As Macca said “When your legs scream stop and your lungs are bursting. That’s the hurt locker. Winners love it in there”
How deep have you been in the hurt locker either in training or in a race.
When your in the last half mile of a 10k chasing down the guy in front of you and your stomach reaches for the eject button. That’s when I know I’m there.
I get there simply by reading some of the threads on ST.
Pins and needles in my lips and gums, and shooting sensations at the edges of my vision.
That’s how I know I’ve really dug deep.
I’ll second the post above me - pins and needles sensation is a good indicator for me! It’s how I define a good sprint day in the pool. If I don’t experience total body failure at some point prior to the wall, there’s more in the tank.
Some memorable trips to the hurt locker:
From my HS xc days, junior year (2013): 5x1500M on the xc course, 2 mins rest in between. Did the first four at 4:50, last on 4:39. Not impressive but I was only a 17:45 5K (likely closer to 17:10-20, but never ran a true course and got hurt soon thereafter). I was trying to keep a varsity spot. These workouts were essentially 5x1 mile races.
Another memorable workout was last summer - I read online that the junior elite A standard for cycling was 8 miles in 19:30. So, I marked out an 8 mile course (out and back), and did a TT. Road helmet, clip ons, and a cutoff man-bra style shirt (think 80s tri). Did 19:00 and I’m not sure I’ve ever flattened myself more on the bike. At the time it had been 2 months since my last race, and I had done 21mph, which drove me to improve over the summer. This TT opened my eyes to what pain on the bike could be.
A lot of us are capable of far more than we think. The determining factor is how far into the hurt locker we can go.
As Macca said “When your legs scream stop and your lungs are bursting. That’s the hurt locker. Winners love it in there”
How deep have you been in the hurt locker either in training or in a race.Every 5’ CP test!
Pins and needles in my lips and gums, and shooting sensations at the edges of my vision.
That’s how I know I’ve really dug deep.
That’s when I know I woke up… damn allergies 
It’s different for me for different length races. Sprints and Oly’s, it’s the typical burning legs/lungs, nausea, drooling, maybe some incoherent groaning. For longer distances I know I’m in trouble when I suddenly get chills when it’s really hot out.
Back in my rowing days trips to the pain cave were regular and intense. The standard length race in rowing is 2k, and it’s a balls out affair for 5-6.5 minutes. During some of the 2k erg tests, it was fairly common to puke or just collapse at the end. During one large competition, there were 20 or so ergs lined up against each other, all with puke buckets at the ready. Upon finishing, many people would have to be carried off the machines by their team mates and left laying down near by to recover while the machine got wiped down and the next set of racers got on. It was quite a sight to see. I’ve never pushed myself that hard in triathlon.
IIRC, there’s a thread somewhere in the forum from a number of years back that started out as 'What’s the most pain you’ve ever experienced," ostensibly meant as exertion/physical output during a workout or race. The thread took a turn, however, as contributors began answering the question plainly as ‘most pain, period,’ not simply workout pain. It made for entertaining -if not wince-inducing- reading.
I seem to recall that chronic back pain, kidney stones, migraines and broken femurs figured largely into the shared stories of worst imaginable pain, but there were some real whoppers. A guy recalling the effects of a motorcycle accident in which the ER doc rammed spikes laced with cocaine into his nasal passages (broken nose) and how the patient’s dad who’d been in the quote shit in 'Nam even expressed surprise. And another story of a poor sap who was standing and straddling a see-saw in the ‘down’ position when his buddy jumped onto the up-position side and .
When I can’t talk and get dry heaves after a race or a really hard workout. There is nothing like not being able to totally control yourself to know you’ve given what you’ve got to give.
Worst I ever felt was after three crit races in one day, actually within a few hours. After the third race, I could stand, walk, etc., but I felt like I wanted to puke but couldn’t. I could barely get any words out and could barely drink anything. It was a horrible experience but I would do it again. Maybe.
For normal workouts it simply takes participating in the Tuesday world championships to get in the hurt locker. Hardcore cyclists have no sympathy for anyone, especially triathletes.
It’s different for me for different length races. Sprints and Oly’s, it’s the typical burning legs/lungs, nausea, drooling, maybe some incoherent groaning. For longer distances I know I’m in trouble when I suddenly get chills when it’s really hot out.
