"Going through the pain barrier, that's what makes the muscles grow. There's this pain, this aching, and going on and on and on. That's what divides a champion from a non-champion - having the guts to go through the pain barrier." - Arnold Schwarzenegger
Exercising is really a lot about managing pain, or how you think about pain, especially if in every training session your only goal is to beat yourself. I downloaded an iphone app recently called Endomondo, which is a sports tracker, and since I've done that it has become impossible to cheat myself. I know exactly how far I run, how fast I run, and every single run becomes yet another attempt to beat that timing I previously set.
And on every run, every step of the way, I think the same thought. I want to stop. But there is another thought that keeps me going, and that thought is simply that I will not stop until I have completed the distance I set out to run. And sometimes that is very hard. I run until both my calves cramp up, and there's a weird pulling sensation in my thighs. I run till I literally feel like my lungs are on fire and I want to puke, yet I keep on running. Even if its at a slow jog, I keep on going. And sometimes, I do something crazier. I increase the distance. I tell myself that I will do 5km, and when I hit that distance, I force myself to do 1km more. At that point the pain chorus inside me crying out to stop is resounding, and it takes every single last ounce of determination inside me to block it out every step of the way till the end of that last 1km.
This is not supposed to be an inspirational post. It is anything but. It is just a reminder to myself that nothing in life comes without sacrifice, and a lot of it. And the other thing that is important is consistency. It means nothing to run 15km once a week, but it means everything to run 2.4km 7 times a week, and do that day in day out, even when you don't have time. Even when you come home from work at 9pm and haven't had dinner. Even if it means that you have to wake up at 5am just to squeeze a run in. You lace up anyway and hit the tarmac.
There is a simple reason why I chose the distance 2.4km. I really hated that run during my IPPT days. I spent countless hours in remedial training because I absolutely sucked at that. In fact, it took me 3 years to finally pass my IPPT. So when I had to find something to train, that was it. Yes, I hate running the 2.4km. And I don't want to spend another second in RT. Three years is enough. That is why I'm going to do the 2.4km every day.
The weird thing about all this is, do it enough and soon you will find that you miss that pain. Somehow, when you don't run, you can't rest, because something feels like its missing. Maybe I'm crazy, but pain has never felt so liberating.