The Compound #10: Bali, VO2 max, and why you can't force the good stuff

The first few days were harder than I expected. Not logistically, we deliberately picked a location where everything we needed was walkable. Gym opposite the villa. Beach five minutes one way, our favourite coffee shops five minutes the other. The setup was deliberate. What I could not engineer was the thing I actually wanted most: the creative clarity I usually associate with being here. That took a few days longer to arrive. I spent the first part of the week getting an Indonesian driving licence and stocking the fridge, which I am choosing to count as productive.

A move to Bali looks incredibly optimised from the outside. Healthy food, good weather, top tier gyms and co-working spaces on every street. We picked the location strategically. The logistics are sorted. The structure is working - early start, focused work block, gym and lunch, more work then sunset and dinner with Abby and Cody. A couple of evenings when the UK comes online. Same hours as home, just spread differently.

And yet for the first few days, nothing interesting came out of my head. We have two new Twenty One Beauty products in the pipelines, interviews for a brand manager are in second stage. Toucan is flying. But the part of my brain that makes connections and generates things I actually want to say went quiet.

I have learned not to panic when this happens. You cannot force creative output, no matter how hard you try (the more you try the worse it gets). The environment was right. The clarity would come. And it did…slowly, and then all at once.

“The environment is your responsibility. What grows in it is not entirely up to you.”

Jakarta Pro Doubles is two weeks away. This is my third Hyrox race and the first time I have gone into a taper with real data behind the decision.

This is my first doubles race. My running is stronger and I don’t have a weak station. I got back into the group Hyrox classes in Bali this week, which I never do at home. Something about the format in Bali just works for me. The dice game sessions in particular (check my IG for this one).

The taper this time is going to be different. Last time I kept the same volume and dropped the intensity. I think that was wrong for me. I felt flat on race day. This time I am cutting volume and keeping the intensity high - shorter, harder sessions rather than long, easy ones. I do not know if I am right but I have a reason for it, and that is more than I had last time.

I also did a VO2 max test and running gait analysis this week, which I will repeat in twelve weeks just before we leave. It is the first time I have done either properly. Having a baseline changes how you train. You stop guessing and start adjusting.

“Training to a feeling will only get you so far. I prepare to train to a number.”

There is something about Bali that resets all of us, not just me. Cody has been eating better since we arrived - less of the snack heavy chaos that comes with travel days, more actual food. Snapper and rice last night, grass-fed steak the night before. He cleaned the plate both times.

We went down to the beach yesterday just before sunset. He is two, so his experience of Bali is mostly sand, water and being swarmed by friendly Balinese people. He does not care about the coffee quality or the gym proximity. But he is sleeping well, eating well and seems genuinely happy, which makes everything else easier to hold.

The thing I keep noticing is that presence is easier here because the structure forces it. Sunset and dinner are a fixed point in the day. At home, that time can bleed into calls and emails or even commuting because the boundaries are softer. Here, it is obvious when the work day ends. The light changes and you stop.

I am not saying everyone should move to Bali. I am saying that sometimes the change in environment does more than the change in intention.

“The environment did in four days what a year of good intentions never could.”