Daily training journal — building toward IRONMAN 70.3 Melbourne.

Water feels warm on my shoulders. The pool is already awake. Easy laps first, breathing every three. After a few hundred, the catch lands, the exhale settles, heart rate steady. A few short builds with paddles show me where the water pushes back. No heroics, just rhythm. I climb out with arms heavy in a good way. Evening strength is simple: push, pull, hold. I keep the rests honest. The pause at the top of rows bites. Press feels better than last week. Enough.

Breathing became much, much easier. What is impossible? Today I had a strong swim session. Breathing became much, much easier, though this 1.9 km task is still impossible where I am today. Got up in the morning and had a banana smoothie with berries, protein powder, and creatine. Going to Jaipur, but the planning was such that I would do a swim session before I leave. For it, for Jaipur, there is no more priority in life currently.

Waking up every morning before 5 cannot be externally motivated. MORNING If the race day is externally motivated and I agree that maybe the race day I can prove a lot of people, I am doing the race to prove a lot of people of what I am worth, but waking up every morning before 5 cannot be externally motivated. You cannot do this to prove other people of what you are worth. You wake up every morning to race your game, to prove it to yourself. Oh my god, how difficult can breathing be.

The fan hum is the only sound in the room. 79 minutes on the trainer. Cadence steady around the mid-80s, heart rate settled after the first ten minutes and stayed controlled. Legs felt available in a way they haven’t all week. Hamstrings looser from the extra stretching the last two days. I kept it aerobic and could have stayed on longer, but didn’t need to. Evening swim after work. Pool already busy, two to a lane.

Got up before the alarm. MORNING Working on a structured schedule seems better for training every day. Today I got up before the alarm and interval training, 2 minutes on, 1 minute off, 2 minutes on, 1 minute off. This is my 3rd maybe 4th week of interval training. Today the interval training seemed relatively that bit easier than the previous weeks. The body is getting accustomed to running at a higher pace level with elevated heart rate. The run was 27 minutes at 5:24/km (avg HR 167).

Sleep is way out of control. MORNING Swim at 5:30 meant waking at 4:30, and this routine is not survivable. Even with people over for dinner last night, they left reasonably on time, but it still feels like I’m borrowing from somewhere I can’t pay back. I got through the laps and kept it steady (53 minutes, avg HR 122), but I felt the edges of fatigue the whole time.

Short sleep and an early swim. Even though we were out last night, we ensured that we reach home on a reasonable time and I was in bed by 11 to wake up at 4.50am. It was a short sleep. Today is actually my rest day, however these days my rest days are active recovery days. Swimming started early, normal drills, some single arm strokes then double arm strokes, freestyle is getting better but it's still a long long way to go. I am keeping trust in the process that the process will lead me to where I want to get.

The week arrived fragmented. Week of May 11–17 A family wedding pushed Monday into a scramble, and I missed the 5 a.m. alarm by thirty minutes—small but it mattered. What became clear by Thursday was that the body has started accepting the rhythm. Swim drills that felt clumsy a month ago have settled into muscle memory. The intervals no longer feel foreign. Something is taking hold. The pool stayed modest.

Sun already sharp on the balcony. When you can wake up in the morning and look at the sun in its eyes and say good morning. Today, my elder daughter is getting an athlete of the year award in the school. Unfortunately, I could not attend it because I was doing my long run practice today. Situations like this, you question yourself if you are being selfish or you are being focused, there is no right answer for it.

Sleep feels like a skill I never learned. 41 years old and still, till date, why did no one teach me how to sleep and why is sleep so important? As I am learning different aspects of endurance sports, I am learning my body is teaching me recovery, and sleep is also important. Which I have ignored till date. I wonder why did no one teach me this in school or my family or my friends taught me why sleep is important.

Body felt better after sleeping on time. MORNING When life starts to adapt to your goals. I've been asking my wife for quite some days to go out on a date. Luckily she accepted to go on an early dinner and ice cream date last night. We were back home on time by 9.30 p.m., in the bed by 10, slept on time, and woke up before 5 a.m. Today was day on Thursday. We usually run with Adidas Running Club. It's a speed day workout. We do interval training.

Sometimes when even baby steps disappear. MORNING Again it was an easy day, keeping my ego out, not pushing myself, not pushing my body, just working on adaptation zone 2 training. Swimming was same as yesterday, no progress at all, but confidence in future that I will be able to make it. I have still keeping faith in six months’ time that I will be able to learn how to swim and swim without exhaustion almost two kilometers in Melbourne.