COACH'S CORNER
When do listen to pain and when to ignore it?
There is a fine line between pushing it to create a training effect, and causing injuries by overdoing it.
There are different scenarios to consider and there is also the individual situation of each athlete.
It is not easy to do a self assessment, since endurance athletes, by nature, tend to lean towards ignoring pain and training more.
The number one factor that contributes to an effective training is consistency. Injuries are the number one cause for inconsistent training. (We'll not talk about being lazy, because few endurance athletes are). So the number one goal is to avoid injuries. And since injured athletes are the most unhappy and frustrated people on earth, avoiding injuries is the number one priority for everybody!
The brain signals pain when there is something wrong in the body. It can be something temporal and insignificant, but if it is ignored it can turn into a serious injury. Pain can be perceived in many ways and at different levels. Every athlete has a different tolerance to pain. Some athletes can feel excruciating pain and others non at all with the same injury or level of damage. This topic is very complex and there is not one rule to follow for everybody and every situation.
Here are some common things to consider in case you feel pain during a workout and don't know what to do.
1) It is good that we can feel pain, so that we know what is happening in our body.
2) Never take pain killers before or after a workout. You need to feel how your body is reacting to the particular workout.
3) Rate the pain: 1 (no pain) to 10 (worse pain ever).
4) From 1 - 3 continue your workout but with precaution, as long as the pain doesn't make you change your technique. If it gets worse as the workout progresses, then stop.
5) From 4 - 10 stop!
6) If the pain goes away after you stopped, try again the next day.
7) If it hurst again or the pain didn't go away, talk to coach!
COMING BACK FROM AN INJURY
1) When you are injured you should not do any activity that causes pain to the injured area.
2) When you are healed and start exercising again, you need to stop if you feel ANY pain in that area.
3) Even though you may be healed, the body can still feel pain because of weakness, stiffness or scar tissue.
4) If you exercise through pain you may re-injure the area or cause a different injury. Give yourself time to come back slowly.
Remember, it is a thousand times better to get to the race slightly undertrained and healthy then to get there supposedly "well trained" but injured.
When in doubt... ASK YOUR COACH!
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