"Competition is not an important metric right now," Adam Peaty told State of Swimming when the World Cup tour loomed on the horizon a month ago.

In years gone by, the World 50-100m record holder would have been aiming to finish at a pace all but guaranteed to deliver a top three finish at Cup or similar 'winter-prep' race tests, even though short-course has never been his priority.

Things change, as do perspective, process and strategies in pursuit of goals redefined in the context of a life Peaty - now beyond the bubble of singular pursuit - describes as "complex" in a way that requires him to "Keep it simple!"

He touched on the nature of that complexity in an insightful four-point post (in full below) on the eve of the second of the three rounds of the 2025 Cup. It includes this on balancing his multiple roles, including professional athlete and the founder, figure-head and leader of the team that makes up his eponymous business AP Race:

One question I have been asked numerous times since then, whether it was on the pool deck, in the gym or just friendly conversations, is, how do you give your absolute best to both worlds?

The answer is quite straightforward - if I want to be successful in either field, I have no choice. However, I do have strategies in place to minimise the crossover.

That the opening round of the 2025 series last weekend left him just shy of the 100m final and fifth in the 50m final is, well ... irrelevant, to anything but the here and now, the present moment.

Peaty's experience, including a physical and mental burnout, his long run of soaring success in the sport, and the departure of coach Mel Marshall to Australia after the Paris 2024 Olympics delivered silver 0.02sec shy of the triple crown after gold in 2016 and 2020ne - his business, his role as dad to young George, his faith, and his pending marriage to Holly Ramsay in December - have all contributed to a different pace of 'next Olympic cycle'.

In a recent interview with SOS layered with perspective and the wisdom of a recent learning curve as steep and profound as Peaty's rise to sporting immortality, he noted:

"Jamie Main is now my coach in Repton and before I would be like,’ ok, World Cups in October;  we've got to be training hard through August, September, and, of course, we do that - but a lot smarter now, because we're looking to LA2028.

"If I start to put the after-burners on before I reach the stratosphere, we're going to burn out. We’ll do that whenever we need to. It's just about being a little bit more calculated with it."

On day 1 of the Westmont round of the Cup, the second of three legs of the 2025 series in North America, today is a a good moment to catch up with Peaty's slow-burn route to LA2028.

Peaty tells SOS:

“I wouldn’t say we've set a plan in which this is a stepping stone. Competition is not an important metric right now. I think one year ahead and no further because planning a whole Olympic cycle and keeping it in mind all the time has created too much anxiety of the future. 

I can only control the here, now and today and what I do to recover, but I can't control what happens at the Commonwealths next year; I can only control the times that I want to produce and the training that allows me to do that time, which is very different because before previous Olympics and other championships, I’ve been heavily focussed on the outcome, what I want. I’m older now, and I don't need that for a motivation at all anymore.

"I need to take each day as it comes, extract the best out of each day, and see what comes. Hopefully, we’ll see what Europeans [back in Paris next July] offers next year.”

So, where is he in the planning and process of a pathway without stepping stones?

Some answers below...