Hey everyone, welcome back to The Alpine Seven Letter.
It has been an incredibly exciting—and freezing—week! Last weekend I was attending the Austrian Ice Swimming Championship, and I have some surprising news to share.

A Victory in the Ice
For those who don’t know, “Ice Swimming” officially counts when the water temperature is below 5°C (41°F). To put it simply: it is absolutely freezing.
My journey to this race was a short but intense one:

November: I could barely sit in 8°C water for 60 seconds before my body went into shock.

Today: After three months of training, I pushed my body and mind to complete the 500-meter swim.

The biggest surprise? I actually won the 500m event! Going from 60 seconds of shivering to a championship gold in just a few months shows exactly what the human mind is capable of when it’s properly trained.

New Articles: Mental Lessons from the Cold
Winning was great, but the real value was in the lessons I learned about the “inner game”. I’ve written two new articles this week to help you apply these endurance mindsets to your own life:

How to Turn Panic into Performance: When you hit that ice-cold water, your brain wants to panic. I share the techniques I use to stay calm and keep moving when the “flight” instinct kicks in.

Why Consistency Beats Intensity: This win didn’t happen because of one “hard” day; it happened because of days and weeks of showing up. I break down how small, repeated efforts lead to massive breakthroughs.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on these. Have you ever faced a “freezing” moment in your life or career where you had to turn panic into performance?
Enjoy the read, and let’s keep pushing the limits!

All the best
Bernhard

P.S. I plan to send my letters out every Friday morning 5 am CET. But as this is a human-to-human connection, please bear with me if life (or my kids) decides to “reorganize” my schedule. I’m a pretty good swimmer, but I haven’t figured out how to swim through a family emergency at a good speed yet! 😉