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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.