T-33 weeks: "I had no idea how hard you can ride!"

Dear Papa, and dear Reader,

I'm excited to tell you about two little highlights this week, both of which made me think of you because I know that you would've absolutely loved those as well, and one memory that this brought up.

The first one was... a pool! I'm not kidding. It might've been the most beautiful, serene swimming experience of my life. We had a client workshop in Colorado Springs, and the resort that we were at had an incredibly luxurious athletic club that offered access to pretty much anything the athlete's heart desired - including this outdoor pool. Now, the temperatures in the mornings were only around 40 F / 5 C, so the air was pretty cold, but the water was heated to a very nice 80 F / 26 C. And here was the best part: You could start the swim inside! Right in the building, you went into a little cove, into the water, then ducked under the wall and dived right into the pool outside. It was magical!

I swam both mornings that we were there, and I was able to catch the sunrise both times. After I was done swimming, I would dive back under the wall into the building, walk out of one basin and right back into the hot tub next to it that ALSO had an opening to the outside! Relaxing the muscles in the hot, bubbly water on the other side of the wall, I could take deep breaths of fresh morning air and watch the sun come up. It was absolutely amazing!

The second highlight was a bike ride yesterday! Jim and I did a ride that is somewhat famous amongst cyclists here in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia): SkyMass in the Shenandoah National Park. The name comes from SKYline Drive and MASSanutten Peak on the other side of the Shenandoah. Two different mountain ridges with a valley in between, and lots of climbing and views with absolutely perfect road conditions. The total ride was 80 miles / 130km with 7,200 ft / 2.200m of elevation gain, and it took us 5:15 hours to complete it. We had so much fun! I thought of you many times, especially when descending from the mountain. You loved that kind of speed just as much as me. Jim always calls me his little "speed demon," and there's no doubt in my mind where I got that from. It was a really big ride, comparable to the two biggest rides we had done on Mallorca last year.

Speaking of Mallorca... I had a bit of a sad but also beautiful moment yesterday. Jim and I were just hanging out on the couch when suddenly my phone reminded me that 3 years ago, we all were on a hike in Sollér together. The pictures made me cry again. What an amazing vacation we all had on Mallorca that year! I distinctly remember the way you were with all of us and especially the grand kids. You were such an incredible Papa and Opa!

One day during that vacation, you decided to rent a bike to ride with Jim and me. You hadn't done any cycling during that whole time, and before that, you were only out about once or twice a week on dead-flat Hamburg area roads. But you wanted to do a solid ride with us. That day, we did 40 miles / 65km and 4,200 ft / 1.300m of elevation gain - 3:15 hours of riding up the Col de Sollér, bomb down onto the flats on the other side, climb back up through Orient Valley, and then climb Col de Sollér one more time to get back home.

I was so proud of you, how you just kicked out that kind of a ride with us! So fun!! But it was even more moving when I realized how proud you were of me! "I had no idea how hard you can ride," you said to me. And later, Michel told me: "Do you know that Papa can't stop bragging about you? He said that you would kick my butt so hard up those hills that I wouldn't even know what happened." We both laughed hard about that, but I was filled with happiness. Making you proud of me was always such a big motivation for me. Maybe even too much at times. But wow, that day, you riding with us, really meant a lot to both me and Jim. It was the highlight of our vacation for me.

This week was only 40 minutes of treadmill running at the resort (around 4 miles), 40 minutes and 3,100 yds of swimming, and only one other 45 min indoor ride on the trainer, so you can tell, the ride yesterday was the vast majority of my workouts this week - and that is good! I continue to struggle taking it easy and truly going into recovery, and I still had more than 11 hours of workouts this week, but it felt good to take it easy on the running. My knees have been feeling a bit exhausted these last few weeks, and they deserve a bit of a break. They will need to take a lot of pounding next year.

Papa, I hope you're enjoying your heavenly retirement. I hope you are in a constant experience of abundance, bliss, love, and connectedness to all and everything. I certainly feel you all around me! I want to keep remembering you. Although it's still hard, the sadness keeps you near, and that is a good thing!

I love you so much! And I believe you felt my joy on those descents yesterday. I'm sure it was your joy as well!

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