I am not referring to a pair of key fundamentals for good ski technique but rather necessary adjustments to my walking technique in order to reach the store yesterday. In my absence Voss received some snow and I have learned that the person in charge of plowing my street does not believe in sand. Any attempt to leave my hybel involved gaining speed in the driveway and then attempting not to fall when on the actual road (maintaining speed on what essentially amounted to ice was not a problem). The good news though is that it is finally warm again. After over 3 weeks of -10 Celsius and colder (a lot of the time colder than -15) it was actually over 0 celsius yesterday and I was even able to give my buffs a rest day.
Las week was my second training camp in Geilo and I don't really have anything groundbreaking to say about it. Also, I don't have any good pics from the week. However, we had a skit night and someone taped my groups performance. So, when I can get a hold of the footage I will post it. Needless to say we were stellar. It is mostly in Norwegian and basically one large inside joke so if you have trouble understanding the video and or humor just laugh regularly at 8.3 second intervals.
Final news for the day is my impending return to the US. I am heading home right before Christmas and leaving after a week of racing in Rumford, ME in early January. I have already started my reaclimitization (there has to be a good word for: made up words that sound real) by watching Boon Dock Saints and Inception in Geilo with the true pillar of American culture, (No not the Glenn Beck Program) Anchorman, still to come.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
A week late or a week early?
Two week ago I had my first on snow training camp in Norway. But next week I have my second (hence the post title). Seeing as the second training week has yet to occur I will focus on what did happen. There was no snow at, the rumored to be much superior, Liatoppen so we went to Geilo. I was very interested to see what differences there existed in the training camps here in Norway and the ones I have partaken in with SMS. There were a lot (though mostly superficial).
- Single sex housing (do they trust us more, or less?)
Seems like a pretty simple we happen to do it this way and you do it that way. My personal theory is that Sverre uses the girls to make sure all hell does not break lose and or an edible meal is served at least every other day.
- Meals cooked for you
The meals were very good and not having to clean up was awesome but being able to go into the grocery store and buy and then make whatever you want is pretty awesome. Though, that is what I get to do every single day (tonight: bacon, eggs and salad. Tomorrow: who knows)
- Two workouts everyday+ night skiing
This was definitely new having two workouts everyday and also having the ability to really separate them because of the trails being lit. Every day started with a 9 am ski and then we had a 4:30 ski later on allowing for good chillaxing time.
- 5 days long
Definitely prefer the 2 week long training camp as you can get that much more settled in. 5 days felt pretty short.
- Clear favoritism of biathletes
Everyday they got to go to the trails in the bus while we nordic skiers had to walk about 10-15 minutes there. Not that bad until it was as cold as -20C later in the week. When it is that cold it doesn't matter if you brought your puffy, extra gloves and a banana the way back is going to be very cold.
- Use of wood stoves
I guess you could say our house went a little overboard and then found out that there was a hole in the first bit of chimney (the bit that was still within the large brick enclosure. We actually were able to get the frame of the brick enclosure burning (2x4's not bricks) and the stove itself glowing red (neither were intentional). After a night on other houses couches and a good scrubbing we were able to eliminate the smoke smell and all that was left was good stories.
- Less instruction/drills
The camp was very much a go out on your own and train sort of camp. The coaches were around giving pointers but there were no group drills like I am accustomed to.
- Less social gaming
A key part of any training camp is gaming and having those who don't game (the girls) snobbishly accuse you of being antisocial. These claims ring more true in Norway. At SMS we played games that involved killing each other (Halo, Call Of Duty) and generally being very social through trash talking and claiming everyone else is cheating (my poor gaming skills have always required a healthy dose of innovation on my part to stay competitive). In Norway the games (GTA San Andreas and Football Manager 2011) were very much single player games in which your ability to kill your friend is very much lacking.
Here is what you really came for...
- Single sex housing (do they trust us more, or less?)
Seems like a pretty simple we happen to do it this way and you do it that way. My personal theory is that Sverre uses the girls to make sure all hell does not break lose and or an edible meal is served at least every other day.
- Meals cooked for you
The meals were very good and not having to clean up was awesome but being able to go into the grocery store and buy and then make whatever you want is pretty awesome. Though, that is what I get to do every single day (tonight: bacon, eggs and salad. Tomorrow: who knows)
- Two workouts everyday+ night skiing
This was definitely new having two workouts everyday and also having the ability to really separate them because of the trails being lit. Every day started with a 9 am ski and then we had a 4:30 ski later on allowing for good chillaxing time.
- 5 days long
Definitely prefer the 2 week long training camp as you can get that much more settled in. 5 days felt pretty short.
- Clear favoritism of biathletes
Everyday they got to go to the trails in the bus while we nordic skiers had to walk about 10-15 minutes there. Not that bad until it was as cold as -20C later in the week. When it is that cold it doesn't matter if you brought your puffy, extra gloves and a banana the way back is going to be very cold.
- Use of wood stoves
I guess you could say our house went a little overboard and then found out that there was a hole in the first bit of chimney (the bit that was still within the large brick enclosure. We actually were able to get the frame of the brick enclosure burning (2x4's not bricks) and the stove itself glowing red (neither were intentional). After a night on other houses couches and a good scrubbing we were able to eliminate the smoke smell and all that was left was good stories.
- Less instruction/drills
The camp was very much a go out on your own and train sort of camp. The coaches were around giving pointers but there were no group drills like I am accustomed to.
- Less social gaming
A key part of any training camp is gaming and having those who don't game (the girls) snobbishly accuse you of being antisocial. These claims ring more true in Norway. At SMS we played games that involved killing each other (Halo, Call Of Duty) and generally being very social through trash talking and claiming everyone else is cheating (my poor gaming skills have always required a healthy dose of innovation on my part to stay competitive). In Norway the games (GTA San Andreas and Football Manager 2011) were very much single player games in which your ability to kill your friend is very much lacking.
Here is what you really came for...
Friday, November 12, 2010
VO2 Max
Last blog post when I said that I had already written the VO2 max post what I actually meant was, I had written about 3 sentences and then realized that no sane person would read the haircut update and the VO2 max update so I stopped writing the VO2 max update and hoped that the shame of lying to my followers would cause me to actually write it soon. Instead it seems I am ready for a position of great political power as lying to my followers gave me little pause.
Now on to the actual post which I feel I must preface with an acknowledgment of sorts. My knowledge of VO2 max has come entirely from one test, conversations with other outdoor enthusiasts (read: people with interest in VO2 max not mastery of its ins and outs), and about 15 minutes of searching on google. In other words, I am an expert on all things pertaining to VO2 max. I would even go as far as to say that I am to VO2 max what Dr. James Andrews is to tommy john surgery. However my expertise relies mainly on truthiness.
On to the test. On a Friday about a month ago the nordic team made a trip down to, one of the high schools in, Bergen in our euro sprinter van (like an american sprinter van but cleaner and with half the leg room), the trip took about 1:30 and required us to arrive at school at 7:30 (the time I can usually be found turning off my alarm and beginning my 15-30 minute beauty sleep). Early wake up aside I arrived in Bergen in good spirits excited to take my test, at 11:45. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect so I warmed up like I was going to be racing a shorter distance race, beginning 45 minutes before my start, ending with 5-10 left and having a good amount of intensity in the middle. I was feeling pretty tired and I was having trouble getting my heart rate up but I was not that worried due to my total lack of VO2 max knowhow. I merely assumed (maybe even correctly) that being tired wouldn't really affect the results that much as VO2 max is about lung capacity not going the fastest.
The test was conducted on a treadmill with the option of going at 5.2% or 10.5% grade (I went with 5.2%) with the speed beginning at 10kmh an hour and going up by 1kmh a minute if you gave the thumbs up. I was first measured for height and weight and then I got a nose clip put on me. The machine to measure oxygen intake fit in my mouth like a massive snorkel that would only look natural on Barry Bonds' head, breathing was rather unnatural, without use of my nose, but not a game changer. I was told to run and every minute give a thumbs up if I wanted to go faster or a neutral thumb if I wanted to stay at the same pace. New reading came out every 30 seconds and we were told to be sure we felt we could maintain 1 minute at the next pace (someone should really look into revising this sentence for clarity). It is a go to complete exhaustion test and I was done after 2 minute at 15kmh.
In the end the machine read, 65 as my VO2 max, and very surprisingly the only change I could readily detect was a sense of general exhaustion (as to any rumors you may have heard of gaining superpowers upon learning ones VO2 max I can tell you I have recently reached level 24 on the aptly named "The Worlds Hardest Game"). We will also be testing in the spring and then fall and spring next year so it will be interesting to see if any patterns emerge as taking only 1 test does not provide that much information. Now for a number of VO2 max facts that I have gathered so that you can be generally excepted as the VO2 max expert of your community.
