Kye Robinson is your prototypical process-driven athlete.
It’s not a deliberate strategy for the age group champion at last weekend’s Mooloolaba Triathlon.
He’s just hard-wired that way and accepts the pros and cons that come with his approach.
The 19-year-old can compartmentalise a gruelling training schedule into day-by-day blocks, making a mountain of work seem like a molehill.
He also makes immediate and incredibly accurate assessments on his progress within a race.
However, he can produce his first sub-two-hour race over the 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run Olympic distance to win at Mooloolaba, and barely take the time to enjoy it.
“I think sometimes I struggle to think big picture because I get so caught up in, well, this is the training for today,” he said.
“When you start looking at all the training sessions in a row - weeks and weeks, month after month - it is a lot, but when you focus on the day it is easier to process.
“So, it is always hard for me to figure out where I am, but I guess when it is a big achievement, I force myself to look back and I realise that this weekend was pretty momentous, especially breaking two hours for the first time.
“But I never get comfortable, because I know there is heaps more that can be done.’’
At Mooloolaba his awareness around his race pace allowed him to put in a burst over the final half a kilometre to finish in 1.59.41.
The win makes the Bachelor of Business student the highest-ranked junior and fourth place overall in the UniSport rankings.
“I was calculating it on the run and I wasn’t sure I was going to make it,” he said.
“At Mooloolaba the last 500m is downhill and coming up that hill it was really hard but when I hit the top I thought, yes I can make it and I put in a burst.’’
This time last year his focus was on the 700m -20km- 5km sprint distance as he prepared to represent Australia in the 16-19 years bracket at June’s World Triathlon Sprint Championships in Germany.
It was his first international event and he finished an encouraging ninth place.
But he was starting to feel the pull of longer Olympic distance racing.
He had his first taste at the 2023 Mooloolaba Triathlon in March where he clocked an impressive 2.09 in his first attempt at the longer distance and followed it up with a ninth-place finish in 2.06 at the Uni Sport Triathlon in St Kilda.
So, he set his sights on September’s World Triathlon Age-Group Championships in Pontevedra, Spain.
He surprised himself by finishing fourth in the 18-19 years category, clocking the fastest time in the run leg, fourth in the bike leg and seventh in the swim, finishing in an overall time of 2:14:02.
It was enough to make him question whether his future lay in the longer distance.
And when a leg injury over summer restricted his running capacity he found a silver lining in the ability to focus more on the bike leg.
“I have definitely taken the step towards Olympic distance,” he said.
“I’ve been seeing some real improvement, especially in the bike.
“I had a small injury to my shin for about eight weeks, so I put more load into the bike and less on the run and that has definitely helped.
“I’m getting more comfortable in being powerful for a longer duration.”