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?
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