Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

It's been a busy last month or so with ski season underway, college applications, and the holidays.  I'm excited it's now 2011! I've taken some pictures over the past month or two or whatever it has been since I last updated my blog.

The camera doesn't capture the amazing view of Oslo from the ski trail.

Marianne, Anders and I skiing Christmas Eve

Santa and Santa's helper for Ragnar's brother's children.  Comical.

A view from the Metro that goes past Holmenkollen ski jump to Frognerseteren.

New Years Eve with some of the boys.

January 1st we went for a hike and the view of Holmenkollen ski jump was pretty cool.

Trying to get the picture of Oslo from the short hike we went.

This weekend I have my first Norgescup races.  I'll be going 10k skate friday, classic sprint saturday, followed by a 15k classic race sunday.  I hope it will be a good weekend of racing.  I think the Norgescup is home to the highest level of Junior racing in the world along with World Juniors.  This will be a good experience and it is still early in the winter so I'm not too worried about top results yet.

I head back to school Wednesday which will be okay.  I guess I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine after the holidays.

Winter is here!

Hey everyone
It has been far too long since I've made a blog post on here and I've been putting it off for literally over a month (or two).  So much has happened since my last post.  School is going really well, I have made some more friends, and skiing of course has been great!

The season has changed from fall to winter now.  Days are getting shorter and shorter.  Right now it is light around 8:30 in the morning and it gets dark at around 3:30 or 3:40 in the afternoon.  Definitely something that has taken a bit of getting used to.  Thankfully on Mondays, like today I finish school at 9:30 in the morning so I do get to be around and outside a bit when its sunny.  We received our first snow around 3 weeks ago which was really cool!  I took a picture when I woke up of it for documentation reasons which you'll see below.

Since my last post I have still been doing great training.  The difference now is I'm skiing on snow!  I went to an on snow camp last weekend in a place called Beitostølen.  This was pretty good skiing.  It was on man made snow, so not quite the same as real snow, but nonetheless skiing! We had some workouts just to break in the skiing legs, some sprint practice, a 10k classic time trial, and some i3 intervals to top it all off.  I think in the Friday afternoon, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning I had about 8.5-9 hours of training which isn't too bad.  One of the coolest parts of Beito was the whole Norwegian national ski team was there.  I said hi to Petter Northug and we skied by eachother a few times.  I skied a lap behind Marit Bjørgen.  I hope one day I can be as manly as she is... (she has bigger legs than half the men's national team) and took a picture with the guy who wore aviator glasses in the Olympics and worldcups.  It was pretty inspiring to train around some of the best in the world.

Last week was a pretty hard training week after back from Beitostølen.  I had a rest day Tuesday, easy workout Wednesday, hard uphill running sprinting intervals Thursday, strength Friday, more uphill intervals Saturday, and yesterday, to top the week off, a 2.5 hour ski on snow! There is pretty good classic skiing just 20 minutes away by car or bus down in the valley.  I suspect I'll end up there again this week sometime.

This weekend I have another 4 day ski camp on snow at a place called Nordseter.  This camp with be with the whole team kollen, so I will be skiing with around 80 people my age.  It will be a really hard camp but I'm really looking forward to this.

I have been taking a few pictures from the camp, some more of fall, and what it looks like outside my house right now.  Check them out.

A nice shot from October

Same day as the last one

Welcome to Norway

I was sitting on a stone wall taking this picture

Our first snow of the year some 3 weeks ago

Our Heming ski camp at Beitostølen.  Many people missing in this photo.

Another shot.

This guy was the man.  He races in those glasses in Worldcup.

What our house looks like today.  It snowed today and last night.

Another view of the house from today.  Ignore the time stamp it's wrong.

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!

The Last Few weeks

The last few weeks I have been quite busy. I've been to a ski camp with my ski team here called team Kollen. Team Kollen has members from clubs all around Oslo. I ski for the club Heming but there are other skiers from clubs like Lynn as well. I can't remember all of the names. We started out the first day of that camp with a 2.5 hour ski. We got dropped off at a location about 2.5 hours away skiing from where we were staying so we could go for a long ski and not have to turn around. There were huge uphills and huge downhills. My rollerskies are slow in Norway so I was constantly getting passed on downhills. I settled into my cabin with my teammates the same age who were great. Next day we woke up and did uphill running intervals L4-5. 6x5 min running up the alpine mountain with 3x1 min sprinting up the alpine mountain when we were finished with the 6x5. This workout was hard but I felt pretty good. In the afternoon we went for a 2 hour classic ski with double pole focus. The next day was a 12k time trial for men and 9k for women (I think). I actually had a good race and finished near in the middle of the pack with boys anywhere from born in '94 to '91. In the afternoon we went for an hour run and did strength as well. To finish the camp off the next day we did a 3 hour run in the morning then headed home. I felt great in the run which I was happy with because not all 3 hour runs are easy. I slept very well after that.

