Our team
View of Lanai from the hotel beach
Our escort boat. Thankfully didn't sink, like one of the others...
Nick and myself at the game
US Air did everything they could to try and keep Christian from visiting last weekend, but Christian prevailed. Way to go Chris! We had a great time and enjoyed a lot of the same things that Dane and I did. Last week I also went fishing again and got skunked AGAIN. I caught a few fish but no keepers…Third time’s a charm?
This recent past weekend I flew to Rochester, NY for a Mutual of Omaha sponsored clinic with Josh Davis. Overall, the clinic went well and I even had time to get my Saturday workout in afterwards. From what I’ve gathered, Rochester has some awesome pizza, so someday I need to go back there and sample some…Regrettably, I didn’t have time to check out the city.
Training is going well though. We’ve kind of moved from the “heavy volume” phase to a more “race relative” phase in practice. I’m starting to feel a little bit better from day to day, but nowhere near rested. We’ll see where I’m at next week when we race in Santa Clara. I’m confident I will be a lot better than I was in Charlotte, which shouldn’t be too hard! I really enjoy this time of the season because I know that taper is on the doorstep. Just a few more weeks…
Things in Gainesville are solid too. We’ve had a large string of sunny, hot days which has been nice, but hasn’t helped the forest fires in the area. Some days it’s hazy and smells really smokey, so hopefully the rain will come and put them out.
Read moreSpecial shout out to Mark Hill, who must have known that the skills he taught me in the Colorado Springs weight room would be used today. Ryan, Ben and I had an interesting weight lifting workout this morning. We flipped 650 lb tires, pulled a 450 lb chain down a street, amongst other activities. It was kind of like a strongman competition, except not nearly the weight that those guys can move around. After the session, it looked like we had been working in a blacksmith’s shop. I’m going to be sore…
I went to the Indianapolis Grand Prix this past weekend. My swims weren’t exactly world class, but I’m content with where I am right now. We’ve been working really hard and I had to grind those times out, which is good because when I finally rest, I’ll feel like a million bucks. The best part of the trip was dinner with my parents and former club coach at a place called St. Elmos Steakhouse. If you’re ever in Indy and want a really good meal, go there. I think it’s my favorite steakhouse in the world…great food, great service, great atmosphere.
On Monday I jetted up to Michigan to meet David Arluck for a speech at the Livingston Economic Club in Howell. David and I talked about sports and business, so that was fun. Then I was able to catch an earlier flight back to Gainesvegas, which was pure luck.
This week I’m flying to NYC on Friday for a Speedo appearance, and then to San Diego from there for a USA Swimming athlete partnership summit. Then back to Gainesville for a day before heading to Ft. Lauderdale for another competition. I’m gonna have a lot of laundry to do after the next two weeks…
Read moreThe 400 went fairly well yesterday, much better than my 200, but I just missed a medal by three tenths or so. It was an interesting race and it makes me reflect upon the evolution of the event over the past few years. I was talking about it with a coach today, and the 400 has seemed to become similar to a track event. It’s not dominated by anyone on a consistent level, which has led to a much more strategic race overall. The last few times times I’ve swam it on the international scale, it was more of a cat and mouse game than a pressing, tempo-driven race. Guys are waiting for someone to make a move in an attempt to out-duel the field at the finish. This was evident yesterday when most of the pack was lumped together even past the 200 mark. Then Biedermann, the German, seemed to make the move at the right time from lane 8, jumping out and pulling away before anyone could catch him. It just seems like rarely does the guy who takes the early lead, ever seem to win the race anymore. I think the depth of the field has created a strategy of swimming conservative on the front end, which has resulted in more of an interesting race, and less of an emphasis on achieving a certain time. Most of the competitors seem to put more of a premium on winning the race than breaking a record. Anyways, it was kind of funny though because the scoreboard malfunctioned at the finish and everyone looked at each other, wondering if we still had another 50 meters to go!
Tomorrow I swim the 1500 at about noon. For some reason, Fina won’t accept converted long course times into finals, and since I haven’t swam the 1500 short course since NCAA’s in 2004, thus no seed time, I will be swimming in prelims. At least I won’t have to go directly from the race to the airport and sit on a plane for 14 hours!
This morning I set my trip record of sleeping in: 8am. Tonight is the 4×200 relay final so I’ve been sitting around the hotel all morning resting up. I was definitely disappointed to not make the finals in the individual, so I’m planning on beasting this race tonight. I felt like a swam a decent race, but found myself on the outside because I was a little bit too conservative. I think the 200 short course meters is more of a sprint than anything else, and since I’m not fully rested, it was definitely harder to get out. Tonight I’ll be sure to change my strategy.
So far our team performance has been okay. I think its tough for a lot of people to get up and race on just a few days rest when many of the countries here are primed for this competition. I sense that many of us are looking ahead to Shanghai next year, and don’t want to mortgage the future by focusing too much on this competition. Not to say that people aren’t trying, or taking this seriously…USA is always ready for the challenge.
Last night the finals was somewhat of a lackluster atmosphere. The meet has run very slowly and there is too much time between events. Also, the venue was surprising empty for such a great event. This facility is arguably the nicest pool I’ve ever been in (cost $300 million to build I think…) and seats upwards of 15,000. I would estimate only about 3,000 people attended finals last night which led to some pretty quiet moments. I hope that number increases tonight!
For some reason my pictures won’t load into the gallery, so I’ll try to add them to updates along the way…
