To Kevin, et al.

Subject: Shopping day

After Michael Phelps breezed to a new world record in the 200 IM and qualified in the 100 butterfly earlier this morning, it turned into a pretty relaxing day. He didn't have any races scheduled for the evening session and could catch his breath before his big duel with Ian Crocker in the 100 fly (which airs live tonight in the U.S.)

It also meant a relaxing afternoon for Phelps' family. When I chatted with Debbie Phelps earlier today, she was in a car, headed back to her hotel. "Today was shopping day," she said. "We have a lot of souvenirs that we need to take home."

At the Olympics, families spend relatively little time around the athletes. They have access to different areas and between training and competition, there’s just not much leftover time to hang out. In fact, on television, when you see Phelps point, smile and shout at his mom and sisters in the stands, that makes up much of their interaction. There are cell phone calls, of course – and text messages.

Anyhow, we chatted about a couple of things. Here’s a few leftovers from the notebook:

On the week:

"This has absolutely been quite an amazing week for my son. He’s taking it one race at a time and he’s been putting on just a phenomenal performance."

On whether she can also compartmentalize the races, as her son does:

"We have to do it like he does. We have no choice. You just have to take it one thing at a time and try to focus on the very next race. It’s the only way we can get through this."

On what she’s seen from her son this week:

"He’s very moved. You can see it when he’s on the medal stand. He’s very emotional over the whole thing. He knows – he appreciates – what’s happening."