New article & scientific paper: How the “Norwegian Method” Is Changing Endurance Training

If they can blow up NordStream, the sky's the limit.

Norwegian Weenies Uber Alles!

I've not read the paper yet, but for those of us without lactate meters - is there a decent pace related estimate for that perfect mmol range?! When I run threshold I aim for my 10 mile kind of pace (i.e., pace I can run for about an hour). Sounds like maybe it should be a bit less taxing than that?

"the authors of this article have observed international level distance runners showing 20–25 × 400 m in 64 s average recovering 30 s between repetitions (13:20 (min:s) pace for 5000 m and 26:40 (min:s) for 10,000 m) and 20 × 400 m in 62 s average recovering 60 s between repetitions (12:55 (min:s) pace for 5000 m and, therefore, much faster than half-marathon pace), with [BLa] remaining below 4 mmol·L−1."

So 400m at 5km pace.

"It has been reported that the Ingebrigtsen brothers conducted LGTIT over distances from 2000 m to 3000 m at close to half-marathon pace as well as over distances from 400 m to 1000 m at paces between 5000 m and 10,000 m race paces."

With that in mind though, I would suggest the paces that the elites are running at DON'T translate to your hobby jogger, because the elites have much better lactate clearance.

No.

Everyone knows that the Norwegians invented endurance training.

Correct. Hobbyjoggers will have a lactate curve that goes straight with no OBLA infection point.

Should we follow suit - or would Ingebrigsten be faster under any coaching method?

Rojo,

Any way to cherry-pick any of those old posts?

I remember he used to post about what he was experimenting with back in the day and getting a lot of heat from other Euro coaches/athletes.

One i remember him posting about was he was experimenting with pushing his Aerobic threshold to the max, but couldnt remember if he layed out the specifics for that change or just said it in passing

I run double thresholds, and have a friend on a different team who does double thresholds sometimes.

For me, it's typically 4-6 miles steady (around MP) followed by threshold k's in the afternoon. for him, he'll sometimes do a 6-8 mile steady the day before, followed by the standard 5x1mile sub threshold-ish and 10x800 sub threshold

Im nerdy enough of a runner that I do like to read the details of the elite and how they train. I have also been doing this long enough to know better than to translate how the super elite train, to myself.

Too often what people do is that they read the training log of an elite runners, cherry pick a few key workouts, then try to duplicate those while they ignore all the other stuff that lead up to those key workouts.

Also Olympic level athletes arent just that level because they train a certain way, they are extremely gifted individuals that would respond well to just about any structured training system.

Is this just sub-threshold doubles?

Did Bekele do double thresholds? And if the answer is no, how much faster (or slower) would he be if he did?

I get a kick out of this double threshold craze on Letsrun, there's a new thread or two appearing daily. Kind of reminds me of the minimalism craze back in the day.

an hour run for me is 6 miles. i'm not a hobby jogger, i'm just run really really slow and I do it occasionally kind of as a hobby

So should a top HS recruit be asking college coaches is they do double thresholds days and use lactate meters, and ghost them if the answer is no?

And it wasn't new training in 2002 or 1982, it was just a fad gadget that became more affordable.

The Norwegian model is to run intervals around the anaerobic threshold. Sub threshold is around the aerobic threshold. The intervals are a bit faster.

Jakob could train any way and dominate. It's not the training here that is special, it's the athlete.

You are correct. This type of training methodology has been around for a while. I trained in the 80's in Boulder and used a Dellinger model for distance training and racing. Repeat miles, sustained runs, and intervals(road and track), all just under threshold(5k-10k pace) allowed for better recovery(especially at altitude). Plus long easy Sunday runs every 2 weeks for me then. Much has changed since then in how the science has helped understand the training effect better and how to measure things like threshold levels (lactate devices etc). Also shoe technology(i.e.; super shoes) are faster then their predecessors and allow for better recovery between races and workouts (from what I have read). Interestingly, even Parker Valby's "fitness is fitness" comment about her cross training machine workouts still gets to the core issues. Creating a strong endurance base and then raising a runners AT through threshold training.

The good news is that all of this "new tech" in training, nutrition and shoes is making for amazing racing results. It is also an exciting time for American middle and distance runners too for both Men and Women athletes who are turning out big results with coaches who are using these better and smarter training methods.