Thank God.  I’ve stamped my ticket to Beijing and a huge weight has just been lifted.  It’s pretty late right now and I need to get to bed, but I’m a bit wired from today’s swims.  The last 15 meters of the 100 back hurt so badly!  Brenden Hansen alluded to this after his 100 breast: the nerves were so high before my race since I didn’t yet have my place on the Beijing Team. In my case and in Brenden’s, those pesky nerves made our swims much harder than we would have liked. But, it turned out just as I was hoping.  I broke :59 seconds (something I have been aiming for for quite some time) and placed myself on the 2008 Olympic Team. 

I was able to get through the 200 IM tonight after a quick turnaround from the 100 back, which also was something I was worried about.  I’ll explain my decision to swim the IM later…  Now I need toget to bed and rest up for tomorrow’s final!  Thanks again for all the well wishes.  I really appreciate them!   

Well, it’s finally here… Fortunately the Qwest Center was not severely damaged from last Friday’s storm. What was damaged was fixed, and the meet has started.

This morning I went over to the pool for a stretch and an extended pre-meet warm-up. Before heading back to the hotel to rest and relax, I checked out the Speedo retail store at the pool. Not sure how many of you are in Omaha, but they have some really cool stuff and I highly recommend stopping by. I got a bunch of their graphic T-shirts and some capris. They are so cute! And there are jerseys with some of the Speedo athlete’s names and numbers. My jersey is number 5 because that has been my number ever since I started at Cal. (It’s way easier to mark all of your equipment and clothes with numbers rather than your whole name.)

After hitting up the store, I headed back to the hotel to relax and cheer on my Cal teammates via the Internet. As I’m typing this I’m watching NBCOlympics.com (http://www.nbcolympics.com/swimming/news/newsid=142526.html#swimming+trials+live+prelims), which has live prelims. It’s great because it has live video, but unfortunately there aren’t any times so I have to rely on Josh Davis’s announcing skills. So far, he’s doing a great job. If any of you are watching you might be wondering about his many "good friends." Josh has been on two Olympic teams and is one of the friendliest people you will ever meet. He always remembers a face and name, so that's why about 20% of the swimmers at the meet are his good friends.

Anyways, the rest of the day is going to be really chill for me. I’ll continue to watch the meet via the Internet, then shave and rest up for tomorrow’s big day. Thanks for all of your support so far! I really appreciate it all… ☺ Keep on sending over those good thoughts!

I finished my last blog entry mentioning that I had to go hide in the bathroom by order of the hotel staff.  Apparently this freak storm came through Omaha with golfball sized hail, 80-mile an hour winds and torrential rain.  I was the only person on my team to stay at the hotel this afternoon; half were at the pool, the other half just landed at the airport. Rather than going to the tornado shelter with the other hotel guests, I chose to sit in my bathroom with my computer and watched an episode of “South Park.”  I figured that would be less stressful than sitting with a bunch of strangers who were panicking from the weather and their imaginations.  Fortunately everyone is safe and sound.  The local news is reporting the damage across town, and there are even photos of full-grown trees completely uprooted!

Unfortunately the Qwest Center was damaged to the point of some water leaking through the roof and flooding in a couple of the hallways.  (This is according to some other swimmers that were at the pool... I haven't seen this myself.) The news mentioned that the open house scheduled for tomorrow morning is cancelled, but the open house in the afternoon is still scheduled as planned.  It’s pretty crazy right now, but I’m sure the Trials will go on as originally planned. I already checked the weather reports for the rest of the meet and it looks okay. 

Keep this mantra in mind: Go with the flow…

Well I made it safe and sound to Omaha without any additional travel problems! Immediately after I stepped off the plane I saw numerous posters promoting the meet throughout the airport. Some of them were cartoons of swimmers that look surprisingly like some National team swimmers I know, and some were actual photos like the gigantic poster of Davis Tarwater by the United baggage claim. It’s so cool to see how welcoming the city of Omaha is for our Trials!

