I was just reading an article on langrenn.com about why the Norwegians haven’t won any medals yet – funny stuff. But I did notice that langrenn.com has started to allow readers to post comments…adn man do they get a TON of comments on that stuff.

Use google translator to translate a page if you want, it does just a good enough job where you can make out what they are trying to say on the page.

Just go to a page on lagnrenn.com and copy the URL from the address bar into the box on translate.google.com.

I think we could all benefit from reading some of their stuff. They have the cross country MILJØ (which means culture and environment) that we wish we had – the sh*t that makes you want to WIN RACES all day, every day.

I guess it’s probably wasted effort posting anything during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics (did any of see anyone other than Southam?), but better dull than silent I guess…

There’s something about rolling your sleeves up high and running through snowy single track that brings back a certain feeling of spring. Funny thing is, it’s early February. I guess it’s always spring in California.

From hitting the well-kept trails at Tahoe-Donner nordic ski area and scouting for single track in the area, I have to say that having warm sun is extremely revitalizing. Gorgeous views of the lake and 50 degree weather is the way to go, man. It says RUN DAMMIT!

Beautiful Tahoe

I’m running easy 60-75 minutes a day for the average workout, half on roads for quick turnover, half on trails. I’ll do this for two weeks and then throw in a single threshold interval session a week for fun (although most of my runs are uphill and play with that level of effort already). The goal is to build hours – to work the regular quality training back in as a lifestyle.

Lately I’ve been sleeping without *any* pills, keeping the partying to a (regular?) minimum. The combination of the two in my life is deadly for the competition. They say if it weren’t for whiskey the Irish would rule the world. Look out.

Yeah I stole the title from JK. It’s a good one though.

Here’s the bike race from the Drake. I got third. But hey man, it was a fast heat!

(video by Nat Herz)

I swear if I hadn’t looked up to see where we were I’d won. I swear.

Tor Arne Hetland is real. I saw him. Actually, I closed out the bar with him last night. The guy lives in a different world than you and I do. And, he’s a hell of a lot faster than we will ever be.

I wanted to suck some training talk out of him, so I made up some BS about having a bad race and threw in a cheap shot about Americans being slow (USST, I didn’t mean it at all).

Through the noise, norwegian, and waking up at 11am, here’s the best that I can remember from a conversation/rant/binge between 1:30 and 2am:

He said, “All that matters is you have a good miljø (which means culture and environment) and that you have the…(tried to explain ‘the fire within you’, but couldn’t).” He was very animated. “Where did you finish today?”

“50,” I lied.

“Ja. You are here now with (unnamed coach),”

(places a beer in the lonely corner of the bar)

“This is winning your Nationals.”

(places a beer in front of him)

“This is winning a World Cup.”

(practically tosses a beer out of reach and off the bar)

“If you want to win you need to train 1200 hours like Justyna (Kawuckchuck). You are not even close.” he said.

“That’s rediculous! Not to mention totally ‘questionable’,” I said.

“But have you tried? No. That’s why you won’t win. If you train 1200 hours THEN you will know how to train. You are not even close.”

The thing that blew me away is that it was immediately apparent that he comes from a COMPLETELY different world than we do. He’s right, we aren’t even close. Nowhere near it.

When guys like him talk about training it’s not about getting faster or making some team, it’s about *winning world cups*. Even when he’s talking to someone he doesn’t know.

He’s right, he has the miljø, so he doesn’t have to consider second best. It’s tip-top or nothing. Train more, *lots* more. Don’t expect help, because you are the one that has to race. Don’t come to a workout and say “what are we doing today?” – just show up with a plan.

This energy I got from that beer soaked nordmann is something I can’t describe in writing.

Canmore – The nordic skiing capitol of North America

No doubt.

The kids here understand what it means to be a serious nordic skier. They get to see it on the World Cup from time to time, and when they put on a World Cup they get to see the best in the world at their best. They groom perfect cords and perfect tracks down Main Street for night-time awards and festivities. They line the trails three hills high with noise makers and they even cheer when they (yet again) watch the highlight of Chandra winning her Olympic gold medal on the scoreboard – right before a start four years later.

Canmore Cids

Skiing isn’t one of the popular sports in Canada either, but the kids here are growing up knowing how fun and cool it can be to be a fast ski racer. Now, as they get older, they can choose if they want to make it a popular sport in their community. Big events like the World Cup show them that competitive skiing has a real purpose, and great organizations like Fast and Female help to remind them of that feeling after all the glory and drama has moved past this small, beautiful part of central Canada. It’s no wonder their hiding a few Olympic medals in the town.

