Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by Swizec 1974 days ago
> Suffering, in and of itself, isn't a skill. You will endure iff you want to endure. That is, if the perceived benefits of enduring outweigh the pain.

This is what gets me through marathons. You hit the real hard part around mile 20 and fuck it, running another 6 is easier than going back the other way. Faster you run faster you’re done.
1 comments
hinoki 1974 days ago
At least for running, my experience is that suffering is most definitely a skill that you can improve. You get faster when you realise that the level of discomfort that stopped you the last run could actually be so much worse, and yet somehow you can still run faster.

I agree that suffering for its own sake probably isn’t worth it, but if you want to run faster/farther, getting used to suffering will let you improve.

Don’t over train, but don’t always listen when your body wants to stop, unless it’s joint pain :)

For people who enjoy the suffering itself; well that’s a different hobby than running, and I won’t judge.

link
jniedrauer 1974 days ago
> You get faster when ...

To be pedantic, you get faster by running more volume. To do that, you have to make most of it easy. Even when I'm hammering out 50+ miles and 2+ quality runs in the weeks before a race, I'm only truly suffering for about 30 minutes each week. Even threshold work rarely crosses the line into real suffering.

I don't buy the narrative that ultra endurance running is some kind of noble self inflicted torture. Most of the experience is just plain fun. That's why I do it.

link
robaato 1973 days ago
Recommend "The Lost Art of Running" by Shane Benzie. He's trained people to complete lots of ultra events, including on pretty low milage - focussing on form/technique.
link
cj 1974 days ago
Hm, I don't correlate suffering with the feeling I have when pushing myself to increase my morning run from 4 miles to 5 miles.

I liked the original quote up top:

> That is, if the perceived benefits of enduring outweigh the pain.

Then again, I just looked up the actual definition for "suffering" and it's much less dramatic then what I associate with suffering. Simply "to submit to or be forced to endure" which, in that sense, I'd agree.

link