The Qwest Center facility is phenomenal. It reminds me a lot of the Rod Laver pool from last year’s World Championships in Melbourne (in that it’s huge and you can easily get lost). The competition pool arena holds up to 18,000 people. Without people in the stands it doesn’t seem too overwhelming, but I think I need to wait until they’re filled with screaming spectators before I make that judgment. The place is so big that there are people standing at nearly every corner and hallway to point you in the direction of where you’re going. There’s an athlete lounge (equipped with Guitar Hero), massage tent, huge warm down area… My two favorite things about the facility: the water isn’t freezing cold and there is a hot tub. I know these things seem frivolous, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been freezing cold at a meet and would have given anything for a hot tub! I might not need that parka as much as I thought I would…

The city of Omaha is really cool. I’m not really sure what I was expecting, but I was way off! We’re staying right by the Old Market, this cute cobblestoned street filled with restaurants and shops. Erin Reilly (my Cal teammate) and I went to lunch at Twisted Fork today and I had the best grilled trout with bacon, onion, and jalapeno salsa. So yummy! There’s even this cool art fair going on right now, but I think it’s best that I stay in my room and rest up. My first swim is going to be the 100 back and I only have a couple of days left… Wish me luck.

For those of you that won’t be able to check out the facility check out these links:

TV schedule: 

http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=0&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&ItemId=1990&mid=2943

Live results:

http://www.omegatiming.com/calendar/index.html

I wanted to write more, but the hotel just made an announcement that there is a severe weather warning… I’m supposed to go in my bathroom and shut the door. I’m sure everything will be fine, but it’s a little scary.

Yesterday was my last day at home before all of the craziness that is Olympic Trials. Most of the day was spent organizing and packing before the long trip. I tend to have a problem of over-packing, and I was determined not to bring a 75-pound bag with me to the airport! There are a few items that I need when I travel to a meet: my pillow, my parka and my Pilates gear. These few items always take up way too much room and leave me with an embarrassingly oversized bag. I am not embarrassed enough, however, to leave these ideas at home. When I was 13, one of the older more experienced girls on the team told me that it’s important to be comfortable at your big meet and I think that has stuck with me ever since.

My mom was nice enough to treat my sister and I to some pampering before we leave for Omaha. (My mom, dad, sister, fiancé, Grandparents and an uncle-of-sorts are all coming to cheer me on and support me.) We had a really nice lunch and then headed to the spa for some foo-foo pedicures. I chose a pretty blue color since Cal’s colors are blue and gold. Later in the day Ethan finally got off of work and we headed to dinner. I cook pretty much every night, but I’ve emptied the frig to get ready for all my travels. So poor me, I had to have two great meals out yesterday. :)

Unfortunately as I was headed to the restaurant I got a text from United Airlines that my flight was delayed and that I would be missing my connection! Not only is this incredibly frustrating, but this has happened on nearly all my flights this year. Bright side: I have plenty of experience in rescheduling my flight so after 40 minutes on the phone with an airline representative (there really aren’t that many options from the West Coast to Omaha) I was able to get on a flight leaving Sacramento very early in the morning. That’s over 80 miles from where I live but my mom still was offered to drive me to the airport. Bless her! We left my house at 4:45 this morning and barely made my flight.

Right now I’m keeping myself busy enjoying the free Internet during my layover in Denver. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my large (but not nearly 75-pound) bag makes it to Omaha.

I leave for Trials tomorrow and keep getting the same question over and over again. “Are you excited?!?” A simple yes or no doesn’t sufficiently answer that question. I’m pretty sure there isn’t a word in the English language that can describe my emotions towards the meet. Excitement, nervousness, anxiousness, eagerness, apprehensiveness, anticipation, trepidation, enthusiasm… These are just some of the words that can describe how I feel. Our president invents new words all the time, and so can I! Anxioeageranticipatamente.

An-xio-ea-ger-an-ti-ci-pa-ta-men-te:

Noun

-A feeling or sensation of nervous anticipation that includes feelings of enthusiasm and apprehensiveness, typically felt during times of great importance with anticipation. When asked about Trials, Natalie replied that she felt anxioeageranticipatamente.

