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What about today’s children, then? Unfortunately their daily life is probably a little different. In an article in a recently published magazine (Fjell og Vidde), PÃ¥l Egil MjÃ¥vatn — the leader for the Norwegian Center for Research on Children — wrote a little bit about what has happened: “Earlier children’s free time consisted mostly of unorganized play outside. Today we have organized all of the free time to the point where there isn’t any more....

I think about all of our activity in the years we were children, and what it has meant for my performance as an adult. I had a two-kilometer’s distance between my home and school. In the summer I would walk or ride my bike, and in the winter I would often use my skis. After a while I began to run parts of the distance, especially the last part home that was an uphill a...

We have all experienced it. After a brief period of feeling tired, sluggish and flustered at the start of a workout, an unexplainable calm comes over us. The body relaxes, the mind flows and the heart, stride and breathing all seem to work completely in unison. This is a result of endorphins being released to the brain. Endorphins are responsible for our addictions. The addiction to physical exertion, competition, and fitness is ours. We can...

“Crazy stuff is something you can do at home. In public you need to behave yourself.” It is something that is easy to say, but a little tougher to live up to. At least it was for me. I can probably admit that I did one or a few wrong things out in public. One of the dumbest things I have done was to make homemade bombs. The Gardemoen military camp was nearby our home,...

Right now there are abundant opportunities to get out and enjoy winter, especially if you are a woman. In the next few weeks, there are many “Women's Only” events going on around the country. Not coincidentally, many of these are being held this weekend (AKA Super Bowl Weekend). Here we have provided links to some of the most popular events. A Huge List of Many Cross Country Events for women can be found here:

Gordon and Torbjorn’s road-trip to Devil’s Thumb Pursuit Race Gordon Lange and I have often talked about trying some new races in order to get new challenges and different competition since it can “get old” racing the same faces on the same courses every weekend. Last week we were both able to free up some time  and decided to go and race the Colorado Pursuit Championship at Devil’s Thumb, Colorado – right outside Winter Park....

Of course, nature has always meant a lot to me—even when I was home. The first five years we lived in Elverum. After a few years in a nearby town of Jessheim, we moved to Nannestad, where I have lived ever since. I can remember nature-experiences even from my days in Elverum. For example the time I was four and I lay in a blueberry patch with my father. Suddenly a family of grouse came...

December 2002 Training Report and January Training Suggestions It’s Sunday morning and I just returned from a great skate workout up Mill Creek Canyon in Salt Lake City. I skied with two friends, Dave Knoop and Jim DiDomenico, that also both skied yesterday’s Potato Cup race in Pocatello, Idaho I was sore and tired from the race but both Jim and Dave seemed to have lots of energy (too much?) in this 6-7 K of...

Training — more than sweat and hard work It is early on a clear and clean early summer’s morning in 1997. As usual I am out on a training run in the woods. I have run about an hour, on my way over to Fjellsjœkampen, which at 812 meters elevation it’s the highest point in the county. I know that there are game birds in the area. Tiri, my bird dog, essentially told me this...

I walk the 200 meters from my room to the dining area for lunch. On the door some one has hung a poster with congratulations to “our golden boy.” Inside the dining hall I experience again what has been part of our team’s success during the 1990s: commaradary, team spirit, and the ability to celebrate when things go well for another on the team. The other racers give me hugs and handshakes. Even those who...

Amongst our different groups of cross-country skiers, being in good shape usually means having good endurance. Good endurance can however be measured in a couple of ways, one being able to ski slow, but steadily for a long distance, another being able to ski fast in a ski race. Different body mechanisms are required for the two “types” of endurance. Both types of endurance require training that changes the body at the muscular level, while...

A three part series on studies of endurance training. Langrenn.com is proud to introduce these endurance training articles written by Stephen Seiler PhD.

“Bjœrn, come over here. Look at me. Can you smile a little? Lift you arms over your head. Can we get a really great picture of you celebrating? Take a jump in the air” The finish line has been passed, the gold has been won, but the job isn’t finished. A lot of fun and business remains, and first the photographers need to get their shots. After the flower ceremony with the three medal winners...

At last. Now we’re there. The time is 10:35. The skis have been marked, I glide up towards the start line. As always I focus on doing every detail correctly. Place the skis in the track, but keep moving them to avoid any icing of the klister. Take a couple of deep breaths. Thinking I need to calm down. Same procedure as so many times before. Don’t get too exited. Too many times I’ve started...

I pull the curtains to the side and open the window. It’s cloudy and mild. This is good. I have a pair of fantastic skis for these conditions. Per Knut Aaland, who is our kick wax expert, has shown many times that he manages to find the perfect wax for the snow we have today. Moreover, klister conditions fit my explosive style of classic technique. Yup, it looks good. Can I have the perfect race?...

Surprisingly, the pre-Christmas season was perfect. Surprising, since many distracting tasks and problems caused me to have too much to think about. And it would become even worse. Soon after New Year’s celebrations, we traveled to Kavgolovo in Russia for World Cup events. The day before the World Cup race, our team manager Ulf Morten Aune asked me to come see him in his room in the army facilities we were staying at. He then...

Bente Skari gives assistant coach Egil Kristiansen most of the credit for the huge technical improvement she has made in skating this year. – He's been very patient, says Skari, who explains XC-skiing.com's readers how she has become a complete cross-country skier. Egil Kristiansen have seen it and Bente have felt it. A breakthrough was imminent. A great deal of hard work and close attention to technical details have contributed to a gradual improvement in...

Now it is serious. In the half-dark I get to my feet. Room six at the Tambartun School, where we have been provided housing, isn't big, but it is enough. Of course it's a mess. I step over bags, training gear, water bottles and newspapers. And over there is a marzipan pig I have gotten for Kristen Skjeldal. He is my idol. If everyone in the world were like him, there wouldn't be any wars....