I Ran like Norwegians for 5 Months, Here’s Why

[@peternicholas4750]

Great work breaking down a complex topic and keeping it interesting!

[@PeakStride]

Thanks!

[@quesonvu]

Bravo - By far the best video, that explain the norwegian method !!! 👏... Now I need to start training and try this method 🤪

[@PeakStride]

Thanks legend! Get out there and smash it 💥

[@markusvalashagen9590]

Great video! But the norwegian method is not due to Olav Bu nor Gjert. However I guess there is an argument that Gjert "made it famous" and that Olav took it to the next level with even more testing (I think they for example do some continuous lactate testing nowadays 🤯). Actually it sort of started in the 70s with great Norwegian runners like Kvalheim and Halle. They did single threshold sessions. You also have Ingrid Kristiansen in the 80s and 90s who is a huge spokeswoman for what she calls "lavterskel" ("low threshold = marathon lactate and float pauses instead of standing pauses"). I believe Halle was the trainer of Marius Bakken at some point which is the father of the norwegian method that most people talk about today (i.e. 2-3 mmol training, long intervals in the morning, short intervals in the evening blahblah). But one have to remember that the norwegian method is a training system that is really only relevant if you "run enough" in the first place. Single threshold sessions in themselves have existed for long, as people realized that this is as an effective method for building the engine as vo2-max intervals. I would argue that there is a shift in Norway going on now, where people start believing more and more in "building the engine" instead of speed, and they build it by many means: elliptical, roller skiis, cross-country skiing, biking and the list goes on. Karoline Grøvdal, best norwegian female track athlete nowadays, does a lot of roller skiis I believe. But there are also examples of people that just run of course, Jakob being the most prominent. It will be interesting to see where this trend goes!

[@PeakStride]

Hey dude! Epic comment - I had plans to write a section on bakken but the video was going to end up being really long. Maybe I’ll revisit it in the future. It’s interesting when you look at guys like zatopek and a lot of Kenyans, they run a lot of these threshold-y efforts and rack up so many kms - very impressive stuff. Thankyou for these insights into what’s going on in Norway. 🇳🇴

[@markusvalashagen9590]

@@PeakStride Thank you as well, a lot of your explanations in the video are very well formulated and I learned something new 😁 History is hard either way, and what I tell is probably not the whole truth either way. Kenyan training is definetly very interesting! Would be very interesting if you could make a video on this more fartlek approach to running. There are so many variations of threshold nowadays, e.g. OAC (Nuguse, Klecker, Monson, Obiri,...) with Ritzenheim as coach do a lot of long threshold sessions instead of doubles (I believe). Definetly very interesting and it seems to be working good for many of the athletes there! If you are interested you could follow Even Brøndbo Dahl on Strava. He is a 3:37 1500m runner, and usually posts most of the stuff he is doing. There you can see a lot of different training. I believe he is injured now, but even when he is not, you can see how much training he is doing that is not running.

[@PeakStride]

@markusvalashagen9590 thanks! I’ll add it to the list 👍

[@kkollsga]

You shouldnt forget the role of cross country skiiers like Bjørn Dæhlie, Thomas Alsgaard and Marit Bjørgen in developing these training techniques. Norwegian athletes have been at the forefront of endurance training in cross-country skiing for decades, and tonnes of research has gone in to it. The Ingebrigtsen brothers came through Sandnes IL which is multi sports club with a big skiing group. So the influence from the skiing community is huge.

[@kkollsga]

I am a couple of years older than Henrik and was a track & field runner at Sandnes IL when he started. So I know how big the cross country skiing influence was at that club. Every summer we used to have training camps up in the mountains organized by the skiing group and we got a lot of strong runners out of it. What is amazing about what the Ingebrigtsens have done is to take the methods developed by the skiing community (and others) and adapt it to running in a way that it becomes something new.

[@banasworujf]

Good video buddy. Helpful explanation and well presented. Thanks for this.

[@PeakStride]

Thanks! I’m working on another threshold video for next week - stay tuned 🤙

[@cubebeast6479]

Please keep making videos on topics like this. In the next video can you tell us how we can create a 10k plan or a marathon plan based on these methods. Thank you 😊

[@PeakStride]

Next video is a 5km plan and I’ll cover marathon specific stuff in march when I start marathon training! Thanks for the suggestion 🙏

[@eoincasey5461]

​@@PeakStride Did you ever make this video about Marathon training with Norwegian method?

