2 different views of accomplishment (part 2)

So the second accomplishment had to do with the run.  The swim I spoke about the last entry had a lot of overt signals.  Coaches remarking on my performance,  instructions from Ahmed and me relating instructions to something I learned years ago are all overt.

At the club workout on Saturday I had a great run.  It was not a long run.  It was a series of 800 meter runs.  Each run was done at a particular pace.  In this case they were all done at what is called our 5k pace.  In otherwords,  take your time for a 5 k race and divide by 3 (5k is a little more than 3 miles).  Take this and divide by 2 to get your time for a 800 meter run.  In my case I will run a 5k in just over 24 minutes.  If I divide by 3 I get 8.  This represents a 1 mile run at my 5k pace.  If I divide by 2 I get 4 minutes and this is my time for a 800 meter run at a 5k pace.  This is actually a very slow pace, usually putting me near the back of the pack.

Being slow and near the back of the pack usually does not lead to many compliments.  Encouragement maybe, but not compliments.  This is what makes this accomplishment very different from the swim of the same day.

This accomplishment was entirely internal.  Only I realized it.  My normal experience with these types of workouts is I just about die on the first one.  I am stiff uncomfortable and leads to a poor run.  After the first run I begin to loosen up and the next couple go OK and then I die near the end of the last one.  This time I felt strong and relaxed on the first run.  Each run was the same.  Through out the workout I was strong and consistent.  Each run was within a couple of seconds of each other,  a good indication of a strong performance.

This accomplishment was not met with a lot of high fives, or congratulations.  For the most part I was the only one aware of how good the performance was.  In the end aren't all accomplishments best savored alone?

2 Different views of accomplishment (Part 1)

It has been a good week.  It has been a good week of workouts and a good week for most everything else.

Saturday's club workout was especially interesting.  I felt that I had 2 major accomplishments (accomplishment maybe to strong a word).  One in the pool and the other on the run.  The actual results are not the important parts of the this blog.  It is the manner in which they were conveyed and how they were achieved that is important.

I had a good workout in the pool.  It was conveyed to me externally by a couple of the club coaches.  It was an external indication that I had accomplished  or achieved a desired result.  Think of it, a 50 year old (me) getting excited because I got a gold sticky beside my name.  The success came about when I made a cognitive leap leap in understanding a basic instruction.  I was able to take what I was taught and apply it successfully.  It was a very simple instruction.  It involved rotating your hips when swimming.  Prior to this week I would rotate my hips when I brought my arm forward to start my stroke.  As I my hand entered the water my hip would be at maximum rotation.  Then as I brought my hand back through the water I would try to thrust my hip in the opposite direction and finish the stroke.

This was not going well.  So on Saturday Ahmed taught us a very simple thing.  When you rotate your hips to start the stroke if you then relax the core muscles and keep your shoulders square your hips will naturally rotate back.  There is no need to thrust my hips back.  This seemed to make so much sense that I was able to apply it immediately and successfully.  One of the reasons I was able to apply it was that I was able to relate to something I had learned 30 years ago.  I remember watching  Dwight Stones the high jumper explain how he would generate his leap.  It involved planting his foot parallel to the bar and rotating his hips then he would release and leap.  It was the rotating and releasing that would generate extra thrust in his leap.  Rotating the hips is much like compressing the coils of a spring.  With a coiled spring you do not need to pull it to release its energy.  The energy is stored  in it.

Some how being able to relate what I was taught today to something I learned 30 years ago made sense?