Since Trials are quickly approaching, this weekend was the perfect relaxing weekend at home. Whenever I leave for a long trip I HAVE to clean the house, top to bottom. It really stresses me out if I leave for a trip and the house is messy. I’m a total neat freak. Ethan (my fiancé) was preoccupied with a swim meet for most of the weekend (he coaches Sharks Swimming in Danville, CA) so that gave me plenty of time to get everything in order before I take off for Omaha.

I blasted the “Rockferry” album by Duffy and cleaned the house like some possessed singing, cleaning, OCD demon. Also I had to make a run to Target and get all of my pre-meet supplies… razors, shaving cream, and various other products. Since race suits have gone the way of full-body suits, shaving really isn’t that important anymore but it’s become more of a big meet routine.

After all my cleaning, laundry, and pre-meet shopping Ethan and I had a really nice dinner and watched “The Incredible Hulk” afterwards. Good movie, by the way. Nothing special, but an entertaining summer popcorn movie. (Last weekend we saw “The Happening,” which was a total waste of $20… I’m never going to trust M. Night Shyamalan ever again after that piece of junk.)

This is probably the most boring entry ever, but that’s how my weekend went. I’m closer to being ready to leave for Trials and was able to relax at home… If Trials goes how I would like it to go, I won’t have a weekend at home for almost 2 months.

June 20, 2008:  Gotta love those drug tests

 
I’m returning home after morning practice, caffeine in hand, trying to avoid the baby deer that jumps out in front of my car and what do you know?  There’s a strange car in my driveway.  I live on a pretty secluded street, so this is not a normal event.  Immediately I have a pretty good idea of what that car is doing there.  Surprise!  Drug test…

There have been numerous scandals in some other sports over the past couple of years while swimming has remained relatively untouched by these controversies.  Everyone has his or her own theories of why this is, and I have mine.  Swimming is unique from other sports in that the water is a dynamic, ever-changing medium.  Unlike other land-based sports, the benefits of strength and power don’t translate to the water the same way that they do on land.  Technique is something that comes from many, many years of focused training and you cannot get that from a pill or some other form of artificial enhancement. 

Now, I’m not completely naïve.  Statistically speaking, there has to be people in the swimming world that cross the line of what’s right and what’s wrong.  Historically, there have been groups that have clearly cheated.  And that is why we have drug testing. 

The system is not perfect, but it is continually improving.  I’m involved in this program that USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) developed called “Project Believe.”  This project is designed to improve drug testing while removing suspicions from people’s mind about doping in athletics.  Both blood and urine are tested.  Blood will give the labs the ability to test for chemicals and hormones that aren’t detectable in urine, allowing these tests to be much more extensive than what are currently in place.  Michael Phelps and Dara Torres are also involved in this program (along with some other athletes from other Olympic sports).

This does not mean that I enjoy doing drug tests!  It’s a huge pain-in-the-you-know-what!  It’s frustrating to constantly let USADA know where I am 24/7.  (I promise you, I’m not exaggerating… every Olympic athlete has to update there whereabouts so that they can be found for testing at any time.)  Even though this is not my favorite thing to do, it’s part of the job description of being an Olympic athlete so I will do it. 

The East Germans of the late ‘70’s and the Chinese of the early ‘90’s are examples of swimmers that were shown to part a system of doping and they were eventually caught.  It was unfortunate, to say the least, that they weren’t caught before they stole medals away from legitimate clean swimmers, but they were eventually caught.  It is the job of USADA, the USOC (US Olympic Committee) and WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) to test and catch these cheaters.  I cannot imagine the hurt and frustration that the clean swimmers in the late ‘70’s and early ‘90’s must have felt, and I hope that I will never find out. 

As an athlete you occasionally hear gossip and suspicions, but I believe that it is not my job to point fingers.  This job is reserved for USADA, USOC and WADA.  My job is to be available and present for all the testing.  Grin and bear it. 

