From my usual swimming volume to more time on the bike and the elliptical trainer at the gym. A slightly different training week, where I'm trying to keep training while also helping my foot recover. The good thing is that I can't really do any damage while swimming or cycling as long as I'm pain-free. And luckily, I am. So I spent more time than usual on the bike this week and was also able to enjoy some beautiful weather while riding outside. How is the foot doing? The most

Last week, I probably spoke a little too soon when I said that this time I had my training load management under control. Once again, I celebrated a little too early. Or, as I always say: once a kid has discovered the sweets cupboard, it's hard to stop going back again and again. Enough with the sayings, because this week wasn't only about the lows. There were also plenty of positives. A small setback So, what exactly happened? After my run on Tuesday, I had pain in my planta

With this week's blog, we're looking back at Swiss National Day, which also marks the beginning of August. Here in Noosa, someone actually put up a Swiss flag, so there was even a little bit of Swiss spirit down here in the Southern Hemisphere. I still wouldn't call myself a patriot, but I'll always carry the Swiss mountains with me. This week someone asked me, "As a Swiss, you must live in the mountains, right?" My answer was, "Not exactly... but yes, we do have mountains."

The final week of the Tour de France is over. Not long ago, I wrote about how difficult it must be for football fans when there isn't a World Cup on. But honestly, if they knew what it feels like when the Tour de France comes to an end... Just kidding, it's not quite that bad. And that's the great thing about sport – there's always another big event just around the corner. Tadej Pogačar once again did things that only Pogačar seems capable of doing, claiming his fifth Tour de

The week Spain became Football World Champions. To be honest, I only checked the live scores to see who won. For many people back in Switzerland, this probably marks the beginning of the summer break when not much is happening. The good news is that my Weekly News doesn't take a break. So at least you can count on a new blog every week instead of only every four years like a World Cup final. The weather here has felt more like winter lately. Rain and strong winds dominated th

Sometimes you have weeks where so much happens. And then you have weeks like this one. The biggest topic around the world was probably Switzerland being knocked out of the Football World Cup. To be honest though, football has never really been my sport. When I see how much acting sometimes goes on out on the pitch, it just doesn't grab me. Maybe that's something you're not supposed to say because so many people love football. There must be something special about it. What I d

The end of June brought some big news that we honestly didn’t expect. Anyone who has ever applied for a long-term visa knows how much work is involved. For me, though, it wasn’t just the paperwork it was also the mental energy the whole process required. So when I received the news on Tuesday that my visa had been approved, it felt like a huge milestone. It makes so many things easier for the future, and I’m simply relieved that the process is finally behind me. Without a do

It Finally Feels Like Training Again This week, proper speed sessions finally returned to both my running and cycling. And honestly, it felt really good. When you've gone through a period where everything feels hard work, you learn to appreciate those days when your body finally starts responding again. You head out for a session, the legs come alive and you can actually feel your body adapting to the training again. That's exactly how this week felt. It's hard to describe, b

The Days Go Slowly, the Weeks Fly By This week someone showed me an AI-generated song with the line: “The days go slowly, but the weeks go by fast.” For me, though, everything seems to be moving quickly right now. The days disappear in no time, and the weeks even faster. I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I should ask my dad how he looks back on it. What parts of life felt like they flew by, and which moments seemed to last forever before he turned sixty

Slowly Climbing Back Up After last week felt like a bit of a downer or at least a pretty tough one things are finally starting to move in the right direction again. And that’s a trend I’m happy to take with me. Slowly but surely, I’m starting to feel like the time is getting closer when I can add some intensity back into my training. Of course, that depends on things continuing to improve the way they currently are. Right now, that seems to be the case. I still don’t know whe

Don’t Stick Your Head in the Sand "Everything was right: the weather was good, the atmosphere was good, the pitch was good - only we were bad." Darius Wosz "Sometimes you lose, and sometimes the others win." Otto Rehhagel With these football quotes, I’d like to welcome you to another week from my life. But there’s one more quote I have to include because it fits my current situation perfectly: "The main thing is not to stick our heads in the sand." Aleksandar Ristić Honestly,

Autumn on the Other Side of the World It’s the final week of autumn on the other side of the world. The nights are getting colder, while the days are still warm enough to ride in shorts and a vest. Of course, everything is relative. After months of 30°C temperatures, 10°C suddenly feels pretty cold. The houses here are built to keep the heat outside. As a result, they also tend to stay cool during winter. You notice it most in the morning when you wake up and ask yourself whe

