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/)~

Back from Stockholm and this is the full breakdown. The race, the week, the controversy, and the one thing I couldn't stop thinking about after.

Solo race went one second slower than Brisbane. On paper that's backwards. In practice it was probably my best Hyrox to date — best burpee time in 18 months, first unbroken wall balls in a while, and I came off the course feeling like an actual athlete rather than someone who just survived. I'm calling that a win.

What's really sitting with me though is watching how many people crossed the finish line at a World Championship and immediately started apologising to themselves. I've been that person. It sucks. And I wanted to talk about it properly.

Also this week: surviving a week in Stockholm as a vegan, the LSKD city tour, how I fluked my way into a Puma seeding suite and walked out with seven pairs of shoes, the Elite 15 race drama (Hunter's penalties, the Cole DQ, Dylan Scott's insane win), the new Hyrox rules and why I'm a bit worried about the direction the sport is heading, and three races in Sydney coming up.

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

• Stockholm travel and jet lag management

• Surviving a week in Europe as a vegan

• LSKD content day and city tour

• The Puma seeding suite

• Walk of Nations and athlete check-in

• Elite 15 races: women's and men's (Hunter, Cole DQ, Dylan Scott)

• Solo race breakdown: burpee breakthrough, unbroken wall balls, heat and humidity

• Will Martin's burpee tip that changed everything

• Open doubles with Ben

• Sunday island day and relay

• Why watching people beat themselves up after their race was hard to see

• How to define a good race beyond just the time

• Self-coaching update post-Stockholm

• New Hyrox rules breakdown and honest take

• Concerns about Hyrox's direction as a sport

• Three races in Sydney: solo pro, open doubles, mixed doubles with Amy

📲 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/)~

Episode 3, and by the time this drops I'm somewhere over the ocean flying home from Stockholm. I recorded this one early so I could keep the fortnightly thing actually happening. So this is me before the race, not after.

Here's where I'm at with my running. Six months ago I couldn't string two weeks together without my hip falling apart. Right now I'm five weeks deep over 50km and feeling strong.

The fix wasn't more training. It was finally addressing the thing that was holding me back instead of working around it. I get into exactly what changed.

The other big one this episode: I reckon I wasted the better part of 7 years of strength training. Not because I wasn't working hard, but because I was lifting in no man's land and never resting properly between sets.

I talk through what I'd do differently, and why I now get more out of one proper strength session a week than I used to get out of a pile of half-arsed ones.

Plus how I'm thinking about Stockholm. No PB chasing, just a race that feels good. And why mileage matters less than people give it credit for.

Then a big batch of your questions: progressing from Open to World Champs, unbroken wall balls, the biggest mistake I see endurance athletes making, and what proper strength training actually looks like for Hyrox.

Fuelled by Myprotein. Code ANTH for up to 50% off.

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

What's covered:

• Why my running broke down, and the one thing that actually fixed it

• Five weeks over 50km and feeling strong for the first time in ages

• Training now vs 12 months ago, and why changing coaches didn't fix the real problem

• Does mileage actually matter? (the poll answer)

• Why I wasted 7 years of strength training

• Stockholm: how I'm feeling, no PB expectations, the long game

• The mystery explosion, changing my own oil, and building a proper home gym

• Myprotein, and the misconception around fuelling

• Listener Qs: Open to World Champs, wall balls, strength vs running, the biggest mistake endurance athletes make

• What's next: Stockholm recap, then Sydney

📲 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/)~

Back for episode 2.

This week I'm calling out the thing most people get completely wrong with recovery — skipping the basics and jumping straight to the fun stuff. Saunas, ice baths, compression boots. None of it means anything if your sleep and nutrition are a mess.

I break down my actual routine, what's non-negotiable versus nice-to-have, and what I've changed recently that's made the biggest difference.

Then I get into heart rate monitor training — why I cap almost every session by heart rate now, which monitor is actually worth using, and why your wrist sensor is probably lying to you.

Also: a shift in how I think about coaching, a rant about social media call-out culture, the snap your fingers responses, and listener questions on training and mental health, motivation, and knowing when to push through versus back off.

Leaving for Stockholm World Champs in less than two weeks. No script. No edits. Just a real life Run Down.

Spotify links

📲 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/)~

The Run Down is back — and there's a lot to unpack.

In this episode I cover where I've been, what's changed, and why the podcast is coming back now.

I get into Brisbane Hyrox Elite 15 — my second slowest pro race ever, what went wrong, and how the doubles the following night completely flipped the weekend for me.

I also talk about the decision I made four weeks after Brisbane to stop working with my coach and take over my own programming, why I nearly walked away from Hyrox entirely, and what my training actually looks like right now under the "train well" philosophy.

Plus listener questions — sub-90 Hyrox pacing, the fitness industry and mental health, favourite workout songs, and more.

Stockholm World Champs is three weeks away. I haven't booked my flights yet. Make of that what you will.

📲 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anthony__dipaolo/

💪🏻 Work with me: https://forms.gle/NFJZ7osvnh5KtzaGA

🧬 Myprotein — code ANTH for up to 50% off: https://creatorlink.shop/3PBzBef

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

🍁 Maple Movement — code ANTH for 10% off: https://maplemovement.com/anthonydipaolo

💤 Hyperbolic Sleep — code ANTH for 15% off: https://www.hyperbolicsleep.com

In this episode of The Run Down, I break down my experience racing in South Korea — from the high hopes to the hard truths. I walk through the entire race, share my data comparisons, and unpack what might’ve gone wrong: from travel fatigue to taper strategy, to just… not my day.

This is the full debrief. The behind-the-scenes. The unfiltered recap. If you've ever had a race blow up on you, you'll relate to this one.

🎧 Filmed live in Incheon, now adapted for the pod.

💥 Topics: race strategy, mindset mid-meltdown, taper mistakes, and lessons for Chicago.

Mark my words...I will get that sub 60. Today just wasn't that day.