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!