I was hitching back from the race venue yesterday by a Canadian National team member. We exchanged waves with Chandra Crawford as she drove by in her pink detailed Prius. We made an errand stop at Sarah Renner’s house. She told me how her ski club was running a computerized stationary bike sprint at the bar on Saturday night.

“With beer?” I said?

“Yeah, with beer.”

Now THAT’s what I’m talking about. I’m planning on winning back some bragging rights after the Pan-Canadian-Alaskan competition from the Talkeetna Alaska Lodge back in summer 2008. Go Nanooks.

Yesterday morning an American skier jokingly poked,

“Hey Pat, so you going for a run early tomorrow morning?”

“Damn. Uhh, yeah, totally.” I thought fast. “Hey Brent, you racing tomorrow?”

I wouldn’t miss an dawn patrol run with local mountain maniac and Team Rabdo Captain (*8* liters of IV takes the cake) the BK Broiler, and we all know that alpenglow and morning moonlight in the Zion-esque Canmore/Banff area is a sight to behold…

A.M. Alpenglow in the Rockes

…running with one of your good friends after flying solo for several months is another great thing. It’s amazing how recharging and motivating it can be to hang with a serious athlete again. That makes thinking fast is a no-brainer. Man.

So it’s 9:51am on Saturday and I’m grabbing a breakfast bagel and coffee on the way to the venue to watch the classic sprint. Nat and Topher have been doing a fantastic job with the coverage, and I’d expect the same from them today.

Once you’ve done a few races “in town” this World Cup stuff is super easy. I’ve found I’ve got a real knack for interviewing and sucking the words out of people, even when they are currently ranking number one in the world and just won a World Cup event. Pietro Piller Cotrer is my favorite so far. Poor Charlotte Kalla though, she was so tired when I talked to her….very nice girl though.

Never met Northug. Never met Alsgaard. never met Kuitenten. Shoot, I’ve never even met Newell.

Olympics

Bummer news. My Olympic credential fell through, and I’m not going to Whistler. I’m sort of running out of money and am going to cut my losses and head back to the states before paying for a month on the road. I’m super bummed. If I do go there I’ll end up just going for a few days to see Holly, James, Compton, and all the other Americans and Canadians race at the top of the athletic world. What an experience it will be for them.

So, I’m punting and putting in another extremely long two-day drive in to California. I’ve got all my skis, all my work stuff, and my winter running shoes. I’m thinking sunshine, Royal Gorge, Tahoe/Donner, more altitude, and maybe a four-day “camp” running single track in the mountains. UAA will be at the UNR invite so I’ll cheer for my buddies for sure, maybe even take some pictures. Go Seawolves.

I’m not in shape. It’s time to get serious about my base. Contrary to popular belief, sometimes It’s all about the hours. E.S. This bud’s for you…

Qualifiers start in 15 minutes. I hope wherever you are you’re getting outside, and keeping you head above water. Game on.

I can’t remember if I wrote about this once before, but I’ll do it now anyway…

After translating a certain couple of articles, I was reminded about how I wish nordic skiing included more striding and dependence on cardio capacity than on strength.

One article was about the width of the tracks, and how making them narrower would allow easier weight transfer and double-pole kicking and striding up more hills. Skiers are becoming double pole monsters instead, which isn’t really as much skiing as the other graceful and cardio-centric techniques.

The other article, one I just put up, is about how Frode Lillifjell (2007 American 50K Champ and former APU Coach) has been training his Team Trøndelag for more aerobic capacity along with Oddvar Brå.

Now, I’m one skier that will favor a classic hill climb over a traditional trail race because I tend to do well using more motor and less technique. I’m also not the sharpest nail in the box when it comes to top-level skiing. But, when I watch those old race videos I feel like we are missing something.

Watch the ones right before they started skating, when they are sprinting and sprinting and sprinting – in diagonal striding technique – to the finish line. Then you start to see some crazy V1 skating over 50K, then you start to see this slow morph into big upper bodies and crunching and hammering on top of your poles that we are teaching skiers today.

It’s kind of like how snowboards brought on this whole mega-fat powder ski trend we are in now. Those powder skis don’t make better alpine skiers, they make you perform well in that powder niche, and they make it fun. Skiing hard-ass bumps in heavy and stiff skis is what makes you a better alpine skier.