- VO2 max can be written as oxygen uptake per minute (l/min) or as milliliters of oxygen per kilogram per minute (ml/kg/min) which is the more generally used number (thats where my 65 comes from)
- Men generally have a higher VO2 max when adjusted for weight but things generally even out when adjusted for surface area (don't ask me how one figures out surface area)
- The average untrained male will be at about 45 and female at about 38
- The highest VO2 max recorded is 96 by Bjørn Daehlie and another norwegian skier whose name I cannot remember but whose technique is not held in very high regard
- VO2 max peaks around ones college years and then begins to decline (at least for the general population)
- Rowers generally have the highest pure liter values but no one can contend with nordic skiers when it is adjusted for weight (bikers come closest)
- VO2 max is not a be all end all as factors like % of VO2 at which ones lactate threshold is and efficiency also play large roles in performance
If you are reading this on Saturday morning or later then you are also looking at pictures of my new ski suit and remarking to yourself how it is annoying that Swix makes the same design for everyone so that no matter what color your suit is it looks like your trying to copy the Norwegian National Team (I'd say they deserve caps).
Now on to the actual post which I feel I must preface with an acknowledgment of sorts. My knowledge of VO2 max has come entirely from one test, conversations with other outdoor enthusiasts (read: people with interest in VO2 max not mastery of its ins and outs), and about 15 minutes of searching on google. In other words, I am an expert on all things pertaining to VO2 max. I would even go as far as to say that I am to VO2 max what Dr. James Andrews is to tommy john surgery. However my expertise relies mainly on truthiness.
On to the test. On a Friday about a month ago the nordic team made a trip down to, one of the high schools in, Bergen in our euro sprinter van (like an american sprinter van but cleaner and with half the leg room), the trip took about 1:30 and required us to arrive at school at 7:30 (the time I can usually be found turning off my alarm and beginning my 15-30 minute beauty sleep). Early wake up aside I arrived in Bergen in good spirits excited to take my test, at 11:45. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect so I warmed up like I was going to be racing a shorter distance race, beginning 45 minutes before my start, ending with 5-10 left and having a good amount of intensity in the middle. I was feeling pretty tired and I was having trouble getting my heart rate up but I was not that worried due to my total lack of VO2 max knowhow. I merely assumed (maybe even correctly) that being tired wouldn't really affect the results that much as VO2 max is about lung capacity not going the fastest.
The test was conducted on a treadmill with the option of going at 5.2% or 10.5% grade (I went with 5.2%) with the speed beginning at 10kmh an hour and going up by 1kmh a minute if you gave the thumbs up. I was first measured for height and weight and then I got a nose clip put on me. The machine to measure oxygen intake fit in my mouth like a massive snorkel that would only look natural on Barry Bonds' head, breathing was rather unnatural, without use of my nose, but not a game changer. I was told to run and every minute give a thumbs up if I wanted to go faster or a neutral thumb if I wanted to stay at the same pace. New reading came out every 30 seconds and we were told to be sure we felt we could maintain 1 minute at the next pace (someone should really look into revising this sentence for clarity). It is a go to complete exhaustion test and I was done after 2 minute at 15kmh.
In the end the machine read, 65 as my VO2 max, and very surprisingly the only change I could readily detect was a sense of general exhaustion (as to any rumors you may have heard of gaining superpowers upon learning ones VO2 max I can tell you I have recently reached level 24 on the aptly named "The Worlds Hardest Game"). We will also be testing in the spring and then fall and spring next year so it will be interesting to see if any patterns emerge as taking only 1 test does not provide that much information. Now for a number of VO2 max facts that I have gathered so that you can be generally excepted as the VO2 max expert of your community.
- VO2 max can be written as oxygen uptake per minute (l/min) or as milliliters of oxygen per kilogram per minute (ml/kg/min) which is the more generally used number (thats where my 65 comes from)
- Men generally have a higher VO2 max when adjusted for weight but things generally even out when adjusted for surface area (don't ask me how one figures out surface area)
- The average untrained male will be at about 45 and female at about 38
- The highest VO2 max recorded is 96 by Bjørn Daehlie and another norwegian skier whose name I cannot remember but whose technique is not held in very high regard
- VO2 max peaks around ones college years and then begins to decline (at least for the general population)
- Rowers generally have the highest pure liter values but no one can contend with nordic skiers when it is adjusted for weight (bikers come closest)
- VO2 max is not a be all end all as factors like % of VO2 at which ones lactate threshold is and efficiency also play large roles in performance
If you are reading this on Saturday morning or later then you are also looking at pictures of my new ski suit and remarking to yourself how it is annoying that Swix makes the same design for everyone so that no matter what color your suit is it looks like your trying to copy the Norwegian National Team (I'd say they deserve caps).
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Overcoming Fears and Finally Writing the VO2 Max Post
To this day I have spent over 2 1/2 months in Norway, and at least 1 1/2 of those months have involved daily self acknowledgements that I need a hair cut. However, anyone who has ever seen a Norwegian teenager can understand my reluctance to allow my hair to be mutilated by Norwegian scissors. It turned out many of my fears were, individually, well grounded, but in the end I have obtained essentially the same haircut I would have gotten at Ted's in Manchester for only about 4 times the price. As my first "gourmet" haircut I feel obliged to recount the tale.
It started on Thursday when I asked around about where to get a haircut and got only one concrete recommendation called Capilli (I saw the rest coming after hearing that name once). I went in on Friday to get a reservation and got the earliest I could on Saturday (9 a.m. but it's Norway opening earlier than that is actually against the law, or at least frowned upon). The salon (I feel bad just writing that word in reference to somewhere I have visited) was painted all white and the walls were stocked with tons of token hair products, just because they can. Once the doors were opened I was led to the back where my hair was wetted, shampooed, and finally conditioned. After giving the hair stylist (definitely not a barber) my basic parameters (just cut my damn hair) she set to work. After taking off some serious amounts with regular cutting technique (scissors and fingers holding the hair parallel) she switched to a much more radical cutting technique. By aiming the scissors at an 80 degree angle towards her hand in order to cut individual hairs at an angle (that is my best guess). In addition to being a clear safety risk for the cutter this technique adds no clear advantage to the quality of the haircut (so win, win I guess). When the stylist was done cutting I barely had time to look myself over in the mirror before she came back with yellow goop on her hands to be transfered to my hair. I didn't say no, because what the hell I'm in Norway, and got a two product gel. Luckily I had a workout soon and a good excuse to shower everything out. Now I'm feeling much better due to finally cutting my hair but no better than I could have had I gone to Ted's.
Now onto the VO2 max test. After saying twice that I would write it followed by multiple weeks of not writing about it. However I have finally written the post but have decided to delay posting it for a day because it would make for one massive post that would just not get read.
It started on Thursday when I asked around about where to get a haircut and got only one concrete recommendation called Capilli (I saw the rest coming after hearing that name once). I went in on Friday to get a reservation and got the earliest I could on Saturday (9 a.m. but it's Norway opening earlier than that is actually against the law, or at least frowned upon). The salon (I feel bad just writing that word in reference to somewhere I have visited) was painted all white and the walls were stocked with tons of token hair products, just because they can. Once the doors were opened I was led to the back where my hair was wetted, shampooed, and finally conditioned. After giving the hair stylist (definitely not a barber) my basic parameters (just cut my damn hair) she set to work. After taking off some serious amounts with regular cutting technique (scissors and fingers holding the hair parallel) she switched to a much more radical cutting technique. By aiming the scissors at an 80 degree angle towards her hand in order to cut individual hairs at an angle (that is my best guess). In addition to being a clear safety risk for the cutter this technique adds no clear advantage to the quality of the haircut (so win, win I guess). When the stylist was done cutting I barely had time to look myself over in the mirror before she came back with yellow goop on her hands to be transfered to my hair. I didn't say no, because what the hell I'm in Norway, and got a two product gel. Luckily I had a workout soon and a good excuse to shower everything out. Now I'm feeling much better due to finally cutting my hair but no better than I could have had I gone to Ted's.
Now onto the VO2 max test. After saying twice that I would write it followed by multiple weeks of not writing about it. However I have finally written the post but have decided to delay posting it for a day because it would make for one massive post that would just not get read.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Geilo!
Normally, October 31 has meant a day of amassing a large amount of candy. This year however I have a more modest supply of candy (sent by my Pinkerton cousins, thanks a ton) and no one to offload my Woppers on. Instead this October 31 has been made special by my 7th ski of the year (0 at this time last year) and the half way point in the nordic training year.
First the skiing. In my upbringing the town of Geilo has had a special place as a symbol for skiing being more important than a certificate signifying perfect attendance. It is know as "The Place Where The Stigums Go No Further" due to my mom's many trips there as child and her having never gone any further on the train. I also feel confidant in saying that, after adjusting for obvious exaggeration, my mom spent approximately two times as many days in Geilo than she did in school during the winter years of her youth. I came to Geilo from the opposite direction, with no hope of matching my mom's stellar 2:1 ratio, and of course skiing both down and up the hills. The Geilo trip started on Friday with the 9:07 train from Voss that arrived in Geilo at 10:56 accompanied by heavy snow (there was a lot and it was really wet). We (me and 7 biathletes) made our way to the apartment we were renting for the weekend and soon embarked on a skate ski. The highlight of the original ski was easily skiing on the road which had been perfectly groomed by a plow.
