Last Update

Eph Nation: As I write this it is FINALLY dumping snow outside of my window.  November is in my experience the worst month in Norway at least training wise because most of the time it oscillates between dumping snow and dumping rain, it starts to get dark fast and there is no snow to amplify the light, and the training options often are limited to rollerskiing on ice or running through snow.  This is exactly what has happened from late october until now, which has made training feel a lot more hardcore.  Luckily though I have been able to get away on some excursions where there was snow.

First I journeyed to Lillehammer with Victor (honorary, nordork) and our friend Eric Ryan (former nordork) to visit Heidi Halvorsen (Williams Class of 2018) and get some skiing in.  After a detour around the mountain passes because of some raging winds, we got to Lillehammer and to our surprise had perfect spring skiing conditions.  It was sunny, there was lots of snow, and the temperature was up around 5º C, which was amazing.  Getting to see Heidi, get some sweet skiing in the sun, and experience the epic temple to winter sport that is Lillehammer made for an awesome weekend.  We even got Victor out on the skinny skis one day, and he proceeded to crank out a 2:15 OD!  I was very impressed.

Nordies of Novembers past, present, and future

 The next place I visited was Tromsø, above the arctic circle in Northern Norway.  As I flew in, we were buffeted by some very high winds that made for a sketchy landing, but also brought an epic storm cycle into Tromsø.  I was there for a week staying with my old roommate Rune Strømholt from my year abroad and seeing all my old buddies, and it dumped snow every single day except for one, where we got some pictures on the last day before mørketiden, where the sun doesn't come over the horizon for 8 weeks! Rune is taking a year off to ski and train right now, so we were out two times a day on the trails every day, getting some quality Ks in.  Most days we skied about 4 hours a day, but we managed to fit in some strength, short runs to keep the jogging muscles going, and a 10k CL time trial in the dumping snow. Also, I don't know if you can spot it from a distance, but I had a pretty sweet mustache and soul patch going at that time, I had grown a beard out for my halloween costume in october and ran with the 'bart' after that through november.  

Roommates ca. 2010-11, some sweet skiing

Last light of the year and some great skiing in Tromsø

After the Tromsø trip, it was back to reality at the university in Trondheim.  Exam period has settled in, and the city is tangibly more tense and withdrawn, probably similar to whats going on in the Purple Valley right about now.  In between trying to read for all the classes I managed to miss this semester, Victor and I found time to make a delicious Thanksgiving for a few of our best Norwegian and American friends.  It was our first time making Thanksgiving ourselves, and it made me realize: a) why my mom is so tired after the meal, b) why it's good to have a house with two ovens, and c) how rewarding it is to bring people together over a delicious meal.

The turkey crew ready to chow, plus vic's mustache

Anyways, these last few weeks are going to be brutal in terms of studying, especially because the exam is worth 100 percent of your grade in some classes, but hopefully with the snow thats puking outside of my window as I write this post it will be possible to get on snow and train a little more to unwind. Good luck on your exams, good training, and Merry Christmas to everybody!