Some pictures

This week has been an easy week for training, but I will not talk about it so much as I have been lately...

I've felt good, but a bit tired this week.  Raced Friday, but didn't feel very fresh.  It is okay though because last week was very hard.  I rested yesterday and today because I have a cold and my coach Sverre Walter Kaas said it would be a good idea.

Yesterday was a promotional event for nordic skiing put on by some of the Norwegian national team, the coach, and some of the wax techs for the national team.  It was very cool.  The highlight for me was taking a few pictures with Olympic team sprint gold medalist Øystein "Pølsa" Pettersen.  The missing member of the gold medal sprint team was Petter Northug.  He did not make it unfortunately... Maybe next time.

The biggest news is I have finally started school! I started school in Friday.  I am starting in the 2nd out of 3 classes or 12 grade out of 12 grades because of my age.  I was a bit disappointed I couldn't start in the 3rd class but I suppose I will get over it.  It was a good first day.  I met some of the kids in my class 2-A who seemed pretty nice.  There were a few girls who were very welcoming and showed me around the school and some of my other classes a bit.  I saw and talked with many people I already know at school as well, and met a bunch more people.  I am really looking forward to school because I know I will be making many more friends other than skiers and I will also learn Norwegian faster.  A good start to a good school year. 

Today I went to the ocean with Marianne because we wanted a bit of easy exercise and fresh air since we both have a cold.  I took some decent pictures down by the ocean.  Here are a bunch of the pictures...

Some of the members of the Norwegian national team

me with olympic gold medalist Øystein "Pølsa" Pettersen

Me, Pølse, Marianne, and Victoria

Promotional waxing bus for the national team.  Pretty cool I think...

Again... Pretty Badass trailer...

Ocean in Oslo

Looking towards the city

Where many people are keeping their boats.  Probably coming out soon I might add

Pretty sunny and nice out today.  Maybe the last real summery day

End of the peninsula

There were many other people out enjoying the sunny day as well.

To conclude our outing, Marianne and I went to a Bakery and had an espresso and chocolate chip scone each and biked home.  Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.

Ski Ski Ski

First, I would like to say sorry for not posting on my blog for so long.  I suppose sometimes I forget I actually have a blog going on and some people that are interested in seeing what I am doing.  I will be better about this from now on.

Last week was a very hard week for training.  It was a true Norwegian "hard" week.  Two Saturdays ago I did a 4-5k uphill skating time trial from the very bottom of the hill, all the way finishing at Holmenkollen.  On that sunday I had a 2 hour distance workout.  Monday was an hour of biking in the morning, followed by a 45 minute run in the evening, then an hour of strength in the gym.  Tuesday we had an uphill running time trial.  It was 3.5k and I ran it in 14:21.  I felt pretty good and could definitely feel the lactic acid building up about half way and on.  There were 3 guys that finished ahead of me in this and some others a bit behind.  On wednesday I did an hour skate rollerski in the pouring rain and felt pretty tired (I wonder why...).  Thursday was an easy day.  Just kidding... We had a 3+k uphill double pole time trial from Holmenkollen to the very top of the hill at the cell phone tower.  I felt pretty good in this as well.  I've consistently been feeling good in every test which has been great.  Friday I had to take the day off because or the race on Saturday.

Saturday I raced a duathlon consisting of a 8k classic ski, followed by a 6k run.  I thought maybe we would ski fairly fast, then run also pretty fast.  I was wrong.  The 8k classic race was an 8k classic race.  The 6k run was a 6k running race.  I skied very hard in the 8k classic and I can say I have never skied with quicker tempo in such a long race.  The norwegians are really fast! After the ski race was the running race.  The first lap was horribly painful with tons of lactic acid.  The next two laps were much better.  I finished the race exhausted and did pretty well against the other boys.

Sunday we did a 3.5 hour workout.  1:45 skate skiing, 1:45 running.  I was already tired from having 3 races earlier in the week but this workout finished me off.  The rest of the day for me consisted of eating Kebab with some other skiers after the race, then going to Jørgen Grav's place with another friend Kasper Stadaas.  There we ate ice cream, watched TV, and played a bit of super smash brothers.  Good relaxation! I went out to dinner with the Madsens and had a great dinner.

This week is a bit easier on training for the first half.  Yesterday, I had a strength test followed by a strength workout.  It was good but I can definitely improve.  Today we went for an easy classic ski with some double pole specific strength and sprinting practice.  Not bad...  I'm looking forward to the planned day off tomorrow given to us by Sverre Walter Kaas (my coach).

Here are a few pictures I've taken lately and others from facebook.

A picture of my friends Kasper Stadaas (left) and Mathias Borgnes (right) and me at the birthday party Friday night.

Mathias Borgnes, Jørgen Grav, and me.

Another picture of some of the guys after the double pole time trial.

This coming weekend I will be doing the Tour de Lyn.  This will consist of an 8k skate time trial Friday, a 20k classic race on Saturday, and a 7.5k classic time trial Sunday to finish it off.  This should be fun, and I will have lots of as the Norwegians say... syre (lactic acid).  Hopefully I keep feeling stronger and stronger!