[@tobias3581]

Also note that lactate levels vary so 2mmol can be zone 2/LT-0 for some and close to threshold for others

[@PeakStride]

Absolutely - even between the Norwegians it varies between the individuals

[@ChrisPCycling]

exactly, thats why lactate is only a surrogate for mitochondrial function & glycolytic capacity. this is where you want to look at. btw. "double threshold" works for them very well cause they use at these intensities a high % of their aerobic & also of their glycolytic capacity.

[@PeakStride]

@@ChrisPCycling Interesting stuff thanks for the insights!

[@emiliocampo992]

Excelent video,I just buy a Lactate meditor is amazing, because I can understand the intensity I am training

[@PeakStride]

I’m going to have to!

[@bjornjohans1]

It was Frank Evertsen who was the first in Norway to come up with these principles. Then his runner, Marius Bakken (13.06 on 5k) further developed the method. Gjert Ingebrigtsen made the model famous.

[@PeakStride]

Wizards!

[@peytonhoyal8002]

Peter Coe was an engineer... Sometimes great coaches with diverse backgrounds can come at sports from a non-dogmatic perspective and produce great results.

[@PeakStride]

Absolutely!

[@toasterboy708]

Again, great vid.

[@PeakStride]

Legend

[@monstereugene]

did you use a calculator for finding your threshold pace or what data did you use?

[@PeakStride]

Combination of VDOT calculator, heart rate data, 1 hour time trial results and exertion levels at threshold pace

[@mikekelly6603]

@@PeakStride I'd love to see a video explaining how to do this :)

[@PeakStride]

@@mikekelly6603 I’ll add it to the list!

[@louissatt8497]

Took up running in the 1980s jogging boom at 40 yo got down to the 17 mins 5k after a couple of years which was considered a bit slow then and a sub 60 10 mile at 41 yo never heard of lactate threshold training then.

[@PeakStride]

Epic!

[@TheEightRain]

at 2:48 you say that blood supply is limited by stroke volume and cardiac output of the heart. but cardiac output is a function of stroke volume and heart rate, no? Other than that, this was a good video. some inaccuracies here and there, but the gist came over clearly. have you listened to the norwegian method podcast? Olav Aleksander Bu explains what he does there in more detail.

[@PeakStride]

Hey Thanks, yes if I were to make this video again I'd modify the working a bit for sure. Yes he's a great guy to listen to. It's very interesting how he only focused on lab results and measurements to determine what his athletes need.

[@liamroche1473]

Great success story! There is an unfortunate amount of confusion about relevant terminology in this topic. The most widely used meaning of "aerobic capacity" is "peak aerobic capacity", otherwise known as VO2 max, only sustainable for 5-8 minutes. But the term is also used in relation to sustained aerobic exercise, which can only be achieved at a lower level. "Threshold" can mean the intensity that is sustainable for an hour. Or it can be the intensity sustainable for 40 minutes. (Typically 2% different). Numbered zones are also inconsistently used. Eg Zone 3 can be the hardest of 3 zones, or the middle of 5 zones. Very different!

[@PeakStride]

Thanks! Yes it’s interesting stuff - and the best thing about it is you can run fast without really running hard for a lot more time in the week

[@liamroche1473]

@@PeakStride Yes, I've been enjoying building back fitness recently after an unfortunate injury break with a combination of daily easy running, some decent quanties of comfortable (Z3 out of 5) and just a little over threshold.

[@monhmonhmonhmonh]

So if I understand correctly, the end word is speed sessions should be done around lactate threshold rather than all out VO2 max for better results and less fatigue?

[@PeakStride]

Yes after the hill session on Saturday they usually drop the lactate back down to LT1 and keep it short and sweet

[@alex-dk2rj]

For your Tuesday session of 10 x 3 min w/ 1 min rest, is the rest standing, walking or jogging?

[@PeakStride]

Standing or walking 🚶

[@hes1shot671]

Kenyan- Fast and strong Norwegians- I have stamina 😏

[@aarondcmedia9585]

3:20 "Having a really high VO2 max can be a detriment to your running performance." I cannot even. Huskies seem to go ok... almost as if having a really high VO2max predicts incredible performance, not a detriment.

[@PeakStride]

Huskies as well as human's don't really race or perform at their VO2max - so training the hell out of you vo2max incurs too much fatigue to be worth it. Hence focusing on threshold work and race specific work. Having a high vo2max dosent not always equate to efficient mechanics or efficiency at race pace.

