How to train like the Norwegian superstars
We have entered the era of Norwegian training. This follows on the heels, historically speaking, of Finnish training (Nurmi et al), Swedish training (fartlek), German training (intervals), New Zealand training (Lydiard, Peter Snell) and perhaps Kenyan training, though that one’s a bit hard to pin down.
We know we’re in the Norwegian era because athletes like Jakob Ingebrightsen, Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden are winning Olympic and world titles and setting records. And also because the training system is so precise, and being studied and written about by so many.
Since training methods are of great interest to all runners and readers of this newsletter, let’s dig in. Before we do so, here’s a reminder. Training systems come and go, and they are built on the arc of great runners and coaches. This doesn’t constitute science, or a proven method. It’s not about data--it’s about “stories” and natural histories that evolve on the track and roads. Just keep that in mind.
Like me, the “SweatScience” guy, Alex Hutchinson, is “not a big believer in magic workouts or secret training plans.” But of course he’s “curious about what it’s all about” since it involves a number of significant athletes and victories.
Basically, Norwegian training is high volume but ow intensity training, which many know as the 80/20 training system. I’d be tempted to say the Norwegians have pushed the needle toward 90/10. They’ve done this mainly by making sure their tempo training stays in the modest range, and doesn’t go over the top. (I’ve long believed that many American runners push their tempo training to an unnecessary degree, often extending their tempo runs to 8-10-12-or more miles. This is never what tempo training was meant to be, and it doesn’t prove that you’re tougher than the rest. It may just push you toward the overtraining zone.)
At any rate, Hutchinson writes at Outside Online that the Norwegian stars monitor their lactate thresholds during such training to make sure they don’t go too far or too fast. They use quick, mini blood tests mid-workout to achieve this. They also tend to prefer interval workouts to continuous running--again, to keep lactate under control with the jog-rests between intervals.
Hutchinson bases his report on this new paper in the International J of Environmental Research & Public Health (free full text). It’s titled “Does Lactate-Guided Threshold Interval Training within a High-Volume Low-Intensity Approach Represent the ‘Next Step’ in the Evolution of Distance Running Training?” and is written by an impressive group of distance running experts.
The paper includes a nice summary of the above-mentioned historic training systems. It also notes that by using shortish intervals for their lactate-threshold training--rather than longer, steady road runs at half-marathon pace--the Norwegians attain faster paces without excess fatigue. Lastly, the Norwegians do one hard session of hill sprints per week, but again with appropriate jogs for recovery.
More Norwegian training, part II
Here’s a fantastic conversation between veteran U.S. bike and triathlon coach, Joe Friel, and Norwegian triathlon coach, Arild Tveiten.
Tveiten is responsible for his country’s current crop of top competitors including Tokyo Olympic champion Kristian Blummenfelt and 2022 Ironman winner Gustav Iden. The Friel-Tveiten exchange includes a number of great points and anecdotes you won’t want to miss.
Tveiten says that the following are central to his coaching philosophy: A) consistent, committed work over many years; B) educating the athlete to understand the whys and wherefores of their training, and to gain confidence independent of the coach’s oversight; C) building aerobic fitness over pushing anaerobic limits; and D) a sense of humor and having fun. The most striking observation: This low key approach resulted in Blummenfelt’s vo2 max gaining an unexpected and almost unbelievable 10 points over several years (from 75 ml/kg/min to 85.)
Finally, adds Tveiten: “Don’t rush short-term solutions. Be patient. Go out, have fun, enjoy the training process. I think that the best athletes, with some exceptions, are the ones who are late bloomers–who are not the best athletes as a junior or youth athlete.” More at Fast Talk Labs (might require a free membership).
Okay, but what about Eliud Kipchoge?
Last time I checked Kipchoge wasn’t Norwegian but Kenyan. Also, he’s everyone’s pick for the greatest marathon runner of all time, so he must be doing something right in his training. (Will he face his Waterloo at Boston in mid-April, as Abebe Bikila did in 1963? That’s going to be a fun one to watch.)
When sports science expert Ross Tucker looks into Eliud Kipchoge’s training, he sees a lot of runs that are just plain “boring.” Kipchoge may be the fastest marathon runner of all time, but his training is monotonous. He does easy run after easy run, with faster stuff thrown in occasionally for good measure. And he’s been doing this for almost 20 years. Kipchoge set his 5000 meter personal best, 12:46.53, way back in 2004.
Rather than criticizing Kipchoge’s training for its sameness, Tucker finds the repetition a strong positive factor. “Consistency is the key,” he writes. “We need to avoid the temptation of tinkering.” A better approach: “disciplined repetition.”
Kipchoge runs up to 125 miles per week, but 85% of those miles are at an easy, relaxed Zone 1 pace. He edges into Zone 2 and Zone 3 paces only about twice a week.
According to Tucker, many runners fall into “the trap” of allowing their “Zone 1 training to drift up into Zone 2.” This is relatively easy to do--Zone 2 training isn’t fast, it’s just a bit harder than Zone 1--and that’s what makes it a trap.
Tucker believes the moral of the Kipchoge training story might sound like a cliche, but it’s true nonetheless: “Train to race. Don’t race in training.” More at RW U.K.
You better believe it: Females have more endurance than males
A big data analysis of “matched pairs” of female-male trail runners (with similar performances over shorter distances like 10K) has revealed for the first time that females slow less than males as race distances get longer. In other words, the paper seems to show that women runners have more endurance than men.
