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Hiking the Saleve

Over the past two years, I’ve had the opportunity to ascend the Saleve in just about every different condition and manner– running through snow, hiking through rain and fog, biking in Summer heat, and now hiking through the clouds to complete and utter beauty.

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Known as Geneva’s “local mountain” the Saleve is located just over the French border but is one of Geneva’s landmarks. At an altitude of 1097 meters, or 3500 feet, the views on a crystal clear day are striking. During the Summer months, the Saleve is a popular spot for paragliding and picnics. In the cooler months people typically drive up to the top for a scenic lunch or drink in the restaurant. In the winter months, many people drive to the top for an afternoon of cross-country skiing. But, during these in between months, when a foggy, cloudy haze covers Geneva, many people head to the top of the Saleve for blue sky and sunshine.

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After receiving a new pair of hiking shoes from Ahnu Footwear to test and review on my blog, as part of a partnership with Fitfluential, I knew I wanted this past weekend’s agenda to include hiking. Luckily after a few quick emails, six of us were up for a Saturday hike.

Our group met at the bus stop on Saturday ready for a morning of fresh air and hopefully sun. The morning greeted us with cool temperatures and a light mist, not ideal for hiking. This time, after learning so much from our Chamonix hike, I made sure that everyone carried plenty of water and food along with bringing plenty of clothing. Reanud even carried he and Sarah’s adorable 18-month-old son on his back! I mean seriously, I hope Ugo realizes what a lucky kid he is! Bundled up in the equivalent of a snow suit or baby sleeping bag, Ugo nodded off and on during the hike.

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Once again, Renaud served as our fearless guide, happily leading our group up the Saleve. When we started, the trail was in a deep fog, limiting the views as we ascended up the path. There are so many different paths leading up the Saleve that no visit feels like the last.  This path felt a bit steeper and more difficult than previous times, but it could have been due to the slippery, wet leaves.

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After about an hour and a half of pretty strenuous hiking we finally reached a clearing on the edge of the tree line. From this clearing, we could see the Mt. Blanc and the clouds and fog we’d just hiked through.

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We continued to hike across the top of the Saleve, for over a mile, before stopping for a picnic lunch. No longer protected from the wind, we added extra layers and gloves, to stay warm during our lunch.

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After eating and taking a few more pictures, we continued our hike, across the top of the Saleve. We kept our heads turned towards the sea of clouds, completely in awe of the views. While the clouds blocked Geneva and the lake, what we saw was more beautiful than anything I could ever imagine. The clouds were bright, white and seemed to be more like an ocean, crashing into the cliffs. The views reminded me of the Pacific Coast, not cloud cover.

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After crossing the Saleve, we began our descent down, which included breathtaking, cliff trails and steep, slick steps through canyons.

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Nine miles later we found ourselves immerging back into the Geneva fog, in awe of the beauty we’d seen just a few thousand feet above.

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Thank you Renaud, Lauren, Sarah, Emily and Essensia for the wonderful day and gorgeous pictures!

If you want to read more about my Saleve adventures, see below:

An Autumn Adventure Up the Saleve

Running Up Mount Saleve

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A Fun Lunch Run with a Twist

Happy Friday! This weekend is going to be a nice break after so much travel the past few months. Since the weather is supposed to be sunny and unseasonably warm, a few of us are heading to the Saleve for a hike during the day tomorrow. The rest of the weekend includes some baking, curling up with my book and catching up on a few of my favorite television shows. There are certain shows that Bo and I watch together but when he’s out of town, I tend to watch my guilty pleasures, aka the shows he doesn’t like.

  • Scandal
  • Nashville
  • Revenge

But, before I can focus anymore on the weekend,  I have to share today’s workout with you all! It was a tough one but so much fun! As many of you all know, Renaud is my most athletic friend. Always up for an adventure, when he invited me to join he and a few other co-workers for their lunchtime workout, a run with a twist.  I gladly accepted!  I love getting out of the office during lunch to enjoy some fresh air and clear my mind before starting the second part of the day. I realize just how lucky I am to have this opportunity and therefore feel the need to take full advantage of it as often as possible!

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The workout was described to me as a mix of running and strength. Since I’m trying to get back into my running groove and am always trying to find new ways to squeeze in strength training, it sounded perfect! In fact, it reminded me a lot of the running boot camp workouts Anne features on her blog.

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We ran, or I should say I followed behind as quickly as possible, just under 2 miles to a large park and sports area, Les Evaux. This park is HUGE and has sports fields, ropes courses, playgrounds galore, and running trails! Today we spent time on the “yellow trail” which is not only a nice, wooded path, but it also features workout stations where you can do everything from pull-ups to dips!