June 19, 2008: Farm Fresh Day

 
Most people that know me know that I love food. It borders on obsession. And in many ways that is a good thing because it’s important to be conscious of how I fuel my body. Many people ask me what type of diet I follow, but I have never been a fan of diets. My belief is that eating right is a lifestyle.

Since I don’t take any vitamins, it’s important that I get a variety of fruits and vegetables to make sure that I’m getting all the nutrients that I need. To keep myself from getting stuck in a rut, I subscribe to a local farm. Every week a box of organically grown, in season, absolutely yummy local fruits and vegetables magically appear on my doorstep.

Today is Thursday, which means it’s Farm Fresh day! This week I’m getting tons of great stone fruits, summer squash, bunched collared, heirloom tomatoes and much more. Because these fruits and veggies don’t travel far, they are picked at the peak of their ripeness and taste way better than they would from the local supermarket. (Often times produce is picked long before it’s ripe, and ripens en route or on the shelf at the store.)

And perhaps the best part of the subscription is that it forces me to use fruits and veggies that I would never think to use. A farm newsletter comes with the produce and it includes simple recipes of how to use that week’s bounty. Recently, I’ve discovered that I love fennel. This is my new favorite salad, courtesy of Farm Fresh:

Fennel and Grapefruit Salad:

2 tablespoons pistachio meats

1-tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1-tablespoon white-wine vinegar

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 grapefruit

1 fennel bulb

¼ lb proscuitto, thinly sliced (optional)

Finely chop pistachio meats and in a small heavy skillet cook in oil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden. Remove skillet from heat and whisk in vinegar and mustard.

With a sharp knife cut peel and pith from grapefruit and cut grapefruit sections free from membranes. Coarsely chop fruit. Trim fennel stalks flush with bulb and cut bulb lengthwise into very thin slices. Trim and discard core from slices. In a bowl toss grapefruit and fennel with vinaigrette.

Divide prosciutto between 2 plates and top with salad. Bon Appetit!

If you guys are interested in something like this, you can learn more about community supported agriculture on the following website: http://www.localharvest.org/csa.jsp

June 18, 2008:

Day off Like I promised, I will be more consistent with the entries!

One of the things that I love about my schedule at Cal is that we get Wednesdays off. The entire day! I know that sounds almost blasphemous, but it allows us to sleep in, recover and keep the intensity of our practices up throughout the week. Today I decided to spend my day off shopping with my mom.

I’m recently engaged and since Trials are quickly approaching, there are a couple things that I want to get in order before I leave for Omaha. I already have a date set (end of April next year), and a place (Napa), and apparently you have to get a dress pretty far in advance. I assumed that I could look in the fall after the Olympics, but it can take up to 8 months to get your dress!

So I made plans with my mom to go wedding dress shopping in San Francisco. The first place was this little designer boutique outlet in North Beach. All of the dresses there have already been in runway shows, so they are up to 75% off. I thought that sounded like a great idea, but after trying a couple on I realized that they are discounted for a reason.

My sister Megan works out in San Francisco (for Yelp.com) so my mom and I took a break from shopping to meet her for a quick bite. Normally we would go to one of our two favorite places, Hog Island Oyster Company (the best oysters!) or the Slanted Door (Vietnamese!), but unfortunately Megan didn’t have enough time for either place. Instead we tried ‘Wichcraft, which is this really great panini place.

After getting our blood sugar back up with the best pastrami I have ever had, my sis went back to work and my mom and I headed to our next stop. We went to a little shop out in Burlingame, this cute little city south of San Francisco that looks like it’s stuck in the 1950’s. Trust me, I mean that as a compliment. It’s adorable. Megan and I went here last week and the first dress I tried on is the one I will wear next April. I didn’t want to make a rash decision and plus I wanted my mom to see it on me before I committed to it. After trying on several hideous gowns at that outlet, I was sure that this dress was the right one. Without giving away too many details (for luck’s sake) it’s a vintage lace dress with an open back. With all my muscle and my giant back, an open back is the way to go!

Anyways, I promise not to gush too much about the wedding. I know that can get really annoying. I had a really lovely day off with my mom and sis and got to buy a beautiful dress!

