In London after a long travel day!

After two buses to a boat, to a bus, to a high speed train, I arrived at Stratford International train terminal and met up with two teammates, Hulmey and Wu Peng.  They had just come from swimming at the London Aquatic Centre.  It was nice to see some familiar faces after so many new people over the past few days.  More on the swimming in a second, now about the trip:

Buses
I'm impressed with the public transit system everywhere in Europe, the buses are clean and timely.

Boat:
This ship was a borderline cruise ship, it had shops, restaurants, extensive luxury seating... the works

High Speed Rail:
I had a clear option to take either the normal train, or high speed rail.... cmon, any guy wants to go 100+ mph legally.  It was worth every penny of the extra £16 pounds it cost above the normal train price.  I had the GPS tracking the train speed, we hit 142.3 mph and an average speed of over 120mph, very impressive.  It was so smooth and quiet.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Once I got to Stratford, had a quick conversation with my teammates, I headed to the pool for a quick dip.  The competition pool was closed so I hopped in the warmup pool, a 50 meter facility adjacent to the main pool.   I chose to swim about 1,000 meters.  Just enough to loosen up but not enough to wear me out.  Afterward I took the subway to my hotel for some much needed rest.  I really overdid it the last few days sightseeing in Europe.  Ideally I should have been laying low and practicing.  I made the conscious choice to see the Netherlands, Belgium and France.  I knew I was sort of risking my taper.  I hope it doesn't affect me too much but I knew I was taking the risk and I chose to do so.

While swimming this evening, my focus was on backstroke only.  Since my first race is the 100 Back, I'm not even thinking about my 50 free or 100 fly at this point.  My 100 Back will be a great chance to warm me up for my other races.  If I haven't mentioned it yet, my primary reasons for attending this meet are, in this order:

1. See and compete in the 2012 Summer Olympic Pool
2. Qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials in the 50m Free and/or 100m Fly
3. Get a good shaved/tapered time in the 100m Backstroke
4. Take a trip

Although I'd love a good time in the 100m Back, my meet focus remains on my 50 Free and 100 Fly since I already have an Olympic Trial cut in the backstroke.  Therefore, I will race my best in the 100 Back on Sunday but if I don't swim well, I'll try not to let it affect me too much.  I need to put 100% into my other races.

I'm in LONDON!