IRON.MEHTA · MISSION CONTROLOn the quiet work that holds a week together
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. Four sessions totalled just under five kilometres, most of it drill work and single-arm focus rather than volume. Progress felt invisible on the surface—no big distance days, no breakthrough moments—but the consistency was there. By Friday I stopped chasing the feeling of improvement and accepted the micro-step. In Melbourne, two kilometres will come. That faith is quieter now than it was three weeks ago.
Bikes were easier. Seventy-three kilometres across three sessions, mostly zone 2 turbo work and one longer Sunday ride that built to forty-two kilometres (98 minutes). The indoor trainer days felt like recovery time compared to the running load. Nothing hurt. Nothing demanded anything I wasn't ready to give.
Runs carried the week. Forty-three kilometres in six sessions, including Thursday's intervals with the Adidas running club—800s, 400s, 200s—and Saturday's long run to fifteen kilometres through Delhi's heat. By Saturday the nutrition strategy clicked. Homemade mango and date gels, electrolyte water, better fuelling than the previous week's crash. The pace held even as temperature climbed to thirty-six degrees. The body is learning that sweating is not the enemy.
Recovery remains the open question. Sleep still feels like something I'm learning rather than something I do well. Seven hours is rare. But the week contained friends showing up—Rhythm calling to drag me to the gym, running partners holding the pace steady, my wife returning the invitation for early dinners and rest. The body does not improve alone.
Next week: prioritise the sleep debt and trust that the training will hold while recovery catches up.
The body does not improve alone.
─ 175 days to IRONMAN 70.3 Melbourne ─
