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Back safe and sound. After talking with some other swimmers and coaches, It sounds like more were guys were rested than I assumed would be with trials a 6 weeks away. I knew it would be a big meet, but it turns out they were more prepared than I expected. The fact that I wasn't rested at all and still made the finals makes me feel a little bit better about my performances this weekend.

Well, I'm exhausted and it showed in the finals, I finished with a disappointing 26th place and a 59.53. I just felt lethargic through the whole race. I was tired as soon as I did my start. I didn't rest at all for this meet so I can't expect too much. I'm excited to get back to work in the pool tomorrow afternoon in Michigan. I feel I can do better at kicking in my races along with working on my distance per stroke. I watched the video from some of my races and I'm taking more strokes than other swimmers. This shows that I'm not catching as much water.

Prelims went about as well as I could expect. My goals were to break a minute and make it back this evening to swim in the Finals. I accomplished both goals. I didn't move up or down in the ranks at all, I was seeded 20th and finished 20th in the prelims. My first 50 meters was a solid performance at 27.34. This first 50 split was the 4th fastest of the meet behind Matt Grevers, Aaron Piersol (World Record Holder) and Eugene Godsoe. it was a little more than half a second faster than Michael Phelps two lanes over from me. It got ugly after the 50 split as I could have predicted.

My goal since getting back into swimming was to get fast enough to swim against the best of the best. I thought that opportunity would only be at the Trials. Today I swim the 100 back against Michael Phelps, he's in lane 5, I'm in lane 2. I know how this will end, but I'm excited to be swimming against the best all around swimmer ever. More later!

Videos of yesterday are posted

The goggle self tint job is complete, perhaps I'll be able to see something in my 100 Back.

Live results of the meet are posted here:

http://competitive.santaclaraswimclub.org/Meets/2008International/Results/index.htm

What a great day of speculating swimming! I saw some great athletes swim some amazing times. Kara Lynn did great in her 100 free to finish 5th overall. Luke (actually James is his first name) didn't make it back in the 100 Breast but it was a very fast event, it took an Olympic trial cut to make the top 27. I swam twice for practice, I'm feeling very worn down, I feel like I'm allergic to something out here. I've sneezed so much my abs actually hurt. I have some allergy medicine I'll try for tomorrow.

Today was another great day at the Santa Clara Invite! I competed in the 50 freestyle at the end of the morning preliminary session. I went a lifetime best time of 24.20 down from my best of 24.24. This small time drop was important to me because I'm very tired and the majority of the 50 freestylers went slower times than they were seeded at. I was seeded at 73rd and finished 59th out of 112 swimmers in the event. Although nothing to brag about placing wise, I'm proud that I lowered my time and got a lifetime best while being exhausted.

I just finished practicing at the Santa Clara International Swim Center. I'm still feeling like I'm on Michigan time so I woke up way too early and decided to head over to the pool at 7am PST. I was the first one in the water (unbelievably good luck). Some things I've noticed about the facility and meet:

I've arrived in Santa Clara, the weather is great although HOT. It's 100 degrees and 8:20pm PST. I'm staying about a mile away from the pool. The hotel is nice and is surrounded by plenty of food establishments, most of which were sent a written warning of my arrival.

On my flight I met a swimmer Luke from Alabama. He's here with his team at this meet to hopefully make his Olympic Trial cut in the 100 Breaststroke. Seems like a good guy, I'll be pulling for him.

I'm spending some quality time at the St. Paul/Minneapolis airport while getting some work done during my layover to San Jose. Depending on the pads they use at the meet I'm thinking of trying my new backstroke start. I've been working on a faster version that I've been hesitant to try in a race. I've found it works great if the pads are new or provide very strong grip. I get an equal distance off the wall with a quicker reaction time. I'll probably time trial the 50 Back at this meet for the heck of it. Gotta love the 50 back!