Coffee, waffles and a weekly recap Another Tuesday over here. For me, that usually means making a coffee, putting three Manner waffles into a small bowl and sitting down on the couch. After that, I normally open my training app so I can reconstruct how I actually got through the week once again. But before I even start talking about training, I first need to talk a little bit about coffee. Even though I basically live in café heaven here, I actually don’t go out for coffee ev

Between Frustration and Patience Last week felt a bit like my favourite Haribo mix — Starmix. You never really know what you’re going to get. The only difference is that with Haribo, at least you get sugar. In real life, things are not always sweet. After taking the weekend easy, I honestly thought I was slowly getting fitter again. But pretty quickly I realised that wasn’t really the case. So I found myself once again dealing with fatigue and the feeling that I still hadn’t

Between Rest and Mental Chaos Originally, this week was supposed to be a quiet recovery week. In the end, I only really got that rest towards the end of the week. Monday morning after the race. It’s just after 5am and my watch vibrates because it’s time to get up. My body, however, was saying something completely different. But the pilot doesn’t care how I feel sitting in row 29 on my way home at the end of the day, he’s simply doing his job and following his schedule. So I g

Between sickness and race shape This week was all about juggling performance while trying to fully recover from the sickness I had at the beginning of the week. I heard a sentence this week that probably applies to everyone who trains a lot and something I’ll definitely keep in mind for my coaching as well:You are always only ten days away from disaster or peak shape. Looking back, I somehow managed to turn the disaster into pretty good race shape. But it definitely wasn’t id

A special end to the week This week ended with something historic. What was simply the end of the week for me here in Australia turned into a special moment in London. I’m talking about the runner Sebastian Sawe from Kenya. At the London Marathon, he became the first person to break the 2-hour barrier over 42.195 km in a regular race. He ran 1:59:30, which is about a 2:49 per kilometer pace—over 21 km/h for nearly two hours. That is completely unreal to me. Honestly, a 2:50 p

A Normal Week The past week has been a fairly normal one and honestly, I’m not even quite sure what to write about it. But from a sporting perspective, it’s often exactly these kinds of weeks that move you forward. Just showing up day after day, putting in the work without any big highlights. It also means that not every session is a monster session it’s more like a job: just doing the work. And if you do that consistently over ten weeks, you start to see results. Post Long R

From a beautiful Easter Monday bike ride to exploring new roads that led to a pop-up coffee stop, all the way to buying a new grill – those were three highlights of this week. Still, as so often, I have to check my calendar to really know everything I’ve done. After saying goodbye to my mum, things have become quieter again here in Noosa. Before that, there was always something going on for over five weeks, with Holly being here or other people I knew visiting. Now there are

Easter week, thoughts and training This year I really enjoyed my Easter bunny, because it travelled halfway around the world. I think out of all the kids here in Australia, I was probably one of the few who received Swiss chocolate. Funny enough, even though I’m from Switzerland, I rarely eat chocolate, even when I’m there. So once again, I’m the perfect example of how you often use the least what’s right in front of your own doorstep. It’s the same with the beach here – it’s

Relaxed week after the race A relaxed week after a race. What I learned the hard way last year is that after a race, it’s better for me to do less and start the week without a fixed plan. That way I can decide for myself what I feel like doing and at the same time recharge my energy. The week started in Clifton Springs with a drive to Melbourne together with my mum. We left without eating anything in the morning, which we felt pretty quickly. Luckily, halfway there we found a

11 weeks later and here I am, writing this from the plane back to Noosa. I don’t really know if I should start chronologically or just say it straight: this is not how I imagined it. But when I have time and read everything again, I’ll probably understand why it ended the way it did. Because in reality, I maybe had three really good weeks of training and momentum with Kurt. Now it’s about going back, building that momentum again, and then we’ll see where I stand in six weeks

Sharing last week’s blog came a little late. So today, on Monday, I’m sitting down at my laptop ready to type and share what happened over the past week. The rain here slows life down a little which I don’t actually mind from time to time. But the rain stories only really start towards the end of the week, when the rain actually arrived. A calm start to the week I start the week with a 40-minute Pilates session. This has become a bit of a routine for me because I feel much m

After last week’s adventure, this week was a little less adventurous. Usually there is always something to talk about even if sometimes it’s just the weather. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that the weather is the number one small-talk topic here as well. When people don’t know what to talk about, they either say: “The last few days have been pretty hot, haven’t they?” And when it rains, there are two camps. Some say: “Wow, rain is just beautiful.” Others say after the fi