Duel in the Pool was, as always, a fun meet. Every two years we compete in the Duel against Australia, our historical rivals. It’s always fun to bring the two greatest swim teams in the world together to compete.We were all tired and run down from worlds, so coming to another swim meet was the last thing we wanted. However, when we got to Sydney, everything changed. We were not going to give into the Australians.

The meet is judged three ways — men’s team, women’s team, and combined team score. We knew that our men would win easily and that as a team we would win, but we had a lot of competition on the women’s team side.

The meet began with a mixed 400 free relay. Michael Phelps lead off for us and Libby Lenton started for the Aussies. Everything was looking great. Michael had a huge lead and Kara Lynn Joyce was ten meters down the pool before the next Aussie entered the water. But, when we saw 52.99 on the clock for Libby we knew it was going to be quite a battle. She broke the world record! The relay ended with the Aussies winning. It was clear at that point just how tough their women were.

I swam the 400 free and 200 free. In both I had a lot of competition. I was amazed by how fast their women swam. I won the 400 by a narrow margin. This surprised me because I swam faster than in finals at worlds and their women did not even make the finals heat. In the 200, I went a best time by a second. For the longest time I had been trying to get under 2:00 and finally I went 1:59.02!

We ended up barely losing the meet. It came down to the last relay — the 400 medley. Unfortunately, this is the one relay that the Aussie women dominate. They had just recently broken the world record in it. I knew it was going to be hard for us to pull out the win. Our women fought hard, but in the end we could not compete against the Aussies.

After the meet we had a barbecue with the Aussies and our parents and friends. It’s really cool to have such a rivalry against the Aussies in the pool, but then be great friends outside.

Saturday night was the finals of the 800. I really like the 800 because it is still a long distance, but it is short enough to be fun and exciting.Going into the 800, I was calm and confident. The 1,500 had gone really well a couple days earlier. I had nearly gone a best time on my 800 split (on the way to the 1,500), so I thought that I was going to do really well. I didn’t feel any pressure. I was ready to just swim.

Leading up to the race, I felt like all eyes were on Laure Manaudou. In interviews I was doing, everyone asked me whether I thought she was going to break the 800 world record and how fast she would swim. And in the papers I read, it said that she was going to win. I felt like I had already lost — and the race hadn’t even begun. But, that did not discourage me. I figured there was no pressure and that I would just swim my own race.

The night of the 800, Mark Schubert came up to me and told me to remember that, “No one is unbeatable.” This mantra stuck with me going into the race.

I knew that Laure takes her races out fast, which I like to do as well. I figured that if I were close to her after the 400, I had a chance to win. This strategy worked well. After the first 50, I was already behind, but I expected this. I continued to try to stay within a body length of Laure and at the 400, I was only a couple of tenths behind. I was still in the race.

With a 50 to go, I flipped a half a second behind. Coming off the wall, I turned on my kick and felt myself catching her. Repeating to myself over and over again “No one is unbeatable,” I swam with every last ounce of energy I had. With 30 meters to go, I just knew I was going to win (even though I was still slightly behind). I touched the wall at 8:18.52 — she in 8:18.80. A best time by six seconds and world champion again!

This swim taught me to never doubt myself. Had I listened to everyone who said that Laure was unbeatable, I would have never come out with the swim I had.

The meet has been going amazing. It seems that every time an American gets in the water, a world record is set. As for me, I have been very pleased with my swimming. The first night I swam the 400 free. It was my first time swimming the event at worlds. I swam my best prelim swim ever in the morning, leaving me very confident for finals. However, I was disappointed in my swim at night.

I put a lot a pressure on myself and was very nervous before the race. When I do that, I tend to end up disappointed. Before my races I normally tell myself to just have fun and to do my best. However, this race I was more concerned about everyone else than myself. I still swam well. I finished sixth and went my second-best time ever. While I was upset that I didn’t get a best time, I now look at this swim as a learning experience. I figure that a poor swim is only bad if you don’t learn from it. I have now raced the best in the world and see how I measure up. There are lots of things I can improve, which actually makes me feel great. I know that I will continue to drop time because I have lots of places to improve.

