Australian swimmer Bobby Hurley is a former world-record holder in the short course meters (SCM) 50m backstroke and the 2012 world champion in the same event. In 2009, he won a bronze medal as part of Australia's 4x200m freestyle relay at the FINA World Championships in Rome. He has five FINA World Championship medals to his name -- two gold, one silver, and two bronze. Most recently, Hurley coached with Energy Standard Teamand led South African swimmers Cameron Van Der Burgh and Chad Le Clos to success at the 2017 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, in July.

Hurley is making a comeback to competitive swimming with his eyes set on the 2018 Commonwealth Games Trials in April in Gold Coast, Australia. Along with his coach Tim Lane, Hurley is giving us behind-the-scenes access of his training sessions for 30 days. Stay tuned!

Day No. 12 (SCM)

Saturday AM -- October 14th

Today was my first “race” since last December. The goal this morning was to just feel comfortable putting on a suit again and mentally getting into race mode, as it has been quite a while. With the Australian Short Course Nationals coming up in 12 days, which will be my first official comeback to competition, now was a good time to see where I am when it comes to pure racing numbers.

I’m really happy with how the race went. My instincts and feeling of the effort was very familiar for me -- counting underwater kicks, counting strokes, and hitting every turn and breakout, so I was pleased with that. Of course it’s always nice to get the result that follows from the process. Very happy with a 52.0 100 SCM backstroke, it is the same time I went last August before I raced on the World Cup circuit. So from this much shorter preparation, I will take confidence out of this performance leading up to my competitions in the next month.

Time trials aren’t everything, but they are something…

400 fins – warm up

4x50 fins drill

3x25 Kick -- desc. 1-3

3x25 Paddles Right arm -- desc. 1-3

3x25 Paddles Left arm -- desc. 1-3

50 easy

1x15 UW + breakout!

2x turn + glide!

1x10m finish!

{10 mins -- put on jammer}

2x25 @ 90%, 95%

1x50 easy

{ ~2 mins rest}

SCM 100m Back Time Trial {from a push}

52.08 – 25.29/26.79

• 12.04
• 13.25
• 13.53
• 13.26

12x100 fins cool down

2,500m TOTAL