Back in my rowing days trips to the pain cave were regular and intense. The standard length race in rowing is 2k, and it’s a balls out affair for 5-6.5 minutes. During some of the 2k erg tests, it was fairly common to puke or just collapse at the end. During one large competition, there were 20 or so ergs lined up against each other, all with puke buckets at the ready. Upon finishing, many people would have to be carried off the machines by their team mates and left laying down near by to recover while the machine got wiped down and the next set of racers got on. It was quite a sight to see. I’ve never pushed myself that hard in triathlon.
+1
that white haze of the last 500m of a 2K erg is my hurt locker.
We did indoor ACC’s one year, I think it was at Northgate Mall in Raleigh . . . a lot of grunting in amongst the canned Christmas carols and silver tinsel.
Heat exhaustion after a training run. Resulted in dizziness, weakness, heart palpitations, and hearing blurred voices. Felt the body weakness for months. Involuntary muscle spasms for a few weeks. I also became prone to panic attacks post incident. I couldn’t even talk about it for about six months due to anxiety. That’s the hurt locker and you never want to go there.
I have blacked out when completing an FTP session on a watt measured turbo trainer, doing an adapted Sufferfest Violator session.
Was getting a little black around the edges of my vision during one sprint interval, had the allocated 5 seconds break and the next one rolled around - started powering on and then woke up with people standing over me.
To be fair my nutrition during the day wasnt great, I guess pushing 140%FTP intervals for an hour isn’t the best thing for you on an empty stomach.
Long course hurt locker: The dark yellow place you go to on the back half of a winter interval in your pain cave. Or the last 2-3 miles on the run leg as a suck runner, just before you finish and your vision goes all silver spots.
Sprint hurt locker: Your peripheral vision blurs and starts to go black, and maybe you puke in your mouth a little bit.
Heat exhaustion after a training run. Resulted in dizziness, weakness, heart palpitations, and hearing blurred voices. Felt the body weakness for months. Involuntary muscle spasms for a few weeks. I also became prone to panic attacks post incident. I couldn’t even talk about it for about six months due to anxiety. That’s the hurt locker and you never want to go there.
had a session like that once -minus the panic attacks after- and the heart thing scared me. I can take alot of pain but the session that day in high humidity and the after effects? Never again
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Well hopefully this helps you get over it: went to a kids birthday party with my 17 month old. Had some fried rice. Was feeling a little ill coming home, thought a nice treadmill run would do the trick. Wife goes upstairs to put Cat to bed, I hit the treadmill. 5 minutes I feel sluggish, 6 minutes in shortness of breath, 7 minutes in I cannot breath. I mean I cannot breath. I am not breathing. I lie down, joints are swelling throat is closing full blown anaphylaxis. I didn’t turn off the treadmill and I can barely gurgle for help so my wife cannot hear me. My joints are swollen to 3 times normal size, I feel tendons popping as I crawl for help. I get to the landing of the stairs but the stairs might as well be Everest. This is it. I am going to die 30 feet from my wife and child. My ears are pounding, I think they are bleeding? No the phone is ringing. My wife comes out to answer and sees me on the steps. I might be saved. My best friend is on call at the closest hospital and he is an ENT surgeon. She knows to call him and he says he will pick me up and take me to hospital. I hear her say “James he is going to die,” but I don’t think so any more. The panic is gone and I find I can breath and swallow. No we don’t have an Epi-Pen (I have one now) but we do have benedryl. It works within 2 minutes and my friend is examining me within 5. I didn’t even go to the hospital.
I checked the answering machine the next day. It was mom. I could tell you why she called but you wouldn’t believe it anyways.
Thanks for posting your experience. It takes courage to even talk about an experience like that. Hearing that someone else can relate gives me some comfort. It was by far the scariest and toughest experience of my life. I now avoid races known for extreme heat and humidity. I will slow down, hydrate and use ice if I encounter similar elements again. People that talk about pushing through heat don’t realize they are making a decision with potentially dehabilitating or fatal consequences. You really don’t know how bad it can be until you have such an experience.
Heat exhaustion after a training run. Resulted in dizziness, weakness, heart palpitations, and hearing blurred voices. Felt the body weakness for months. Involuntary muscle spasms for a few weeks. I also became prone to panic attacks post incident. I couldn’t even talk about it for about six months due to anxiety. That’s the hurt locker and you never want to go there.
had a session like that once -minus the panic attacks after- and the heart thing scared me. I can take alot of pain but the session that day in high humidity and the after effects? Never again
.
+2
I’ve never experienced pain in triathlon like a 2k erg test. Or a series of 500m erg sprints, which was arguably even more miserable.
holy shit what are you allergic to?