Test or Trial? They're Both Rather Hard

Last Friday we were told we were going to be doing a Time Test at the pool.

Not a Time Trial.

Any idea what the difference is?

It's ok. I didn't really know either but apparently the word 'test' is supposed to be more comforting than the word 'trial'.

A bunch of nervous swimmers showed up - several of whom has never done a time trial or a time test before. I had done a few time trials and was used to the routine. For time trials, half of us get out of the pool to time the other half. The ones swimming have to swim 300m as fast as they can. They get a few minutes rest and then do it again. Three times in total. Then we switch and the timers swim while the swimmers time.

This time, we were doing a time test and we were all in the pool together. In fact there were three swimmers in my lane alone. We warmed up with freestyle, pulling, kicking, 4x50m while pulling buckets and then 4x25.

The time test itself consisted of 16x100m. Each 100m was going to be done on 2:00. That means that every 2 minutes we start the next 100m. If we finish each one in, say, 1:50, we get ten seconds rest. If we finish them in 1:58, we get two seconds rest. Every two minutes the clock starts and you'd better be ready to swim.

Mr 70.3 led our lane. I was second. Touch my Toes (as I've decided to call her) was third. We left five seconds between us.

I mentally prepared myself with the thought that, in 32 minutes, it will all be over. Just chase Mr 70.3's bubbles and try not to die.

The first 100m, as usual, was really fast. I touched the wall in 1:38. Egad! There is no way I can keep that up for 15 more.

The second was 1:39.

The third was 1:40.

After that, I stayed between 1:39 and 1:41. Like clockwork. I didn't slow down but Touch my Toes sped up. Just a bit with every 100m but enough that she was starting to make up the five second difference between us and was catching up to me. I offered to switch places but she said no. She said that the only thing motivating her was to keep chasing my bubbles.

So I spent the workout trying not to let her catch me. She spent the workout trying to catch me. Win win.

This kind of workout is pretty intense and rather tiring because you never get a break. I mean, yes, we had about 20 seconds between each but it was never enough to catch my breath. I barely had time to grab a sip of Nuun.

On number 13 (out of 16), I felt Touch my Toes touch my toes.

Bah!

I hate that feeling.

I kicked hard and revved it up a notch.

And the last two I gave it everything I had left and finished them in 1:38 and 1:37.

She never touched me again.

Mr. 70.3 always stayed the same distance ahead of me because he was doing 1:39s and 1:40s as well. I was disappointed that I never caught him but I was pleased to learn that he and I were essentially the same pace.

That means I'm getting faster!

Fourth Time Trial of 2013

Christine told us a week before that we were going to have a time trial on May 15th. Our fourth one of the year. She didn't mention it again and she didn't send out a reminder email. 

Why?

Because there are some people who won't come if they know it's happening. They're just not fans of time-trialing. 

I am not one of those people. I LOVE time trials. I love pushing hard for not too long and then finding out if what feels like pushing hard is actually pushing harder than last time. 

As per usual, for the time trial we had to swim 300m. Three times. 

We started off with a 600m warmup. I spent the entire 600m trying to pay attention to all of the parts of my stroke that I need to work on. Keep my head down. Finish the stroke, don't cut it short. Stretch my body out. Tighten my core. Kick kick kick. 

After the 600m warmup, we had to do 8x25m sprints. That was to get our bodies ready for swimming fast and pushing hard. 

Then we got to decide who was going first. During time trials we break up into pairs and one person swims while the other person times them and writes down their times. After the first person finishes all three 300m swims, we switch. There are pros and cons to going first or second. I prefer first and George, my time trial partner, preferred that I go first so we were both happy. He scrambled out, grabbed a shirt to stay warm and set himself up by the side of the pool with a stopwatch, paper and a flutter board to write on. 

"We'll leave red top" Christine announced. I look at the two swimmers going with me. They were both faster, much faster, so I had no hope of pacing with them. I wouldn't even be able to see their bubbles by the end of the first 50m. So I headed off on my own, with nothing to gauge my speed by other than my breathing and energy level. 

