In this week’s Better By Next Week podcast Tim and Ollie explore what it means to make friends with pain.

They dive into the spectrum of pain, from early niggles to the full-body “pain cave”, and how runners can learn to distinguish between discomfort worth pushing through and signals of injury.

Sharing stories from training and racing, they unpack how experience reshapes perception of pain, why it comes in waves, and how grit, belief, and even shared competition can help you endure more than you think. Ultimately, it’s about normalising discomfort, finding your limits, and using pain as a pathway to growth.