Wednesday, Day 20 - Well today was a WOW day for all of us and something that will certainly stick in the memory for a long time. The area we are in has the highest “tourist” platform in Europe - Jungfraujoch, which is at 3453 metres, and although it’s eye wateringly expensive to get up there, we didn’t have to pay for the kids and we knew that this was a visit that would change their ideas of what our natural world looked like. We were up at 6am to get the cheaper train, and 1 1/2 hours of pointing out the window and saying “oh wow look at that” later we were in the main visitor area, and within what felt like touching distance of the summit of Jungfrau mountain. We took a walk around the plateau from there which was like another world. My good friend Bonita Norris, was bitten by the mountain climbing bug very early on in her life, and has now summited 3 of the highest 8000 metre peaks in the world, including being the youngest British woman to summit Everest, an amazing achievement without a doubt (read her book, it's an inspirational read). For the first time I could understand a little of why people are drawn to the mountains again and again, it is really like stepping into another world and on this day that was even with all the other tourists around. The quality of the colour of the sky and the ‘freshness’ of the air is incomparable at ground level, how far you can see and how above it all you feel, I can imagine its intoxicating. For us mere mortals, however, it’s a 5 hourvisit and then back down on the train, but held in the memory forever. We walked a 3 km section back down to take in the Eiger memorial lake and a completely unique picnic stop under the mountains and over the valley stretching out below, and also to get a hug from a perfectly perfect Swiss cow!
As tired as I was when we got back I was only really tired from waking up early, not from doing much, and as I was a little behind with the circuits I decided to put both week 8 and week 9 together into one killer circuit! This is one of the major things about trying to fit in workouts between holidays, work, kids, life, partners, etc - you have to be flexible on your approach. Don’t get despondent if you only fit in 1 session per week, work out how you can fit in more the next week, or don’t feel bad if you’ve set a target of one session per day, shit happens, just get on with the next day. By merging 2 workouts together I maximised my effort for the day and also switched up the type of workout I was doing by making it a longer session.
So it was 10 exercises, 3 rounds, 45 secs on, 10 secs off:
Week 8 circuit:
1) Sprawl - this is like a burpee but without the jump at the end
2) Skater - like curtsy lunge but with a jumping side to side as you switch
3) Walking side knee ups - step forwards, pull knee up and out to the side and pull your arms down to your knee at the same time
4) Dip and flip - in a crab position, do a tricep dip, press back up and then flip yourself over as if to touch one hand on the other but you actually keep your hips in the original crab position
5) Side plank with leg kick forwards - either knee bent or straight in the side plank, top arm and leg kick forwards to touch and then return to start (hand to head)
Week 9 circuit:
1) 3 position squat - narrow, middle and wide
2) Burpee to sit through - do the first part of the burpee - feet out, back in - and then move through the sit through to each side, back to middle with feet under you and hands on floor and then stand up to finish burpee off.
3) Split squat to 1 knee up jump - feet in split position, squat and then as you stand bring back knee up in front and jump
4) Hip dip side plank then rotate - full side plank, dip your hips towards floor twice (as in picture) then rotate upper body to thread your top arm under you, repeat again and then as you rotate this time roll on to your other side.
5) Supine opposite arm and leg tap - lie on your back, knees up and arms point to ceiling, reach opposite arm and leg away from each other while controlling your breathing and keeping your lower back and pelvis in the same position.