How the Norwegian Method Is Changing Endurance Training

I go through some key takewayes from The Norwegian Method that makes athletes like Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Kristian Blummenfeldt so successfull.

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00:00 Intro
01:04 1 A scientific approach
03:30 2 Run A LOT OF controlled threshold
06:20 3 Run intervals not continued threshold
07:25 4 Use the treadmill
09:08 5 Keep the easy training easy
09:49 6 Do the hardest workouts in uphill

[Growlizing]

As far as I understood, the Ingebrigtsen adapted this double threshold system more and more as a search to avoid injuries. Injuries would come up again and again, so they looked for safer ways to increase volume. That becomes very important for professional runners and helps you accumulate volume.

[philippeterson]

I’m 61 now, and did my first marathon at age 55. When I was younger the training, philosophy was run till you puke. My first marathon was abysmal, my second and third not much better. Then I found the book 8020 running by Matt Fitzgerald. That changed everything for me and convinced me that you don’t have to go all out on every work out. It seems to be a simpler version of this Norwegian method. Of course, I didn’t have VO2 max and lactate threshold, measuring available to me, I only had heart rate. But my 5K dropped from about 26 minutes to 22:56 and my marathon went from 5:15 to 4:18. I’ve hung up my distance running, and I’m concentrating on Pole Vault now, and the sprint training for that is just as different from what I learned when I was a teenager.

[ulrik]

Norway has been low key great in endurance sports. It's just usually focused on cross country skiing - but every so often somebody chooses a different sport and we get a random marathon runner, cyclist, or whatever making waves

[konrdchristensen]

When i ran interval training was very hard, much harder than today. But no one understood the concept of adaptation, basically that the gains do not come during the training but in the rest between training when your body adapts to the greater stress. Just knowing that and a heart rate monitor can get you very far. But now you add in lactate, VO2 Max, and sleeping devices to measure how well your body reacts to the training and you can completely control your training without breaking down. When i ran it was Russian Roulette, you trained as hard as you could and hoped you missed the bullet in the chamber(breaking down). Now you can predict that long before it happens. My performances took off when i learned that you should always have a little left at the end of a workout, or even a race. Even though it was a small amount, the psychological advantage of always knowing you would finish strong because you had more in reserve than the other guy made a big difference in my confidence.

[paulwood]

With so many videos talking about ‘running slow to run fast’ it’s refreshing to hear of some actually successful training techniques that involve ‘running faster’! I ran slow for the last 15 years, lots of mileage all slowly. I then started training doing tempo and threshold sessions and just smashed my marathon and half marathon PB. As you state, it’s all about the right balance of ‘fast and slow’ + ability to recover that gets results - there aren’t any cheat mode or short cuts!
P.s. - treadmills are torture!

[arthurdavis]

I've been enjoying your videos a lot, Göran—it's not just your 'content', it's your demeanor which is very honest and hospitable. Cheers from South Australia 🦘🦘

[bakoorvos]

I like the Norwegian model and support all the comments. I have a few thoughts of my own regarding the requirements to have a top endurance running country:

1. General ethnic genetics should be strong and athletic. The old Norse and Germanic warriors were strong. The East and West Africans are also known for their physical strength, speed and endurance. In contrast a country like India and China has a population of more than a Billion people each and almost no top runners.

2. Generally speaking altitude born runners have an advantage - Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, Morocco, South Africa. However there are altitude living people who do not run well - Peru / Bolivia etc. The East Africans are blessed to have latitude and altitude with relative mild winters.

3. Cold countries must be socia-economically strong to accommodate for winter training. Lesotho for example has the potential to deliver world class runners but the winters are just to harsh and winter training facilities non-existent.

4. Countries with fanatic sport status like football and rugby do not have many top runners. Athletic individuals are sucked into these sports and all funding and prestige goes to the super sport. Latin america football, South African rugby etc…

5. Countries with bad eating habits are at a disadvantage. The USA is a good example. The opposite is true for the Scandinavian countries.

6. Thereafter, the principles of consistent scientific training from a relative young age is important. Cross country is king. Off road trails are important. Over racing should be avoided. Annual increases of total weekly mileage should be calculated. Running specific strength and plyometric training should be included .

Sub stress fracture intensity is different between individuals. (Foot strike, foot anatomy, weight etc). Each individual max long term intensity should be determined. Some runners are Toyota’s and some are Land Rovers.