We continued our workout with one loop of the path that was a mile in distance, following the yellow arrows. Renaud pointed out each of our workout stations, giving me directions and tips as we ran past them.

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After the first loop, our second loop included stopping at each station and doing the exercise 3x as a group. The guys motivated me to push just a bit harder or do one more rep. I don’t have pictures of each station but these are the ones I remember: hanging ring leg lifts, parallel bar dips, balance beam, push-up station, dip station, incline pull-up station, agility drill station, jump station,  and step up station.

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After completing each of the stations, we would run to the next station until we finished the loop again. By this point, we’d been working out for an hour and all I wanted was a bus to pass by, ready to give me a lift back to the office. Nope, unfortunately, we had another 2 mile run back to the office!

This running boot camp was such an efficient workout, combining a 5.5 mile run with lots of strength work. The loop with the strength exercises was challenging but provided a welcome change versus another mile of running. We did our best to sprint between the stations, though, after a few of them, such as the step ups, running wasn’t exactly easy. Many of the exercises  were ones that I have never done before nor would even think about incorporating into my training, such as the balance and agility work! Even though I was in the back of the group, I hope to join the guys again next week. Practice makes perfect, right?

If you could do only one strength exercise, what would it be? Mine would probably be dips push-ups!

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A Day in the Life: November 12, 2014

Almost a year ago, I shared a Day in the Life post  with you all. As things have changed since I last shared, I figured that today was the perfect day to share with you!

IMG_2545[1]5:30am Alarm #1 goes off even though my eyes have no intention of opening yet. We stayed up one episode too last night watching Season 2 of The Newsroom.

5:35am Alarm #2 goes off and luckily this time Bo reminds me that we will be late to swim practice if we don’t get out of bed immediately.

5:55am We head out the door twenty minutes after changing into swim gear, making coffee, grabbing my breakfast and snacks and work clothes.

6:10am Since it’s early and there is no traffic, it only takes us 15 minutes to get to the pool which is about half the time it takes to drive the same distance in the evening. Some mornings we listen to the radio but this morning we listen to an old Dave Matthews cd.

6:20-7:20am – Today’s swim practice is tougher than normal, not due to the distance, but the strokes. We did almost 500 meters of butterfly, which I have only learned this year. One swim practice per week is dedicated to drills while the other one focuses on speed. After completing 200 meters of legs only butterfly drills my legs and abs were really wishing it was an endurance day, that’s for sure!

IMG_2939[1]7:20-7:45am Shower, blow dry my hair, apply makeup and get dressed quickly as I have a meeting starting promptly at 8.  I’m excited that Fall has finally arrived in Geneva which means tights, tall boots, warm orange colors, and my favorite navy wool blazer!   IMG_33758 – 8:15am First meeting of the day lasts only 15 minutes, 45 minutes shorter than planned.

8:15- 9am Go through work emails and eat breakfast. My breakfast these days is oats with a banana, flax seeds, cinnamon, and vanilla protein powder with coffee on the side. I’m bringing my coffee from home as I love the flavor and it saves just a little bit of money each day. When I go through my work emails each morning, I do my best respond to as many as possible then flagthe ones which need to be responded to later.

9-12pm Three hours spent working on a presentation.

12-1pm I enjoy every minute of lunch today, catching up with a co-worker, helping her plan her upcoming trip the United States. Even though I don’t always take advantage of the Swiss hour “lunch break” I am thankful to know that I can always count on having an hour mental break during the day. Last week, when working from our New York City office, I felt a significant difference in my afternoon productivity since I didn’t have a single break and found myself eating lunch during meetings or while working.

1-7pm Six hours of video conferences and conference calls is straight up exhausting, especially when I’m leading three of them.  I’m working on a project that is based on the West Coast which means time changes are resulting in late meetings at least a few times a week. Luckily tonight’s call is done by 7pm, earlier than most.

7-7:30pm I catch up with my mom and write a few thank you notes during the bus ride home.

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7:45pm Only 15 minutes after walking through the door I’ve changed into my favorite sweatpants, lit our pumpkin candle I brought back from the United States and am catching up Bo. We end up having a long discussion about an article he read in Business Insider about lasting relationships and their two basic traits.

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8-8:30pm Enjoy a small salad and homemade chili with Bo while we research Florence, in advance of our anniversary trip.

8:30-10:30pm We get wrapped up in two more The Newsroom episodes before I fall asleep on the couch.

How about your day? What does it look like?

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