Latest / The Everyday Awesome Project / 49: Entering the Pain Cave: Prepare Your Mind for Life’s Hardest Moments
Transcript
- 0:27Samantha Pruitt: Hello, my beautiful humans, hello, hello Solo Sam here today doing a solo episode entitled Mental Prep for the Pain Cave.
- 0:38Samantha Pruitt: Ooh, it sounds ominous, doesn't it?
- 0:41Samantha Pruitt: So I'm just six days out from my Iron Woman 140.6 mile swim, bike run race.
- 0:52Samantha Pruitt: However, you're probably going to hear this after the race is over.
- 0:56Samantha Pruitt: Plus, you can look forward to a recap, of course.
- 0:59Samantha Pruitt: But truthfully, this subject matter is relevant at all times and in all circumstances, not just before a big epic event.
- 1:13Samantha Pruitt: Mental prep for the pain cave.
- 1:14Samantha Pruitt: You don't have to be an athlete to know what the pain cave is.
- 1:18Samantha Pruitt: The pain cave is a place we all visit inside of ourselves when we experience extreme mental and or physical discomfort borderline, unbearable.
- 1:32Samantha Pruitt: Have you been there?
- 1:34Samantha Pruitt: If you're a human, I'm sure you have.
- 1:37Samantha Pruitt: In life in general, all of us experience and will continue to experience situations we find ourselves in where it freaking hurts.
- 1:47Samantha Pruitt: We are suffering in our body, inside our mind, and overwhelmed by negative emotions.
- 1:56Samantha Pruitt: Before I get into why I'm prepping myself mentally for the pain cave and why we all need to be able to train for this in order to get better at just making it through one, here are a few examples.
- 2:13Samantha Pruitt: Taking my brother in for his cancer treatment.
- 2:15Samantha Pruitt: I witnessed him bravely walking into the pain cave.
- 2:19Samantha Pruitt: Sitting in grief with my friend after she lost her partner to suicide was an unprecedented visit into the pain cave, helping my husband recover from two back-to-back hip replacements.
- 2:33Samantha Pruitt: I definitely watched him swim around in and then recover from the pain cave, standing in unity and marching against injustice, knowing there will be social repercussions and safety risks.
- 2:48Samantha Pruitt: I was surrounded by courageous humans boldly entering the pain cave together.
- 2:54Samantha Pruitt: Being present to and trying desperately to help my loved one as they broke down with an addiction and mental health crisis showed me hidden demons inside the pain cave that countless people are facing every day.
- 3:13Samantha Pruitt: During the pandemic, talking with friends and fellow business owners when many, many, many of us lost our loved ones, our livelihoods, me included, was definitely a long, brutal trip throughlife versions of the pain cave.
- 3:42Samantha Pruitt: As I myself prepare to enter the pain cave yet again on my own accord, willingly.
- 3:49Samantha Pruitt: It's a common experience for athletes, no matter the distance or the sport.
- 3:54Samantha Pruitt: Athletes of all levels and types literally run full steam ahead into the pain cave, knowing that our goals and success reside on the other side of it.
- 4:05Samantha Pruitt: We choose it willingly and therefore must learn and train to embrace it if we want to succeed.
- 4:13Samantha Pruitt: Speaking of sports, I watched a really good movie lately.
- 4:18Samantha Pruitt: It will show you the next level drive and courage it takes to master the pain cave required by athletes at the highest level of their sport.
- 4:30Samantha Pruitt: This is called Ingebrigtsen Born to Run I-N-G-E-B-R-I-G-T-S-E-N Born to Run.
- 4:45Samantha Pruitt: It's about these three brothers from Norway who are absolute running legends.
- 4:50Samantha Pruitt: What they go through together as a family and then as world-class athletes each one of them.
- 4:58Samantha Pruitt: You got to watch this thing.
- 5:00Samantha Pruitt: It's a perfect example of what I'm talking about.
- 5:03Samantha Pruitt: You got to watch this thing.
- 5:06Samantha Pruitt: It's a perfect example of what I'm talking about For myself, coming from somebody who didn't grow up in sports of any kind and was a chubby kid who didn't even learn to swim until I was a full grown adult at age 29.
- 5:19Samantha Pruitt: Oh my God, at the age 30, I attempted my first sprint triathlon.
- 5:23Samantha Pruitt: It was a pool swim version of a triathlon.
- 5:26Samantha Pruitt: I was shocked at how hard it was and literally I crawled across the finish line totally blown out.
- 5:34Samantha Pruitt: Now, in reflection, over 25 years of trying all types of distances of endurance before and willingly entered the pain cave over and over and over, continuing to explore my personal limits For many athletes, the pain cave experience is a rite of passage on the journey to their best selves, to their full development, building the body, mind and spirit and life of a champion, often falling short and failing, but always knowing the sacrifice was not to waste but instead has made us more resilient and capable of our next shot at victory.
- 6:36Samantha Pruitt: If you've listened to my prior episode, solo episode called Keeping it Real, you would have already heard that my Ironwoman race training is not going as planned or ideal based on my massive goal of a PR.
