Michael Phelps motivates me...

I woke up tired, I didn't get to bed until 2:00 am and there was NO booze involved.

The only training I had today was a 5500 meter long swim. I started at 7:00 pm and it took me 1 hour and 59 minutes. At first my arms felt weak, then after the first 500 meters they started to feel stronger. With all the Olympic swimming that I've been watching I've been trying to pick up tips. I noticed that they really twist their body, so I tried doing the same. It feels awkward but I noticed my 100 meter times were the same or better. I also tried to swim the length of the pool using only 19 strokes. I could do it with the paddles and pull buoy, but without them I couldn't get lower than 23 strokes.

The killer part of tonight's swim was the 2 x 1500 meter sets with only a 1:30 rest in between the two. On the first 1500 I did it in 27:35 and the second 1500 I did it in 29:45. As you can see I felt a lot more tired on the second set. I was trying everything to go faster; breath out two sides, breath out one side, fast stroke, slow stroke, more rotation, less rotation, long stroke, short stroke, etc.

I did feel A LOT better than last weeks long swim. It's amazing how much better you feel when you don't have 20 beers the night before. I'm so glad I put in this swim, I used the 1500 meter as a mini race and swam at my usual race pace. It's the first time I've ever done that in a pool. It is also the first time my arms and shoulders felt pumped and sore after a swim.