I have just returned from my first competitive outing of the season at the Canada Cup which was held in Toronto over the weekend. As I sit here shirtless on my verandah it is very obvious to me that I am not cut out for winter and the Canadian cold.

I raced the 50 and 100m freestyle as well as the 100 Individual Medley. These are the events that I plan to compete in at the World Championships in Dubai next month. The plan was to race hard and and to work out the kinks so to speak, to see how I would react to certain situations and to film and learn from the mistakes that I am making in the hope of fixing before Dubai.

As always it’s a work in progress. I felt like I was constantly accelerating then slowing down. I will work on this for my 100 where rhythm is of the utmost importance.

The 50 was solid but I over swam the final after missing my dive. Overswimming means fighting up too much, not being relaxed and fluid. I guess after the dive went terribly I pushed the big red panic button.

My IM came through as pleasant surprise. The walls were rusty but its wasn’t bad, meet record and good enough for the 18th fastest time in the world. I know I will be faster in all 3 events in Dubai with some rest and some sharpening up.

There were some great dives and one or two that really cost me, the same goes for the turns. So I have my list of things to work on, and If I can get them all down I expect to be extremely fast.So all things considered the trip to Canada was a success. I came out undefeated, learned from my mistakes and am back in the racing mindset.

>