Träning | Jakob & Jakob

Dec 8

Winter and sunshine

This morning saw us wake up to a stunning morning in Oslo. It was crispy cold at -12°C, with bright sunlight shining through our slanted roof windows at a sharp angle. Perfect day for this weeks long run of 2,5 hours. We went for one of my favourite runs, not being entirely certain the narrow forest trail would be runnable after all the snow falls this week. But lo, and behold! The trail was even better than it normally is, but slippery as glass where the little creeks had overflowed during the autumnal torrents. But not even a slip, crashlanding straight on my kneecap, could ruin this fantastic morning. Read more

Dec 7

Another feat to cap off a fabulous year for Lisa

We have written about Lisa Nordén in an earlier post, but we would like to mention her again today as she was recently awarded the Svenska Dagbladets guldmedalj, commonly referred to as Bragdguldet or the Feat Gold. The gold medal is awarded to an individual athlete or a team who has accomplished “the greatest Swedish sporting feat of the year”. The roster of former winners includes among others the Swedish National Football team, Ingemar Stenmark and Anja Pärson.

This is the medal Jakob & Jakob are after in 2025.

Planning the events of 2013

Busy weekend being on call both Saturday and now Sunday night. Well, that’s what’s fun with this job. The final month of a fabulous year is finally upon us. Up here in Norway, darkness settles earlier and earlier each day and the quicksilver in our thermometer stubbornly refuses to climb into the red zone, lounging down by the blue double digits. Winter is coming, for all of you Game Of Thrones-fellow nerds out there. The athletic pinnacle for us this year was without a shadow of a doubt the Trail du Verdon this summer. Read more

Nov 25

Inspiration and motivation, two sides of the same coin?

When you google the words motivation and inspiration, you find two very different definitions. Many of us – including myself – often use the terms interchangeably, even though their actual meanings are very different.

Motivation is about pushing yourself to reach a certain goal. You are motivated when you have an idea of what you wish to accomplish and thus work hard at reaching your objective in a more or less disciplined way.

Inspiration originally means “the act of breathing in”. Inspiration is when a certain idea gets hold of you and carries you where you are meant to go.

Confused? Me too. The words mean the same thing, and yet, they do not. But I think that in my head, I see inspiration as the actual source of motivation. So here is a video that’s meant to inspire you with its pictures (they certainly inspired us!) and to motivate you with its words. Please enjoy.

Nov 24

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The Official New York Movie

Nov 23

Crunching numbers

If you would bear with me, please, I would like to do some number crunching. You see, we runners tend to nerd off in the general direction of digits from time to time, especially when it comes to interval training. I have never met at runner who likes intervals. Everybody hates it. But if you want to become a better and faster runner, this is exactly how you need to train from time to time. Read more

Nov 21

Motivation

Why we do all this is a question often asked by friends and family. People are curious what motivates us. This is particularly true in my family where, until recently, the biggest athletic achievement was performed by my dad in 1995 when he ran 25 meters between the car and the office front door. In such context you can imagine that the question of why is enigmatic.

Truth be told, its not a simple question to answer. Sitting on the plan to New York, Jakob and I were discussing what motivates us. Things like “keeping fit”, “spending time together”, “experience stuff”, “travel” popped into our heads. That is all true, but we can keep fit by going to a local gym and we can spend time together in roof-top bars and good restaurants. So what is it? To be frank, im not sure. But whenever this doubt makes me feel lazy I look at this video and get fully energized and motivated to go out training.

Nov 18

Rainy, rainy, rainy

As I was waking up this morning, the rain was tapping gently on our slanted roof windows. My first thought: OK, I’ll push back my planned two-hour-run to the afternoon. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is more appealing when waking in the morning than slowly lower your head to your inviting, soft pillow and resume your calm and soundless breathing. Read more

Nov 15

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Dark and muddy in Slovakia

The most violent storm to hit New York in more than a hundred years. A marathon cancelled less than 40 hours prior to its start. A vindication of sorts in the form of an alternative race at 7 am on marathon day. Fantastic breakfasts, lunches (here’s looking at you, Michelin-star-awarded Breslin) and dinners. Wonderful strolls through Central Park and soothing visits to the Metropolitan and Guggenheim. Absolutely awesome parties at New York’s hippest (we were told so!) and most exclusive (well, obviously not, since they let us in) clubs (the VIP-lounge at the rooftop of Meatpacking District’s the Standard vs. simply, the Box). Morning runs along East River, across Williamsburg Bridge and back across a beautiful Brooklyn Bridge. Presidential election-night-bonanza. Shopping ’til we literally dropped. Renting an SUV and playing really loud and offensive rap with our windows down. Driving through a New Jersey snowstorm. Admiring the High Line. Haggling with cheap antique dealers. And finally a champagne luncheon with our family. Read more

Nov 7

A Brooklyn loop

Central Park is a runner’s heaven, with a healthy mixture of wide, hard roads of asphalt, gravelly footpaths, immense grassy fields and even a couple of ponds for the adventurous triathlete. But there is more to running in Manhattan than just Central Park. This morning, we stood up bright and early for a short – or so we thought – run over to Brooklyn and back. Read more