Episode 7 and I'm deep in a taper this week, so that's what this one's about.

I'm racing Perth Hyrox on Saturday, and rather than talk about something I'm not currently doing, I wanted to break down tapering while I'm actually in the middle of it.

I cover what a taper really is, why doing less is the hardest part of getting to a start line fast and fresh, and why so many people get it wrong by either doing nothing or doing way too much.

I walk through my exact taper into Perth day by day, and the single biggest rule: your taper has to be built off your own training volume, not copied from someone who trains completely differently to you.

I also get into the mental side. This is the first race in a long time where I feel genuinely ready, my fitness is the best it's been, and I talk about why that's more nerve-wracking than turning up undercooked.

Then: damper settings on the ski and row and how I actually think about them, why race SIMs aren't as useful as most people believe, and the training block I'm building after Perth (there's some Crossfit-style stuff coming back in).

I'm also dropping a new 12, 10 and 8 week Hyrox program in the lead-up to Hyrox Melbourne. If you want in early, links are below.

📲 Instagram: ~[https://www.instagram.com/anthony__dipaolo/](https://www.instagram.com/anthony__dipaolo/)~

💪🏻 Work with me: ~[https://forms.gle/NFJZ7osvnh5KtzaGA](https://forms.gle/NFJZ7osvnh5KtzaGA)~

🧬 Myprotein — code ANTH for up to 50% off: ~[https://creatorlink.shop/3PBzBef](https://creatorlink.shop/3PBzBef)~

👟 LSKD — code ANTH-LSKD for 15% off: ~[https://www.lskd.co/?ref=vrwrgiyi](https://www.lskd.co/?ref=vrwrgiyi)~

🍁 Maple Movement — code ANTH for 10% off: ~[https://maplemovement.com/anthonydipaolo](https://maplemovement.com/anthonydipaolo)~

💤 Hyperbolic Sleep — code ANTH for 15% off: ~[https://www.hyperbolicsleep.com](https://www.hyperbolicsleep.com/)~

This is the episode I'd make myself sit down and listen to five or ten years ago.

If I had, I'd be fitter now. I'd be a better athlete.

I wasted years training for the athlete I wished I was instead of the one who actually showed up, and it cost me.

That gap between where you are and where you wish you were is what slows you down.

You chase paces slightly ahead of where you're at, week after week, and a few months later you're injured, burnt out, or going backwards.

I've done it more times than I'd like to admit. This block I'm 12 weeks into coaching myself and it's the best I've ever felt, purely because I stopped chasing a version of me that didn't exist and started training where I actually am.

I talk through the ego trap, the Strava obsession, why wishing feels like ambition but isn't, and the one idea that fixes all of it: the purpose of the session is the purpose of the session.

Plus a listener question on fuelling around high and low training days, and a proper look at how I rebuilt after Brisbane. If I hadn't pulled myself back, there's no way I'd be sitting here talking about a sub-60.

No script. No edits. Just a real life Run Down.

• Why I'm not actually the biggest athlete to go sub-60 (and who is)

• Week 12 of coaching myself: the best block I've ever had

• Coach what you know, not what you don't

• Training for where you are vs where you wish you were

• The ego trap and the Strava obsession

• Why wishing feels like ambition but sends you backwards

• What overreaching actually costs you

• The Brisbane rebuild that made sub-60 possible

• The purpose of the session is the purpose of the session

• How to actually build toward a goal (the sub-25 5K analogy)

• Listener Q: fuelling around high and low training days

• Ambition vs wishing, and coaching someone out of the wish gap

📲 Instagram: ~[https://www.instagram.com/anthony__dipaolo/](https://www.instagram.com/anthony__dipaolo/)~

💪🏻 Work with me: ~[https://forms.gle/NFJZ7osvnh5KtzaGA](https://forms.gle/NFJZ7osvnh5KtzaGA)~

🧬 Myprotein — code ANTH for up to 50% off: ~[https://creatorlink.shop/3PBzBef](https://creatorlink.shop/3PBzBef)~

👟 LSKD — code ANTH-LSKD for 15% off: ~[https://www.lskd.co/?ref=vrwrgiyi](https://www.lskd.co/?ref=vrwrgiyi)~

🍁 Maple Movement — code ANTH for 10% off: ~[https://maplemovement.com/anthonydipaolo](https://maplemovement.com/anthonydipaolo)~

Sydney Hyrox. 59:32.

The time I've been chasing for two years is gone, and it happened because I raced in a way that sounds completely backwards.

This one's the full recap. The week, the seminar, the race play-by-play, and honestly the strangest part, hitting a goal I've wanted forever and it not feeling anything like I thought it would.

The big thing I want you to take from this one is a race strategy that sounds wrong. I stopped trying to make up time on my weaknesses and just leaned into what I'm good at. Pushed the sleds, sent the burpees, backed my runs to hold. And they did.

Plus how I dissect a race afterwards so you can do it to your own, why temperature might matter more than you think for a fast course, the burpees turning into an actual weapon, and what's next heading into Perth.

Maple Movement gels are the sponsor this episode.

Code ANTH for 10% off.

No script. No edits.

Just a real life Run Down.

📲 Instagram: ~[https://www.instagram.com/anthony__dipaolo/](https://www.instagram.com/anthony__dipaolo/)~

💪🏻 Work with me: ~[https://forms.gle/NFJZ7osvnh5KtzaGA](https://forms.gle/NFJZ7osvnh5KtzaGA)~

🧬 Myprotein — code ANTH for up to 50% off: ~[https://creatorlink.shop/3PBzBef](https://creatorlink.shop/3PBzBef)~

👟 LSKD — code ANTH-LSKD for 15% off: ~[https://www.lskd.co/?ref=vrwrgiyi](https://www.lskd.co/?ref=vrwrgiyi)~

🍁 Maple Movement — code ANTH for 10% off: ~[https://maplemovement.com/anthonydipaolo](https://maplemovement.com/anthonydipaolo)~

💤 Hyperbolic Sleep — code ANTH for 15% off: ~[https://www.hyperbolicsleep.com](https://www.hyperbolicsleep.com/)~