Marius Bakken (father to the norwegian training model) was the main guest, I’ll try to give a short summary of the first part of the episode.
You should run intervals:
-> it is easier to measure lactate
-> you can run a lot faster on the same load on the body (He isnt sure about how or why the difference is so vast, but he suspects that the human body has a ”safety” or ”break”mechanism that is turned off when the body is given short breaks between intervals)
-> the total load on the body will be lower if your training is interval based.
-> the intervals shouldnt last for longer than 30 minutes. (double threshhold with 2 x 30 minutes has a lower load on the body than a single session of 45 minutes)
The optimal training week (for elite runners focusing on 1500 - 5000m)
Monday: 2 x 10-12 km, morning/afternoon
Tuesday: 5 x 6 minutes (morning) and 25 x 60 seconds (afternoon)
Wednesday: 2 x 10-12 km, morning/ afternoon
thursday: (5x6 minutes or 3 x 10 min) in the morning and 10 x 3 minutes for the afternoon.
friday: 2 x 10-12 km, morning/afternoon
saturday: hills (morning)/easy afternoon
(you cannot only do threshhold training, you need intensity training and hills gives you the right kind of training without putting too much strain on the body)
Sunday - long run, slightly over an hour (it becomes less important as you get better)
*you get two easy days after the hill workout, which is important so the muscles can recover properly (restore the right muscle tonus)
* with double threshhold training you should always run faster in the afternoon (the way human muscles work as well as the body temperature makes it easier to run fast in the afternoon)
Why double threshhold?
The hits/strains on your muscles is the limiting factor.
If you run a couple of seconds per kilometer too fast, the strain on the muscles will be too great over time.
you need to measure lactate, because the pace that feels natural is often too fast.
And the muscles wont be able to handle that load over time.
The same thing happens if you try to run threshhold every day, your muscles wont be able to recover. Your performance will start to deteriorate within weeks. You need an easy day after your threshhold day to lower your ”muscle tonus”. He also tried tripple threshhold days followed by an easy day, but it didnt work.
Marius training now (as an older doctor)
A lot of short intervals
He trains 3-4 times a week
close too 100% at threshhold or faster
20-30 minutes per session (not longer)
You need to maintain a ”muscular surprlus”, otherwise you’ll get injured. Dont push the last interval, you need to keep something in the ”bank”