I’m back in full time training and loving it. I feel good, better than I have in a long time, and with my European meets on the horizon I know I can only get better.

I hope the Barcelona meet is at the old Olympic Pool from 1992, it has the most spectacular backdrop.

Unfortunately I won’t see much of Europe other than pools and hotels, but will try and take some photos and post them on the blog.

I fly out to Europe on Monday and will be competing in Rome, Barcelona and Monaco over a 2 1/2 week period. I will be contesting the 200, 400 and 800 metres freestyle events, but I am not expecting it to be easy, as Michael Phelps heads the list of competitors, and he is the man at the moment!

I don’t necessarily expect to win, but more to swim my own race and do the best I can as I continue to build on my preparation for Beijing.

You can train as hard as you like, but the competitive edge you get from racing is hard to rival. I actually went up to Townsville for a distance training camp, and continued to improve, my progression has been very good.

So much so, that I would say it has been my best first month of training ever, and with continued effort and dedication to it, I think I could be back to my best in a few months time.

I just have to keep chipping away, and during my European adventure I will not only be racing but also training.

It’s important for me to take these steps forward as we roll towards Beijing next year, I think when I missed training and racing after my shoulder injury that I didn’t fully realise the value of racing, as well as training, but I do now!

Outside of swimming I can tell you that Candice is good and she is working hard on her album, so unfortunately she won’t be coming with me to Europe.

I am also enjoying watching Daniel Kowalski on ‘It Takes Two’. I’m not at all surprised that he is killing it; Daniel was always one of the good singers on the swim team. We don’t see as much of each other these days but I hope he continues to perform well and bust out those classic Split Enz dance moves.

I’ll write again after I return from Europe – Grant.