Q3 2026 was my strongest quarter of 2026: stress fell again, body battery climbed, steps and intensity minutes both rose, and VO2 max finished the quarter at 49. It still was not a clean sweep. Weekly intensity averaged 698 minutes against the 800 target, sleep only just reached 80, and resting heart rate was flat until September. But the shape of the quarter is what I was hoping for after Q2: a soft July, a steadier August, and a strong September where almost every metric moved the right way at once.

A quick vegan protein shake for easy protein intake. 25g pea protein 1 tsp cocoa powder 2 tsp fructose powder Plant alternative milk Add the pea protein, cocoa powder, and fructose powder to a shaker or blender. Add plant alternative milk to your preferred thickness. Shake or blend until smooth. Number Change Date v1 Initial recipe 31-Jul-2026

I just got back from a three-day trip to the Budawangs with Sydney Bushwalkers, and thought I would write down what each of the days looked like while it is still fresh. I am going to keep the exact location vague, both because that was the intention of the trip leaders and because part of what made the area special was how untouched it felt. No GPS points, no detailed directions, and hopefully no accidental breadcrumb trail.

For many years this website ran on Django. It worked well, and at the time it made sense. I wanted to learn Django, run the application myself, and generally understand every part of the stack. Last year I moved the site to Hugo, hosted on GitHub Pages, with GitHub Actions handling the build and deployment. I had been wishing to move to a static site for ages, and Copilot made that much easier.

Q2 2026 was a better recovery quarter than Q1: stress dropped, body battery improved, steps came back up, active calories increased, and VO2 max started to recover. It was not a clean win. Sleep stayed just under target, May had a noticeable dip, and weekly intensity was still well below the 800-minute goal. But after the injury-disrupted Q1, this looks like movement in the right direction rather than another quarter of drift.

A short set from Kaikoura.

A short set from Nelson and Tasman.

A short set from Arthur’s Pass.

A short set from Aoraki Mount Cook National Park.

Q1 2026 was a rebuilding quarter from a training and recovery perspective. The data shows reduced training load, lower daily steps, higher stress, and lower body battery relative to late 2025. As usual, there are four areas that I wanted to focus on: Improve fitness by training more. My goal is to maintain 800 intensity minutes on average per week. Sleep better by improving my sleep hygiene and experimenting with meal timing. Reduce stress by examining meal composition and avoiding anything that might impact my sleep. Improve biomarkers by looking at my nutrition, as well as the above items. Overall most metrics moved in the wrong direction this quarter, as we can see with the following key metrics.