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