Everyone gushes about Taupo when they talk about the north island of NZ. We couldn’t wait to get there, so booked 3 nights in a country house, minutes from the infamous lake. Just in time for a rest day for Michiel!
When travelling so much, it’s always needed to take days to do nothing – soak up the local surroundings, reset the batteries and focus on the task ahead. Especially with the intensity of the training we are doing, resting is just as crucial as exercising is.
What a place to rest in.
After the rest comes the bike riding, as they say! No? Well for us it was bike day the next day, and with some local recommendations on routes, it was time for a smaller 40-50km ride for Michiel.
Enjoying the lake routes.
It is important at this stage of training to not ‘go long’ every time he bikes. As much as Michiel always wants to be challenged, smaller, faster rides are going to get him to the desired fitness, much quicker and more efficiently than a lot of long rides per week, which would take longer to recover, burn his muscles/body out completely, and have much higher likelihood of injury.We want to avoid chronic cardio self-destruction at all costs!
Our usually schedule would include a run next, but I am trying to keep impact to the knee at a minimum for the next week, so swimming – here we come! Wetsuit purchased (fun to watch him try it on for the first time…), the nerves kicked in… it was time for Michiel’s first EVER open water swim…