We also headed out for a ski later in the day which was my first classic ski of the year and my first experience with a Norwegian "lighted loop". Having looked at the forecast and seen that klister was going to be the best option for the whole weekend I did not bring any with me as it is nordic sacrilege to use klister on ones first classic ski of the year, instead I used a little VR60 and a lot of tricep wax. Before I detail my experience with skiing under the lights I am going to describe the conditions and trail in Geilo. They had blown snow on one loop that was about 3 km long (total guestimate based on an ability to write the first number that came to mind with total confidence) and was rather steep with two large uphills and two large downhills (one of which was an s-turn). The snowblown loop was the only thing groomed and was mostly part of the larger lighted loop. The only two places that the lights did not cover where naturally the two big downhills. While I pride myself on gaining seconds on the downhills, skiing blindly down deeply rutted, unfamiliar s-turns is not s necessarily a skill I would put in my resume. Having survived this near death experience (assuming falling would have actually lead to my death, a slight exaggeration), I proceeded to make a training trip specialty, egg and bacon pasta, garlic bread, and Dole Family Pack salad. I can neither confirm nor deny whether I was asked if I was going to be Gordon Ramsay in the future (to my family that constantly disrespects my cooking ability I would like to say "take that unsubstantiated, noncommittal factment (fact and statement all in one = factment)"). (There is definitely something wrong with that end punctuation I just have no idea what.) The next two days involved a skate interval session, more tricep wax and s-turns at night, and a Norwegian attempt at Italian pizza (hint to Peppes Pizza, your italian pizzas should have names like Salsiccia Pizzaioli not Yellow Bird). Now I am back in Voss looking forward to some rainy roller skiing (sarcasm half intended, if you didn't get wet roller skiing in the rain would be awesome).
First the skiing. In my upbringing the town of Geilo has had a special place as a symbol for skiing being more important than a certificate signifying perfect attendance. It is know as "The Place Where The Stigums Go No Further" due to my mom's many trips there as child and her having never gone any further on the train. I also feel confidant in saying that, after adjusting for obvious exaggeration, my mom spent approximately two times as many days in Geilo than she did in school during the winter years of her youth. I came to Geilo from the opposite direction, with no hope of matching my mom's stellar 2:1 ratio, and of course skiing both down and up the hills. The Geilo trip started on Friday with the 9:07 train from Voss that arrived in Geilo at 10:56 accompanied by heavy snow (there was a lot and it was really wet). We (me and 7 biathletes) made our way to the apartment we were renting for the weekend and soon embarked on a skate ski. The highlight of the original ski was easily skiing on the road which had been perfectly groomed by a plow.
We also headed out for a ski later in the day which was my first classic ski of the year and my first experience with a Norwegian "lighted loop". Having looked at the forecast and seen that klister was going to be the best option for the whole weekend I did not bring any with me as it is nordic sacrilege to use klister on ones first classic ski of the year, instead I used a little VR60 and a lot of tricep wax. Before I detail my experience with skiing under the lights I am going to describe the conditions and trail in Geilo. They had blown snow on one loop that was about 3 km long (total guestimate based on an ability to write the first number that came to mind with total confidence) and was rather steep with two large uphills and two large downhills (one of which was an s-turn). The snowblown loop was the only thing groomed and was mostly part of the larger lighted loop. The only two places that the lights did not cover where naturally the two big downhills. While I pride myself on gaining seconds on the downhills, skiing blindly down deeply rutted, unfamiliar s-turns is not s necessarily a skill I would put in my resume. Having survived this near death experience (assuming falling would have actually lead to my death, a slight exaggeration), I proceeded to make a training trip specialty, egg and bacon pasta, garlic bread, and Dole Family Pack salad. I can neither confirm nor deny whether I was asked if I was going to be Gordon Ramsay in the future (to my family that constantly disrespects my cooking ability I would like to say "take that unsubstantiated, noncommittal factment (fact and statement all in one = factment)"). (There is definitely something wrong with that end punctuation I just have no idea what.) The next two days involved a skate interval session, more tricep wax and s-turns at night, and a Norwegian attempt at Italian pizza (hint to Peppes Pizza, your italian pizzas should have names like Salsiccia Pizzaioli not Yellow Bird). Now I am back in Voss looking forward to some rainy roller skiing (sarcasm half intended, if you didn't get wet roller skiing in the rain would be awesome).
Sunday, October 24, 2010
SNOW, Snow!!!
In a fantastic turn of events Voss received a fair amount of snow on Thursday and Friday. This was coupled with a training "get together" here in Voss. Originally the nordies from Bergen and other nearby places were going to come to Voss, however, it seems that everywhere else got more snow and people decided to stay at home and ski there. The training arrangement was great and included food that hit all my major consideration: delicious, free, no preparing, no cleaning up etc.. (
We started the weekend with a run on Friday night. Luckily the snow that was falling in the town was the sort of snow that is impolite not to throw at other people so we had a snow ball fight throughout the run. Using my prior baseball (2nd grade on the Marlins) and football (I like to think I was the Tom Brady of after school football on the hollowed grounds of Morley Elementary School) experience, as well as my innate American sense of war tactics I was able to claim victory (another of my American traits: willingness to claim victory with limited evidence to support that claim) over the peace loving Norwegians that were born without a sport to teach them that one arm can be dominate. The next day was highlighted with my first ski of the year. While there was not a lot of snow (maybe 4 inches) there was enough to ski on a road to nowhere (it was about 10 minutes of skiing long and then just ended with nothing of note on either side for the whole length). This first ski is always is bit awkward as those of the nordic cult spend many hours during the non-snowy months training on rollerskis which are about 60 centimeters long before switching to skis that can be as long as 210 cm. Therefore the first 10 to 20 minutes of the first ski are spent being generally frustrated at ones apparent regression in skiing ability despite hundreds of hours of training since the snow melted for exactly this opportunity. But, soon the feelings are all good as one reacclimatizes to the new settings and one is left feeling great that winter is finally upon them. However, winter is most likely not here to stay, at least in the town (the surrounding mountains are probably safe), so during the coming month I will have to put back on my rollerski tips in a melancholy ceremony, the horror of which is usually reserved for the spring time. In the meantime I get to wake up to winter!!
We started the weekend with a run on Friday night. Luckily the snow that was falling in the town was the sort of snow that is impolite not to throw at other people so we had a snow ball fight throughout the run. Using my prior baseball (2nd grade on the Marlins) and football (I like to think I was the Tom Brady of after school football on the hollowed grounds of Morley Elementary School) experience, as well as my innate American sense of war tactics I was able to claim victory (another of my American traits: willingness to claim victory with limited evidence to support that claim) over the peace loving Norwegians that were born without a sport to teach them that one arm can be dominate. The next day was highlighted with my first ski of the year. While there was not a lot of snow (maybe 4 inches) there was enough to ski on a road to nowhere (it was about 10 minutes of skiing long and then just ended with nothing of note on either side for the whole length). This first ski is always is bit awkward as those of the nordic cult spend many hours during the non-snowy months training on rollerskis which are about 60 centimeters long before switching to skis that can be as long as 210 cm. Therefore the first 10 to 20 minutes of the first ski are spent being generally frustrated at ones apparent regression in skiing ability despite hundreds of hours of training since the snow melted for exactly this opportunity. But, soon the feelings are all good as one reacclimatizes to the new settings and one is left feeling great that winter is finally upon them. However, winter is most likely not here to stay, at least in the town (the surrounding mountains are probably safe), so during the coming month I will have to put back on my rollerski tips in a melancholy ceremony, the horror of which is usually reserved for the spring time. In the meantime I get to wake up to winter!!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Unsubstantiated Promises
When I made the promise two Fridays ago to write another blog post that day I had a good feeling that it would never happen. However, I was hoping I might use it as motivation too actually write another post. While I am still planning on a blog post about my VO2 max experience I am going to first inform you, my readers, on the happenings of the past week.
