Pushing Past the Pain

"Can you train yourself to run, cycle, swim or do another sport at the edge of your body’s limits, or is that something that a few are born with, part of what makes them elites?" So asks New York Times journalist Gina Kolata. 

This topic touches on something of interest to me as a Healthy Survivor, namely, Pushing Past the Pain, as Champions Do.

According to Kolata, "Sports doctors...say that, at the very least, most people could do a lot better if they knew what it took to do their best."

The trick, of course, is finding the sweet spot between (1) pushing enough to win yet (2) not pushing to exhaustion and having to drop out of the race. 

I am not like Lance Armstrong. When exercising, I often quit instead of pushing myself.

As a Healthy Survivor  in remission, I exercise regularly because I know fitness would help me in the future if I needed more treatment. Just as important, I exercise to strengthen my mental fortitude, knowing I'd need to be mentally strong, too.

Thus, staying fit helps nourish my hope and calm my fear of tomorrow by reassuring me I could deal with whatever I needed to do to get well again.

In my next post, I'll point out two tips for athletes that are useful to Healthy Survivors.

Comments

[Polly Leshan]

I found the piece by Kolata disturbing, not because I don't think there is often merit in pushing oneself, but the picture of an almost skeletal elite runner right next to an article about family treatment for anorexia nervosa made me wonder about a subtext which might well be explored.

[Wendy S. Harpham, M.D.]

Dear Polly,
Excellent point. Healthy Survivors know when to slow down or stop, even if it means resisting the Rambo culture of working through treatment without missing a day. Even if it means letting go of some of your usual roles and/or responsibilities.
With hope, Wendy

[Finn]

Good athletes also know when to slow down or stop, whether it's a prerace taper, easing off to prevent overtraining, or resting and healing after an injury. I think the NY Times article focuses on pushing oneself because so few of us do, and skips over taking it easy because that's the default for so many.

[Wendy S. Harpham, M.D.]

Finn,
Any idea why the default setting for most people is taking the easy way out?
Wendy

[Finn]

Aside from "It's easier" (a tautology if I ever wrote one), I really don't know. Perhaps, just as evolution seems to have set us up to indulge in high-calorie foods whenever they're available, it may have also set us up to conserve energy whenever possible, for the same reason: to build up fat stores to stave us over the once-inevitable famines.

My mom tells me I was self-motivated as a child, so inborn personality traits may also be a big player. But I don't think it's a strictly have it/don't have it proposition, because I've seen people change and start pushing themselves after decades of taking the easy way out. It would be really interesting to study people like that to find out what made them change.

[Medical News]

You can also rely on yoga and meditation for relaxation and focus.

[Kathy]

I'm iprmesesd! You've managed the almost impossible.