The two nights after the camp Marianne and I went to a rowing dinner party with some people which was a fun time. I saw some people I had already known and met some new people too. Many of the kids were actually going to the US with full rowing scholarships. The next night I went out again with some people I know pretty well now, and some new people as well. I had a great time with this group.

Now for the past few days I have been enjoying the last few days of summer doing some 5x4 min intervals two days ago, a strength workout with Heming, and a 2 hour 10 min classic rollerski today. Tomorrow I will do a 3 hour run with Heming. This is usually a large event where kids come out (they don't run quite that long), and parents join as well. I think it's a great way to add more people other than serious athletes into training.

Tonight I'm going to the movies with some girls. We will watch inception. Funny enough, besides Marianne, all 3 girls are named Andrea. I did the math and 1/6th of the people I know are named Andrea.

Here are a few photos I've taken lately. Not as many as I'd like to, but it's hard bringing a camera around all the time.


Some dancing... I think I was a bit surprised as I saw the picture being taken.

The Mountains of Lillehammer

Yesterday I arrived back from the Madsens cottage in Lillehammer, which is up in the mountains. It was a really good time. Their cabin runs on solar and wind energy. It was really cool. We stayed up late playing cards and talking, woke up late everyday, ate a lot (a ton), and trained everyday. It was nice being away from things like the internet. I actually lost track of what day it was at one point.

Also, we got to rollerski a few times at this amazing rollerski and biathlon facility right near our cottage. The loop we skied was 4.3k and there was a 30 point world class biathlon range with more paved space than you could ever imagine. I thought Fort Kent was good but this took it to a whole new level.

Here are some pictures I took of the last 5 days or so.


A rainbow I saw from the house



Marianne feeding the sheep some salt


The sheep started following me...


Marianne is a skilled photographer


Petter Northug is even on the bread here... Skibrødet means ski bread


Marianne and I eating some dinner.


A view from the top of the cabin.


Usain Bolt came to Lillehammer and somehow
I got a picture of him

Hard workout and meeting new people

Yesterday I woke up at 1:00pm and had a casual breakfast. The Madsens are quite relaxed during vacation time and like to wake up a bit later than during the rest of the year. I went for a rollerski with Marianne and two of her best friends from team Kollen which I will be skiing for and training with. We did 5x5 minute intervals up a 10k hill which leads towards Holmenkollen as you will see in the picture I have taken. The intervals were kicking my butt. V1 technique is definitely not my best so it was a very good exercise for my fitness as well as V1 and v2. After I went home, had a snack and prepared for my biking tour of the city Oslo. Ellen, Ragnar, Marianne, and I met up with my new friend Martin (also a very good skier) biked around the city a bit and then went out to dinner at a nice restaurant. We were actually sitting next to a table with one of Norway's richest celebrities (quite cool). After dinner Martin, Marianne and I went for an ice cream cone and talked for a while on a bench down by the ocean. After, we went home, watched a bit of TV, then went to bed. A great day in all.

Today I went and played some football (soccer) with Martin and some of his friends who were all very nice. One kid Anders will be starting in my class at Berg. Marianne was away at her grandmothers all day and spending the night there so I hung out with Martin and had dinner at his place with his mom and brother. We had fish. I actually really liked the fish. Yes, you may have just taken a double take. I did enjoy the fish. After dinner I went to a Start soccer team with Andrea Rognstrand and a friend of hers. Start is one of the teams in Norway's professional soccer league. It was a great time even though Start lost the game. Now I am home and spending way too much time on this blog. Tomorrow I will leave for the Madsen's cottage in the mountains for some days where we will be hiking, running, etc. I'll definitely bring my camera and take some pictures. Here are some of the pictures I've taken so far.


Here is a picture of the view of Holmenkollen
from at the top of where we finished our intervals


Marianne and her friend from team Kollen at
the top.


Ragnar building Marianne's new closet


Marianne is quite the builder herself


A view from the plane coming into Norway


A bad picture of me with Holmenkollen
ski jump in the background. Quite tired
from uphill ski intervals as you can see.