Welcome to Build Week #2, team.

This is the week where fresh legs stop doing all the work and habits have to take over. Last Monday’s motivation has worn off, the alarm seems a little louder, and suddenly everyone remembers they also have jobs, families, washing and a collection of very convincing reasons to move a session.

If you were perfectly organised last week, wonderful. Enjoy the feeling. If one session went sideways, you forgot a bottle, or your legs felt like someone had filled them with wet sand, you are also very welcome here. Good training blocks are not built by athletes who never wobble. They are built by athletes who notice the wobble, make the next sensible decision and keep going.

So this week is not about finding another gear every day. It is about holding the line: arrive fuelled, respect the purpose of each session, keep the easy work genuinely easy and let consistency do its quiet work. The bow is under tension now. We do not need chaos; we need control.

Keep turning up, look after each other, and please send us what you are racing, achieving or learning. The best part of this newsletter has always been the people inside it.

START OF THE WEEK — Settle into Build Week #2 and train with control
MIDWEEK — Protect technique and execution as fatigue accumulates
WEEKEND — Maintain long-session quality, then recover well or sharpen for VIC Duathlon Race 2

Three priorities this week: control the intensity, protect technique and recover like it belongs in the program. Build Week #2 rewards athletes who can repeat good work without turning every squad session into a private championship. Fuel before the key work, finish with form intact and leave enough margin to train well again tomorrow.

Sam Laidlow’s 7:21:04 at Challenge Roth is the headline, but the useful lesson is how he built the margin: a front-pack swim, disciplined bike execution and a run that did not need to rescue the day. Alanis Siffert’s career-best win tells the same story from another angle.

The lesson for us is not the numbers. It is that the run starts with how calmly and honestly you execute the swim and bike. In Melbourne winter, that means making the swim squad, riding the wind trainer with purpose, rehearsing your fuelling and arriving at the run with options.

There’s an audio version too, so you can listen while you’re walking, commuting or spinning easy.

RACE COUNTDOWN

Six days to VIC Duathlon Race 2 on Sunday 19 July at Altona Beach. Sprint is 5 km / 18 km / 5 km, Enticer is 3 km / 12 km / 3 km, Dash is 2 km / 6 km / 2 km, with Kids and para all-abilities options. It is an honest winter hit-out, a useful transition rehearsal and a simple chance to practise racing without negotiating open-water temperatures.

One week in, the Tour has already shown why the biggest races reward far more than raw fitness. The heat has been relentless, sprint teams have had to commit to patient control, and the general classification riders have spent long days deciding when to work, when to wait and when not to waste energy. Mathieu van der Poel’s Stage 9 win was another reminder that timing and conviction matter as much as power.

What makes the Tour so useful to watch is the accumulation. It is not one heroic effort; it is repeated days of positioning, fuelling, communication and decision-making under fatigue. Riders still have to solve the next problem after a hard stage, a missed opportunity or a plan that changes on the road.

For us, the lesson is simple: do not race every minute of every session. Stay cool, fuel before you are hungry, hold your position and save your best effort for the moment the session actually asks for it. The strongest athletes are often the ones making the fewest unnecessary decisions.

Watch how the best riders and teams organise themselves, protect energy and respond when the race changes. Then bring a little of that discipline into your own training week: know the purpose, execute it well and leave enough in the tank to turn up properly tomorrow.

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AusTriathlon memberships rolled over on 1 July for the 2026–27 season. It is worth checking that your renewal processed, your payment details are current and the membership level matches the training and racing you are actually doing.

Basic membership covers training but not racing. Standard membership includes training and sanctioned racing cover, race licence access and championship eligibility. Premium adds a higher level of cover and benefits. The detail matters, especially if you are racing or travelling, so please do not assume last season’s setup carried across correctly.

Log in to the member portal and check your status. If you are unsure which category fits, ask a coach and we will help you choose rather than guess.

TriShop’s ORCA clearance is bigger than a single product tile: wetsuits for open-water and triathlon, swim accessories, and tri gear are all included. Limited sizes and styles remain at genuine clearance prices, so check the live stock while your size is still there.

Start with the category that matches what you actually need, or browse the full ORCA range below.

Build Week #2 is not glamorous—and that is exactly why it matters. This is where good intentions become habits, and where athletes learn to stay patient when the block starts asking real questions.

Do the simple things well. Make the sessions you committed to. Keep the easy easy. Fuel the work.

Hold the tension without creating chaos. Recovery Week will give the work somewhere to land.

Monday PM — Squad Swim at MSAC, 6:15 pm
Tuesday AM — Run at Albert Park Lake, 6:00 am
Tuesday PM — Wind Trainer at MSAC, 6:00 pm arrival
Wednesday AM — Squad Swim at MSAC, 5:45 am
Thursday AM — Hot Laps at Albert Park Lake, uncoached
Thursday PM — Run at The Tan, 6:00 pm
Friday AM — Squad Swim at MSAC, 5:45 am
Saturday — Road Ride from Elwood Beach, 7:00 am roll-out
Sunday — Long Run at Fairfield, 8:00 am