The Norwegian Model

Much has been said about the Norwegians of late. A couple of years ago we first started to see the results coming through and they were coming through as a nation - not just a one off athlete’s set of results. The conjecture was rife and there was many theories coming out. 

Since last year when the results from Kristian Blummenfeldt emerged where he went Gold in Tokyo and then sub 7:30 in Cozumel there has been a trickling through of what is behind their training. 

This week however we saw an article written by Marius Bakken that went deeply into the Norwegian Method. He wrote about it because he has a lot of skin in that game. Over his running career (low 13min 5k run) he lactate tested himself more than 5500 times. 

He mostly coached himself really, but had Peter Coe as his advisor. His article explains the concepts well because he has done it himself and doesn’t have to second guess the methods. 

Intensity control ….

Without going too deep into it they use lactate measurement extensively so as to make sure they aren’t overdoing it. Their threshold work is very controlled and they aim to stay strategically below the traditional 4mmol/l AT or VT2 threshold mark for their intensity. They do this for a couple of reasons, but the biggest being that if they push right onto 4 they expose themselves to overtraining. Basically they try to keep 0.3 to 0.8 below their AT numbers. 

Have you ever heard me say “train today like you want to train well tomorrow” ?? ….. Well that is what this is about. Amassing larger amounts of training by not overdoing the hard stuff. 

They also do something they call blocking where they will do 2 days of 2 a day threshold sessions. 

Make no mistake - the Norwegians do a lot of training. But they do it accurately and have developed a sense of just how fast to go in their fast work which allows them to recover and back up for more. ‘

Tempo (High T3) works … and it works because it doesn’t tear you down and allows you to recover for the next session.

There are a plenty of other nuances to this of course. The use of altitude, pushing up onto 4 occasionally when races are coming, etc … but the basis of it is this … intensity control.

You should recognise this as it is similar to our week - Monday and Friday easier, Tuesday to Thursday intensity, Saturday and Sunday distance and strength. 

Remember the basis behind this is backing up for great consistency and developing high chronic load….. and high chronic load leads to great fitness.