Motivational/Philosophical quotes on pain

As I try to juggle an increasingly hectic work schedule and my workout/swimming plans, one thing is pretty constant.  That is pain.

Not just the physical pain that comes with using muscles in the pool that have seen very little use in the last six years, or the pain of being out of shape and struggling to get back into shape.  But also pain of the mind, from wrestling with the figurative problem child at work, from putting in long hours with little in the way of tangible results.  The physical pain is quite refreshing, the mental pain not so much.

Several of the folks who read this blog know that I'm a HUGE fan of Jim Butcher and his novels, the main series of which is the Dresden Files.  Here are four excellent philosophical and ridiculously motivating quotes from the series regarding pain, which help me put my pain in perspective.

Quote 1:

"Pain used as a weapon is one thing. Personal pain, the kind that comes from just living our lives, is something else. Pain isn’t a lot of fun, at least not for most folks, but it is utterly unique to life. Pain-physical, emotional, and otherwise-is the shadow cast by everything you want out of life, the alternative to the result you were hoping for, and the inevitable creator of strength. From the pain of our failures we learn to be better, stronger, greater than what we were before. Pain is there to tell us when we’ve done something badly-it’s a teacher, a guide, one that is always there to both warn us of our limitations and challenge us to overcome them. For something no one likes, pain does us a whole hell of a lot of good."

Quote 2:

"...We still hadn't learned, though, that growing up is all about getting hurt. And then getting over it. You hurt. You recover. You move on. Odds are pretty good you're just going to get hurt again. But each time, you learn something.
Each time, you come out of it a little stronger, and at some point you realize that there are more flavors of pain than coffee. There's the little empty pain of leaving something behind - graduating, taking the next step forward, walking out of something familiar and safe into the unknown. There's the big, whirling pain of life upending all of your plans and expectations. There's the sharp little pains of failure, and the more obscure aches of successes that didn't give you what you thought they would. There are the vicious, stabbing pains of hopes being torn up. The sweet little pains of finding others, giving them your love, and taking joy in their life they grow and learn. There's the steady pain of empathy that you shrug off so you can stand beside a wounded friend and help them bear their burdens.
And if you're very, very lucky, there are a very few blazing hot little pains you feel when you realized that you are standing in a moment of utter perfection, an instant of triumph, or happiness, or mirth which at the same time cannot possibly last - and yet will remain with you for life.
Everyone is down on pain, because they forget something important about it: Pain is for the living. Only the dead don't feel it.
Pain is a part of life. Sometimes it's a big part, and sometimes it isn't, but either way, it's a part of the big puzzle, the deep music, the great game. Pain does two things: It teaches you, tells you that you're alive. Then it passes away and leaves you changed. It leaves you wiser, sometimes. Sometimes it leaves you stronger. Either way, pain leaves its mark, and everything important that will ever happen to you in life is going to involve it in one degree or another." 

Quote 3:

"Everyone is down on pain, because they forget something important about it: Pain is for the living. Only the dead don't feel it."


Quote 4:

"Pain is a byproduct of life. That’s the truth. Life sometimes sucks. That’s true for everyone. But if you don’t face the pain and the suck, you don’t ever get the other things either. Laughter. Joy. Love. Pain passes, but those things are worth fighting for. Worth dying for."     

Work, weather, and the attempted attainment of records...

So, the past two weeks have not been very accomodative of my workout plans.

Work has been a beast, and I'm putting in some serious overtime.  Due to my early mornings and/or late nights at work, I made it to two practices last week.  This week has been more of the same, with evening storms in the mix, too, preventing me from being able to practice even when I was able to get off work in time!  Grr!

This week I'm looking at two practices - I did Monday evening and will get tomorrow morning's practice.  I'm drawing a blank on how much yardage I did on Monday, but last Saturday's practice was a 3700.  I expect tomorrow's practice to be similar in length.

I'm feeling a lot better in the water.  My left shoulder is still weak (again, I have no idea why it's weaker than my right), but it isn't hurting as much when I swim--still don't do more than a 25 of fly when doing IM sets, so I'll just do fly drill for the rest of the fly portion.  Hopefully over the next couple weeks I'll be able to swim all the fly without doing any one arm drills.  My kick is slowly coming back, and last Saturday's hour and a half practice left me tired without being sore or painful.  I hope tomorrow's practice is similar in how I cope with it.

Tomorrow's practice is the last of long course season (although all of the pools we practice at are 25Y/M, the season is technically long course).  Short course starts on Monday, and with it, we switch to indoor pools.  Hopefully that will help take care of the weather issue that has been keeping me out of the pool this week!  This project at work is supposed to wind down next week (that being said, the completion date has been pushed back three times already, so I'm not exactly holding my breath), so I'm really hoping that the work side of things will start to let me swim more practices, too!

The first meet is October 15th, and it's a sprint meet.  I'm planning on attending it if I don't have to work that weekend.  The first full meet is the weekend of October 30th, and I'll definitely be attending it.

Doing some research, provided I can get back to near what my old speeds were, I have a chance of setting 8 team records for the 18-24 age group.  It has historically been a very small group for the team, and I think I'm the first person in that age group in several years, at least of those who will compete.  The records that are up for grabs are:

• 50 back (current record is a 29.31)
• 100 back (I get this one by default, since no one has swum it)
• 200 back (ditto)
• 50 fly (current record is a 24.81--this would be the hardest for me, since I think that was a bit faster than the fastest 50 fly I ever swam)
• 100 fly (current record is a 57.69--this is a bit slower than my old time, so it is "theoretically" in reach)
• 200 fly (by default)
• 200 IM (current record is a 2:06.18--in the general vicinity of my old time, if memory serves me)
• 400 IM (current record is a 4:44.78--almost 10 seconds slower than my old time, so that puts this one within reach)

There are a lot of factors that will need to come into play for me to get any of those records but the ones I get by default.  I gotta get my shoulders up to speed--as it stands right now, any record that includes swimming fly is out of the question until my shoulders can stand it.  I've gotta pick my speed up--I'm nowhere near those speeds right now, but given time between now and April, it is a possibility.  In regards to the 400 IM, I don't even know if I want to swim a distance that long anymore!  It was a pain in the butt back in the day, and now I won't have a coach forcing me to swim it...or the 500...or the 1000.

My long term goal in terms of competition/records/Nationals cuts is to get back up to speed in back and fly.  Those are the two strokes I had the most success at back in the day, so I hope that they are still my strengths now.  I'm a lot stronger, physically speaking, than I was back then, so hopefully I can put that extra strength and muscle to use in the water.