UNIVERSAL CITY, California - Michael Phelps is sleek and swift churning laps in a pool. Moving on dry land is tougher for the eight-time Olympic medalist.

He tripped and fell while getting into a car two weeks ago in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he's training for the Beijing Games. Phelps tried to brace himself with his right hand and ended up breaking a small bone in his wrist.

"I'm a fish out of water. I'm a clumsy person," he said, grinning. "I fell and went to catch myself and I just tweaked it the wrong way."

Doctors inserted a pin to stabilize his wrist, allowing Phelps to return to training sooner. A thin scar is the only evidence of his mishap.

"It's fine. Everything's going as we planned," he said. "We were taking it very, very cautiously and just trying to get it to heal as fast as we could so we could get back to swimming."

Phelps was in Southern California on Monday to publicize a Swim to Beijing Relay that will benefit swimming education programs across the United States. The 6,250-lap relay symbolizes the mileage between Los Angeles and Beijing.

At home in Ann Arbor, a clock on the wall at the pool ticks off the time remaining until Phelps' third Olympics. He will again try to break Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven gold medals. Phelps just missed in 2004, leaving Athens with six golds and two bronzes.

"Under 300 days. It's going to be here before we know it," he said, his hands jammed in the pockets of his black jeans. "It's a crucial time for me to get back at it and I know if I don't, nothing is possible. My goals are still the same."

Phelps will test his repaired wrist during a meet in Atlanta at the end of the month. After Christmas, he'll head to Colorado for altitude training before opening his competitive season in January in Long Beach.

He says he is wiser after becoming the in-demand star of the Athens Olympics.

"I really was a deer in headlights," he said. "Having Sydney and what I went through in Athens happen, I'm pretty much ready for just about anything that comes."