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June 2026

Norway

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We returned June 22nd from two weeks in Norway.  Fair to say we tried to fit in too much. Traveled to Oslo for three days, then stayed on the fjords at Leikanger for two days before traveling to Bergen for three days. This was followed by three days in Stavanger and then back to Oslo for the last two.  With some long train rides and boat trips between places, the time passed quickly.  All this movement in unfamiliar places left me pretty tired.  Got in a few afternoon naps, which helped. I suppose my biological clock was also thrown off by having nearly 20 hours of sunlight.

Yet it was a good, even great trip.  I had idyllic expectations about Norway and they were largely met.  The people were active and fit and helpful when asked. Scooters and bikes were everywhere. The cities bustling, the historical sites interesting and well done, and the landscapes and fjords as beautiful as advertised. The public transit in Oslo was ubiquitous and dependable.   

I was able to run most days. The distance and pace was off but pushing it made no sense. The last five days I found gyms for stretching and weights. It simply took me a couple days in each place to get oriented and then we moved on. This no doubt added to the tiredness. I do wonder if my ability to roll with the punches has fallen off.  

One highlight was visiting several of the Loplabbet running stores. They are in every major Norway city.  The staff are all runners and totally helpful.  Each store has a treadmill with a camera that shows your gait and is stocked with an impressive array of shoes. Jakob Ingebrigtsen had been in the Oslo store for an event the prior week. 

I had brought some light trainers hoping to race in the Summerfest Run 5K/10K in Olso on the 20th, the longest day of the year.  It’s a large evening race that starts with the 5K and then splits the 10K entrants between self-selected sub-50:00 minute and over 50:00 minute waves. The event is held simultaneously in Oslo, Bergen, and Stavanger.  I would have had to sign up well in advance. I wasn’t ready to race in any event.  So that evening, we went down to watch.  We learned some cheers in Norwegian and supported the runners.    

A trip like this is a chance to see how others in the world live. I hadn’t been out of the states for over 20 years.  Norway seemed sane compared to the U.S.  There are reasons for that.  One, it is a rather homogeneous population, though that seems to be changing. Two, they are living somewhat in denial, or at least in a bubble, with revenues from the North Sea oil and gas funding free education and health care and other social programs with plentiful time off. Prior to the discovery of oil and gas in the 60s, Norway was a pretty poor country.  When there is a transition to renewable energy, which is inevitable, these revenues will plummet.

We visited the Resistance Museum in Oslo, which documented the Nazi occupation in WWII.  This was a terrible time for Norway, with 300,000 German soldiers occupying the country.  Many thousands were imprisoned and murdered, but there was resilience nonetheless. It must have been such a relief in 1945 when the German’s withdrew.  Let’s hope something like WWII never happens again, yet there are many pockets of strife and inhumanity in various places around the world today.  It’s hard to imagine what it is like in those places living in relative freedom and affluence we are used to in the U.S.

I am not sure if we will ever return to Norway.  I don’t do extensive travel and there are various places to see. But it was good to be there and while there to connect with people. Ultimately a place is about the people and we met some folks we would like to stay in touch with. 

Running Science and Running-Specific Strength Training

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As I was completing the bibliography for my book Staying With It, I leafed through Owen Anderson’s Running Science.  I bought this book shortly after it was published in 2013 after seeing a promotion by the publisher, Human Kinetics. I have occasionally scanned it for ideas and always come away with things to incorporate in my training.  It is not focused on aging runners (there is just ¾ of a page — out of 600 pages — addressing issues faced by older runners), though Anderson wrote it while in his 60s.

Anderson is a Ph.D. and meticulously documents and references everything he writes, which includes five books on running physiology, form, and run training.  He coaches some Kenyan runners, runs a sport performance business, and has been a race director. Meaning he’s all in. Along the way, he was a competitive (though not elite) runner who tested many of his practices in his own training. 

In Running Science, Anderson has a chapter entitled Running-Specific Strength Training. It describes and illustrates 14 exercises all geared toward increasing the propulsive force during stance, thus expanding stride length, one of the two components of speed (the other being cadence.)  He notes these exercises mimic the biomechanics of running whereas some exercises often done on machines in the gym, such as hamstring curls, do not strengthen the muscles in ways that optimally enhance running gait. The main reason is these exercises do not fully address the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) which is when force is produced in the stance (foot on the ground) phase of the gait cycle. This is when the body is lifted off the ground and moved forward and, as noted, increases stride length. 

This program, which he suggests be done twice a week, is not for the casual runner.  Clearly it needs to be approached in a progressive way, but once up to speed, appears to take about an hour to go through, though he says splitting it up between days is an option. The issues often faced by older runners (hamstrings, calves, and Achilles) are at least partially addressed by this regimen.

Now that I’ve again browsed Running Science, I’m inclined to read it cover to cover.  There is so much in it that applies to all aged runners. Maybe when my book is published I’ll send Anderson a copy noting his entries in my bibliography and thanking him for his contributions to unraveling the mysteries of running science.