Every hundred metres, George wrote down my time. Every hundred metres, George and Christine yelled something at me but all I heard was yelling noises, not words. So I had no idea if I was too slow and they were yelling at me to speed up, if they were just yelling encouragement or if I was super fast and they were telling me to pace myself. I swam hard, or what I thought was hard anyway, and finished hot and gasping but not dead. 

"You swam 100m in 1:34!" yelled Christine. "And broke 5 minutes for 300m!!". 

I grinned.

We had a few minutes to cool down, catch our breath and sip our drinks before we did it again. And again. Three times through. The first is the easiest I think because I still have lots of energy. The second is the hardest because I am tired and know I still have another one yet to do. The third gets easier because I know that, when I'm done, I'm done. 

I slowed a tiny bit with each 300m but not horribly so. I felt good all the way through and could definitely have done another one if I needed to (not that I offered of course). 

I did not remember my times from the previous trials so I had to wait until I got home to compare them. But I knew that I had never broken five minutes before and I knew that 1:34 for 100m was pretty damn fast because I usually struggle to break 1:40. 

So here are the results from January, February, March and May (we didn't have one in April). 

January Time Trial   5:12 5:21 5:17
February Time Trial 5:09 5:12 5:15

March Time Trial     5:13 5:08 5:06

May Time Trial        4:59 5:01 5:05 

Pretty cool eh?

Even better - at the March Time Trial, Christine said that her next goal for me was to be able to swim 100m in 1:35. I laughed and said 'maybe by July'. Well, the first 100m for each 300m was 1:34, 1:35 and 1:37.

Sometimes I don't mind being proved wrong. 

Third Time Trial of Twenty Thirteen

Morning morning at the pool was time trials. This is the third time we have done them since getting back in the pool after Christmas break.

Each time is the same - half of us get out of the pool and time the other half who will swim. Then we switch. The distance is also the same which is helpful for comparison. We swim 3 x 300m with two minutes off in between to recover.

The first time we did them, I swam the three 300m in: 5:12 5:21 and 5:15.

The second time we did them, I swam them in 5:09 5:12 and 5:15.

Monday, I was set to do them again. I had forgotten to check the times from the previous two trials before going so I really didn't know what I was trying to beat. It's kinda nice in a way because the pressure is off. Just swim hard and fast and then find out later how I did.

Christine looked me in the eye before we started and said "I want you do to flip turns. It will make you faster." I responded with "I can do flip turns or I can go fast - you're not going to get both".

I compromised by saying that I would do flip turns for the first 300m and then push off the wall on the next one to compare.

I was the second group to go and I was swimming at the same time as Chantal and Leslie - both fast swimmers - faster than me.

My goal - hang on as long as possible before losing sight of them.

"GO!!"

I swam 25m, hit the wall and flipped. I was panting already and, you guessed it, slowed down during the flip and, by the time I was headed back towards the wall, I had lost sight of the two other swimmers. At 50m I flipped again. This time I missed the timing AND I was panting so, by the time I flipped, I was completely out of air and had nothing left to blow out my nose as I did a somersault.

Great. Now I'm panting and choking AND feel like someone rubbed wasabi on my brain.

The hell with this! I threw the flip turns out the window and just pushed off the wall. I sped up immediately and managed, by the end of the 300m, to almost catch Chantal.

5:13.

The second 300m, I didn't even waste my time trying to flip. I just pushed off hard every time I touched the wall. I kept pace with Chantal and finished two seconds behind her in 5:08. Woot!!

The third, and final 300m, I kept pace with both ladies for the first 100m when (gasp!) I actually started pulling ahead. In fact, I pulled ahead and stayed ahead for the last 200m. I felt tired but not in a bad way and I pushed hard at a speed I thought I could handle for the entire distance.

I hit the wall first in 5:06.

First time trial
5:12 5:21 5:17
Second time trial
5:09 5:12 5:15
Third time trial
5:13 5:08 5:06

Getting faster little by little AND getting stronger too. This time I got faster with each 300m rather than getting worn out and slowing down.

I love time trial days! They make me feel so FAST.