I love the topic of how Denmark and the US are different. I don't know where I feel more at home. Sometimes, the glass is half full and sometimes it's half empty. Here's a list of differences the reader may or may not be aware of.
Some obvious ones are:
Equality vs Inequality. That's the biggest difference; the one I will never get used to. In Denmark, the entire middle 95% have essentially the same quality of life. Success isn't rewarded like it is here, and yet this doesn't really bother Danes. Surprisingly, the "poor" (who make more money than the median US household income, mind you) still bitch and moan about how the "system" is out to get them. And boy, I would never even be able to say something like this in Denmark without getting funny looks. So it sounds like I would prefer the US system, but I don't. The inequality is everywhere. Unfairness is everywhere, every day in the ER.
Religion. Americans don't realize this. Scandinavians notice it immediately.
Politics. Just two parties and nasty us-versus-them partisanism. It seems like Danes love discussing politics, whereas Americans get tight sphincters if you ask them who they voted for. Probably a product of the two-party system in America, which few people seem to question.
But here are some smaller differences.
Amateur sports. Open the locan paper in Næstved, Denmark, and the sports pages will be about the local adult amateur teams. Some of these teams are semi-pro, sure, most mostly it's regular working folk playing national level handball (olympic handball to you North Americans), soccer, tennis or badminton or what have you. Open the same size local paper here and there are almost identical articles about kids' sports. Danes are unable to comprehend how big kids' sports are here. If a local kids' team is excelling nationally in Denmark, it leads to some coverage in the paper or local TV news, but you can't compare it to the focus on kids' sports here. You could take any of the local high school track teams in La Crosse and they would probably be able to beat every single junior track team in Denmark (except maybe two or three). But then kids graduate from high school and college and it just drops off. A top Division 3 college sprinter can go from being, essentially, a full time athlete to an old man after outdoor nationals his senior year. This topic could fill 10 blog posts, so I'll leave it there.
Pro sports. Wisconsin has the Packers, Bucks, Brewers and... I dono't know, maybe a female basketball team,? There used to be semi-pro basketball league. In the summer there is minor league baseball in maybe 10 cities. Let's say around 10 pro sports teams. Denmark has, what, 200 pro teams in a number of sports. I don't get it. One could argue that college sports fill that role in Wisconsin, but it's still interesting. I should mention that both Wisconsin and Denmark have populations of about 6 million.
Public radio. I love public radio here as do most people I talk to. Wisconsin has Wisconsin Public Radio, whose programs are partly produced by NPR. Denmark has 5 public radio stations and at least two of those are far from popular. What gives?
The price of food. Not a subtle difference, but still. It blows my mind that I drive to work and my dinner is a 99 cent burrito from Taco Bell. 99 cents! And I get full from this burrito.
Hmm, there are more but the Girl is home...
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
February 2012 Running Log
1: 3x2 miles on treadmill. Felt good, forgot times.
2: Spinning with the Girl, then swimming.
3: Ran 1.5 hours with the Girl. Then proceded to run 3x2 miles with PR on the second one at 11:35.
5: 1 hour after work, slowly around town.
6: Three Rivers Trail to the Y. Surprisingly tired. Wanted to run 3x2 miles, but overheated and had to drop the last one. The second 2 miler quite fast at 11:38.
8-22nd: can't remember exactly. A lot of tempos on the treadmill, typically 3x2 miles as either easy or hard pyramids. A few longer (3 hours) with the Girl. Most tempo days, I ran an hour or so on the way to the Y.
24. Ran an hour with the Girl and then did three 2 milers on the treadmill.
27. Gpt off of work and went to the north Y. Ran 4x800m with half laps at 6.2 mph. Total 4 K in 14:50. Low pyramid 2 miles in 11:2x. Steep pyramid 2 miles in 12:12. All three were PRs. I'm in shape. PR on Saturday?
28: Swimminh and core stuff.
29: confusing day. Overslept and had to rush to the Y to pick up El Guapo. However, the Girl was kind enough to let me run on the treadmill. Two steep pyramids (2 miles) in 11:52 and 11:50, both big PRs.
2: Spinning with the Girl, then swimming.
3: Ran 1.5 hours with the Girl. Then proceded to run 3x2 miles with PR on the second one at 11:35.
5: 1 hour after work, slowly around town.
6: Three Rivers Trail to the Y. Surprisingly tired. Wanted to run 3x2 miles, but overheated and had to drop the last one. The second 2 miler quite fast at 11:38.
