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).
Sunday, October 31, 2010
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).
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