Monday 3 August 2026 · Week 8 · TAPER / RACE WEEK · City to Surf Sun 9 Aug — 6 days out. Twenty easy minutes, a doctor's appointment, and nothing that needs to be heroic.
Prep — it's a 15-minute slot, so write the list before you go: lower back · calcium/"shedding" deposits in neck & back · random foot cramps. Ask for all three referrals in one visit — imaging, physio, bloods (electrolytes/magnesium for the cramps). Mention the 14km race on Sunday.
Yesterday's job alerts worth a look in the noon block: Hotel General Manager (Matthews Hospitality, ~$130k) and Brand Manager, QT Hotels & Resorts (EVT) — the QT one is your own network.
Tomorrow: 08:00 AI Education · 09:00 Sleep Co Week 12 (Brand Authority deep dive) · 09:00 Weekly Catch-up with Wanda (Teams). The last two clash — move one.
14 items overnight. None actionable. A clean sweep — job alerts (Indeed ×2, Seek), newsletters (The Rundown AI, Broadsheet, guitar school) and marketing (Uber, Pace Athletic, Lucas Collective, MasterClass, Zenoti, BeFitreat, A Table for Six).
Cleared yesterday: AIPA Term 3 paid (~$208/class/week, ~$840/month, tuition to end September). Chris got into Dad's IRD via the TFA code.
Still open (carried, not new mail): Wanda's BAS Q4-2026 and the Same Group Trust Tax 2026 draft, both MLB Accounting, neither replied to. Read them today so you arrive at tomorrow's 9am with questions, not a blank page.
Week 8 · TAPER / RACE WEEK. City to Surf 14km, Sun 9 Aug — 6 days out. Target ~65min (4:38/km).
The load rule flips this week: it's no longer impact-day budgeting, it's subtraction. Nothing between now and Sunday makes you fitter. Plenty can make you slower. Yesterday's 14km was the last real work — from here it's blood flow, sleep and staying loose.
TODAY — 20min easy Z2 + mobility. One machine, 20 minutes, HR 122–134, nasal breathing throughout. Bike or elliptical — no rower (it loads the lower back, and that's what the 1:30 appointment is about). Then 15–20min mobility: dead hangs, couch stretch, pigeon, calf/soleus, legs up the wall. No strength, no chin-ups, no intervals.
If it feels too easy, it's working. Hydrate and salt with meals all week — cramps are a hydration story before they're a muscle story.
TOMORROW (Tue 4 Aug) — 3km shakeout + strides. Easy 3km at 5:40–6:00/km, HR under 140, then 6×100m strides at race pace with full walk-back. Springy, never worked.
One genuinely new artefact: About Rhys/Interviews/2026-08-02_interview-energy-and-focus.md — Round 9, prepared and awaiting your answers. Six questions on where your energy actually comes from and what quietly drains it.
It's the last unrun area on the roadmap and it's pointed straight at the "I take on too much" pattern. Fifteen minutes by voice. Worth doing this week precisely because it's taper week — you have the time and you're not allowed to train.
Everything else with a fresh timestamp is Brain Sync housekeeping from the 2 Aug run: _INDEX, the Context Pack, the Same Group dashboard, the profile.
Six days out. The work is done — now get out of your own way.
Monday · Week 8 — TAPER / RACE WEEK · Easy Z2 + Mobility. City to Surf Sun 9 Aug — 6 days out.
Warm-up (5min) — 3min brisk walk, then ankle rocks ×15/side and leg swings ×10 each direction/side. Nothing that pushes HR past 120.
Main set — 20min low-impact Z2. HR 122–134 (low-Z2 base), nasal breathing the whole way. One machine — bike or elliptical. No rower today (loads the lower back; you see the doctor about exactly that at 13:30).
Mobility (15–20min) — the actual point of today:
Cool-down / rest of day — sauna if it's there and you're hydrated. Hydrate and salt with meals all week: cramps are a hydration/electrolyte story before they're a muscle story.
No strength today. No chin-ups. No intervals. If it feels too easy, it's working. Deliberately easy means you could hold this for two hours.
3km shakeout at 5:40–6:00/km (HR under 140), then 6×100m strides at roughly race pace with full walk-back recovery, plus 10min mobility. Legs should feel springy, never worked.
Weights logging coming soon.