"There are just three and a half weeks to go before I compete at the World Championships in Rome.

After the long flight back home from the USA two weeks ago we had a few easier days at training which we certainly appreciated.

We were originally supposed to race at the Telstra Grand Prix in Melbourne on the weekend of June 20-21 just a few days after we returned but Swimming Australia was forced to cancel the event due to an increase in the number of cases of swine flu in Melbourne.

Instead we conducted our own time trials at the AIS in Canberra on that weekend where I swam a 200m Freestyle trial and recorded my fourth fastest time ever of 1:48.65. I was happy with that and was actually quite surprised with how fast the time was as I was tired and fatigued after lots of hard training, racing and travelling in the USA.

Over the past 10 days my training has been going well and I have increased the volume again to make sure the fitness I gained in Flagstaff at altitude stays with me until Rome.

To support this, for the next two weeks I will be sleeping in the "altitude house" at the AIS. The room in which I will be staying is simulated to 3000m above sea level so it gives us a lesser supply of oxygen to hopefully increase the amount of red blood cells in the body.

After my time in the altitude house, I will be flying to Manchester on July 14th for the Australian Team's staging camp. Many of the swimmers on this year's Worlds team have been preparing in either Europe or the USA over the last 3 months but everyone will meet up again in Manchester for a week of training before going across to Rome to compete."