Dealing with hard interval pain - any tips?

bahzob

I like training but mainly long sessions.

I'm pretty crap at doing short intervals (1-12 minutes), I'm a wuz and succumb to pain to early.

So any tips that folks have to help them push through the pain barrier when doing short/intense workouts would be appreciated...

buckles

lol

HTFU

buckles

You do the training because you want to do it, surely? Thus, your menality should be something similar to, 'I want this pain, thus, I will enjoy it, or at least accept it'.

Otherwise, strap a teddy bear to your handlebars perhaps?

diamonddog

WILLPOWER - you have got to want to do it or why bother.

imposter2.0

it's supposed to hurt..

bompington

try pedalling in perfect circles so it's easier?

bernardmcdonald

drink whisky before you start

BenderRodriguez

If on a turbo / rollers, listening to loud headbangin' music.

ut_och_cykla

Focus on something else - of course it hurts - it smeant to ( abit anyway) Its not minding that's the trick ( to quote Peter O'tooles Lawrence of Arabia...)

Southgate

First thing is to ask yourself WHY you are doing intervals. If you have a good reason, you'll push yourself and suffer in pursuit of your goal. If not, you won't. Good reasons might include an upcoming time trial, wanting to hold the speed of the traffic on your commute, not getting dropped on a club run when the speed increases, being chased by a hungry bear etc.

whoof

I always used to lie to myself that I was going to do a shorter interval next one and then do the actual length. If you are doing a 4 minute interval tell yourself that you are going to do a 2 minute one. When you get to 2 minutes keep going for a minute and then another minute. Doesn't make a lot of sense but it worked.

Alternatively wait until you are old enough and you will stop racing. You can then ride a bike at what ever pace you feel like whenever you want and don't ever have to; do intervals, train when it lashing it down, worry about sitting at the back of a group on a hill pottering along etc. Very liberating!

BrandonA

Once you get around the physical pain you'll then have to learn to deal with the mental pain.

I like to do twenty 30 second sprints (full power) with a minute gap between each. After 10-12 sprints I am completely knackered and want to stop. Knowing i have 8-10 still to go can cripple you.

You've just got to persevere and you will get used to it and then hopefully learn to enjoy it. Once I've completed the 20th I'm always so glad I didn't quit early.

twotyred

Is it really pain or just discomfort? If its really proper pain stop doing what you are doing and see a doctor. If its just a bit of suffering then its just a bit of suffering which you have got to want to do in order to achieve whatever goal you've set yourself. If you need to suffer to get the fitness you need to accomplish your goal and don't want to put up with it then you don't want to achieve your goal badly enough.

I do wish people would stop with this macho BS talking about being in pain when Its nothing of the sort.

OK rant over. What I find helps with this kind of thing is visualisation. Visualise yourself racing wheel to wheel with someone you really want to beat or cresting the summit of that col or trying to keep up with that really fit young lady/gent with the nice bum that's just gone past you. Try a sufferfest video. I find the visual stimulation keeps my mind from focussing on the suffering. Also I find a nice selection of bangin choons can make a difference.

diamonddog

+1 for the music.

rafregt1

"If it's not hurting your not training hard enough" or "train hard fight easy"

ncr

bahzob wrote:

I like training but mainly long sessions.

I'm pretty crap at doing short intervals (1-12 minutes), I'm a wuz and succumb to pain to early.

So any tips that folks have to help them push through the pain barrier when doing short/intense workouts would be appreciated...

Where is the pain ?

bahzob

ncr wrote:

bahzob wrote:

I like training but mainly long sessions.

I'm pretty crap at doing short intervals (1-12 minutes), I'm a wuz and succumb to pain to early.

So any tips that folks have to help them push through the pain barrier when doing short/intense workouts would be appreciated...

Where is the pain ?

It feels like muscles are burning. It'll be familiar to anyone who has done hard interval repeats.

Thanks for the positive suggestions so far, for me music and visualisation are the best. Any more suggestions or positive experiences of breaking through pain barrier welcome

dw300

Just don't do them. Its not the winning, its the taking part that counts.

Good luck Alice.

alihisgreat

Buckles wrote:

lol

HTFU

this


(oh and set yourself a target on a strava segment or something - its easier if you're working towards some kind of target rather than just 4 minutes of pain)

ncr

bahzob wrote:

It feels like muscles are burning. It'll be familiar to anyone who has done hard interval repeats.

I'm sorry to have to tell you that I believe it's the natural pedalling technique that is responsible for this. You like others have to concentrate most effective force between (2-4 o'c), only 60 degrees of the pedalling circle. This puts your muscles under great stress during interval training. With the perfect TT technique this can be extended to 150 degrees (11-4 o'c ) by using an extra combination of muscles giving you even greater power output and less stress on the muscles.

dawebbo

Loud music on headphones so you can't hear yourself wheezing! Mentally segmenting the interval into blocks. Counting. Planning to finish early, but keep adding a minute on. Some internal "come ons!" and head bobbing. Whatever it takes.

Tom Dean

I find music a distraction for short anaerobic-type efforts. You just have to embrace the pain

SBezza

I am the same, hate doing them in all honesty (a lot of it is mentally challenging), but what I find helps is as follows.

1: Music that has a very good tempo, ideally around the cadence you prefer
2: As someone else said, envisage the intervals as slightly shorter, but keep upping how long after this imaginary interval is.
3: If all else fails try a big dose of caffeine about 1-2 hours before the intervals

They do actually start getting easier to do mentally when you do them regularly, and although the burn never really goes, you just end up doing them harder, mentally they are easier to deal with. Once you start getting more encouraged with raising the power of them each session it really does make a difference and I can suffer them more. They are never easy though, and to a certain extent, the thought of getting faster as a result of them should drive you on.

bahzob

SBezza wrote:

I am the same, hate doing them in all honesty (a lot of it is mentally challenging), but what I find helps is as follows.

1: Music that has a very good tempo, ideally around the cadence you prefer
2: As someone else said, envisage the intervals as slightly shorter, but keep upping how long after this imaginary interval is.
3: If all else fails try a big dose of caffeine about 1-2 hours before the intervals

They do actually start getting easier to do mentally when you do them regularly, and although the burn never really goes, you just end up doing them harder, mentally they are easier to deal with. Once you start getting more encouraged with raising the power of them each session it really does make a difference and I can suffer them more. They are never easy though, and to a certain extent, the thought of getting faster as a result of them should drive you on.

Thanks, this is what I have been trying so I guess I just need to man up a bit.

manxshred

I use DI.FM to stream some trance music while doing intervals. I will not listen to trance at all any other time, but I've found it good for zoning out while pushing myself hard.