This doesn’t mean that women ultra runners are faster than men. Normally, they aren’t, even with increasing numbers of women in the top ranks of ultra finishes. “The top-performing men are faster than the top-performing women,” the report states, “and this is likely to remain the same in the future,” mainly because men have higher vo2 maxes and lower body fat than women.
The new paper, supported by organizers of the UTMB race organization, looked at 38,860 trail races from 1989 to 2021 in 221 countries. It focused on 7251 female-male pairs who had similar performances in shorter trail races (25K to 45K) but also finished races up to 260K long (162 miles).
The results showed that the females slowed by just 3.25% for each additional 10K of race length, while the males slowed by 4.02%. Conclusion: “This study shows for the first time that the gap between men and women shrinks when trail running distance increases, which demonstrates that endurance is greater in women.” However, “top male performers still outperform the top women.”
Where does this greater female endurance come from? That remains speculative. For now, the main explanations include: less fatigability, due to a higher percent of Type 1 (slow twitch) muscle fibers; higher fat burning, which spares glycogen; and better pacing. More at Sports Medicine.
The ice cube cure: Yes, it seems to work
Maybe Paula Radcliffe was right afterall. Two decades ago, the former marathon world record holder popularized cold water immersion for recovery from hard workouts. This set off a frenzy of runners determined to prove they were tougher than the rest by stepping into freezing cold mountain streams and tubs full of ice cubes.
Then came the skeptics who found reasons not to like treatments that might limit blood flow to the muscles. However, a new systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression has concluded that cold water immersion “is effective for promoting recovery from acute strenuous exercise in physically active populations.”
The authors came to this finding after reviewing 28 studies that looked into “other common recovery modalities on recovery of athletic performance, perceptual outcomes, and creatine kinase (CK).”
Their search revealed that “CWI was more effective than active recovery, contrast water therapy and warm-water immersion for most recovery outcomes.” On the other hand, “Air cryotherapy was significantly more effective than CWI for the promotion of recovery of muscular strength and the immediate recovery of muscular power (1-h post-exercise).” More at Sports Medicine.
What you need to succeed in running
Here’s the short answer, which includes both social and physical variables: involvement in sports in your youth, support from other family members, and especially--most recently--your training.
The study involved more than 1000 Brazilian adult runners. The researchers seemed slightly surprised by the youth sports finding, which was especially strong among females. Men were more influenced by family members and participation in a training group. No shocker: “Weekly volume was the most important variable to connect and provide changes in running pace.” More at Sports Medicine Open (free full text).
4 running pains you’d be stupid to ignore
I’ve previously linked to several journal articles from Heather and Kevin Vincent at the University of Florida. They ‘ve done a lot of work in the field and know what they’re talking about. Here’s a blog post that describes some of their best tips on shoe selection, warmups, running form, and 4 types of pain that you shouldn’t ignore. Number 1 is “Pain that worsens during a running session.” More at University of Florida Health.
Are you running from personal demons or toward “self expansion?”
Someone has noted--or perhaps we’ve all noted--that running is a super simple activity that requires no particular attention to details and can easily fill an hour or several. In other words, while you’re out there, you’ve got plenty of time to think.
And the kind of thinking you do can determine how much mental benefit you get from your runs. An article at Fortune magazine interviewed the author of a new study about the “escapism” you employ while running. If you run mindfully, this can be seen as “self-expansion,” a positive mental approach that leads to improved overall well-being.
On the other hand, escapist runs that amount to “self-suppression” are not so helpful. These are the workouts when you are almost literally trying to run away from a personal problem. “When you try to suppress your negative emotions, research shows that you also kind of restrain your positive emotions,” says the study author. “It’s not possible to suppress your negative emotions, and let the positive emotions flourish.” Here’s the original study in free full text at Frontiers in Psychology.
ALL the reasons to avoid midlife weight gain
Here’s possibly the most important health-fitness advice for millions of 40 to 60 year old adults: Avoid midlife weight gain. And here’s why: If you don’t heed this guidance--you’re going to face a big hurdle at age 60 or thereabouts. (Most Westerners gain 1 to 2 pounds per year in their middle decades.)
That’s when, at 60, you’ll likely realize you need to take action. You’ll be tired of the belly creep, you might feel the creakiness in your knees, you’ll have friends developing chronic diseases that require more and more prescription meds … the list gets long and frightening.
There’s some good news here. At 60, you might be retired (or close), and have fewer family and job responsibilities. You’ll have more time for self-care.
The problem? Exercise itself doesn’t get easier at 60--quite the opposite--especially if you’re overweight and out-of-shape. You’ll want to develop an activity and health plan, but could be facing a horizon that looks like Mt. Everest. The following links describe how lack of exercise in midlife too often leads to heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, incipient arthritis, dementia, frailty, hospitalization, and the like.
I realize that readers of this newsletter are already following a sound weight-management plan. And that’s good. But we all have friends and loved ones who haven’t quite gotten the message, and we need to find ways to nudge them along.
I also agree that we should avoid “fat shaming. At the same time, I think it’s short-sighted and irresponsible not to acknowledge the health risks associated with extra weight at midlife--risks that increase with each passing year of inactivity, and get harder to overcome.
So, stay as active as possible now, watch your diet, and weigh yourself frequently. More at Dr. Mirkin and BMJ Open and JAMA Network Open.
SHORT STUFF you won’t want to miss
>>> A nice surprise: High intensity exercise beats lower intensity for sports, and life quality.
GREAT QUOTES make great training partners
“Only the disciplined ones in life are free. If you are undisciplined, you are a slave to your moods and your passions.”
--Eliud Kipchoge