It hurts .. up to a certain point

It only hurts up to a certain point - then it doesn't get any worse.

I believe there is so much truth to this saying. I have been having so horrid runs lately. I could blame my ulcer, I could blame being tired; truthfully I don't like placing blame on anything.

When I was swimming I had an abusive coach. He got fired eventually but despite the vurbal abuse I went through with him he taugh me to push beyone my limits. He taught me that my limits are set by me and not anyone else. He made me a better swimmer. Sometimes I think he made me a better person. I mean I don't agree with his abusive ways but I remember one day he was making me do sprint sets. I was not a sprinter, 400m and above I owned anything below unless it was a 200m back destroyed me. He had me doing sprints and I was coming and I having to head right back out. I wasn't getting any rest off of these and I felt sick. I remember at one point I was crying and I yelled at him "I CAN'T DO THIS I AM NOT A SPRINTER WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH." It wasn't that he hated me. It was that he knew I was better than what I was. He knew I could do these.He looked at me and said "Tiara everything comes easy to you and you stick with what is easy to you I want to prove to you that you are not the greatest at everything, that you can fail that the girls in the pool are better than you" He also said a lot of really harsh things to me. I told him, my legs hurt, my arms hurt, I am going to vomit. He said "vomit and keep going the pain will eventually stop".

After a few weeks of swims like that I was swimming my fastest 400m. He told me what I did wasn't easy for a distance swimmer but in doing that he made me faster. He was making me unbeatable.

When I am out on the trail and my feet hurt, my legs hurt, my abs are hurting I remember "the pain will eventually stop" I mean there is a point where we need to listen to our bodies, but there is also a point where we need to tell our bodies that we are not going to listen to it and we need to keep going, push through the pain and you'll find that you can reach limits you had no idea were achievable.

Happy Training.