- 6:53Samantha Pruitt: 13 years later, on the same 140.6 mile triathlon course, on the same 140.6 mile triathlon course, Work, family travel, illness, life is happening and I have to accept that, due to a lack of highly focused time and energy put into my training program, I surely will not succeed at that PR, but I will surely hit the pain cave more than once in the epic 17-hour day.
- 7:24Samantha Pruitt: So I sit here now with you talking, just six days out from the starting line.
- 7:30Samantha Pruitt: I can no longer do any big workouts or push my heart rate to the max on hills or intervals, but what I can do is prepare.
- 7:36Samantha Pruitt: I can prepare and double down on my mindset training.
- 7:43Samantha Pruitt: Here's a glimpse of what this week's, week's preparation to enter the Iron Woman pain cave looks like and some tips on how you might get yourself ready for the inevitable pain caves.
- 7:56Samantha Pruitt: Heading your way for the inevitable pain caves heading your way.
- 8:03Samantha Pruitt: Okay, number one get organized.
- 8:04Samantha Pruitt: I'm pulling out all my gear, putting it in piles, going through it, seeing what I'm going to wear, what am I going to eat, what am I going to drink, tuning up all of my equipment that I will use.
- 8:18Samantha Pruitt: I'm confirming all my travel plans, my lodging and identifying in advance the places I can go to get my critical morning latte and my protein smoothie and eat some healthy meals before and after the event.
- 8:34Samantha Pruitt: I've printed out and read the schedule for the week.
- 8:35Samantha Pruitt: I'm deciding right now what I will and will not participate in, plus locating where to drop off my gear, where to park, etc.
- 8:45Samantha Pruitt: I've reviewed the race course again and my race plan strategy, which seems to be continuously evolving, keeping myself flexible, of course, for a range of things that can go right or wrong, and thinking through how I will troubleshoot if needed.
- 8:59Samantha Pruitt: I've made a list of all the things I can still do and what I still need to do Stretch, mobilize, self-massage, extra sleep, eating healthy, hydrate electrolytes.
- 9:14Samantha Pruitt: I can watch films and read stories that inspire me.
- 9:17Samantha Pruitt: I can talk to like-minded humans who have been there and who believe in me.
- 9:22Samantha Pruitt: I can even write a letter to myself, or actually, what I do is I type on my phone, in the Notes app, a pep talk.
- 9:30Samantha Pruitt: Sometimes it turns into a full-blown speech telling myself what a badass I am and how truly, truly, I can own this invaluable day in my life.
- 9:44Samantha Pruitt: All of this is not me winging it.
- 9:48Samantha Pruitt: Get organized and have an ideal yet flexible plan.
- 9:55Samantha Pruitt: Don't wing it.
- 9:59Samantha Pruitt: Second, what I'm doing is I'm getting my mind and emotions in the game, first and foremost, my why.
- 10:07Samantha Pruitt: I'm thinking again about and setting reminders for myself, honestly in my bag, taped to my bike and on my race bib, as to my why.
- 10:17Samantha Pruitt: Always Goals.
- 10:19Samantha Pruitt: I'm setting realistic A, b and C goals for this race.
- 10:38Samantha Pruitt: This is super important, rather than one perfect scenario which can set you up for anxiety and a rude awakening, with plenty of emotional suffering, by the way or take you out of the game altogether when it's not going as planned.
- 10:52Samantha Pruitt: If you have one goal, it will lead you to quitting if things don't go your way.
- 10:58Samantha Pruitt: If you have an A, b or C goal or target, it's guaranteed you'll hit one of those, if not all three.
- 11:09Samantha Pruitt: I stay focused on what is true.
- 11:10Samantha Pruitt: Lastly, I've written down and I tap into my resume, full of experience in this area of endurance, racing and in pain cave survival.
- 11:20Samantha Pruitt: I recall my own hard-earned wealth of knowledge and experience.
- 11:26Samantha Pruitt: It's a great way for me to stay focused on what is real and what is true.
- 11:30Samantha Pruitt: You can do the same thing For real.
- 11:35Samantha Pruitt: If you use your brain, power, emotions and focus on these three things above race week or at the starting line, or even during a major crisis pain cave moment in your life, you won't have room for the evil twin of self-doubt.
- 11:50Samantha Pruitt: You won't have overwhelming fear and anxiety about what is not real and what is not true, and you're a lot less likely to ever bail out on this personal growth opportunity that is awaiting you.
- 12:03Samantha Pruitt: Keep it real and use these three tools.
- 12:06Samantha Pruitt: When the pain cave comes in a knocking and it will Don't try to avoid it Face it with courage, move through it with skills and resilience.
- 12:18Samantha Pruitt: You've built all that.
- 12:19Samantha Pruitt: I believe in you and you're worth it.
- 12:22Samantha Pruitt: Okay, my beautiful people, I hope this leaves you with a perspective of the value of the pain cave.
- 12:28Samantha Pruitt: I'll see you on the other side of my own Iron Woman race finish line.
- 12:33Samantha Pruitt: I may be beaten up, I may be bruised, but I sure the hell will be smiling.
- 12:38Samantha Pruitt: See you then.