I also swam the 1,500 free. On Monday, the prelims were swam. I went a 16:07, a very good prelims swim. I just wanted to make it into finals. The 1,500 is actually a hard event to swim in prelims because it is impossible to know what you are going. Sometimes the race will feel easy but the time will be slow and sometimes it feels awful and ends up being a great time. In prelims, I felt strong but not easy and I was surprised to see such a fast morning swim. This made me feel great for finals. I was third going into finals.

On Tuesday night, the finals of the 1,500 were held. I felt great going into it. Unlike the 400, I was totally calm and confident going into the race. I decided to just have fun, if you can do that while swimming the 1500. The race got off to a smooth start. It was so easy. For the first half, I felt like I could keep going forever. Around the 1,000 mark, my body started hurting though. Flavia Rigamonte, the girl swimming in lane 1, began to make a move. She was rapidly catching me. However, I was not going to give up the lead I had worked so hard to gain. I fought back with everything I had, reminding myself of the grueling practices I had done to get to this point.

At the end I touched the wall in 15:53.05 — a best time by 2 seconds and 0.95 off the world record. I was so excited with the race. Sure, I would have loved to break the world record and I have many times thought if only I kicked a little harder or streamlined a little tighter than maybe I would have broken it. But I have places to improve on and hopefully I will continue to drop time. Now I am looking forward to swimming the 800. Prelims start tomorrow, followed by finals on Saturday night.

The flight here wasn’t too bad. Yes it was 15 hours — but luckily I was able to use extra miles to bump up to business class. When we arrived in Melbourne, TV and newspaper reporters greeted us — an odd experience for anyone but celebrities. We were assigned roommates on the bus ride to our hotel. I’m with Amanda Weir, one of my best friends on the national team. We were first roommates together at worlds in China and what a disaster that was! Haha — well maybe just for our neighbors. But that’s another story.

At the hotel, we unpacked, got some lunch and then were off to the pool. Practice that night was easy. Just a loosen-up swim. The best part of practice was the sun! After a winter of swimming indoors, it was so nice to be out in the sun. I love practicing outside. It makes it so much more enjoyable. The day ended with dinner and a team meeting and then it was off to bed early!

Practices have been going well. The second day here Amanda and I did practice together, an interesting combination — a sprinter and distance swimmer — but she actually trains mid-distance. It’s always interesting to see what other people do during practice. You know, you get so used to your daily routine, but I think it’s fun to pick up new ideas and try them when I get back home.

Outside of the pool, things have been getting a little boring. Some of the team took a trip to the beach yesterday. It was really cold and windy though, so we didn’t stay long. It was so pretty. We took lots of pictures and hung out for a little while. Then we went to the outlet mall. I didn’t buy anything but it was nice to get out and walk around.

Well that’s all for now. Time to take a nap!

The week leading up to leaving for Australia was completely hectic. I am a freshman at George Mason, and I decided to take classes this semester so that I could continue living on campus and have more to do than just swim. However, it is weeks like this past one when I severely regret that decision. Months ago I talked to all my professors about missing three weeks of school and thought that it would be OK. But, now that the time has come, it doesnt seem so OK. Trying to get papers turned in, midterms set up, and books packed has been so stressful.

But, somehow it all got done and I am now writing you from sunny LA and I feel so much more relaxed.Our flight to Melbourne was not leaving until Tuesday, but my coach and I decided to leave a day early to break the trip up a bit and spend a day in LA (one of my favorite cities). We arrived late Monday night and checked into our hotel, got dinner and went to bed early.

After an early morning practice and breakfast, I spent the day doing one of my most favorite things: shopping. It was so nice to be in LA and get away from the 30-degree weather back home in Virginia. I went from store to store wanting everything in sight, but had to control myself since my bags are already bursting at the seams. I left with a summer skirt from JCrew and a new pair of sandals.

After another practice at UCLA, we went to the airport (where I am sitting now). Our flight is delayed an hour because of air conditioning problems. It didn’t bother me though since it gave me time to catch up with friends. It is always fun to go on the national team trips because I get to see friends that I otherwise can only keep in touch with on Facebook. So now I am going to go back to talking to friends, and I will see you in Melbourne!