Garrett Weber-Gale talks about the importance of focusing on good nutrition during meets.

It’s been almost 14 years since Ben Lecomte spent 73 days in the often treacherous, always uncertain conditions of a grueling 3,700-mile swim across the Atlantic Ocean. What kept him moving forward was the reason he was doing the first-ever trek without the aid of a kick board: to honor and recognize his father, who after 18 months of fighting, succumbed to colon cancer in 1991.

Can swimmers really get away with eating whatever they want? After all, swimmers are getting more than the recommended amount of exercise each day and burning a significant amount of calories. Or should young swimmers (and their parents) pay more attention to food and nutrition?

Since the rule change that introduced the butterfly kick within the breaststroke underwater pull, there have been questions as to how and when it should be implemented while conforming to the rules of USA Swimming.

In many pools, it is easy for swimmers to “cheat” their breaststroke and butterfly turns. With an open gutter at water-level, it is easy to wrap your fingers over the edge and pull yourself in to help the turn. However, this action actually hurts turn speed.

This week as part of “Trials and Tribulations” we talk with Lisa Boyce about the mental aspects of swimming, the difficulties of “over-thinking” a race, and her goals for the upcoming Olympic Trials.

She swam for the University of Texas before deciding to switch to Longhorn Aquatics but maintain her studies at UT, and now, 2008 Olympic alum Kathleen Hersey is ready for a run at the 2012 Olympic Trials. She’s also coping with personal loss, as she explains in this week’s 20 Question Tuesday.

After swimming a blistering 53.58 in 2006 to shatter the American record in the 100 freestyle, expectations were at an all-time high for Amanda Weir to make her second Olympic team. What happened instead gripped Weir’s psyche for months. She swam some of the worst races of her career and failed to make the Olympic team.