Perhaps it was the hill-laden 70km ride on Tuesday, following on from the around Lake Taupo ride, and my best week of training, that did it.
Or the 16km run during a hot Wednesday lunchtime with three five-minute up-tempo segments.
Maybe it was Janet's arrival on Thursday night, fresh from her Challenge Wanaka placing, which broke my train of thought - although I didn't let her put me off my 50km ride, and her swimming lesson on Friday was a killer. "Don't take this the wrong way but your head's in the wrong position, you're stroking too fast, your legs aren't straight, you're kicking with one leg, your thumb is sticking out away from your hand ..." She might as well have said, "Don't take this the wrong way but you're a bloody mess." When I protested that I enjoyed the 20x50m workout against the clock with 200 metre warm-up and 200 metre swimming lesson at the end, she snorted: "Didn't look like it".
Whatever it was that caused my malaise, it didn't feel like I was getting up, either physically or mentally, for a 180km weekend cycle. A 25km run was also a stretch given the state of my legs which tightened up on Wednesday and didn't release until Saturday.
Saturday came and went ... pathetic!
Even on Sunday as I contemplated giving the afternoon and early evening over to a 180km cruise around the Bay, I headed to the East Pier playground for a couple more hours of my twins company.
Finally I relaxed into the "easy" week option.
I would do all the cycling (another 50km), I would run another 15km (still short for the week but I have to be careful with my fragile 50-something legs), and then I would swim 2.7km.
Following a solid cycle I spent 30 minutes eating anything I could find, then headed out on the run. It went well. But on arrival home the Australian Open mixed doubles was on, the animals needed feeding, washing had to be hung out, and swimming could go to hell! Pathetic!
As I sat up in bed late on Sunday night I looked at the week ahead. If I go "hard" this week, then it will be followed by two more "hard" weeks, an easy week, and Ironman week. My body may not stand up to three "hard" weeks in a row.
I will have to work it out as I go.
For as pathetic as I was, once upon a time I would never have contemplated a 50km cycle followed by a 15km run. And I have lived to train another day.
Hopefully I will knock a swim over after work today to get the week away on the right note (notice I am now back to Monday to Sunday weeks - pathetic!). But it will have to be before the shops close, as it's my eldest daughter's birthday and I am buying her running shoes - the first purchase on her way to IronMaori 2012 in the company of her Dad, with next month's Hawke's Bay 92.7 More FM Bloke Free Triathlon the starting point.
Oh yes, I might have cast a pathetic shadow on the mountain that is Ironman New Zealand over the past seven days, but even with just over a month to go it's important to keep perspective.
Training Programme Week 23 of 28
Day 155 - Rest Day
Day 156 - 70km Cycle
Day 157 - 16km Run
Day 158 - 50km Cycle
Day 159 - 1.4km Swim
Day 160 - Rest Day
Day 161 - 50km Cycle/15km Run