[@aarondcmedia9585]

@@PeakStride not sure your response here makes any more sense than the claim in the video. If we stick with the definition of VO2max you have in the video "VO2max is the maximal amount of oxygen you can consume while exercising", the claim becomes: "being able to process a really high amount of oxygen while exercising can be a detriment to performance." Utter nonsense. The correlation coefficient between "elite or professional athletes" and "really high VO2max" is pretty much 1.

[@PeakStride]

@aarondcmedia9585 you don’t race at maximum oxygen intake. Training vo2max produces greater lactate levels during a workout is just going to lengthen your recovery compared to threshold work. Even at the top end of elite endurance you have vo2max numbers from 70-90. And most of them all fall within similar race times. All I’m saying is that doing more threshold work will be more benificial. If you don’t agree when that’s fine!

[@aarondcmedia9585]

@@PeakStride "All I’m saying is that doing more threshold work will be more benificial. If you don’t agree when that’s fine!" Except that's not what you said. I copied, word for word what you said: ""Having a really high VO2 max can be a detriment to your running performance."" If you meant "doing too much VO2max training can be detrimental to your performance" it would have made sense, but you didn't say that. To turn around and say you did seems weird. The video is right here. You can play it again to see what you said. I even wrote down the timestamp. Click 3:20 to hear your very own words. Dude.

[@MrPek-fe9fp]

Hello! Do you think he will dominate 10k and eventually marathon, too? I think he will break 1500m WR, then run 5k and 10k, and eventually he will add marathon there too in 2032 olympic games 😂

[@PeakStride]

I personally think after all of this threshold work he’s going to be very very strong at the half marathon distance. Think about how many kilometers he has clocked up at that half marathon effort in training!

[@llewellyndavies5687]

Maybe you should google Marius Bakken, Gjert got his ideas from Marius

[@PeakStride]

Yeah I’ve had a look and I was going to put in a section about him - but I didn’t want the video to go on too long haha

[@PoetWithPace]

Easy ways to run faster?

[@PeakStride]

Easy ways to run faster!

[@pxcs7559]

LT2 isnt 4mmols of lactate, the more trained you are the lower your lactate is at your threshold

[@PeakStride]

Yes - but t’s a general rule

[@pxcs7559]

@@PeakStride yes, but the problem with that rule is that if you do 4mmols then you might be way overcooking it. The 4mmols were only tought to be ypur threshold in the 70s and 80s.

[@PeakStride]

@pxcs7559 99% of people will never use a lactate meter to check during a workout - so this artibtrary number really isn’t that important for this video vs knowing what LT feels like - hence why I glossed over it. And yes- Everyone will be different depending on their fitness.

[@ChrisPCycling]

​@@PeakStride @pxcs7559 its not "fitness" related. the point where RCT occours it is related to the sizes of the oxidative & glycolytic capacities & fiber recruitment patterns. it only gets lower when the oxidative system gets more "dominant" / trained but not if you train your glycolytic capacity bigger. so someonce can be very "trained" and still RCT occours at 8mmol/l for example.

[@moses3432]

Vo2max is actually a great metric to predict performance even at ironman pace considering you are also good at producing less lactate due to high efficiency so your statement is not fully true

[@PeakStride]

I’d say not as accurate compared to lactate threshold, but still a good measure

[@st14]

I was surprised to see a sprint session in your training plan. I thought one aspect of the Norwegian threshold method was that they did a lot of work just under LT2 and religiously avoided going over LT2, ever…

[@PeakStride]

Interesting right? They have one harder session a week

[@arekp00]

Bakken calls it "element x". Ingebrigtsens do hill sprints once a week. It is building strength of the muscles and vo2max. I am about to put "all-out" hiit intervals to my training, i'd like to see if it is effective as such training, because it seems so but there are always injury risk with such sessions

[@st14]

@@arekp00 I may be wrong, but my impression is they avoid running all out, meaning max acid. Rather, they do a lot of intervals "threshold minus" and "threshold plus" keeping track of lactate to make sure it stays low enough. This lets them do a lot of accents, as recovery is much easier after such a session than after an acid bath....

[@arekp00]

@@st14 yes, they avoid running all-out, yet they still have anaerobic session in week schedule

[@PeakStride]

The still have Saturday hills that they let their lactate go a little bit - upto 8mmol if I remember correctly. This is all base phase training though. As Jakob said recently before the bowerman mile he did a race specific session every other day about 10 days in a row before the race 😂 all out

[@Ryan-ce3pc]

You should make some shoe review videos

[@PeakStride]

What do you have in mind?

[@molochz]

@@PeakStride Crocs

[@PeakStride]

@molochz crocs 5km PB attempt coming up

[@molochz]

@@PeakStride LOL I'd pay to see that.