BEIJING (AP) _ There’s no such thing as a day off when you’re chasing history.

For Michael Phelps, this is as close as it gets.

Phelps is a perfect 5-for-5 in his quest to win a record eight medals, picking up two on Wednesday with a pair of world-record swims. He’ll still be in the pool Thursday, but there will be no medals on the line.

He had three races on Wednesday, also swimming a preliminary heat in the 200-meter individual medley in what was a long day for the star of these games.

“I’m just trying to get through everything,” he said. “It’s a lot of racing and it’s not easy.”

He gets a breather on Thursday when Phelps has no medals on the line. His only events are semifinal heats in the 200 IM and 100-meter butterfly.

He earned it after his showing Wednesday made him the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals. He also has five world records in five events at the Beijing Games.

Phelps won the 200-meter butterfly in the morning, and followed it an hour later by swimming leadoff in a runaway victory by the U.S. 800 freestyle relay team. The group shattered the old world mark by more than four seconds as the Americans became the first team ever to break the 7-minute barrier.

“He is just another person, but maybe from a different planet,” said Alexander Sukhorukov, who swam the anchor leg for the second-place Russians.

Phelps is now all alone at the top of the career golds list, with three more chances to stretch his lead before he leaves China.

But it’s no gimmee going forward: Phelps must beat good friend Ryan Lochte in the 200 IM. Phelps was sixth in preliminaries, while Lochte posted the fastest time.

For Lochte, he’s preparing for what could be a mission impossible. Aside from trying to beat Phelps in IM, he’s working toward a rematch with defending Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol in the 200 backstroke. The two Americans qualified 1-2 for the event in which they share the world record.

Lochte ended Peirsol’s seven-year winning streak in the 200 back at last year’s world championships in Australia, where he also took away Peirsol’s world record. The American duo resumed their rivalry resumed at the U.S. trials in July, when Peirsol avenged his loss.

Meanwhile, defending champion Amanda Beard failed to advance out of the 200 breaststroke prelims. The four-time Olympian was a sluggish 2.57 seconds off her personal best and left her 18th.

Her Olympic record was also lost, erased by teammate Rebecca Soni, who was more than a full second better than Beard’s mark of 2:23.37.

Eric Shanteau’s dramatic Olympic effort ended when he didn’t advance in the semifinals of the 200-meter breaststroke despite swimming his personal best.

Now he will return to Atlanta for surgery on the testicular cancer he was diagnosed with last month.

“It’s my best time, so I’m happy about that, but obviously it’s frustrating that I’m not going to be in the final,” he said. “I’m not going to let it weigh me down too much because I’ve got a much bigger battle to take care of in about two weeks.”