Here’s a question for all the elites and semi-elites out there. On the run, do you feel just as crappy as I do? I often wonder if everyone feels shitty but just at a different pace.DO the guys who win their age group feel miserable at a faster pace or do some people actually feel good during the run? Am I searching for an elusive Holy Grail waiting to feel good on the run or is it a matter of accepting the fact that the run never feels good?
funny you say that… I did a sprint on sunday and felt good running. At mile 1 I was mad at myself for feeling good. i kept telling myself I was a slacker for not putting myself thru so much pain. So to answer your question I think it hurts when you push hard. My problem is that I settle in that comfort zone and love it there…
Well, woke up this morning with a wine glass in my hand.
Whose wine? What wine? Where the hell did I dine?
Must have been a dream I don’t believe where I’ve been.
Come on, let’s do it again.
Do you…you, feel like I do?
How’d ya feel?
Do you…you, feel like I do?
My friend got busted, just the other day.
They said,“Don’t walk, don’t walk, don’t walk away.”
Drove him to a taxi, bent the boot, hit the bag.
Had to play some music, wonder why’s he .
Do you…you, feel like I do?
How’d ya ?
Do you…you, feel like I…
Do you…you, feel like I do?
Yes ya do.
Do you…you, feel like I do?
Champagne for breakfast and a Sherman in my hand.
Peached up, Peached Ale, never fails.
Must have been a dream I don’t believe where I’ve been.
Come on, let’s do it again.
Do you…you, feel like I do?
How’d ya feel?
Do you…you, feel like I…
“Bob Mayo, on the keyboards. Bob Mayo”
Do you feel like we do?
Do you feel like we do?
Oh, that’s true.
Do you feel like we do?
Get back.
Do you feel…do you feel like we do?
Oh baby do you feel?
Oh baby do you feel, feel like we do?
Do you feel…do you feel…like we do?
I want to thank you.
Do you feel like we do?
That’s alright, that’s alright to feel you’d like,
Feel you’d like, a good time.
We’ll goto bed and good night.
Good night, good night, good night, good night, good night.
Frampton rocks dude!!!
I have no comfort zone while running - where did you find it? 
Frampton blows.
Just my point. I feel bad on the run every time. When I see those guys come smokin’ by on the way in as I head out I often wonder “do they feel as crappy as I do?”. It’s a mental thing. I start thinking that I’ve blown my training or my pacing or something since I feel crappy. If I can confirm that just about everyone is feeling crappy it would give me a bit of a mental boost, you know? Sort of a ,“This is normal to feel this bad, just keep plugging away”.I’ve just always wondered if the leaders feel the same amount of “bad” but at a faster pace.
There’s no way that its not ever going to hurt.
All the elites I’ve spoken to say the same thing.
Their threshold of pain is just higher.
I think pain is the prime motivator for us doing what we do.
Pushing ourselves to those deep dark places that we are unfamiliar with gives us satisfaction.
I’m not saying that the entire run should be done under pain,but, when you’re at the point of the run where everything feels right,you’re loose,no cramps and your HR is OK- its time to “Go Big or Go Home”…
You paid all this money and spent all those countless hours training for the show…might as well open it up til you feel like blowing chunks.
You’ll just be mad at yourself when you cross that finish knowing that you had more in you than you left out there.
And when I see those guys and gals smokin by me at the turn around I consider that inspiration.Just knowing that I am at least already off the bike and running as they are halfway thru their run always eases the pain.
It took me a while to get to that point.
Whats that great saying…Pain is temporary, knowing that you didn’t give it your all is forever.
Interesting thought process, I sort of feel the same way. On a ride last night, I was talking to someone who came from a running background. Certainly there’s a mental process involved. I find it hard to keep motivated while running. she suggested I join group runs, as I enjoy group rides, they certainly push me to go faster. antoher person told me that if he gets passed while running, he tells himself that he has to pass two people to make up for it. All I seem to think is that my legs and lungs hurt.
Frampton really does blow.
I wonder if elites have a higher pain threshold or is it just a matter of their speed at the same level of discomfort is higher.I think you must hit a point of discomfort beyond which the average person cannot continue- a terminal velocity of pain, if you will-how fast you are going at that point is the difference.
Thats exactly what it is.
Once your body has released more Lactic than it can process you either maintain that speed or slow down a little .
Its the constant working at that high end of Lactic build-up is what makes us get a little faster the next time.
