaigns.” Nice. Apparently slobbering is equated with peak performance. Thank goodness for chlorine. :)

The article says, "Some people focus by going into a trancelike state, blocking out distractions." It doesn't differentiate between the trance (good!)and "dissociation" (bad!). As Aloen points out, optimum mental states are different for different race durations. I doubt that "trance state" is of any value in sprints, but they might be key to marathons. As a medical researcher, I've found that any research involving type A personalities tend to get a bias as competitive type-A researchers tend to prove that their way is best. I'm not sure how much - if any - creedence I want to give to a "My-son-beat-the-elite-runner" article. (I must be some kind of perv. I find the imagery of Kim Smith drooling to be quite attractive.)