A GOLDEN START TO THE YEAR!

2 GOLD MEDALS in 2 months in 2010!

Feb 2010 NSW State Swimming Championships.

Jan 2010 Victorian State Swimming Championships.

Building on the solid progress to my return to elite level swimming competition I have secured

improvements in my 50m and 100m Fly events.

Right now its not long until the Australian National Swimming Championship Titles & Comm Games Trials out at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre starting March 16.

The Trials are called “DESTINED FOR DELHI” as the podium winners will qualify for the October 2010 Commonwealth Games in India!

So it’s training and more training and a thin black line for company as I churn up and down the pool.

The great thing is that I train with a fantastic super squad team of mates under the watchful eye of our coach, Stollie.

Each day is about doing the best we can in every aspect of our training as we get ready to race for our lives.

And yep the intensity builds and the stakes get higher!

With the big question hanging over everyone: who will make it to Delhi in October?

Come out to the Trails and share the battle of wits, talent and speed!!!!

THIN BLACK LINE

THE COUNTDOWN HAS BEGUN!

All your questions answered about the LIFE and TIMES of a SWIMMER

Come with me on my  journey as I attempt to be successful at the March “Destined For Delhi” national titles and Comm Games Trials in order to compete at the  Commonwealth Games 2010 in Delhi.

I take a swimmer’s video diary, fly-on-the-wall approach for you revealing various aspects of the “swimmers journey”, from the training at the pool, in gyms, at the physio or elsewhere as I build to being on  the starting block.

Dive in and share with me the excitement and gritty reality as I (and many others) go for GOLD and GLORY and strive to attain the sheer reward of simply making it to the elite competitions after all the hard work and often hardships faced along the way.

With 7 days left to go till I race, I’m now well and truly in “Taper” mode. Taper is a period before competition usually 2-3 weeks (depending on the athlete and event they swim) where we start to freshen up. It’s the time when distance and intensity drops. Also, we start to cut back on lifting heavy weights.

This is where the fun well and truly begins. It’s the final chance to really sharpen up on all of the skills and technique work that we’ve been practising everyday when we come to the pool.

Almost 2 weeks ago I had my final race at the NSW State Champs and it was a very successful meet for me. I came away with a 1^st in the 50 (23.83) and a 5^th in the 100 (54.0) just .7 of a sec behind my training partner and winner, Andrew Lauterstein.

Last week in training I had my final chance for a hit out. We set up the electronic timing and had time trials. For my 50, I swam 23.98 just .1 of a sec behind the time I posted at States; things are looking like they’re on track.