This past week has been my fall break. It started shortly after my last posting with the night train to Oslo. The night train leaves at about when one might imagine, 12:15 from Voss. Upon boarding the train I found it was a proper night train with sleeping compartments, for 800 kroner extra. If you can find me a Bigelow that will pay that much to sleep on a bed for 5 hours then I can show you a Bigelow that is not related to my dad. Needless to say I chose the "sleeping" on the floor of the "dining" section. In a great success I listened to 94 songs on my iPod, by far a new personal record. I was then able to meet my mom, who flew over for the week, at the airport. We then spent a couple days in Oslo at my Aunt's house highlighted by a major improvement in my Fifa skills. After heading to Voss for a few days we then went to Etnedal home of those cows you may remember from my inaugural blog post. This time however my mom and I spent a couple days up at the Setta without the cows. This was great as there is no power but we were able to relax without the stresses of technology (okay, by the end of two days I really wanted to be able to access the internet on something bigger than the 3.2" screen of my phone) and I was able to read a book that will soon be the first (another rash promise I will most likely regret) too receive the honor of a Magnus Bigelow Blog Book Review (TM). I can't tell you what it is called now because that would ruin the suspense. To end my break, after wishing my mom well, I joined in on my first ever moose hunt (or any hunt for that matter, squirrel extermination not included). I joined Jens Ola with the job of utilizing a dog to drive the moose towards where the others were reading to shoot. Our troop was led by an 85 year old who has as much toughness in one pinky as (insert something that makes this metaphor resonate strongly with yourself). Sure enough, my first hunt was a success with a calf being the trophy. I was given the honor (at least I've been telling myself it is an honor) of carrying the heart up to the car. It was surprisingly heavy and I am told makes for quite a good meal. After the slaughter the true excitement for the break was over and I was soon headed back to Voss. In my final rash promise of the day I am going to imply the good possibility of a picture post from the week.
This past week has been my fall break. It started shortly after my last posting with the night train to Oslo. The night train leaves at about when one might imagine, 12:15 from Voss. Upon boarding the train I found it was a proper night train with sleeping compartments, for 800 kroner extra. If you can find me a Bigelow that will pay that much to sleep on a bed for 5 hours then I can show you a Bigelow that is not related to my dad. Needless to say I chose the "sleeping" on the floor of the "dining" section. In a great success I listened to 94 songs on my iPod, by far a new personal record. I was then able to meet my mom, who flew over for the week, at the airport. We then spent a couple days in Oslo at my Aunt's house highlighted by a major improvement in my Fifa skills. After heading to Voss for a few days we then went to Etnedal home of those cows you may remember from my inaugural blog post. This time however my mom and I spent a couple days up at the Setta without the cows. This was great as there is no power but we were able to relax without the stresses of technology (okay, by the end of two days I really wanted to be able to access the internet on something bigger than the 3.2" screen of my phone) and I was able to read a book that will soon be the first (another rash promise I will most likely regret) too receive the honor of a Magnus Bigelow Blog Book Review (TM). I can't tell you what it is called now because that would ruin the suspense. To end my break, after wishing my mom well, I joined in on my first ever moose hunt (or any hunt for that matter, squirrel extermination not included). I joined Jens Ola with the job of utilizing a dog to drive the moose towards where the others were reading to shoot. Our troop was led by an 85 year old who has as much toughness in one pinky as (insert something that makes this metaphor resonate strongly with yourself). Sure enough, my first hunt was a success with a calf being the trophy. I was given the honor (at least I've been telling myself it is an honor) of carrying the heart up to the car. It was surprisingly heavy and I am told makes for quite a good meal. After the slaughter the true excitement for the break was over and I was soon headed back to Voss. In my final rash promise of the day I am going to imply the good possibility of a picture post from the week.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Day 6
The storm finally broke. For a while it seemed it would never end, but now all around people are coming outside to celebrate. The sun may no have shown itself today but I have confidence that it will be seen within a matter of days.
No, there was not a massive storm rendering most of North America uninhabitable and sending our government to Mexico, and as far as I know Dennis Quaid is not nordic skiing his way to New York City, atop shopping centers, in order to save his son. It has, however, rained in Voss for 5 days straight until today in which, despite not actually having a "sun sighting". Beginning on Saturday afternoon the citizens of Voss (myself included) have been subjected to a constant though never particularly aggressive rainfall. It left most of my training clothes wetter than the time I forgot to take my clothes off before getting in the shower (I cannot confirm or deny this has ever happened). It rained enough for me to revise the saying "rain makes champions" to "rain just makes everything wet." Not only does it make everything wet, but, it is an equal opportunity wetter. The rain doesn't care if it is cotton or lycra, from Patagucci or your local thrift store, etc.. It really just makes things wet.
The answer to your question (What does one do when it rains for 5 days straight?) is: Train outside in order to maximize exposure to the wetting properties of rain. On Wednesday this meant lvl 3 classic intervals. For those of you not initiated in the nordic cult lvl 3 is generally defined as your lactic threshold (the point where your body is producing lactic acid as fast as it is getting rid of it). What this means is our going hard but easily have another gear you can go to. The intervals were 6 by about 4 minutes up a gradual hill. The hill begins gradual, has a false flat, steepens for a bit, then is gradual again to the finish. For the guys our directions were to do the first 3 intervals all double pole and then do what we want to for the rest. It was a good set of intervals and in the end everyone was very WET.
Proof of blue sky
The nearby canyon
This will be a rare double post day as my blogging yesterday was interupted by a phone call from my parents, so stay tuned for an update on my VO2 max test in Bergen.
No, there was not a massive storm rendering most of North America uninhabitable and sending our government to Mexico, and as far as I know Dennis Quaid is not nordic skiing his way to New York City, atop shopping centers, in order to save his son. It has, however, rained in Voss for 5 days straight until today in which, despite not actually having a "sun sighting". Beginning on Saturday afternoon the citizens of Voss (myself included) have been subjected to a constant though never particularly aggressive rainfall. It left most of my training clothes wetter than the time I forgot to take my clothes off before getting in the shower (I cannot confirm or deny this has ever happened). It rained enough for me to revise the saying "rain makes champions" to "rain just makes everything wet." Not only does it make everything wet, but, it is an equal opportunity wetter. The rain doesn't care if it is cotton or lycra, from Patagucci or your local thrift store, etc.. It really just makes things wet.
The answer to your question (What does one do when it rains for 5 days straight?) is: Train outside in order to maximize exposure to the wetting properties of rain. On Wednesday this meant lvl 3 classic intervals. For those of you not initiated in the nordic cult lvl 3 is generally defined as your lactic threshold (the point where your body is producing lactic acid as fast as it is getting rid of it). What this means is our going hard but easily have another gear you can go to. The intervals were 6 by about 4 minutes up a gradual hill. The hill begins gradual, has a false flat, steepens for a bit, then is gradual again to the finish. For the guys our directions were to do the first 3 intervals all double pole and then do what we want to for the rest. It was a good set of intervals and in the end everyone was very WET.
Proof of blue sky
The nearby canyon
This will be a rare double post day as my blogging yesterday was interupted by a phone call from my parents, so stay tuned for an update on my VO2 max test in Bergen.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Training Week
Today was the first day of our first training week. Throughout the fall and winter the nordic skiers and biathletes have a few one week "camps". This one required no travel to get to. Essentially we are having a week of training in Voss with limited school paricipation (Thursday afternoon). Also many kids in VG2 (my year) have gone to Paris, Berlin, or Barcelona depending on the language they study in school. The training week began today with 5x4 min lvl 4 running intervals (up my new favorite hill) in the pouring rain. Then in the afternoon we had the usual Monday night strength workout. Tomorrow we have a distance skate roller ski scheduled with classic lvl 3 intervals on Wednesday. The week will end with my first ever V02 max test in Bergen. I will try to post some more in depth updates later in the week and maybe even post some pictures (no promises).
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The Proverbial Wall, First SNOW
No it hasn't snowed in Voss yet, the first snow won't be for a while I'm told.
If you have read a Outside magazine or any sporty, fitness type magazine you have probably read one of their new greatest way to get strong articles. You may have also encountered references to week 6. As I understand, when you start a new strength program you will soon begin making noticeable improvements, up until week 6. At week 6 the progress suddenly slows and people begin loosing faith as they feel their training is not working. The key here is power through week 6 as you will soon start feeling the benefits again. This pertains to my blog in that I recently hit week 6 (or close enough) and the obvious blog posts that just take typing began to dry up. For the past week I have not written anything. So in order to get past my week 6 doldrums I am implementing my first weekly column, Ski News Of Week (not "the week" because SNOW is SNOW). This column will be written whenever the best SNOW of the week occurs. If there is anything that can get me past week 6 it is SNOW.
This weeks SNOW is this mornings classic roller ski with some short sprints. I woke up feeling less than stellar so I took it extra easy during tour part of the workout assuming the last position. As it gets colder here in Voss the road which we roller ski is increasingly being chosen by where the road is least likely to be covered in ice. Today that meant a tour up the valley. This tour has a very long gradual climb that takes around 20 minutes to complete. The top of the hill is about as far as we went as people began to turn around. At this point it was all down hill to where we do the sprint starts which normally would be awesome. However, my fantastic new roller skis, I won in the Ski Trax Fantasy World Cup contest, made by Ski*Go are significantly slower than the Swenors everyone uses in Voss. As a result I lose about a minute or more to everyone on the way down. This meant that I arrived to the sprint starts right as the first one was beginning and got paired with Kristen Skjeldal. Today there was no moving up and down between groups so it was Kristen and I the whole time. I am going to assume that sprint starts are about the only thing skiing wise that I can best him in and I was able to win all the sprints (there may have been one tie, but given how badly he is going to beat me in the FIS skating hill climb that takes place during the winter I feel okay claiming the win today). The sprints definitely knocked much of the "less than stellerness" out of me and now I have strength training and my weekly Thursday night soccer game tonight.
