It's about the pain.

If you have not read Lance Armstrong's book, "It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life," we recommend that you do so, for many reasons. In one section, Lance remembers someone asking him what pleasure he derived from riding a bicycle hours on end, all of the time. He said, in effect, that the person had asked the wrong question. It is not pleasure that he seeks but, rather, it is the pain. Somehow, to him, pain cleanses--refreshes--and that is what he seeks.

How providential, yet foreboding, that concept became for Lance Armstrong, holder of four straight Tour de France championships. Certainly, in his fight against testicular cancer, which spread to his lungs and brain, this approach served him well. Rather than the physical effort of biking producing the pain, the cancer provided a new source of pain.

Processes of Conditioning and Rehabilitation Are Similar

The effort Lance made to override the pain from cancer was, in many ways, similar to his approach to overriding training pain except for one big difference: Now he confronted fear, a feeling that was new to him. Yet, like all other obstacles he encountered, he learned to respect it and to use it to his advantage.

In the physiology of the body, many therapies used for healing are appropriate to prevent injuries and to condition the body. Many runners who train regularly and who perform weight training regularly nonetheless get injured. Those of you who have undertaken physical therapy may now know that there are many similarities between rehabilitation and working out. The process of becoming physically well from an injury is very similar to the physical conditioning programs used to prevent injuries.

We are not suggesting that you not seek pleasure in your training. You should, anyway that you can. Yet, if you ask many runners why they run, joy and pleasure are often not the first answers they offer. Many suggest that they are stronger persons because of the physical struggle. Is this not what Lance is talking about?

Many of you will enter walkathons and running events this coming spring. Through your workouts and conditioning programs many of you have encountered some new training partners: pain, doubt, and fear. Yet, on your own level, if you are at the starting line of the event for which you have prepared, you too have used these training partners to your advantage, for you are about to participate in a fitness activity.

Wellness: A Blend of Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Activities

Lance shows us how to take this one giant step forward. We can use the same familiar approach to life-threatening challenges that we use for athletic training. He is saying that this method is physical, mental, and spiritual--it is all three. No matter what condition you are in, or the severity of the pain, you garner the mental resources that you have to approach the challenges and you MOVE! All the while, your network of family, friends, and training buddies supports you.

Yes, even when he was at his sickest, when he was most weak and nauseous, and the pain was formidable, Lance kept saying to himself, "I must move, I must move!" Many physicians, mostly trained in Western medicine, look only at science--at lab work results, x-rays, etc. It is from these that a prognosis is made.

Yet, many of you know that training and conditioning your body to become stronger are more than physical. Mental conditioning is a significant element that must be enhanced. Add pain to the regimen and, all of a sudden, you are demanding that your body and mind work together in order to conquer, to cleanse. Over time, as you practice this approach, you will become a better steward of your own body, mind, and spirit.

Mark Jacobs earned a master of arts in exercise science from George Washington University and currently serves as director of wellness at the DiLorenzo TRICARE Health Clinic in the Pentagon. Prior to government service, Mr. Jacobs owned his own corporate wellness company.