8-22nd: can't remember exactly. A lot of tempos on the treadmill, typically 3x2 miles as either easy or hard pyramids. A few longer (3 hours) with the Girl. Most tempo days, I ran an hour or so on the way to the Y.
24. Ran an hour with the Girl and then did three 2 milers on the treadmill.
27. Gpt off of work and went to the north Y. Ran 4x800m with half laps at 6.2 mph. Total 4 K in 14:50. Low pyramid 2 miles in 11:2x. Steep pyramid 2 miles in 12:12. All three were PRs. I'm in shape. PR on Saturday?
28: Swimminh and core stuff.
29: confusing day. Overslept and had to rush to the Y to pick up El Guapo. However, the Girl was kind enough to let me run on the treadmill. Two steep pyramids (2 miles) in 11:52 and 11:50, both big PRs.
January running log
Summary:
Not enough miles but lots of quality runs.
A week of altitude in Mammoth, where I ate too much and ran too little. Two decent runs Up to Twin Lakes and one amazing run from Olmsted Point towards th Yosemite Valley.
Luts of running on the treadmill. The two main workouts were 2x(4x800). Rest 200m@ 6.2 mph. Last 800 is actually a 1000, where the last 500 is at 0%. I believe the fastest time was 14:55.
The other workout is 3x2 miles with 4 minutes rest. The 2 miles are run at a "pyramid grade", where the grade is increased until 1.5 yards and then rapidly decreased (down to 0% the last half lap). Fastest times around 11:40.
Not enough miles but lots of quality runs.
A week of altitude in Mammoth, where I ate too much and ran too little. Two decent runs Up to Twin Lakes and one amazing run from Olmsted Point towards th Yosemite Valley.
Luts of running on the treadmill. The two main workouts were 2x(4x800). Rest 200m@ 6.2 mph. Last 800 is actually a 1000, where the last 500 is at 0%. I believe the fastest time was 14:55.
The other workout is 3x2 miles with 4 minutes rest. The 2 miles are run at a "pyramid grade", where the grade is increased until 1.5 yards and then rapidly decreased (down to 0% the last half lap). Fastest times around 11:40.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Settling in La Crosse
Life is good here.
We sit in our breakfast nook and look out on the snowmen that I built with Christian this week. There are six of them, one for each member of the family. He was very particular with how tall he wanted each of them. I ended up shorter than the Snow Girl, but I have a bigger and rounder head. We put boobs on the Snow Girl, so people could tell who was who.
Little Snow Guapo is less than a foot tall and has tiny rocks for eyes. They fall out every time the sun shines. Sometimes Snow Guapo has to sit on the Girl's hip, because he is so small. Christian is overcome with jealousy when he sees Snow Guapo on the Snow Girl's hip. He won't run over to knock the little snowman down, because he likes the game too much, but he is very adament that Snow Guapo stands alone at night.
He goes to the Waldorf school in La Crosse. It's a lesson in not being quite cool enough for all of us. We have spent hours searching for SmartWool socks that fit a 3-year old and go up over his knees. He wears his Thomas the Train shirt at home, but any sign of pop culture is strictly banned at his school. The parents and teachers make we nervous when they approach me wearing homespun hemp. Then speak slowly and with righteous conviction. They never break eye contact; they drive Subarus or Volvos and are never in a hurry. They shop at the co-op and are probably 100% organic at home.
Yesterday, I got a few points for picking up Christian on my bike. I had temporarily forgotten just how unusual it is for someone to ride a bike in January in La Crosse. Drivers are so nice here that it feels like I slowed down hundreds of drivers. But the weather was nice and it was worth it to see the elites at the Waldorf stare jealously at my muddy pants. Yes, muddy pants trump "eat local" bumper stickers.
Christian and I like to run or bike to the La Crosse River. We throw ice and snow into the river, whether the river is ice or water. Ice floes break loose from upstream and yesterday a floe larger than a minivan sailed past us. We go skiing at Mount La Crosse; when I am more than an inch behind him, he screams "I fastern you, dad!". When I am more than an inch ahead of him, he screams "vent for me, far!". He rides over the jumps on the edge of the run, oblivious to the glares from teenagers he cuts off.
The Girl is in a crazy exercise phase. Like most of the people who read this, she is addicted to exercise. Suddenly she has time to exercise as much as she wants, for the first time since her intern year. She runs/bikes/swims/yogas/etc from 9 to 1 and then she is done for the day. It's a strange relief from the tears and frustrations of life in Denmark, where she was never able to exercise as much as she wanted. Here, She comes home tired from all her exercise, works for a few hours (10 hours a week, officially), and we have a normal afternoon/evening with the kids. Yesterday, the car broke down and we had to spend over an hour to get it jumped and then get it to the shop. It was almost fun. In Denmark, the Girl would have had a full-blown panic attack because her days were so insanely parcelled out that any interruption would topple the exercise apple cart. Last night, there were jokes and laughs.
