No. -About Norwegian Training-

Everyone loves Norwegian training.
I don't know why, but it's a training method with a smart and stylish Nordic image.
I admire things that are sleek.
I looked into whether I could incorporate it into my own training.

A typical week of Norwegian training seems to look something like this.

Monday: Easy 16-20km
Tuesday Morning: Threshold intensity 12-15km
Tuesday Afternoon: Threshold intensity 10-12km
Wednesday: Easy 18-22km
Thursday Morning: Threshold intensity 12-15km
Thursday Afternoon: Threshold intensity 10-12km
Friday: Easy 16-20km
Saturday: VO2max interval or race pace
Sunday: Long run 20-25km

Weekly mileage 160-190km (= 640-760km per month)

When I heard about Norwegian training, I had the impression that it was about training efficiently by managing training intensity using actual blood lactate concentration measurements and doing two-part threshold runs using two levels of thresholds, LT1 and LT2.

However, when I actually looked at it, the training volume of 160-190km per week was something an amateur runner (at least me) could not imitate.

This is not a good reference.
You think so, right?
My weekly mileage is 50km (that's a lie, it's about 35km).
That's about 1/4 of this training plan.

Ping, I had an idea💡
That's it, I should just make all the distances in this training 1/4.

Monday: Easy 5km
Tuesday Morning: Threshold intensity 4km
Tuesday Afternoon: Threshold intensity 3km
Wednesday: Easy 5km
Thursday Morning: Threshold intensity 4km
Thursday Afternoon: Threshold intensity 3km
Friday: Easy 5km
Saturday: VO2max interval or race pace
Sunday: Long run 6km

I'm concerned about the lack of rest, but this seems doable.

But are easy 5km runs or 3km threshold runs effective?
Even if it's 4km without rest, if it's 4 minutes per kilometer, it will be over in 16 minutes.
I won't get stronger with this.

OK, let's forget about the distance for a moment.

The catchy part of the Norwegian style is managing the threshold with blood lactate concentration.
The point is to thoroughly maintain an intensity of 2mol to 3mol (4mol?) of lactate concentration and train so that fatigue does not accumulate excessively.
Training intensity is managed using two levels of "thresholds": 2mol lactate concentration as LT1 and 4mol as LT2.
A general threshold corresponds to LT2. In the Norwegian style, intensities between LT1 and LT2, which are lower than that, are treated as threshold intensities.

It is also famous for doing two training sessions a day, morning and evening, at the intensities managed as described above.
Since the fatigue is not too high, it seems you can train twice a day, morning and evening.

This twice-a-day threshold run is called double threshold, double threshold run, or dual threshold run.
Until I looked it up, I thought it was called double because it uses two types of thresholds, LT1 and LT2.

Now, let's incorporate it into my own training.

There is a problem.
Unfortunately, I don't have a device that can measure blood lactate concentration.

In Norwegian training, intensity is managed by blood lactate concentration, so whether it's a 5km threshold run or a 400m interval run, if the blood lactate concentration is 2-3mol, it is judged as threshold intensity.
Depending on the rest time, training like 400m x 25 repetitions is also included in threshold training.

Managing speed, time, rest, and repetitions by blood lactate concentration seems to be the crux of Norwegian training.

In other words, you can't do it without a blood lactate concentration measuring device.
Regarding this, let's wait for companies like Omron to develop a simple measuring device.
I wonder if a sensor will ever be developed that can measure lactate concentration in real-time by putting it in your mouth or sticking it on your arm, and then transfer that to a smartwatch?
I am also waiting for the development of a sensor that can tell me the amount of muscle glycogen stored.

Since I cannot measure blood lactate concentration, I have already missed the essence of the Norwegian style, but for now, let's set the LT1 pace at 4'20/km and LT2 at 4'05/km. The interval pace is 3'45/km.
Assuming a two-a-day training schedule, let's say 2km intervals x 3 at LT1 in the morning, and 400m intervals x 12 in the evening (rest time needs to be adjusted so it doesn't become high intensity).
Do this twice a week.

And another key workout is intervals or race pace.
By the way, since the target seems to be 1500m or 5000m athletes, the race pace is equivalent to or faster than 1km intervals.


My current training is as follows.
Monday: Threshold run 5km
Tuesday: Cycling training
Wednesday: Marathon pace 10km
Thursday: Cycling training
Friday: 1km intervals x 5 or run home 21km
Saturday: Fun run or fun ride
Sunday: Rest

What if I made Monday and Wednesday threshold intensity two-a-day sessions, and Friday intervals?...

I feel like recovery wouldn't keep up.

Currently, I only run every other day because I can't recover in time, so I feel like running twice in one day would be tough.
In that case, I feel like increasing the volume of a single threshold run from 5km would have a lower risk of injury.

Also, I can't do continuous running training.
Since my goal is a marathon, I feel it's better to run 10km or 15km continuously even during weekday training.

Thinking about it that way, I don't really feel the benefit of introducing it.

As a result of researching various things, I felt that the key points of the Norwegian style are the following 6 items.
・High-volume training
・Manage training intensity by blood lactate concentration, not speed or time
・Use intervals or two-a-day sessions to manage fatigue
・Medium intensity (threshold intensity) is important
・High intensity is also performed once a week
・High-frequency training

Blood lactate concentration management and two-a-day sessions are catchy, but what pairs with them is a weekly training volume of 160-190km.
Or rather, I feel that blood lactate concentration management and two-a-day sessions are the methods to run 160-190km per week including threshold intensity and high intensity without accumulating fatigue.
The essence is volume. The balance of low intensity, medium intensity, and high intensity is (probably) about 8:3:1.
This is significantly different from the polarized 8 low intensity, 0 medium intensity, 2 high intensity.

It is the restoration of medium intensity, which was said to be unnecessary.
In polarized training, it is said that medium intensity has a poor balance between fatigue and training effect and is inefficient, but in the Norwegian style, is it that the balance is improved by managing fatigue through lactate concentration?
I have experienced the effects of medium intensity, so I prefer the Norwegian style.

Furthermore, I previously did two-a-day training combining VO2max long/short intervals and sub-threshold (SST) in road bike training, and the results were eye-opening for everyone.
Regarding intensity management, it was a highly reproducible method that did not depend on external factors such as heart rate or RPE, but was performed according to ZWIFT settings.
Also, expensive equipment like a blood lactate concentration meter is not necessary for this training.

Won't someone write a paper on Ogikubo-style training?

Disclaimer)
I wrote this in a rambling way, but the target of Norwegian-style training is middle-distance athletes like 1500m and 5000m runners, not marathon runners.
Also, it is thought to target runners with a weekly mileage of 150km or more.
Amateur runners like me who only run about 50km a week are not the target.
It is unreasonable to ignore those prerequisites and try to incorporate Norwegian-style training into my marathon training.

And above all, this article is based on content I looked up a little bit on the internet. As always, I am writing this article based on my vague understanding. I'm an armchair expert.
I hope that the serious athletes will laugh and overlook the fact that a complete amateur is writing sloppy text.
Also, please introduce any books or papers that I should read for a correct understanding.