After a certain special Christmas a couple of years ago with a three-hour ski in to the Serenity Falls cabin with a few friends, I realized what the beauty of a long, hard classic ski was like. I got into a good rhythm, found a little better technique, and hammered them both all the way to the cabin. It never got old, it never got tiring…unlike a boring-ass double pole and double pole kick will do. I gladly did it the same. The technique is good, so keep it around.

How much of the old style do we want to lose in favor of hulky sprinter bodies? How much to we want to remember and bring back? How about never slipping once in a race? How about unmatchable capacity? Personally, I’d like to get in a competitive race where I can just stride my way to winning, and the double poles are saved for the downhills.

Maybe that’s why I bought some randonnee racing skis.

Big Capasity is the Secret To Team Trøndelag
Narrower Track Will Give Better Technique

July 18th.

Here’s my (known) competition this year. Am I totally insane?
 http://www.adn.com/running/story/868942….

 http://akrunning.blogspot.com/

 http://www.ultrarunning.com/ultra/featur…

 http://www.alaskapacific.edu/oncampus/no…

It was nice to hang with some real athletes in Bozeman this weekend. I actually hit the hay at 9:45 one night instead of going to the bar with the coaches. What the hell is wrong with me?

In some ways winning seems impossible, and on the same token failing but beating the old record seems like a great consolation. On the other hand I don’t want to get third and beat the old record, I want to be fitter than I’ve ever been in my life and I want to WIN. All this comes in waves.

What a concept – putting yourself in a position to chase something with no real reason to follow through. There’s no one telling you to do it, and plenty of people who will still think you’re cool even if you bail. What a trip.

In the past three weeks, I have done things that you can only imagine. Try though. By now you know me better than I know myself. Sorry. Cliffhanger.

RIGHT NOW

I’m back in Bozeman to see a friend race his first collegiate race. He killed it, I’m psyched for him. A quick stop in West Yellowstone is always a nice way to break up the drive from Jackson, and the trails are always in excellent shape.

In reality, I don’t have much to report on the last month. I didn’t go to Anchorage, I haven’t done any races, the snow pack in Jackson Hole has totally utterly absolutely sucked ultra donkey, and I’ve spent too much time chasing girls to think about my abs. I know, I don’t have a clue how those aren’t related either.

I’m supposed to be writing up the MSU invite, but I’m too fried from training the last two days to dream up an angle. Count them – TWO DAYS. I’m (relatively) out of shape and skied 115 minutes at West Yellowstone with hard threshold work yesterday. I skied all day and watched the collegiate race at Bohart today, then skied until I couldn’t ski any more.

ASPIRE TO THIS:

I skied so hard that I made it 10 minutes from the venue before I crawling like a dying ferret into my back seat to pass out 10 minutes from the venue. I woke in a sweaty feverish hypo-glycemic and continuously freaked way the hell out until the waiter brought me a pint of root beer to pound like a leprechaun, no ice.

Whatever.

I’ve done a lot of talking about training, and thinking…and stuff…and working touchy-feely attitude to get myself in line. Now it’s all about the hours and cutting the bullshit. The proof is in the pudding. The piss is in the pitcher. Time to bring the hammer.

July 18th

Happy Christmas Eve!

When Petter gets on the buss the trainer looks at his stop watch and says “that wasn’t five minutes”. Then Petter sits next to Odd-Bjørn Hjelmeset and gives him a teddy bear. They’re on their way.

But back here, my training for Crow Pass as just begun

WARNING: This post contains boring workout stuff. Continue reading only if you are a workout nerd like me!

My first week is over. The goal was to go for an easy 10 hour week to get a handle what would and wouldn’t work here in the land of drunk and stoned ski bums. These are the important things that I will juggle week to week:

*** Work – Pays the rent.

*** Workout Types: – Rule #1 They have to be fun. Running on a bike path or flat country road is athletic suicide. Running point-to-point along ridges that I can step back and look at like conquered big game is key. But being in a new place means that logistical details like race simulations, transportation, precise terrain-specific characteristics can make this difficult. These are the disciplines that I juggle in a workout week:

• – Randonnée racing takes precedence Dec – April 1 with running 1-2 times a week.
• – Backcountry skiing is perfect training for that, and in-bounds skiing mixes hard downhill with hiking out the gates for 45-60 minutes per session…and it’s fun, free hours.
• – Running point-to-point on trails is what my race is, and is super fun!
• – Nordic skiing is low-priority and not in the plan, but if the conditions suck for everything else it’s on.

