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Comment by molsongolden | Hacker News Reader

Where do you bucket: "wow this is so miserable, lol, this is great" while doing the thing?

I wrote out and deleted a comment about this being a subset of Type II but maybe it's just a damaged person's Type I...

When I tell people I swim, they're always like, "Oh wow! That is so good for you." But they don't understand, I'm not fast or a strong swimmer or anything. It's cold, I struggle with my form, I'm slow, I can't kick turn, I'm constantly gasping for breath. Swimming is getting in the pool and convincing my lizard brain that I'm drowning for an hour. But when I get out the endorphins are fantastic, like every cell of my body is so relieved to be alive.

At same time, the struggle to overcome that lizard brain response to hard physical work is itself enjoyable in a way. It wasn't when I started working out but after years it has become an acquired taste. If you'll forgive a little hyperbole, it's the moment when I look my own mortality in eye and say, "you might win eventually, but not today."

My body being in pain and my brain enjoying working the body are not at odds with each other.

In my experience trying to become an ultra runner, its not that I enjoy the pain. I enjoy the workout. I enjoy the run while my body is in pain, not that I enjoy the pain itself.

that sounds like just the normal fact that i summarize as "the first half-mile always sucks", which appears to be true for any sort of fun.

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