answer:I once came 3rd in a martial arts tournament of over 270 people. that was quite cool. but i think what you are talking about here is something different. namely, the phenomenon known as “being in the zone”. This has happened to me a few times, but with unusual things. I have a very “robotic” mind in a sense, i am very good at small repetitive tasks. i can just build up a rythm, and try to better my rythm each time. because of this, i normally get in the zone when im doing some kind of repetitive task. One example, would be a day i was working as a metal worker in the UK. we had 8.000 small crappy brakets to make. normally, people could get 1200 to 1400 made in 1 day. we needed the brakets for that day, so i got to it, working as fast as i could. i came in 1 hour early, had no lunch, and left 3 hours late. but i got all 8000 made. my boss at the time congratulated me, and said it was “like watching lightning”, and i got a raise. sure… only 20 cents an hour more, but a raise none the less. Another time i can remember was when i was about 17 years old and working on the building sites. a cement delivery failed to show up. you know, a big truck full of the stuff, with a big hose and a pump. anyway, me and another guy took on the task, and we mixed it all manually, with a shovel, a wheel barrow and a little cement mixer. by the end of the day it felt like we had just gone 12 rounds with mike tyson, and the next day we could hardly move. but we got the job done. This is also perhaps the worse days work of my life too. there is nothing like shoveling cement in 100 degree temperatures against the clock to make you feel like a slave.