In recent times there have not been many articles in literature regarding the need for pain before you can experience a gain in your training. This is great to see as it indicates that this myth is finally dying. But I saw that it was alive and well when I read an article in a recent issue of Runners World.. The title was, The Warm-up: Pain.
The article went on to describe four different ways that you could “brace for the hurt”. These were mostly training tips and for the most part were good recommendations. But when given to people who are not ready for this type of training they will produce pain if not injury.
This is example of the running community still being behind in the science of training. In sound training practices the runner must always be prepared physically, technically and mentally for the task at hand. You should never simply push a runner to go faster and/or further on a constant regular basis with the excuse that it is necessary to get used to it, learn to live with the pain and/or discomfort in order to become a better runner.
But when sound scientific training practices are not known, you must resort to the “more is better” philosophy. It has gotten to the point where many runners feel that they do not have a good work out, or run a good race, unless they are completely exhausted and hurting.
So deeply entrenched is this idea of experiencing pain in order to get gain, runners refuse to believe that it can be otherwise. But it can be. And it can be done relatively easily. The key is to inform — educate -the coaches and runners in regard to the latest sound information. This becomes a problem however, when the runner only relies on the uneducated coach for advice.
When this happens, everything will continue as usual and runners will continue to experience pain. The smart runner however, will seek out other opinions and look for the latest sound scientific information. One excellent source for the latest sound scientific information is Explosive Running. It covers many aspects of the runners training especially his technique and how he can improve his physical abilities. These are the two most important factors in becoming a better runner.