A Day in the Life: Matt Lenton, Day 1

Last year was our first Big Ten Championship win in more than 20 years! Under the guidance of head coach Ray Looze, we are aiming to defend our title at this year's Big Ten meet. But don't be fooled, this year will host some of the most competitive athletes ever seen and we are not taking this lightly.

I spent the morning taking it easy (having the morning off) and attending class before coming home to do some study before practice.

These last few days coming into Ohio, I'm trying to make sure I stay well hydrated meaning I'm drinking plenty of water during the day. Before heading to practice, I spend 30 or so minutes stretching at my apartment, listening to music and relaxing in general before heading to the pool.

At this point of the year, we are finishing up our final taper and really taking it easy. This afternoon, I spent about 1,200 just loosening up and really trying to focus on my body position and keeping a tight ball going through my turns. Then we got into some 25m descend stroke rates where I was able to imitate my intended stroke rate for a 50 and 100 freestyle later next week. From there, I moved into a 400 kick with fins and a snorkel really trying to hold a perfect body position while rotating my shoulders.

Working with head sprint coach Donny Brush is really good because it allows me to really focus in on some skills I may have neglected earlier this year – and his program allows for this inclusion. In saying that – my next set was 12 x 25s working feel of the water drills and maintaining a constant kick while breathing. After this, our newest coach (and former IU swimmer) Ryan Millard and I worked on some dives and changeovers, really working breakouts and body position.

At times, especially during these high-pressure meets, people can become agitated and nervous so it's important to keep the humor and laughs up around the squad. So, after filling my teammates' bags with weights and letting them sink to the bottom, I did a few more dives and talked with the coaches a bit more before doing a 400 cool down and calling it a day.

After a quick drink to replace lost fluid and energy from the previous session I packed my things and headed on home to have a cooked dinner before relaxing in front of the TV and heading to bed.

Speak to you tomorrow.