From what I’ve researched, one cannot improve their HrM(max HR),its what you’re born with,genetically .
But what can be improved is VO2Max.
I read from Gordo Byrn’s writings once that when he first decided to start getting into shape by running,he could barely run a mile.Then he eventually ran 3miles w/o stopping at a 12mi pace.
Back then he used to imagine what a sub 10 min/mi pace would be like.
So he kept at it,then eventually ran further and faster.
He said one day he woke up and realized he got faster to the tune of 8 min/mi and in a relatively short period of time ran a 2:46 marathon in an IM !
This is a guy with an athletic life of less than 10 years~~~
So there is hope.
With that said,its still all relative.
Its how you feel about your effort that really matters.
We all have different success quotients. There will ALWAYS be someone faster,stronger, younger and better looking than you or I.
The key is …what am I talking about?
If I knew- I would have certainly written a bestseller by now and also my own TV show.
I’m glad you asked this question. Yeah, I always feel crappy and I always lose ground on the field during the run. I’m never having fund during the run. If I were passing everybody I’d still have fatigue but somehow the pain wouldn’t hurt as much. I often look at the challenges of triathlon and imagine how things would be if the bike segment, which is my strongest, was last. Because it would be at end of the race, you’d feel crappier on the bike than you do now, no doubt. And people wouldn’t be telling I’m going too hard on the bike anymore, because nobody thinks it wrong when you finish stronger.
You’ve been hanging around John R. too much 
Come up to the KTown Tri and I’ll show you what feeling crappy on a run is really like. Or the Canadian. I’m in the Half w/ Beth and we can both show you misery.
I’ve yet to have that stellar run in a tri, the kind where my legs are there right from the start through to the end.
I’ve come to accept that my runs (in a Tri) will always be painful and leave me wondering WHY I do this sport. But it can’t be all that bad as I am still doing them. (If only they were Swim/Bike/Swim!)
Hi to John for me. Tell him he’s going down in our Smack down training week next week!
when I was in really good running shape, sub 35:30 and faster 10k off the bike, the run was hard but not a death march. It’s amazing what an avg of 55 miles per week for 20+ weeks can alter how one feels about the run.
John is the guy who graciously decided to “dog it” with me for the last 7km after he caught me as I shuffled/walked along.He ran me in. For an ultra-runner like him he was probably just getting loosened up.
I totally realize that more training will make me faster .I am currently struggling with the mental aspect of the whole thing. Feeling shitty makes me think I’ve screwed something up or have gotten myself in over my head. If I knew that Peter Reid felt pretty crappy during his 2:45 marathon I could at least start to rationalize that this is just my brain playing games with me.During the 1/2 ironman I did on the weekend when I had to start taking walk breaks I was pretty disgusted with myself. Once I saw the long line of people doing the same I felt ok with it. I figured we were all in the same boat . However, there was a Catch-22-once I got running again seeing all those folks walking only made me want to walk too. “If they are I might as well.” Obvioulsy, my eggshell mental strength needs as much work as my run off the bike.
It helps if you are built like a runner, have had success as a runner, and tell yourself that when you hurt, you are hurting the non-runners all the more. (I get my revenge on the fishes that way.)
That’s what I do when I “pour it on” (or did anyway). I usually feel excited to get to the run because that’s how I picture myself. It helps that you can see the folks you are chasing down and passing; sometimes in large numbers too.
Finally, I know every stride makes the line that much closer to stopping the pain. “Hurts so good,” is the way I describe it.
Yes and no. In oly races I tend to feel better as the run wears on. I also don’t go all-out for the entire hour+ of the bike leg, so I don’t feel too bad starting the run. In sprints I try my hardest to go 100 percent for the entire bike leg (12 miles is so short!) and as a result I cramp and feel like crap on the run. My oly 10K PR is like 6:20 miles (stand alone PR is 5:50s or so), while my sprint tri. 5K PR is slower!!! That shouldn’t be the case but it is.
The run never feels real good for me, but I usually will push until I am at the point that I feel like I am about to blow. It has come from years of running and needing to feel that point that you do not think you can go on, then pushing harder. the race is not a comfy training run… It is a race so you should try harder than you think you can . The push is not to move a couple a places in the standings it is so I know I I gave everything I had plus the little I did not.
Remember your brain tells your body what to do and I am always amazed what your body can actually CAN do versus what it is comfortable with doing.