I recently read an article my Aunt Jennifer sent me on what Olympians can teach us about pain, and it really made me think. It highlighted how the brain, when repeatedly subjected to pain through training, learns to reduce the sensation of pain over time. This phenomenon, known as conditioned pain modulation, suggests that while the science is still young, there's potential in training our minds to better handle physical discomfort.
The article came at a very apropos time, as I was in the midst of one of my hardest workout weeks, but no longer felt the mental dread of the workouts themselves. (Unfortunately the physical pain both during and after never really goes away :/)
I’ve reflected a lot this spring on how my mindset both before and during hard workouts has evolved throughout our dryland blocks. At the start, when we began pushing ourselves really hard in the gym again, I was incredibly daunted by the workouts. I knew they would be painful, and I was nervous that I’d be out of shape and that they would feel even harder than usual. It was almost the amorphous nature of the workout itself that was the hardest to face, the fear of discovering just how much endurance and strength I might have lost, how hard the workouts would really feel.
But what I discovered on my own, directly aligned with the article my Aunt sent me. The more workouts I got through, the easier the mental hurdle became. I think there are a couple of factors that caused this. First, I think conditioned pain modulation is a real thing. If your brain knows you’ve gotten through painful things in the past, it’s going to be okay with the thought of doing them again in the future.
Additionally, your body physically gets better at dealing with the pain by training itself to more efficiently remove the waste product we build up during hard efforts (this is the simplified, scientific way of explaining the body’s adaptations for hard workouts.)
So, both the mind and body do slowly get adjusted to the pain, BUT the workouts are also getting harder. And no matter how hard or consistent you train, some days you’re just not feeling it. In my opinion, it’s on those days; where everything hurts, or you’re mentally exhausted, or you’re consumed with other parts of your life, that there’s the most to gain.
Over the years, I’ve built up what I like to refer to as a mental toolkit for getting through these hard days. Of course, this will look different for everyone, but my feeling is that when faced with hard workouts over and over again, our creativeness for convincing ourselves to do hard things also improves! So I wanted to share a couple of things that work for me.
The first set of things is more of a daily approach to staying positive and motivated towards a goal.
Stick to a Plan: Having a structured plan is crucial for me. It's far easier to stick to a workout regimen when you wake up knowing exactly what you need to do rather than deciding on the spot. Planning eliminates the mental burden of decision-making and helps me stay committed. There is less room to negotiate with myself.
Listen to Pump-Up Music: It’s been well studied that good music is incredibly motivating and powerful, so I try to capitalize on this as much as possible. It might take some time to find what kind of music does the trick, but there's something almost magical about the right playlist that really gets the blood flowing.
Accountability Buddy: While I don’t always have this at home, being able to workout with teammates or siblings or friends helps a lot with forced consistency. When we set a time to start lifting, there's no room for procrastination. The shared commitment creates a sense of responsibility and community. Again, no room for negotiating.
Reward System: Sometimes if I’m in a really hard week or in the middle of really hard intervals, I’ll set a reward for myself for completing them. The reward could be anything from a favorite treat to a relaxing activity, but I think It's important to acknowledge and celebrate the small victories to maintain momentum.
The next few things is related more to facing the hard days or when I’m really struggling to motivate.
The first thing I do is acknowledge how I’m feeling. When I really, really don’t want to do a workout, my mindset shifts from focusing on performance to completion. I tell myself that these are the days that define me as an athlete, and I look at them as an opportunity to push through when maybe some of my competition might not. I think it’s important to realize that every single athlete, every person, has these days, where we just don’t feel up for the challenge. So if you can push through, you can possibly differentiate yourself from others. Also, since I’m someone who gets most of my confidence in skiing from the hard work I put into the sport, I use these days as an opportunity to improve my confidence. So that, when I get to the season, I can think back on that day when I felt terrible, but I pushed through anyway, and use that to build my self confidence.
Motivational Content: If I’m feeling especially languid or find myself procrastinating to start a workout, I’ll watch or read something motivational or inspiring and this almost always does the trick to get me out the door. I also sometimes read through notes from last season that remind me of my goals and what I’m working towards.
When I’m in the middle of a workout and my brain wants me to stop, I use these tricks to keep going:
There is no limit: I remind myself that I'm most likely not even close to my limit. Humans rarely tap into their full potential, and acknowledging this helps me push harder. Knowing that I can endure more than my brain thinks I can is somewhat comforting. It’s almost like I’m telling myself that my brain is lying to me.
Analyze the Pain: This is my favorite trick for passing time in really hard bike intervals. I try to focus in on what actually hurts on my body, which is usually hard to pinpoint, and this distracts my mind and helps me realize that the pain is manageable.
Reframe: I’m a huge fan of Peloton workouts, and what I think the Peloton instructors do so well, is they continually remind you to reframe when the workout gets tough. They all have their hallmark motivational sayings “remember you don’t have to do this, you get to do this.” Or “if it doesn’t challenge you, it’s not going to change you.” And while these are super cheesy, they do actually work! They help you take a step back and remind yourself why you’re there (while you’re present brain is feeling the pain and telling you to stop) and this encourages you to keep going.
Two final notes I want to mention.
I still miss workouts! This usually happens when I feel like I’m about to get sick, or my body is really not recovered and pushing through the pain isn’t going to be productive (although there’s always mental toughness to gain, so maybe this is just an excuse I tell myself…). And sometimes, unexpected things happen, and we are forced to skip. Which is totally fine.
I’m sharing my thought process towards hard workouts not because I think I have it all figured out or that I am the epitome of consistency. Quite the contrary! I struggle with it just like everyone else. I’m sharing more because I think it can be really powerful to reframe a tough workout (or any challenge for that matter) as an opportunity to practice mental toughness, and this realization has actually helped (unintentionally) a lot with my consistency.
The realization that our brains act as gatekeepers, sometimes limiting our physical exertion to protect us, is both intimidating and empowering. But ultimately it’s your own mind, and with practice you can use it to your advantage.
The final note I’ll make is that working out is technically a part of my job. So there is less negotiation for me, which can really help with consistency. But this is why I think it’s so important to be intentional with your goals. If you’re working out purely for fun, then it’s probably not necessary to really force yourself to be miserable for a workout. In my experience, the more clear we are with our goals, the more we are able to plan and stick to our commitments!
P.S. We just finished an awesome conditioning camp in Park City with some of the women’s alpine team. Here’s a video recap. Our strength coaches planned a super fun team building week of workouts and activities to spice up our normal programming.
P.P.S. Here are some of our harder bike workouts from this summer if anyone wants to give them a try :)