And of course, she is in great shape. She is taking easy days every other day (ie. she only runs 10 miles and then cross trains for 3 hours). On hard days, she runs quality workouts. If I ran like her, I would be injured immediately. She runs over 100 miles a week. 100K for me is about as high as I can go, and even that is pushing it. She needs to run more intense stuff, which has always been her weakness, but even that is coming around. She is doing 1 mile intervals right now (I wasn't allowed to join her, unfortunately). We have a half marathon next weekend. Depending on how cold it is, I think she has a huge PR in her, maybe high 1:20s.
The chances of me getting "wifed" at Three Days of Syllamo are very, very real.
(An earlier version of this post had an exaggerated description of the Girl's eating habits and singlemindedness during a heavy training phase. I thought it was funny; the Girl less so).
We sit in our breakfast nook and look out on the snowmen that I built with Christian this week. There are six of them, one for each member of the family. He was very particular with how tall he wanted each of them. I ended up shorter than the Snow Girl, but I have a bigger and rounder head. We put boobs on the Snow Girl, so people could tell who was who.
Little Snow Guapo is less than a foot tall and has tiny rocks for eyes. They fall out every time the sun shines. Sometimes Snow Guapo has to sit on the Girl's hip, because he is so small. Christian is overcome with jealousy when he sees Snow Guapo on the Snow Girl's hip. He won't run over to knock the little snowman down, because he likes the game too much, but he is very adament that Snow Guapo stands alone at night.
He goes to the Waldorf school in La Crosse. It's a lesson in not being quite cool enough for all of us. We have spent hours searching for SmartWool socks that fit a 3-year old and go up over his knees. He wears his Thomas the Train shirt at home, but any sign of pop culture is strictly banned at his school. The parents and teachers make we nervous when they approach me wearing homespun hemp. Then speak slowly and with righteous conviction. They never break eye contact; they drive Subarus or Volvos and are never in a hurry. They shop at the co-op and are probably 100% organic at home.
Yesterday, I got a few points for picking up Christian on my bike. I had temporarily forgotten just how unusual it is for someone to ride a bike in January in La Crosse. Drivers are so nice here that it feels like I slowed down hundreds of drivers. But the weather was nice and it was worth it to see the elites at the Waldorf stare jealously at my muddy pants. Yes, muddy pants trump "eat local" bumper stickers.
Christian and I like to run or bike to the La Crosse River. We throw ice and snow into the river, whether the river is ice or water. Ice floes break loose from upstream and yesterday a floe larger than a minivan sailed past us. We go skiing at Mount La Crosse; when I am more than an inch behind him, he screams "I fastern you, dad!". When I am more than an inch ahead of him, he screams "vent for me, far!". He rides over the jumps on the edge of the run, oblivious to the glares from teenagers he cuts off.
The Girl is in a crazy exercise phase. Like most of the people who read this, she is addicted to exercise. Suddenly she has time to exercise as much as she wants, for the first time since her intern year. She runs/bikes/swims/yogas/etc from 9 to 1 and then she is done for the day. It's a strange relief from the tears and frustrations of life in Denmark, where she was never able to exercise as much as she wanted. Here, She comes home tired from all her exercise, works for a few hours (10 hours a week, officially), and we have a normal afternoon/evening with the kids. Yesterday, the car broke down and we had to spend over an hour to get it jumped and then get it to the shop. It was almost fun. In Denmark, the Girl would have had a full-blown panic attack because her days were so insanely parcelled out that any interruption would topple the exercise apple cart. Last night, there were jokes and laughs.
And of course, she is in great shape. She is taking easy days every other day (ie. she only runs 10 miles and then cross trains for 3 hours). On hard days, she runs quality workouts. If I ran like her, I would be injured immediately. She runs over 100 miles a week. 100K for me is about as high as I can go, and even that is pushing it. She needs to run more intense stuff, which has always been her weakness, but even that is coming around. She is doing 1 mile intervals right now (I wasn't allowed to join her, unfortunately). We have a half marathon next weekend. Depending on how cold it is, I think she has a huge PR in her, maybe high 1:20s.
The chances of me getting "wifed" at Three Days of Syllamo are very, very real.