I like the regular inclusion of lactic threshold training. Johan Cronje bronze 1500m World
Champs and Zola Budd used to do 3-4, 4km time trials per week. Friday for example had a morning and afternoon 4km.

I think treadmill training should only be included in emotional/psych ready elite individuals. There is a risk of boredom / frustration.

Despite many things, I think the Kenyan and Ethiopian models remain the gold standard. They have 1000’s of individuals who have run at the top. Their volume of runners over 40 years remain staggering.

[jefejeffwell]

I’ve been doing treadmill repeats and tempo intervals on the treadmill about 3 months. I hated it at first and then started enjoying it just like yourself. It’s definitely increased my top end work speed and endurance and helped take some impact out of the joints. I’ve also noticed you have to have better form on the treadmill at those top speeds, but maybe that’s just anecdotal to my experience. Thanks for another great video, Goran! Still my favorite YouTube channel.

[atle]

Marius Bakken is a fucking hero to be so systematic and scientific in his approach, so early before everyone else. There was so many coaches just doing what they always done, and then a young runner comes along and research this in such a systematic way, while also being one of the best runners in Europe AND studying to be a doctor. Fucking epic.

[Rich_]

Thx to your advice I’ve been trying to run almost every day at a lower easy effort with all my speed sessions up hills, It has helped me so much with avoiding injury and slowly getting faster.

[vsmg]

I looked at World Athletics, and Norway has 0.97% of the all time toplist for the 1500 even though they only have 0.06% of the world's population. They also have 0.93% of the mile list, 1.13% of the 2000m list, 1.51% of the 3000m list, and 1.7% of the 2 mile list. That's crazy. I guess science-based training works. What a surprise lol

[sanraku]

You’ll never convince me to get on a treadmill, no matter how logical your arguments are 😂
EDIT: guys relax - nothing wrong with treadmills. I just like to be in the outdoors and listen to the birds when I run. I'm fortunate to live in an environment where the weather is good for running all year round.

[johncarr]

Thanks Goran. As runner and an MD, I can not read Bakken's notes. They are all over the place. I am really curious to look at the data myself but it really needs a re-organization and re-write badly. I am so appreciative that Bakken did this, however. Wonderfully insightful foresight.

[alexanderlinnman]

Contnue with running until you are at least 90 years old. I wanna see that. Tack för dina videor och lycka till i fortsättningen.

[trn]

This makes sense. I ran at my best in Dubai when doing long runs was only possible on the treadmill. My 10km got down to a 32min. For me a lifetime best. When I moved back to Australia, i was doimg hard hill intervals. Also made me srrong but I was no where near as fast. I lacked the treadmill. That is the secret, plus chilling out and not pushing myself like a racehorse. Great video. Thank you.

[davidjanbaz]

Veronik Bilat : a sports physiologist in France was a pioneer in this type of training and at a Running camp at Peperdine University in 2001 we did Lactate monitoring during and after a 3000 meter test run.
To find out best Running speed for training and where you're at in you're fitness !
Veronik spoke on this type of training during the week long camp and has written many articles about this and was training African runners for marathons.

[dahnyul]

This is awesome information! Thank you so much for all of your digging into this!

[jong]

Living/Coaching/Training in Boulder Colorado during the 90s I watched the Kenyans/Africans doing these workouts over and over. 5 - 10 repeats x 1 mile at around 4:30 pace with 1 min recovery was a standard, which was at or just below threshold. Hence so much damn success on the roads/track. I always encouraged the treadmill to keep an athlete off the pavement to save the legs while working on leg speed. Seems logical.

[MrHaggyy]

L. Véronique Billat papers Interval training for performance went in a similar direction around the 2000. A lot of the work focuses around how much volume you can endure with certain intensity and rest intervals and how to maintain certain threshold levels. While those review papers are highly international, including the norwegens, the knowledge was used a lot in French, German cycling and triathlon training.
Yeah the treadmill is perfect for keeping those intervalls consistant and once programmed you can just turn off the head and keep running. But i prefer doing them outdoors. I have a nice park nearby so i do them from one bench to the next. Not scientific but really enjoyable and does the job for me.

[JonathanShaheen]

Swimming has been doing high volume threshold training for years. John Urbancheck was devolving a system for it in the 80s. Cool to see it in other sports