Now I need to figure out what I’m making for dinner…

June 17, 2008:  Doogie Howser and Anne Frank

I can count five separate times throughout my life where I tried to keep a journal.  Four times I have failed.  The first was around the time of first or second grade when my mom got me one of those diaries with the golden lock so that no one could read your secret thoughts (not that it mattered anyways because I only wrote about stupid stuff like what my dog did that day). 

The second was around the “Doogie Howser, M.D.” days of the late ‘80’s and early 90’s.  I’m not sure how many of you are old enough to remember that show, but I loved it.  Doogie (Neil Patrick Harris) was a teenaged genius doctor who kept a journal on his old school, green-screened computer.  Every episode ended with Doogie typing on his computer about the insights of his day with this cheesy voice-over of his inner thoughts.  I thought that was the coolest thing ever (I was only 10 years old, keep in mind).  So I had my mom help me set up my very own digital journal, complete with password.  Again I would write about stupid stuff like what my dog did that day and eventually writer’s block ensued. 

Then in sixth grade or so, my class read “The Diary of Anne Frank” and my desire to keep a journal was once again revitalized.  I was amazed at how a young girl was able to keep such a vividly detailed and fascinating journal of her life.  So I got a cooler version of the journal with locket and started writing away.  I penned a couple entries about my best friends and various schoolyard gossips and gave up out of laziness. 

The last time I tried to keep a journal was before the last Olympics in Athens.  After making the team at Trials, I bought a journal at the local bookstore and began writing immediately.  There’s so much downtime at training camp that I thought I would definitely stick with it this time.  Instead of being plagued by writer’s block, there were so many things I wanted to write about I couldn’t keep up.  My handwriting gets really bad when I try to write quickly and (being the control-freak that I am) I couldn’t handle a messy journal.  After one too many eight-paged entries, my cramped hand and I gave up. 

The reason that I share these failed attempts is to provide you with a disclaimer that I may not be the most consistent blogger out there.  (My last entry was last fall… sorry about that.)  Today, I have made a pre-Trial resolution to keep it up this time and I won’t have messy handwriting to worry about.  The experience of going to Trials and making an Olympic team is incredible and I want to be able to remember it.  On my fifth attempt, I promise that I will keep it up.  The only thing is, is I cannot guarantee you that I won’t write about stupid stuff like what my dog did on a given day.   By the way, her name is “SheRa, Princess of Power” and she’s a three-year-old Border Terrier. 

I’m beginning my long journey home from Singapore with a 6-hour flight to Tokyo, followed by a 3-hour layover and then another 9-hour flight to San Francisco.  Fortunately I travel so much and have accumulated so many miles that I am able to upgrade to business class.  The flight attendants are passing out newspapers to my fellow passengers and my picture is all over the cover.  Thankfully no one has recognized me and I can be just another passenger.  (Even though it’s really flattering to have people recognize you, it’s a strange event when a total stranger knows who you are.) 

I loved everything about Singapore.  What a cool city/country.  The people are welcoming, the food is wonderful, swimming is embraced and the shopping is over-the-top.  I felt completely comfortable walking around the city by myself and was reassured by locals that it is absolutely safe for a young, single female to tour the city by herself.  What more could I want? 

The World Cup meet itself was great.  It was by far the most well ran World Cup that I have ever attended (and I don’t mean that to be a knock on any of the other World Cups that I have attended in the past).  The timeline was accurate to the minute, there was plenty of room to warmup/warmdown, transportation was straightforward and the hotel was incredible!  The fact that I swam really well doesn’t skew my opinion of the meet at all. 

Last night I broke the world record in the 100 SC meter backstroke (which I have held since November 2002).  I haven’t swum short-course meters that often in the past five years, but it was definitely a really great swim for me.  I knew that a personal best was possible after the meet in Durban because I was 0.4 seconds off of the record and I had a lot of room for improvement in that swim. 

Usually I am completely focused during my good swims, but last night was a little different.  After the start I broke the surface of the water a few kicks earlier than normal (for no particular reason) and when I turned at the 25, I realized that I was swimming on autopilot.  My mind was somewhere else.  Many athletes perform the best when they are in this mode, but I have never been one of them. 

