T-29 weeks: "Under water!"

Dear Papa, and dear Reader,

This week was emotionally rough after election night on Tuesday! I will spare you too many details, as politics should not be the focus of these letters. But I will say that I have been feeling incredibly sad and honestly very scared this week. Sad that we elected a person to be our leader who in every conceivable way is the exact opposite of every characteristic that makes a good human being, while more than half of the country seems comfortable to look the other way. Scared because there are just too many similarities in our situation to how other democracies around the world have crumbled in the past. Always the same pattern. Always the same type of person. I'm not sure America actually understands what it voted for, but we will all find that out soon enough. Time to get ready for an incredibly bumpy ride and hope that the systems will hold better than they did in Germany 90 years ago.

I'm glad we got on our bikes before those results came in. That way, I was able to get a solid long bike ride in on Tuesday in good spirits. It was a beautiful warm day, and Jim and I went out in our flag-colored kits on our favorite route, up and down Beach Drive, and then back up and down, to get in a good 40 miles / 65km that day, with this week's rides totaling 75 miles / 120km and 4 hours.

Even though those long bike rides (and runs) aren't really that necessary during off-season, I want to make sure that I don't lose my base and the solid level of endurance that I've built over the last year. So I'm trying to get one 40+ mile bike ride and one 10+ mile run in every week. It's been really good to do that so far!

On Wednesday morning, I decided to take my rest day early for this week. I had barely slept all night with sadness and worry, and I didn't feel like leaving the couch all day. It was good to give myself that space, as it allowed me to rebound much faster than I had anticipated. I am proud to say too that I made it to the pool three times this week, and with that, I had the best swim week of the last 6 weeks with over 6,000 yds / 5.500m of swimming in 1:45 hours! That's a start and something to keep going! One big part of that was that my friend Katy was able to join me for all of those swims, which really helped motivate me. As with many other things in life, it's so different when you're not alone. Another reason was that swimming really calms the emotional turmoil, and I was reaping the benefits of that this week. While it's sometimes hard for me to get to the pool, once I'm actually in the pool, I'm so glad to be there, and it is so beneficial for both my physical and mental health. And honestly, in a funky way, it feels like we're all a bit under water right now anyways.

It also did my 10 mile / 16km long run this weekend, which was the last run of a total of 18 miles / 29km in 3 hours this week. This week was a pretty ideal mix of 3 swims, 3 bike rides, and 3 runs. I always try to balance the length of my training in each discipline in a way that corresponds to the time I spend on them within a race, which roughly equates to 50% of the time on the bike, 37% on the run, and 13% on the swim. As my swimming is the weakest and my biking the strongest discipline though, my goal is to do a max of 48% of the training on the bike and an absolute min of 15% in the water. The run then falls in place in between the two. Right now, my balance since the last race is 54% bike, 33% run, and 13% swim, so I will have to up the swimming quite a bit at the expense of cycling. Honestly, that's been hard with all the great weather though. That always calls both Jim and me outside into the saddle. The goal is to get to 48% bike / 37% run / 15% swim by Christmas with a continued, solid and consistent base-level maintenance effort each week. And then, we kick off the IRONMAN plan right after Christmas! That will be here before I know it.

Another thing I'm pretty excited about is that I signed up for the Marathon Speed Development Program with the Montgomery County Road Running Club, together with Rachael, which will kick off in January. That will mean that I will be able to do my weekly long run and my weekly speed work on the track together with a team of other dedicated runners until April. A potentially lifesaving motivator during the long winter months! For swimming, I will hopefully continue to have Katy, and for cycling, I have my amazing hubby!! I should be all set!

I still haven't heard back from IRONMAN on the jersey I want to order with our picture on it. I keep writing them, and every time I receive a response that seems half encouraging but still asking me to be patient as they make a decision. It doesn't seem to be that hard of a choice? But I also understand that this is likely the least of their priorities currently. Maybe the longer they have me wait the less they feel like they should disappoint me more?! Or is that wishful thinking? I very much hope that there will be good news to report really soon!

Also, Papa, we booked our tickets to visit Hamburg during Advent season, until right before Christmas! I'll be able to visit you and your tree soon and spend some wonderful holiday time in your house! I can't wait to be there with you, breathe in the air that your tree is putting out into the world, and see how much it has grown.

I love and miss you, Papa! You are always in my heart!

Talk to you again soon!

Kathrin

P.S. Dear Reader, if you have comments, questions, memories, or thoughts to share, please leave a comment (and leave your name in the comment so I know who it's from). I would love to hear from you!

Go to the full list of blog posts or read more about the project Ironman for Papa