After introducing my background last week lets now look at the present and the future.  This Friday and Saturday I will be kicking off my racing cycle with Sydney's leg of the Swimming World Cup series. Swimming is a sport dominated by training.  We train for months in preparation for one major race that will hopefully last less than one minute in my case.  Training may dominate our time in the sport, but it is racing that we are judged on.   That is why this weekend is so important to me; it will give me another opportunity to practice my race plan and my race-day preparations.  I feel if I go through my race processes right I will gain a lot from this weekend.  I'm certainly not expecting to "swim the house down" or break any records.

To explain why I'll start by answering a question I'm asked regularly; how much training do I do? In a normal training week I will swim 9 or 10 sessions of between 5km and 6km each session. But it is not just the 55-odd kilometres in a week that makes swimming a tough sport. (For the record 55kms isn't that much in the grand scheme of things compared to middle distance and distance swimmers who may consistently swim 80kms and even do big weeks of over 100kms). On top of the kilometres in the pool I will also try to fit in three 75 minute weights sessions, two 45 minute Pilates sessions and an hour yoga or circuit session. So you can no doubt imagine that by the time Saturday comes, I am pretty wrecked physically.

Before a major competition (like World Champs or team trials) swimmers taper their training.  This means we reduce the training load and physical load on our bodies.  During taper I usually reduce my training from a normal week of 50kms to around 10km.  During the week before a big competition I would usually swim 6 sessions of only 1 to 2.5km per session and do a short abdominal circuit gym session.  I would do no weights, Pilates or yoga.  This is because freshness makes such a big difference to my body.  I will not quite be swimming a normal training load this week but I will be training solidly right until I arrive in Sydney.  This will be quite different from arriving at the end of a taper!

So, this is why I'm not expecting to swim super fast this weekend in Sydney, and why I understand that this won't do my Olympic preparations any damage.  It is the actual act of racing, and preparing to race, that is important to me at this stage, and this is what I am looking forward to this weekend. Hopefully my body is in good enough shape that I can swim close to my best, but that's not the real goal, it's the effort and practice that I am after.

On another note, The Swimmer of the Year dinner will be held in Sydney on Sunday night, one day after racing finishes. This is swimming's version on the Dally M's or Brownlow medal, and is always a fantastic night. I think this year the major awards will be shared between Libby Lenton and Leisel Jones. They have both had fantastic a year and deserve credit for it.