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Part 3: Managing Pain With every pedal stroke my right foot burned. “Smooth spin.” “Ouch!” “Lift up.” “Ouch!” “Wiggle your toes.” “Ouch!” With a couple of hundred miles to go in the race, I had serious hot foot. My analytical mind understood the cause—pressure on the nerve—and tried to solve the problem, but the remedies weren’t working. by Coach John Hughes John Hughes is the author of Anti-Aging: 12 Ways to You Can Slow the Aging Process and of the book Distance Cycling. He has written 40 articles on training, nutrition, psychology and medical issues for RoadBikeRider.com. More about Coach Hughes. We’ve all been there—pain reaches out, grabs our attention, and distracts us from riding our ride. What we need is a way to let go of the pain. Pain is a feeling. And feelings influence thoughts . . . which influence feelings. Pain can cause us to tense up “will this get worse? ” and to worry “can I finish? ” As we get tense, the feeling of pain is literally amplified. What to do? Use breathing to manage the pain. There are two different strategies for doing this:
1) Go into the pain Imagine that you are breathing in soothing energy. Breathe in cool blue to calm a hot foot. Or warm red to soothe an aching muscle.
2) Reduce the pain Then, focus on changing your thoughts. Think “powerful”, “smooth”, “steady”. Last month you experimented with different images of energy. Inhaling red mist. A spinning water wheel. Recall your most powerful image. Recall it in detail. Examine each detail in your mind. Go out and hurt! What? To use either pain management strategy effectively, you need to practice it. In training you are probably doing intervals or other forms of intensity training which, if done properly, hurt! Focus on your breathing and experiment with:
Does one method allow you to produce a little more power than the other method? Or does one technique help you to sustain the interval a little longer? Pain in a long-distance event isn’t good—it’s a sign that something is wrong. When something hurts, first try physical adjustments to eliminate the cause of the pain. For example, loosening tight shoes, or adjusting the saddle height. If that doesn’t eliminate the pain, then ask: is this a potentially serious injury that could keep me off the bike for weeks? Or just annoying? If the pain is potentially serious, stop. If it is just annoying, breath into it, relax, and use one of the above strategies. On most of your training rides, you shouldn’t be in pain. On these rides, practice the fundamentals. Focus on your breathing. Concentrate on the rhythm. Consciously focus on inhaling, feel your in-breath. As you exhale, let tension go. With each in-breath, feel energy flowing in. Try to direct the energy to different muscles. Use an image to feel the power in your spinning legs. In the next column, we’ll learn to use breathing to create a positive attitude. Until then, keep practicing five to six days a week . . . and feel the pain receding. More Information
Resources:
Originally printed in UltraCycling |
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