*** Alpine at Resort – Dec through March is base building and alpine skiing at The Village keeps it that way. You don’t have to sacrifice hours, you just have to get there after you’re done and work it into the plan. Alpine skiing at an awesome resort makes everything fun and keeps your “head above water”!

*** Socializing, etc – This is a big one. Working at home means flexibility but also no social life and death for an individual athlete. Living 2 blocks from downtown means I can walk to bars and music every night. And when I hang with other people, the workouts are over and the brain switches off. This is absolutely essential, but also something to watch out for with respect to drinking and staying up late. You can go have just as much fun without drinking alcohol too, remember? Just remember not to be a social pussy when they are all getting hammered and you are wondering what your AM workout will be.

And I want to add something to that…I have finally come to terms that I **NEED** to shake my ass with a sea of people at a techno disco every so often to stay alive. Plus, I believe this is totally OK. Sleep in the next day, and call it a rest day. Nothing can beat a dose of high amperage now and again. Add that to a week of top-notch training and you’ve got yourself a happy paddy.

*** Down Time – Required at night to relax and fall asleep.

Here’s approximately how they pan out, including overhead:

Work: 3-8 hours, 7 days/w
Workouts: 120 minutes w/ shower, 6 days/w
Alpine at Resort: 3+ hours w/ bus, 6 days/w
Socializing: 3+ hours, 5 days/w
Down Time: 2 hours, 7 days/w

(Geeze, I’m starting to look like Justin Freeman here)

Making A Plan

From now till April, It’s simple. Just follow this basic skeleton, but look for opportunities to improve every day:

1 x 60m intro run
2 x 90m run/skin
2 x Intensity workouts a week, mostly threshold hiking/skinning and little VO2.
1 x 90-120 Alternative (backcountry, nordic, etc) work toward 180 minutes
1 day rest

April 1:

1 x 90m intro run
2 x 120m run/ski
2 x threshold intensity (2 or 3 L4 efforts total)
1 x 120-360 mountain/ridge running + road biking.
1 day rest

Staying Flexible and Creative

It’s amazing how you will magically come up with great workout ideas if you really want to get out there and push it above all else. Especially when you need to accommodate for bad weather or schedule mixups.

On Monday I had to work late so I did some 15 min fast-foot tempo runs to make it hurt a little. The next day I still felt capable so I did “natural threshold” intervals up 1000 feet of gradually climbing snowy single track for a total of 45 minutes of intensity. The goal was total exhaustion.

The last 300′ was steep vertical hiking through bushes and knee-deep snow, so I pushed it 15 minutes to the top with HR > 90%. That reminded me of a picture I once saw of a norwegian guy moose-hoofing through waste deep mud with the open-mouth closed-eyes hate face of death. Push the natural resistance! Then I ran back down the fast cat track as hard as I could. It helps a lot to be able to step back and see the whole series of ridge lines that you just did for an excellent sense of accomplishment.

Here’s the creative part: That was 2 days of intense effort. I was 100% thrashed, but then I went to Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and skied as many HARD 4000′ tram laps laps I could in the last two hours of the day to finish myself off. This means leg-scortching tucks all the way to the bottom with the heart rate pegged. SO FUN!! This works because it is so fun that it doesn’t seem like work! You put me on alpine skis and I find it extremely difficult to ski slow.

Now for one day of rest, then back to thinking outside the box and put together more point-to-point Crow Pass simulations here. The next step is to put together a 3-4 week goal to continue the base work. Then I am thinking another goal for a month after that to keep it simple. 

I ordered Randonnee racing gear today. Game On

“So you think I’m courageous?” she asked.
“Yes, I do.”
“Perhaps I am. But that’s because I’ve had some inspiring teachers. I’ll tell you about one of them. Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at Stanford Hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liza who was suffering from a rare and serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her five-year-old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister. I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, ‘Yes, I’ll do it if it will save Liza.’
“As the transfusion progressed, he lay in a bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheeks. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded. he looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, ‘Will I start to die right away?’
“Being young, the boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give her all his blood.
“Yes, I’ve learned courage,” she added, “because I’ve had inspiring teachers.”

Dan Millman, Chicken Soup For The Soul

Bill Bowerman And Steve Prefontaine

At the start of every season coaches sit down with their athletes and go over the previous year, their goals for the next year, and put together a plan on how to accomplish them. Having had some success in the past, but also burnt out, I’ve got a lot of these lessons to plot out for this coming season. Since it’s hard to keep it all in my head, I decided to lay down some ground rules for myself if I’m actually going to commit myself to my goal this summer.

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