On a side note I have no idea what "proverbial" means but I think it is often used in the fashion that titles this blog.
If you have read a Outside magazine or any sporty, fitness type magazine you have probably read one of their new greatest way to get strong articles. You may have also encountered references to week 6. As I understand, when you start a new strength program you will soon begin making noticeable improvements, up until week 6. At week 6 the progress suddenly slows and people begin loosing faith as they feel their training is not working. The key here is power through week 6 as you will soon start feeling the benefits again. This pertains to my blog in that I recently hit week 6 (or close enough) and the obvious blog posts that just take typing began to dry up. For the past week I have not written anything. So in order to get past my week 6 doldrums I am implementing my first weekly column, Ski News Of Week (not "the week" because SNOW is SNOW). This column will be written whenever the best SNOW of the week occurs. If there is anything that can get me past week 6 it is SNOW.
This weeks SNOW is this mornings classic roller ski with some short sprints. I woke up feeling less than stellar so I took it extra easy during tour part of the workout assuming the last position. As it gets colder here in Voss the road which we roller ski is increasingly being chosen by where the road is least likely to be covered in ice. Today that meant a tour up the valley. This tour has a very long gradual climb that takes around 20 minutes to complete. The top of the hill is about as far as we went as people began to turn around. At this point it was all down hill to where we do the sprint starts which normally would be awesome. However, my fantastic new roller skis, I won in the Ski Trax Fantasy World Cup contest, made by Ski*Go are significantly slower than the Swenors everyone uses in Voss. As a result I lose about a minute or more to everyone on the way down. This meant that I arrived to the sprint starts right as the first one was beginning and got paired with Kristen Skjeldal. Today there was no moving up and down between groups so it was Kristen and I the whole time. I am going to assume that sprint starts are about the only thing skiing wise that I can best him in and I was able to win all the sprints (there may have been one tie, but given how badly he is going to beat me in the FIS skating hill climb that takes place during the winter I feel okay claiming the win today). The sprints definitely knocked much of the "less than stellerness" out of me and now I have strength training and my weekly Thursday night soccer game tonight.
On a side note I have no idea what "proverbial" means but I think it is often used in the fashion that titles this blog.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Running up a Hillside
Yesterday was my first group time trial of the year. While I had begun to feel a certain affection for the mountain run at Stratton generally running uphill is very low on my list of why I enjoy nordic skiing (to be completely honest it would probably be on a "things I dislike about nordic skiing" list). As is required by the Ski Club Rule Book the course was around 20 minutes in length (to quote from rule 7a: All ski clubs shall have an approximately 20-40 minute standard time trial that involves running up a mountain side, the time trial shall be run using a mass start so that when one is hurting most they can get a clear idea of how much they are getting destroyed by). Armed with a basic knowledge of the course (you go up and then when it really hurts you keep going up), I was off. This was where the trouble began for me. I personally had no idea what the course was and as it was not a mountaintop finish there was no real way to gauge my distance remaining. I was, however, told by Kristen that it was going to be about 20 minutes for the fastest people (if Usain Bolt told you that the 100 meters should take you about 10 seconds you're probably thinking more like 13 seconds or 14 seconds), basically I decided to go out a bit conservative as that has always led to my best results. I quickly settled in to the gap between the second pack of guys and the lead girls (last guy but not getting girled, you win some you lose some). Luckily for me the first 17 minutes were my favorite steepness, just flat enough so that you must run to keep you dignity but such that by the time it came to kick it in I'm not entirely sure I my calf muscles had any power left. In the end I staggered across the line in 24:05 fully dominated (there were some times in the 18's) though not girled (got to find hope somewhere). Overall it was not a very good run for me as I could have pushed harder and just wasn't feeling that great on the whole that day. However, we are doing it again in October and I am aiming to bring my self down into the 22's. Until them I get to think about that ugly 5+ minute deficit I came in at.
On another note I would like to apologize for my lack of workout pictures, my water holder is currently cracked all over and while duct tape does a good enough job to maintain usability it is always quite damp/wet and I have yet to meet a phone that that enjoys water.
On another note I would like to apologize for my lack of workout pictures, my water holder is currently cracked all over and while duct tape does a good enough job to maintain usability it is always quite damp/wet and I have yet to meet a phone that that enjoys water.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Gotta Eat
As someone who lives in a hybel one of the things I must do is feed myself many times each day. Originally I found this quite hard as I never could decide what to make. Thus I created a simple formula assigning different factors that go into what I eat a percentage (basically how much I value them). So without further ado here is my trusty formula (all values are imprecise as I decided to round to the tenth for reading ease).
Time of Day-4.8%- overall pretty unimportant though can act as the swing vote between pancakes and steak for dinner.
Preparation Time-15.3%-winners: bacon and eggs, yogurt and granola, chocolate boller (helpful hint: always make more pancake batter than you can eat so that next time your preparation time will be nil)
Noise-8.9%-try to watch a TV show with bacon crackling in the background and you'll understand
Deliciousness-16.2%-Why eat it if it doesn't taste good?
International Man of Mystery Factor-4.7%-I bet Austin Powers can cook a mean Beef Wellington, but the other day I had Beef Ramen.
Oatmeal on the Appalachian Trail Factor-3.4%-I give this one way too little sway, basically will I eat this everyday and grow so tired of it that I can't stand the sight of it (I'm testing this with vanilla yogurt and granola).
Dietary Health-10.1%-recently cause me to buy the bagged salad from Dole I am currently eating. Definitely the least enjoyable part of my formula.
I am in Norway Factor-1.5%-may one day cause me to eat fish or put some fish paste on my bread, I'm hoping i doesn't. Is also pulling strongly for margarine instead of real butter.
What did I just eat Factor-4.6%-yogurt is exempt but otherwise causes a rotation of pancakes and bacon and eggs.
Zone Out Factor-14.7%-the last thing I need is to have to pay attention to my food as I cook it, therefore I rarely have something that can't survive a little extra time cooking (or a little extra crunch).
Cost-4.1%-I haven't dared check what lamb costs in Norway
Now I am guessing that you astutely noted that that only adds up to 88.3%. This leads to my big announcement: I am going to be holding What Factor Should Influence What Magnus Bigelow Eats Idol (also now known as WFSIWMBEI (wif-sewm-bay) for short). I will be posting a poll on the blog listing the above factors (with similar catchy acronyms). The first two weeks will involve half the field being cut followed by the two final rounds in which one will be cut each, leaving only the champion. Now finally a few pictures again.
Dinner: pancakes and salad (to be fair I ate the rest of the bagged salad while writing this post)
Thats what the containers, that once held 10,500 calories of yogurt, look like in a pyramid (thats about 3 weeks worth)
Also if there are a suspicious # of votes for dietary health (If I were at home I would be looking at you mom and dad) I will use my discretion as too whether the vote should count.
Time of Day-4.8%- overall pretty unimportant though can act as the swing vote between pancakes and steak for dinner.
Preparation Time-15.3%-winners: bacon and eggs, yogurt and granola, chocolate boller (helpful hint: always make more pancake batter than you can eat so that next time your preparation time will be nil)
Noise-8.9%-try to watch a TV show with bacon crackling in the background and you'll understand
Deliciousness-16.2%-Why eat it if it doesn't taste good?
International Man of Mystery Factor-4.7%-I bet Austin Powers can cook a mean Beef Wellington, but the other day I had Beef Ramen.
Oatmeal on the Appalachian Trail Factor-3.4%-I give this one way too little sway, basically will I eat this everyday and grow so tired of it that I can't stand the sight of it (I'm testing this with vanilla yogurt and granola).
Dietary Health-10.1%-recently cause me to buy the bagged salad from Dole I am currently eating. Definitely the least enjoyable part of my formula.
I am in Norway Factor-1.5%-may one day cause me to eat fish or put some fish paste on my bread, I'm hoping i doesn't. Is also pulling strongly for margarine instead of real butter.
What did I just eat Factor-4.6%-yogurt is exempt but otherwise causes a rotation of pancakes and bacon and eggs.
Zone Out Factor-14.7%-the last thing I need is to have to pay attention to my food as I cook it, therefore I rarely have something that can't survive a little extra time cooking (or a little extra crunch).
Cost-4.1%-I haven't dared check what lamb costs in Norway
Now I am guessing that you astutely noted that that only adds up to 88.3%. This leads to my big announcement: I am going to be holding What Factor Should Influence What Magnus Bigelow Eats Idol (also now known as WFSIWMBEI (wif-sewm-bay) for short). I will be posting a poll on the blog listing the above factors (with similar catchy acronyms). The first two weeks will involve half the field being cut followed by the two final rounds in which one will be cut each, leaving only the champion. Now finally a few pictures again.
