5000 m

A time trial

The thing about a time trial is this: you know, from the very first stroke, that it’s going to hurt. You will question everything. You will wonder if you’ve pushed too far, if your body will betray you. And when it’s over, you’ll gasp for air, certain—just for a moment—that death might be easier.

But this is the only way to find the edges of your limits, to measure the true depth of your endurance. It’s a battle against the voice in your skull, the one screaming that what you’re doing is madness, that every second longer is a mistake.

Yet here’s the truth: we do it because we must. Because without it, we never learn how far we can go—or how much farther we still have to climb. We hate it. And yet, we need it.