I'm nowhere near a shaving demigod, I'm just a man with a razor right now... but I can definitely say that this is NOT the way it is "supposed to be" during your shave. My shaves are, for the most part, smooth and tug free. There's no pain or discomfort involved unless I'm stupid and not paying attention and manage to nick myself and even then there's no real pain due to the sharpness of the blade :)
I'd definitely suspect your stropping technique. It's very easy to ruin the edge on a blade with bad stropping. You can also ruin it by improperly cleaning the blade after you are done (don't just wipe it down with a bath towel and run it along the edge, for example). I would suggest doing a video skype session with someone here and having them show you a good stropping technique as well as critiquing yours. It would be even better if you live close to a member who can help you in person.
Str8 shaving isn't rocket science, but it's also something that requires practice to get down. In the old days we would've learned this from our fathers (or an uncle in my case since my dad got killed when I was 3) but nowdays we're trying to rekindle a nearly lost art so we have to help each other.
-- Gary F.