On my team, the last Tuesday of every month is Test Set Tuesday. The typical test set is 10x 100 yards freestyle on “your fastest possible interval.” Often, swimmers do the set on their “base interval” minus 5 seconds. For me, my base is pretty tight and 5 seconds is a big deal, so I often end up doing the test set on my base interval (1:15) and focus on holding a fast time for each repeat.
Last Tuesday I showed up at practice, fresh off a 10k, my final open water race of the season, on Sunday. I planned to do 1:20 base, take it easy, and start rebuilding my freestyle a bit. Before we got in I realized it was Test Set day—oops! “Oh well,” I thought, “nobody from my lane is here so I’ll just do the test set on 1:15 with the group and that will be fine.”
Partway through warmup, Matthew—a 1:15 regular and my favorite person to swim with—got in. I hemmed and hawed to myself, then told him I’d do whatever test set interval he wanted, though I wasn’t sure what I’d be able to do. He chose 1:12. Okay, I’ll give it a try, but no promises.
Matthew led the set and I went :05 behind. First one, 1:07. Nice! Second, 1:09. This is a good place to settle. Another 1:09. Sweet. Number four, 1:10. This is still okay; I am stopping fully between reps. 1:10. 1:10. 1:10. Now it’s starting to hurt, and I go 1:11 on number eight. Ack! Number nine is another 1:11, but low as I try to pull myself together. On the last swim I go 1:10, and we are done. Woo!
Afterwards, I checked my records and found that between our previous head coach (who mixed up the test sets each month) and doing 1:15 a lot this year, I hadn’t completed 10x 100 on 1:12 since May 2018! Without Matthew there, I would not have tried 1:12 this month. Without me there, neither would he. This is the power of a training partner; sometimes, their presence is all it takes to turn a mediocre set into an accomplishment you are proud of.
Thanks for reading. Now go to practice—your training partner is counting on you!
