I'M HERE!

So I made it! The trip here was quite an experience, everything from getting through LAX to clearing my visa in Beijing itself. I have so much to write about today alone, but will have to save it for tonight. Many thanks to Avish for helping me last night. It's rather humid, just rained, etc. You know how they say everything's bigger in Texas? The buildings here make Texas look anemic. I'll write more as I get the time. I'm off to the swimming pool for a warmup and to find myself a good zidian (Chinese dictionary). PS Facebook is blocked right now...so don't expect me to respond to any messages or wall writes you send. Email me direct instead.

-Ankur

Packing

Morning workout:

400 + (4x100) + (4x50) Warmup

3x [200, odd 50: 25m no breath, 10m v-sit scull, 15m sprint. even 50: 2up 3under butterfly]

[3x100 on 1:20 descend]

[2x50 on 0:50 strong kick light arms]

8x50 on 0:20 rest with fins & paddles - hold best average

6x50 on 0:30 rest with fins & paddles - hold bester average

10x0:10 second sprint with double-tied resistance cord. odds free, evens butterfly

warm-down 400

I felt miserable the first half, but was really doing well by the end. I just hope my endurance stays up to carry me through the back half of that 100m butterfly.

Two days left. Now is when I start to freak out about packing and wondering what on earth I need to take with me. I had a pretty good conversation with Kicker and Kipp this morning about what to expect over there. Kicker was telling me the food's pretty bad - I'm not surprised. Mystery meat stories abound in the athlete village while he was at the World Uni Games, and he lost a pretty significant amount of mass by the time he returned. It was enough to get his mother concerned. He said the milk and eggs tasted funny. But strangely enough eating out at nice restaurants in Beijing was great. So looks like I'll be taking a pretty generous amount of protein powder with me along with my creatine and calcium supplements. Hydration is also an important component of good swimming, and water alone is okay but not great. I always pack some sports drink mixes. Vitalyte is my personal favorite, but there are numerous options. I'm actually pretty sold on CarboPlus too - it's good stuff, especially post-race recovery. In general though I stick to products by BSN - the company does a good job with labeling batch numbers and answering customer service questions so that I can always cross-verify to ensure that the products are contaminant-free and good quality.

Ate my last Truck meal from Armando today before I leave - thanks again Armando for being there in the mornings. I'm gonna miss my "usual" while I'm away for a month!

Dave mentioned that the air over there is pretty bad while he transited through Beijing last week. I have a set of masks with me, hopefully they'll help in rough situations if I require them. I have my inhalers but I have limits on how much I can use them. I just hope it's not terrible. Some little part of me regrets having extended my stay for a few more days than was necessary. But we'll see what happens when I get there.

Well Vidhi is on her way here to get disoriented at USC (congrats again on getting in!) so I'm gonna go get ready to confuse her. Woohoo!

-Ankur

Three days left

I fly out on Wednesday of this week. It's officially TAPER TIME! What that means is fast training on longer intervals, feeling more awake, and fine-tuning all the elements of my race. Coach Salo is already in Japan with one of my Trojan Swim Club teammates, Ous Mellouli; Miguel Molina is in the Philippines; the US group is in Singapore; Tamas Kerekjarto left today; and Zoli is MIA. I'll be training with coach Jeremy Kipp tomorrow and am on my own from Tuesday until Dave arrives to Beijing.

Part of my intention with this weblog is not just to provide ramblings, but also to inform anyone interested in swimming competitively about the process with some basic descriptions of what I do and why.

Today I focus on taper workouts about two weeks out of competition. A taper workout begins to transition from longer, cardio-based workouts to shorter, faster-than-race-pace bursts of swimming and strength training. The reason for this is to prepare the body for resting but also to prime it for speed when it counts most - the competition. As Coach Dave says, the human body likes to maintain a lazy homeostasis; somewhat like a "blob." In order to counter the effect of becoming a "blob," our workouts are designed to remind our bodies to stay strong, alert, and awake by doing short swims at or above race pace. What this essentially says to the body is, "HEY! Don't forget what it's like to go fast, you'll need it!"

A sample taper workout might be a 20-30 minute warmup sequence with light swimming, kicking, technique drills and pulling followed by six to eight 10-second mad-dash sprints against resistance tubing tied to my waist. Or it may be a long warmup followed by a set of two to four race-pace 50m swims to remind myself what it feels like to swim a 100m butterfly when I'm more rested and alert. Those of you who have more questions on taper, post anything as comments and I'll try to respond when I return from China.

To maintain a lean body and keep my cardiovascular system in good order, I'll follow a taper workout in the morning with a light 30-minute or 1-hour bicycling session in the evenings within a certain heartrate. This allows me to stay in an appropriate body metabolism without wearing myself out.

Now I'm off to the Baheti's for dinner. Seeya!

Welcome

To all my friends and family,

Thank you for looking me up on blogger. This weblog is dedicated to my experience at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. As the event goes on, I'd like to make posts so that everyone can see what the Games are like through my own eyes and mind. Each one of you has supported me in your own way and I thank you again as I prepare for Beijing!