Petria Thomas

t has been pretty hard to settle down after the excitement of the Olympic Selection Trials which were held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre from March 27 – April 3. I was extremely happy with my performances at the trials. I competed in 5 events for a total of 6 personal best times, 4 Commonwealth records, 3 first placings and 1 second placing. I have put myself in contention to swim in 6 events at the Athens Olympic Games, those being the 100 and 200m Butterfly, the 200m Freestyle, the 4x100m and 4x200m Freestyle Relays and the 4x100m Medley Relay. I could not have asked any more of myself.

I have just had a week or so off to recover both physically and mentally from the stress of the trials. It is great sometimes to just get away from swimming and the pool and to be able to relax and do the things that you want to do. I traveled up to Northern NSW to visit my mum and dad for a few days which was good. While I was up there I enjoyed a day at the beach, a day shopping, and a day catching up on everything. I only went to a pool once, just to keep in touch with the water. I was back in Canberra (where I am based at the AIS) for Easter and have enjoyed the last couple of days just catching up with things around my house. I have really enjoyed just hanging out with my husband Julian, and our two dogs, Molly and Kara. They sometimes say that the simple things in life are often the best!

Tomorrow I am back in the pool to continue the journey to the Olympics. Making the 2004 Australian Olympic Swim Team is only half of the job complete. Now it is time to try and find even more ways to get fitter, stronger and faster. I am looking forward to the resumption of the journey to Athens as I believe that I can improve on what I did at the trials. I am not sure exactly what the next few months will hold in terms of training and camps etc., but I know that it will be challenging. Tomorrow I will settle back into a routine of training in the pool and the gym, and regular sessions with my physio. I am pretty sure that I will be in Canberra for the next couple of weeks just getting back into the swing of things. Although I probably haven’t lost a lot of fitness during my week off, it will take me a week or so to feel ok in the water again. Swimming is a very specific fitness that you can lose very quickly, but I think the week off has done me a world of good. It’s now full steam ahead!