Hi Steve,

My reply is a bit late, I've been busy with school. Currently I'm looking at the computer screen in the way those bugzapper lights attract flies. The wonders of writing school reports at midnight....

Anyway, to answer your questions:
I've always been optimistic of my own abilities, so putting myself in your position, I think that with the right determination and guidance, you might have a good shot.

Okay, first of april, that's a almost 2 weeks. *thinks* I have been a swimmer in the past, but I didn't have the time to keep up with the competitive team. I'll try to share some knowledge I've learned though:

- In general, if you want to swim faster, then do most of your work swimming. If you workout 5-6 days a week, then you should swim 4-5 days/week and go to the gym once or twice/week, with one of those gym sessions on a no-swim day and one on a day when you swim. (don't overtrain.) Increasing stress each week, then recovering from that stress at some point, is the idea behind all training plans.

- Now, unlike what most people think, making extra kilometers doesn't help you get faster.

For example:
If you told a 100m runner that the best way to optimize his sprint technique at maximum speed would be to complete many miles a week at 10k pace, he would laugh in your face. Track sprinters focus on workouts and technical drills carried out at high intensity and positively avoid low intensity/long training in the belief that it inhibits power development.

The same must be true of swimming to a large extent; if a swimmer wants to increase stroke efficiency and technique during a competition, surely the best way to do this is to train at target race pace. The more training time is spent at target race pace, the more comfortable it will feel in competition.

This info is not exactly my own, I've picked some up from a documentary about sports at Olympian level (if only I remembered what it was called...) Anyway, it made sense to me and lately I've been trying to increase my running speed, because I've always been a slow-mo and I hate jogging. I like sprinting on the track (interval workouts, yay) and I get a kick out of beating others present. I've been making progress myself, so I hope it helps you too.

Now, for food: increase your proteine intake for muscle building and experiment with carbs. You will know very quickly when you're eating too little carbs: weakness will set in and your results will be meager. Do not be afraid to eat more carbs because you will need the energy. Don't eat right before your workout, it's better to plan meals after your workouts, to maximize your results in the pool.

Anyway, this was a long reply, but I hope it may help you reach your goals. Get a trainer to teach you the crawl technique properly. It might take a while, but don't let him or her leave before you get it right.

Keep me updated on how you're doing!