Dinner: pancakes and salad (to be fair I ate the rest of the bagged salad while writing this post)
Thats what the containers, that once held 10,500 calories of yogurt, look like in a pyramid (thats about 3 weeks worth)
Also if there are a suspicious # of votes for dietary health (If I were at home I would be looking at you mom and dad) I will use my discretion as too whether the vote should count.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
McDonalds is not the same everywhere
This weekend I took a trip across to Oslo for a change of scenery, getting some warmer clothes, remembering what a green vegetable tastes like etc. To get from Voss to Oslo is always a mixed bag, the train rides are between about 5.5 and 6.5 hours and you never now what your company is going to be like. On the way to Oslo I got on a train that made all the stops and was a little over 6.5 hours, arriving in Oslo at 11:45 Friday night. Personally, I subscribe to the theory of put in your headphones, close your eyes and lie to yourself that you will actually fall asleep. However, seeing as I had yet to buy my ticket I had to wait to begin utilizing my strategy until the ticket guy came around. This was when the person sitting across from me struck. In order to get back bills for change I needed 6 more kroner and the guy sitting across from me (we were the only 2 in a 4 person 2 facing 2 grouping of seats) helped out. He used this intro to chat me up for the next 5 hours, nonstop. While I never learned his name (we didn't really do introductions) I did learn that he: is from Bergen, has a lung capacity of 6.8 liters (male average 6.0 liters) at 53 despite smoking since he was 10 (not like he had one cigarette at 10 he was full on smoking at 10) though he never really played any sports, his dad regularly drives his Audi A4 at 200 km per hour around Bergen, one of his best childhood friends cannot legally be taken into custody unless there are 5 police officers present (sounded sketchy to me too), he believes in literal "eye for in eye" (no, way more literally than you are thinking right now), and so much more. He also informed me that I speak norwegian like a 7th of 8th grader reads it (its a start).
I stayed at my Aunt Anne and he fiance Anders' apartment in the city. On Saturday I was able to wake up at about 10 and eat a bacon and egg sandwich while playing Anders in a couple of different video games. I then took a bus to Bull Ski og Kajak to buy a roller ski part I was in need of. The bus stop to go back just so happened to be right next to a McDonalds, and, seeing as my parents had previously expressed their concern over my protein intake the least I could do was get a hamburger. Things went downhill from that decision. First, they failed to have the double quarter pounder (my order every time), then the checkout lady totally nailed my order (no cheese, just ketchup) which should never happen at McDonalds, finally when I got my burger the most surprising thing happened, it did not taste like the McDonalds that I know and enjoy very much. It just didn't taste good. A personal first for me in my McDonalds career. The day, however, was rescued by watching Djokovic beat Federer (not a huge fan and Djokovic needed that win) and then watching the new Robin Hood (just as good the second time).
Sunday I took the 8:11 train back to Voss which was a fast one (5:40). Before I went on, though, I discovered something awesome, chocolate boller (hard to describe, nothing really like boller in the US, just imagine something like a chocolate croissant). Armed with my breakfast I boarded the train. This time my draw was 3 Slovenians on vacation. After a worrisome start (about 1:00 of chatting it up, though in English) I was able to enact my iPod eyes close routine. I got back to Voss in time for a roller ski and a badly needed clean up of my hybel.
I stayed at my Aunt Anne and he fiance Anders' apartment in the city. On Saturday I was able to wake up at about 10 and eat a bacon and egg sandwich while playing Anders in a couple of different video games. I then took a bus to Bull Ski og Kajak to buy a roller ski part I was in need of. The bus stop to go back just so happened to be right next to a McDonalds, and, seeing as my parents had previously expressed their concern over my protein intake the least I could do was get a hamburger. Things went downhill from that decision. First, they failed to have the double quarter pounder (my order every time), then the checkout lady totally nailed my order (no cheese, just ketchup) which should never happen at McDonalds, finally when I got my burger the most surprising thing happened, it did not taste like the McDonalds that I know and enjoy very much. It just didn't taste good. A personal first for me in my McDonalds career. The day, however, was rescued by watching Djokovic beat Federer (not a huge fan and Djokovic needed that win) and then watching the new Robin Hood (just as good the second time).
Sunday I took the 8:11 train back to Voss which was a fast one (5:40). Before I went on, though, I discovered something awesome, chocolate boller (hard to describe, nothing really like boller in the US, just imagine something like a chocolate croissant). Armed with my breakfast I boarded the train. This time my draw was 3 Slovenians on vacation. After a worrisome start (about 1:00 of chatting it up, though in English) I was able to enact my iPod eyes close routine. I got back to Voss in time for a roller ski and a badly needed clean up of my hybel.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Schedule, Moose Hoofs
Today I have decided to follow up on my claim last week that I would be writing about the school schedule here and also add one of my first ski related tidbits. The norwegian (or at least Voss Gymnas) school schedule is based on two key factor: consistency in training and inability to predict what normal school period you have. The school year is divided into alternating A and B weeks with each week following the pattern: Monday full day of school, Tuesday + Thursday training in the morning school in the afternoon, Wednesday school in the morning, and fagdag on Friday. Further each school day is broken into 8 active periods (which they erroneously call "hours" here but are actually 45 min) and 4 ominous looking periods further down on the schedule that go as late as 6:30 (I don't know if there are actually any classes at time so my theory is they put it on the bottom of everyone schedule as a reminder to be good or they can "go there"). My days start at 8:40 and end at 3:20. Now I will give you a rundown of my classes. On the schedule they are all jumbled up like someone played pin the tail on the donkey to create the schedule. Note: All period numbers are per 2 weeks and these are not actual class names but rather an english interpretation trying to capture the spirit of the class more than the exact name.
Training- easily most important class on the schedule and clearly scheduled before the blindfolds came out. 16 periods
Learning about training- basically a class where we read through a book about training and discuss training methods, ideas etc. 5 periods
Be a trainer- class where you team up and spend an hour being a trainer for your class. I was the first one to do this and attempted to teach the class basketball. They were hopeless to the point that it seemed like I am a competent basketball player (my victory over Chibuikem Uche in 1v1 aside). 4 periods
Geography- pretty self explanatory. 3 periods
Norwegian- Like English but in Norwegian. 7 periods
Sport and Community- How sport and community have coexisted over the years (It has Marit Bjørgen on the cover of the textbook). 2 periods
Community- talk about social issues and structure. 5 periods
Language- again self explanatory. 7 periods too many.
Math- 5 periods
Middle Period- Basically an extend lunch period (lunch is otherwise 20 min). 7 periods
Now for my ski related tidbit. This morning was an interval day. The intervals for the day were 5x5min lvl 4 moose hoofs with your rest being how long it took you to get down ("luckily" we were running up switchbacks and someone was kind enough to create a way down the middle) which was between 3 and 3.5 minutes each time. Kristen Skjeldal (you may know him from fasterskier, he's my coach) told us to go a controlled lvl 4. If he meant controlled as maintaining a small spread in finishing place I succeeded, if he meant heart rate well my finishing heart rate for each interval was: 200, 205, 199, 202, 206. As far as intervals are concerned it was definitely in my Hours de Categorie along with the annual lvl 4 skate sufferfest up Brazzers and Tree Tops. What made these intervals truly unique though was the constant presence of Kristen offering pointers to my moose hoofing technique. No, he wasn't doing intervals, I believe he was maximum in level 2 just jogging along following up on everyone's intervals then heading down to the bottom to do it again (he did all 5 and didn't even pretend to look the least bit tired). When we were done he said something along the lines of you guys head back while I get in a real workout. To make a hash of "the quote" by Yoggi Berra, Kristen is 90% lungs and his other half is lungs too. (Luckily) My next period was be a trainer for you classmates class and we did strength.
Training- easily most important class on the schedule and clearly scheduled before the blindfolds came out. 16 periods
Learning about training- basically a class where we read through a book about training and discuss training methods, ideas etc. 5 periods
Be a trainer- class where you team up and spend an hour being a trainer for your class. I was the first one to do this and attempted to teach the class basketball. They were hopeless to the point that it seemed like I am a competent basketball player (my victory over Chibuikem Uche in 1v1 aside). 4 periods
Geography- pretty self explanatory. 3 periods
Norwegian- Like English but in Norwegian. 7 periods
Sport and Community- How sport and community have coexisted over the years (It has Marit Bjørgen on the cover of the textbook). 2 periods
Community- talk about social issues and structure. 5 periods
Language- again self explanatory. 7 periods too many.
