Pushing the Limits

Having pain in my hips and hamstrings when I run these days gets me thinking. I just wrote about "not minding that it hurts." But how much pain is too much to bear? When are you doing more harm by continuing to inflict pain on your body? When does tough turn to stupid?

Athletes often get respect for pushing themselves beyond their limits. We saw Julie Moss crawl across the finish line of Ironman in 1982 because her body had shut down to the point where she couldn't even walk. That pretty much solely began the Ironman craze of the present. People wanted to be part of this sport where determination and mental strength were tested right along with the physical limits. Again in 1997, a duel between two women (Sian Welch and Wendy Ingraham) ended with a crawl to 4th and 5th place finishes. That same year Chris Legh pushed his body far enough to get him 50 yards from the finish line, but collapsed, unconscious, later having part of his colon removed due to necrosis. In 2003, Tim Deboom was leading the race in the marathon... until he passed a kidney stone. I'm sure there are plenty of examples in all sports of athletes pushing the limits like this.

My pain is nowhere near the levels these athletes endured. Compared to what I imagine passing a kidney stone, breaking a femur, or having a hernia emerge during running would feel like, mine is just a slight discomfort. Am I really doing my body harm? Does the race I'm training for itself (Ironman) do irreversible harm to the body? I don't think anybody knows the answer to that question just yet, since this sport is relatively new. We do know that a half-iron distance race produces the short-term effects of altered cardiac function and minimal cardiac damage. There is a great article on what's becoming one of my favorite sites about willpower overcoming the body's limit. It was decided, ultimately, that "it’s not simply a case that the guy who wants it most will win... eventually, physiology wins the day."