Bob Bowman

It was a swimmer's version of a busman's holiday: During some rare time off last week from her intense training at Baltimore's Meadowbrook pool, Allison Schmitt decided to visit ... the National Aquarium. “When I saw the dolphins,” Schmitt said with a laugh Thursday, “I wanted to jump in.” Such is the single-minded focus of swimmers such as Schmitt, a bronze medalist in the 2008 Olympics, and among those competing here this week in the Indianapolis Grand Prix. It's among the final tune-ups before the qualifying trials in June for the London games in July.

Michael Phelps won his second gold medal of the Columbus Grand Prix by cruising to victory in the 200-meter butterfly Saturday. His time of 1 minute, 55.17 seconds unofficially is the fastest in the world this year. "It's my second-fastest in-season time ever," said Phelps, of Baltimore. "I guess I can't complain too much, but I wanted to break [1:55]. There's some little, small stupid things that I shouldn't be making mistakes doing — a couple of walls I was long on and breathing off the first stroke the last two 50s. It wasn't very good.

With the Shanghai Championships behind him ("Wait for London, Phelps Declares" Aug. 1), Michael Phelps and his coach, Bob Bowman, have a year to get our Baltimore Olympic star back on top. Mr. Phelps thrives on competition, and a few defeats only inspire him to become faster and stronger. Besides, every time Ryan Lochte handed Mr. Phelps a narrow defeat last week, it was after Mr. Lochte had a day of rest, while Mr. Phelps was competing in race after race as he always does. Until Mr. Lochte competes in as many races as Mr. Phelps, a few wins on his part will never outshine Baltimore's eight gold medal Olympic winner.

Olympic hero and Baltimore native Michael Phelps is in North Carolina this weekend for the Charlotte UltraSwim, where he will get another tune-up for July's world championships in Shanghai. In April, Phelps lost a 200-meter butterfly race for the first time since 2002, and he wasn’t very happy about it. In an interview with Sports Illustrated prior to this weekend’s meet, Phelps admitted that “there were times over the last two years where I was probably trying to do the bare minimum, and it shows.” He was corrected by longtime coach Bob Bowman, who quipped, "Beyond the bare minimum.” I guess hitting the pool in Las Vegas last month didn’t count.

It has been quite awhile, arguably more than three years, since Michael Phelps was able to focus solely on the sport of swimming. After winning eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Phelps not only felt like he'd lose his mind if he continued his laser-like focus on breaking world records, he also felt like it was important for him to promote the sport in ways that extended beyond dominating in the pool. That meant going to events, appearing on television, focusing on endorsements and growing his brand.

Michael Phelps has struck endorsement deals to promote athletic clothing for Under Armour and sandwiches for Subway. His next pitch: pricey "swim spas. " The 25-year-old Rodgers Forge native, the most decorated Olympian in history, with 14 gold medals in swimming, has teamed up with an Indiana company to design and market a new line of mini-pools, in which users swim against a current of water. Master Spas, of Fort Wayne, said Phelps and his coach, Bob Bowman, worked with the company's engineers to design six swim spas for home use as well as professional spas for fitness centers, universities and physical therapy centers.

Some days, Michael Phelps clearly wouldn't mind if he could swap the rest of his competitive swimming career and replace it with an amateur golfing career. Instead of rising at dawn to swim thousands of laps until his muscles burned in preparation for the London Olympics in 2012, he could spent his afternoons virtually anonymous, crushing mammoth drives, dropping long putts and joking with friends. But disappearing from the spotlight and living a life of leisure, Phelps knows, would make it harder to accomplish some of the goals he vowed to achieve when his Olympic career was taking off: raise the profile of swimming, help more people learn how to swim and raise money through his foundation to help kids lead healthier lives.

Michael Phelps withdrew today from the preliminary heats of the 200-meter individual medley at the Pan Pacific Championships here, meaning there would be no rematch against rival Ryan Lochte in the event. "Michael is going to skip the 200 IM this morning so he can concentrate on the [medley] relay tonight," his coach Bob Bowman told reporters in the mixed zone before the heats. "The reason for that [is] it's going to take three really good swims to get through that and that at this point, neither one of us feel like he's got three really good ones.

Satisfaction remained an elusive concept for Michael Phelps . Disappointment? Exhaustion? Yes, those were in reach. But maybe it was a mixture of both after Phelps, who lives in Fells Point, won the 200-meter butterfly Wednesday night at the Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in 1 minute, 54.11 seconds. This was, after all, a far cry from his most recent experience in the event, a win at the nationals here earlier this month. It was a race he called probably his "worst" 200 fly ever.