Math- 5 periods
Middle Period- Basically an extend lunch period (lunch is otherwise 20 min). 7 periods
Now for my ski related tidbit. This morning was an interval day. The intervals for the day were 5x5min lvl 4 moose hoofs with your rest being how long it took you to get down ("luckily" we were running up switchbacks and someone was kind enough to create a way down the middle) which was between 3 and 3.5 minutes each time. Kristen Skjeldal (you may know him from fasterskier, he's my coach) told us to go a controlled lvl 4. If he meant controlled as maintaining a small spread in finishing place I succeeded, if he meant heart rate well my finishing heart rate for each interval was: 200, 205, 199, 202, 206. As far as intervals are concerned it was definitely in my Hours de Categorie along with the annual lvl 4 skate sufferfest up Brazzers and Tree Tops. What made these intervals truly unique though was the constant presence of Kristen offering pointers to my moose hoofing technique. No, he wasn't doing intervals, I believe he was maximum in level 2 just jogging along following up on everyone's intervals then heading down to the bottom to do it again (he did all 5 and didn't even pretend to look the least bit tired). When we were done he said something along the lines of you guys head back while I get in a real workout. To make a hash of "the quote" by Yoggi Berra, Kristen is 90% lungs and his other half is lungs too. (Luckily) My next period was be a trainer for you classmates class and we did strength.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Laptop, Movies, Fagdag
This week was my first full week of school in Norway. I was able to obtain my "new" laptop that all students receive. The computer process started on Monday when I contacted the IT guys and they found a computer that I guess someone else just didn't want. Not sure what the story was there. I was told that they needed to "build" the computer for me so I should come back in on Tuesday. I was really excited to finally be able to access the password protected school internet network as I had been spending way too much school time focusing on schoolwork (X-Moto and Marble Blast are only fun for so long and who wants to play laggy single player COD?). Tuesday I got the laptop around lunchtime after training (I'll try a schedule post next week) and brought it up to my classroom. I happily turned it on and plugged it in and then... I got the "blue screen" and I couldn't reach the log in screen. To make a long story short I did finally receive the laptop on Thursday after 5-6 trips down to IT, 2 or 3 new hardrives, and 2 "build overs" (my guess is that means basically a re-installation of the hard ware but I didn't ask). I must say it is great to have intern... a norwegian dictionary when typing in school.
Another happening of this week was I went to the movies with some of my class mates to watch a crime movie, in norwegian. It did have subtitles though, in norwegian. I was able to understand it however and view this as a victory seeing as it was in Nynorsk. Nynorsk being a norwegian dialect that is mainly spoken in Vestland (like Voss where I stay). It is allot like Bokmål what they speak in Oslo except for the basic rules that, whenever you can you should make a raspy "k" sound unless you would normally make a "k" sound in which case you make a "sh" sound. For kicks (at least I think thats the reason) the norwegian government makes students learn both Bokmål and Nynorsk, that me. Back to the movie, I have no idea who made it, what it is called, the names of the actors (or the character for that matter), however, I do know that it was very good and I believe part of a series which I plan on researching (read watch). If you are in to watching norwegian movies you could search norwegian crime movies (there can't be that many) and you'll probably find it. If you see a picture of a creepy looking version of Wolverine (diesel sideburns, dark hair) you are at the right place.
To cap off the week of school I god introduced to fagdag (translation: subject day). Its even better than it sounds. It is an entire day dedicated to one subject. For me it was 8:40-14:45 (yeah they use military time over here) of straight norwegian class (that would be like english class for Americans). Including extended zone outs and 30 minutes of football manager 10 (its the game people play here) at lunch that equals over six hours straight of the same class (yes I'm counting those brief interludes, its only fair). Today that meant writing my first norwegian paper. It was 1.5 pages of 1.5 spacing, that didn't really say much of anything, regarding the Icelandic saga Soga om Gunnlaug Ormstunge (do not start your norwegian reading with this, its not like reading your favorite Dr. Seuss book) . However, it was pretty darn good norwegian if you discount the (very) questionable grammar. So all in all a good week though I'm not sure fagdag and I are ever really going to come to terms.
Another happening of this week was I went to the movies with some of my class mates to watch a crime movie, in norwegian. It did have subtitles though, in norwegian. I was able to understand it however and view this as a victory seeing as it was in Nynorsk. Nynorsk being a norwegian dialect that is mainly spoken in Vestland (like Voss where I stay). It is allot like Bokmål what they speak in Oslo except for the basic rules that, whenever you can you should make a raspy "k" sound unless you would normally make a "k" sound in which case you make a "sh" sound. For kicks (at least I think thats the reason) the norwegian government makes students learn both Bokmål and Nynorsk, that me. Back to the movie, I have no idea who made it, what it is called, the names of the actors (or the character for that matter), however, I do know that it was very good and I believe part of a series which I plan on researching (read watch). If you are in to watching norwegian movies you could search norwegian crime movies (there can't be that many) and you'll probably find it. If you see a picture of a creepy looking version of Wolverine (diesel sideburns, dark hair) you are at the right place.
To cap off the week of school I god introduced to fagdag (translation: subject day). Its even better than it sounds. It is an entire day dedicated to one subject. For me it was 8:40-14:45 (yeah they use military time over here) of straight norwegian class (that would be like english class for Americans). Including extended zone outs and 30 minutes of football manager 10 (its the game people play here) at lunch that equals over six hours straight of the same class (yes I'm counting those brief interludes, its only fair). Today that meant writing my first norwegian paper. It was 1.5 pages of 1.5 spacing, that didn't really say much of anything, regarding the Icelandic saga Soga om Gunnlaug Ormstunge (do not start your norwegian reading with this, its not like reading your favorite Dr. Seuss book) . However, it was pretty darn good norwegian if you discount the (very) questionable grammar. So all in all a good week though I'm not sure fagdag and I are ever really going to come to terms.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Hybel
In order to avoid beginning my homework I am going to write a blog about my living situation. In Norway there is not a strong tradition of boarding schools/ dorms yet do to the largely rural and spread out population there is a need to house many students during the school year. Essentially when high school hits everyone in a large surrounding area go to the high school in the local "city". Similar to the mountain kids going to BBA for those of you familiar with the Greater Landgrove Metropolitan Area. What differs in Norway is that kids live farther away so a daily commute is impractical. As a result many families in the "city" (in my case Voss) have mini apartments within them. So while I am living in someone else's house not an actual apartment I am responsible for all living duties except laundry (the family I am "staying with" were nice enough to offer to clean my clothes though I believe many hybel children bring there clothes with them home over the weekend, not an option for me). As a result my main meals are yogurt and granola or pancakes. I have also slowly begun eating lots of bread slices as is the Norwegian tradition. Below are a few pictures that capture the entirety of my hybel (mine is definitely on the small side based on the others that I have visited). There is also another bedroom the same size as mine on the other side of the kitchen belonging to Christopher whom I am sharing my hybel with with.
Kitchen
Bathroom
Bedroom
Kitchen
Bathroom
Bedroom
Friday, August 27, 2010
Rallarvegen
The past three days I have been on a trip from Finse to Voss with my class 2 Toppidretts and the 2 Idretts class. The first day we took a train from Voss up to Finse dropping our large bags off in Myrdal. When we arrived in Myrdal it was raining and quite cold so naturally I was the only one wearing shorts (apparently rain pants are quite popular in Norway). After visiting the museum in Finse, pertaining to all things involved in builing the railroad up, over and through (literally) the mountains from Oslo to Bergen, we began to bike the approximately 40km to Myrda on the Rallarvegen (work road for the train tracks) with our day packs. Like any good bike ride there were a few casualties, I broke my chain, again (got props for fixing right then and there though), the birthday boy Sondre Elvebakke had his crankset come apart after loosing his bottom bracket screw (not sure if thats the right terminology but basically what keeps the crankset together) at some unknown time. Luckily at this point we were only about a kilometer from Myrdal. After arriving in Myrdal we took a short train ride to a camping area (read large flat area with tall, wet grass) at Upsette. I totally dominated camping by making myself some chicken while everyone else was having just add hot water food and then making raspberries, cream and sugar for dessert (I was in Sondre's tent and his birthday was a great excuse for a delicious dessert). Our tent team then won the Rallarvegen quiz and some sort of Norwegian inferior Sour Patch Kids.
Day two began with a prompt alpine start at 11:00. Once again I slayed the meal by making pancakes with maple syrup. We hiked about 5km to Kaldavashytte. The group then split with a few of us heading up to the top of Øykjafonn the highest mountain in the vicinity and the others returning the way they came. It was a very steep climb up Øykjafonn and for the day we went from about 800 meters above sea level to 1604 and then back down again. I'm not going to say I was the first one into the water or one of only about 5 but if you want to infer that from what you have just read be my guest. Having decided before hand not to bring along eggs and bacon (questionable decision) my food domination ended that night when I showed my lack of tour food knowledge by not using enough water (towards the end it got a bit crunchy and never really looked like Pasta Bolognese). However, my new quiz group (they had us count off in sevens) took first place once again (I was totally a help on at least 1 of the 20+ questions). This time we got the same sour patch kid things but in a crazy plot twist they weren't sour! They had plain sugar on them!
