There’s no audience in lane four at 6 a.m. Whatever you do there is just for you.

Training at an hour when nobody is watching strips the motive down to one thing. There is no credit available, nobody to be seen trying in front of, nobody to notice if you cut it short. What you do there is an honest statement about how much you want the thing, and the only one that gets you faster.

Use it as a question rather than a test. On the next early one, notice what gets you in the water, because the answer tells you whether the sport is yours or somebody’s expectation. Either answer is fine, and it is better to know which.