(An earlier version of this post had an exaggerated description of the Girl's eating habits and singlemindedness during a heavy training phase. I thought it was funny; the Girl less so).
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Mammoth
The weather in the Sierra Nevadas has been unusually warm and dry, so the Yosemite east entrance (going over Tioga Pass) was open. The highlight of the trip, at least runningwise, was running from Olmsted Point almost to the valley. All by ourselves. We didn't meet single person all day. There was only a tiny bit of snow. In January. When is that ever going to happen again?
Half Dome in the background.
Half Dome in the background.
Closer to half dome (switchbacking down to the valley)
Skiing-wise, the story of the week was this:
That's my brother-in-law. He was fine.
This is the whole gang on the life. They had made enough snow to make it a ski trip, but everything was green or brown outside the open runs.
Christian liked skiing. Perhaps that was the absolute high point.
Everyone on the back porch of the wonderful house we stayed in.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
I'm at the airport waiting to board. An era is over and I have reminisced. Goodbyes were said to colleagues, friends and family and 7 months of laid-back La Crosse lie ahead.
My running is going well, as is the Girl's. We aren't 100% sure which races weare going to do, but the list so far looks something like this:
3 days of Syllamo in March
Ice age 50 (K for me; miles for the Girl.
La Crosse Marathon (Granddad's Marathon).
Voyageur 50 miles
The girl also plans a 100K in Copenhagen in April.
In between, there are plenty of shortsr races in the area. Plenty is not reallt accurate, but there are a few out there, like some half marathons within a few hours' drove and some shorter races in La Crosse.
I plan on running a ton and cross training on my bike and in the pool. For the unlikely reader who knows La Crosse, Bliss Road, which leads to the top of the bluffs, washed away last fall, so the biking will be hampered by that. Who knows, maybe it will be fixed by spring. That road has washed away like 4 times in the 6 or so years I have known La Crosse.
Wow, in 10 hours I will see the Girl and the two boys and tomorrow I will be back with Natali and Andreas. Not bad.
My running is going well, as is the Girl's. We aren't 100% sure which races weare going to do, but the list so far looks something like this:
3 days of Syllamo in March
Ice age 50 (K for me; miles for the Girl.
La Crosse Marathon (Granddad's Marathon).
Voyageur 50 miles
The girl also plans a 100K in Copenhagen in April.
In between, there are plenty of shortsr races in the area. Plenty is not reallt accurate, but there are a few out there, like some half marathons within a few hours' drove and some shorter races in La Crosse.
I plan on running a ton and cross training on my bike and in the pool. For the unlikely reader who knows La Crosse, Bliss Road, which leads to the top of the bluffs, washed away last fall, so the biking will be hampered by that. Who knows, maybe it will be fixed by spring. That road has washed away like 4 times in the 6 or so years I have known La Crosse.
Wow, in 10 hours I will see the Girl and the two boys and tomorrow I will be back with Natali and Andreas. Not bad.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Running Log December 2011
3 bjergmarathon 3:45 or so. Fast last half.
4- some slow stuff. Legs generally tired after two races in 2 weeks.
11-12 long run saturday. 2 lakes with Nikolaj Sunday
14 long run in Copenhagen
15 ran to the hospital and up to the 26th floor a few times
18 forgot about the marathon Saturday. Great long run in the green tunnel and around the usual trails. 30k? Last 10km very fast.
20 Up and down Herlev Hospital. PR frok 2nd to 26th floor: 2:52
22 quick little 5k before going to bed
23 Great legs. Around 10 miles, fartleks. Very fast. Legs hurt the next day.
25 Another great run around Bagsværd Lake. My legs are finally over the back to back races earlier in the month.
27 Femveje in the rain. Legs were a little stale. Leavving for Chicago in an hour.
4- some slow stuff. Legs generally tired after two races in 2 weeks.
11-12 long run saturday. 2 lakes with Nikolaj Sunday
14 long run in Copenhagen
15 ran to the hospital and up to the 26th floor a few times
18 forgot about the marathon Saturday. Great long run in the green tunnel and around the usual trails. 30k? Last 10km very fast.
20 Up and down Herlev Hospital. PR frok 2nd to 26th floor: 2:52
22 quick little 5k before going to bed
23 Great legs. Around 10 miles, fartleks. Very fast. Legs hurt the next day.
25 Another great run around Bagsværd Lake. My legs are finally over the back to back races earlier in the month.
27 Femveje in the rain. Legs were a little stale. Leavving for Chicago in an hour.
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