Day three (today) we packed up the tent and put our large bags on the train and biked the 50km back to Voss. Of course right when I thought we had been thrown a curveball and it was not going to rain Norway through us the obligatory 5 minute drizzle (blaming Iceland for bad weather is in vogue right now so to save face on this side of the Atlantic I must add) courtesy of Iceland. However, I really cannot complain as we had the sun at our backs for the final 30km in to Voss. It was a great ride capped off by the great Norwegian smell that can only be obtained by drafting a diesel truck while passing a dairy farm. Below are a few choice shots (out of 13) from the trip.
Chain break= falling to top tube + leg confronting big chainring. Call it a draw between me and the bike this cleaned up nice.
Camp Ground
Blue sky it is a miracle
Top of Øykjafonn
Day two began with a prompt alpine start at 11:00. Once again I slayed the meal by making pancakes with maple syrup. We hiked about 5km to Kaldavashytte. The group then split with a few of us heading up to the top of Øykjafonn the highest mountain in the vicinity and the others returning the way they came. It was a very steep climb up Øykjafonn and for the day we went from about 800 meters above sea level to 1604 and then back down again. I'm not going to say I was the first one into the water or one of only about 5 but if you want to infer that from what you have just read be my guest. Having decided before hand not to bring along eggs and bacon (questionable decision) my food domination ended that night when I showed my lack of tour food knowledge by not using enough water (towards the end it got a bit crunchy and never really looked like Pasta Bolognese). However, my new quiz group (they had us count off in sevens) took first place once again (I was totally a help on at least 1 of the 20+ questions). This time we got the same sour patch kid things but in a crazy plot twist they weren't sour! They had plain sugar on them!
Day three (today) we packed up the tent and put our large bags on the train and biked the 50km back to Voss. Of course right when I thought we had been thrown a curveball and it was not going to rain Norway through us the obligatory 5 minute drizzle (blaming Iceland for bad weather is in vogue right now so to save face on this side of the Atlantic I must add) courtesy of Iceland. However, I really cannot complain as we had the sun at our backs for the final 30km in to Voss. It was a great ride capped off by the great Norwegian smell that can only be obtained by drafting a diesel truck while passing a dairy farm. Below are a few choice shots (out of 13) from the trip.
Chain break= falling to top tube + leg confronting big chainring. Call it a draw between me and the bike this cleaned up nice.
Camp Ground
Blue sky it is a miracle
Top of Øykjafonn
Monday, August 23, 2010
What a Way to Start the Week
After my first day of real school in which i successfully avoided going backwards in math (I think the class I'm in now is basically pre-calc again) for now (scheduling conflict with Idretts Kultur og Samfunn, read "play volleyball outside class", may cause a move backwards in math) and navigated this
I was getting ready to take a shower and settle down at 8:30ish when the kid who lives in the house my hybel (more on that later) is, Andreas, asked me if I wanted to play soccer at 9:00. I had done so once before and had fun, besides which, once you say no once you might not get asked the next time so i said yes. Thats where my weekend really got on the right track. First I had a minor collision involving the side of my shin which resulted in a lot of pain (always a great sign for nordies when seemingly benign events cause great pain in the shins) and me sitting on the side for about 5 minutes, I also did not score a single goal. Then after a classic no one scores the last goal but instead the lights go out finish I started home on my bike. After about 3 pedals I shifted gears continuing to pedal and snapped my chain in half, sweet. So I scootered the mile home no harm done. Then I realized I forgot my key and my hybel mate had locked the door and the lights where off in the main house so no way of getting a key without waking people up. Luckily I was able to climb through my window to where I am now sitting writing this blog. Tomorrow I get to look forward to more school and either fixing my chain or paying some absurd sum to buy a new one because I have a bicycle trip starting, you guessed it, Wednesday morning.
I was getting ready to take a shower and settle down at 8:30ish when the kid who lives in the house my hybel (more on that later) is, Andreas, asked me if I wanted to play soccer at 9:00. I had done so once before and had fun, besides which, once you say no once you might not get asked the next time so i said yes. Thats where my weekend really got on the right track. First I had a minor collision involving the side of my shin which resulted in a lot of pain (always a great sign for nordies when seemingly benign events cause great pain in the shins) and me sitting on the side for about 5 minutes, I also did not score a single goal. Then after a classic no one scores the last goal but instead the lights go out finish I started home on my bike. After about 3 pedals I shifted gears continuing to pedal and snapped my chain in half, sweet. So I scootered the mile home no harm done. Then I realized I forgot my key and my hybel mate had locked the door and the lights where off in the main house so no way of getting a key without waking people up. Luckily I was able to climb through my window to where I am now sitting writing this blog. Tomorrow I get to look forward to more school and either fixing my chain or paying some absurd sum to buy a new one because I have a bicycle trip starting, you guessed it, Wednesday morning.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Miscelaneous Week in Review
My first week in Voss is just about over so I am going to do a quick review of events. Thursday was my first group training session, an hour run with some spenst followed by a half hour of strength. Friday was an all school soccer, volleyball, scavenger hunt, and relay. I was on the volleyball team for my class and we made the 3rd place game despite losing our quarterfinal match, we got 4th overall. I was then a late sub onto the relay team and ran a 200m leg. Once again we got 4th. I then shortly found that I had a liquidity crisis. I was able to find 65 kroner (about $10) but my Norwegian credit card has yet to arrive so that was my weekend cash supply. Thus I have already had pancakes 3 times this weekend and will probably do so again tonight (pbj has been my other main dish). Also my new phone (HTC Legend) arrived on Friday so I can now add pictures however the SIM card has not so it does not have any phone functions yet. I would liken it to receiving an iPhone and being told that for the first couple days you could only use it as an iPod Touch, still sweet but missing that key ingredient.
65 Kroner
Vanilla Sugar, a true inspiration
65 Kroner
Vanilla Sugar, a true inspiration
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
First Day
First off I would like to apologize for the lack of pictures I will have some soon.
Secondly, yesterday was my first day of school. Like any first day should, it started at 10 with an assembly including at least 50 lbs of hair jell and tons of 3/4 length pants, sweet. Naturally, I went with a flannel t, cargo shorts, and not an ounce of hair jell. After getting introduced to the school we split up into something sort of like counselor groups. Mine was made of those in my grade VG2 (essentially the same thing as being a junior) who are in toppidretts. I soon met the class and we went over our schedules (I totally sort of understood what I am to be doing), teams for some all school contest on Friday I made the volleyball team (naturally the Euros looked down upon my American soccer skills probably for the better), and some details for the bike, hike, camp trip we are doing next Wednesday to Friday. Now today I have my first training session with the team and get my books. Regular school starts on Monday with an 1:30 of Spanish.
Secondly, yesterday was my first day of school. Like any first day should, it started at 10 with an assembly including at least 50 lbs of hair jell and tons of 3/4 length pants, sweet. Naturally, I went with a flannel t, cargo shorts, and not an ounce of hair jell. After getting introduced to the school we split up into something sort of like counselor groups. Mine was made of those in my grade VG2 (essentially the same thing as being a junior) who are in toppidretts. I soon met the class and we went over our schedules (I totally sort of understood what I am to be doing), teams for some all school contest on Friday I made the volleyball team (naturally the Euros looked down upon my American soccer skills probably for the better), and some details for the bike, hike, camp trip we are doing next Wednesday to Friday. Now today I have my first training session with the team and get my books. Regular school starts on Monday with an 1:30 of Spanish.
Monday, August 16, 2010
First Blog, Cows
Instead of having an introduction to my blog I'm just going to go ahead and start writing. I have recently arrived in Norway where I will be living for the next 2 years. After unpacking in my new hybel my dad and I went to visit the farm on which he learned Norwegian. The farm is in Valdres and was once the second largest in the entire region. We spent one night at the main farm house then went up to the seter, a farm used in the summer where cows can graze and are milked, which is situated on the top of a 900 meter mountain. In the morning we herded cows from the seter to a pasture about a mile away through a path in the woods. After a few small meals with fresh milk (delicious) it was time to send the cows back. While my dad and Ola, the farmer, fixed a fence, I was charged with herding the 21 cows back to the farm. Armed with a bucket of grain and Ola's statement that the cows wanted to be milked so baldly they would go right back, I started off. After about half an hour of fruitless yelling and offering of grain I returned to my dad and Ola having successfully sent the cows in the wrong direction and spread them about as far apart as possible. What ensued was over an hour of chasing cows through the woods in rain boots, getting 19 to go in the right direction only to see that the other three where heading off somewhere else or had stopped to grab a bite. The situation went quickly from; ha ha, this is fun and will give me a good story to, I am tired and hate rain boots to, if I had a knife one of these cows would be dead. Luckily the next we went to Skarvheimen for a hiking trip, with the warning words "You can't go into the mountains without wool" oops.
I will try to be more concise in future iterations of my blog.
I will try to be more concise in future iterations of my blog.
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