Welcome to the second issue of The Dana Diaries: My Journey To London. This series will feature articles written by Olympic Gold Medalist and World Champion Dana Vollmer featuring her journey leading up to the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Dana will describe her adventures, challenges and the fun she's having along the way.

She has an Olympic medal from 2008, and was an important part of Stanford’s return to greatness at NCAAs, narrowly missing out on a team title two years ago. Elaine Breeden takes her Olympic medal and a degree from Stanford into the future.

Recently there has been more conversation than normal regarding the culpability of high yardage or high volume training programs and their contribution to athlete’s injuries and illnesses. The debaters seem to have aligned themselves into traditional camps: High Volume vs. Less Volume. Maybe there is another way of addressing the issue.

Coaches and athletes are always looking for an exercise to round out their dry-land programs. The burpee, when performed correctly and with proper instruction, is not only a challenging and effective body-weight exercise, but it can be manipulated to be easier or harder depending on the skill of an athlete. Additionally, the burpee is also an ideal warm-up exercise for the entire body.

Last week we met Joe Pascale, the Curl-Burke swimmer and occasional MMA warrior who is chasing his Olympic Trials dream. Joe’s most noticeable physical characteristic is a gigantic beard. This week, I talk to Joe about that beard.

National Team member Eugene Godsoe talks about his elevated expectations for the 2012 Olympic Trials as well as his method for dealing with nervousness before a big race.

Arthur Frayler had one particular record in mind when he dove into the 500 freestyle finals at last weekend’s Eastern Interscholastic Swimming and Diving Championships. Before the 500 free finals, to relax, Frayler listened to music. He was on a mission. He had one shot to get this record.

In their few short years as a team, the swimmers at Virginia’s Shark Tank Racing Squad have been no strangers to giving back in a variety of ways to a variety of causes. This Sunday 37 team members will take on a cause close to the heart of coach and co-founder Patty Friedman by swimming 5,000 meters each to help find a cure for breast cancer.