Luckily I snapped back into it at the 25 and charged the race from there.  I kept my head still, hit my turns, had great breakouts and maintained my turnover.  I dove to the wall at the finish and SILENCE.  The crowd was not cheering and I was trying to process what had just happened.  I looked at the scoreboard and saw that the time was 0:56.5.  I couldn’t even figure out if that was a good time or not.  After three or four seconds the announcer revealed that my swim was in fact a world record.  The crowd and I reacted at the same time.  They were wildly cheering and I was goofily smiling.    It was the first swimming world record ever broken in Singapore, so not only was it a big deal for me, but it was a really big deal for the meet organizers. 

I haven’t reviewed the video of my swim yet, but it turns out that it was a really good thing for me that I was so out-of-it at the beginning of the race.  I took the race out much slower than I normally do and consequently had a much faster second 50 than in previous swims.  Live and learn. 

2007 has been a great year for me so far.  It has been five years since I have had a personal best in the short-course meter format.  Earlier this year at World Champs I had personal bests in my four best events (100 back, 100/200 free and 100 fly), which all were five-year old times.  When you have a long lull in personal bests, it’s important to have faith in your training and know that results will come.  They don’t always come when you want, but you need to stay focused.  I have 10 more months until Beijing and I have 10 more months of endless practices, hard work and lots of faith.  The 2 week training camp preceding Beijing will be in Singapore and hopefully I will be back here next year.

So I’m heading back home for the next couple weeks.  I will participate in the last World Cup meet of the circuit in Belo Horizonte, Brazil at the end of November.  Even though I’ve really enjoyed the past couple weeks of travel I’m really looking forward to being home.  I miss my house, my daily routine, my dog, my friends and family.  I think the first thing I’ll do when I get home is have a great breakfast (I arrive in the morning) and then take my dog for a nice long walk.  For now I have fifteen more hours of travel and I’m going to get back to Anthony Bourdain’s A Cook’s Tour (great book!).

- Nat

First of all, thanks for having me on Swim Room! 

It’s hard to believe that the Olympics are less than a year away.  The year is already shaping up to be a really exciting, really busy, crazy year.  Right now I’m sitting in the Johannesburg airport on my way to Durban, which is the first stop of the World Cup Circuit.  It’s incredibly important for me to get a lot of competition experience and since I am no longer NCAA-eligible I can’t compete at the same meets as my Cal teammates.  So, when I heard that the World Cup Circuit was reinstated this year, I decided to participate! 

There are seven stops along the six-week circuit (Durban, Singapore, Sydney, Moscow, Stockholm, Berlin and Belo Horizonte) and I am attending three (Durban, Singapore and Belo Horizonte).  I would have loved to attend all of them, but that would have been way too much time away from my home, my family and friends and my training.  All the meets are the same two-day format, so I’ll swim the 100 fly, 100 back and 100 IM at each meet.  I may add another event or two, but I’m not sure just yet. 

Luckily I love traveling and it’s pretty easy for my body to adjust to time changes and new environments.  With the first two stops being consecutive meets, I will literally travel once around the world!  I’ve never been to South Africa or Singapore so I’m really excited to experience these new countries!  My favorite things to do when I travel are eating and taking photos, and fortunately I’ll have a little bit of free time at each of these countries to do these things. 

My flight from Washington DC to Johannesburg was the longest flight that I have ever taken at 15.5 hours!  Luckily there were some decent (I can’t say that they were good) movies to keep me occupied when I wasn’t sleeping.  It’s only an hour flight from here and I can’t wait to go to bed tonight!  Unfortunately my bags didn’t make my connection and I don’t have any extra clothes.  I am in bad need of a shower and would love to change into some clean PJ’s when I get to the hotel.  Plus, I only brought extra goggles and a race suit on board with me, so I don’t have a suit to warm-up in tomorrow morning.  I’ll look like a fool if I practiced in my FSPro.  I’m sure I’ll figure something out…  Wish me luck this week!