Distance vs. Intensity
The following is a translated and summarized article by Kjetil Kroksaeter originally appearing in the Norwegian Adressavisa. Translation by Inge Scheve exclusively for xcskiworld.com.
Readers should note that the conclusions of this particular research team have ignited a firestorm of sorts within the Norwegian coaching community. A response to this article by at least one top Norwegian coach will be posted soon. It is also notable that word out of Norway this fall is not entirely positive regarding the health and fitness of the Norwegian women's team that have followed the researcher's recommendations.
According to a Trondheim (Norway)–based research team, even elite Norwegian skiers have a large potential for improvement. Norwegian women’s coach Svein Tore Samdal has taken some of these recommendations into consideration when designing the widely debated training program for the female athletes on his team.
"Everyone Trains Incorrectly"
In the training logs of Oddvar Braa, Vegard Ulvang, Bjoern Daehlie, Frode Estil and Co, distance training is the emphasis, the bread and butter. Researcher Ulrik Wisloeff argues that they have wasted their time on worthless efforts. It’s more important to spend time with good friends.
The Trondheim-based (Norway) researcher attacks the Norwegian endurance-sports training philosophy. Wisloeff claims that the Norwegian Olympic development program (Olympiatoppen) misguides young endurance athletes into wrong training emphasis, that the Norwegian Ski Association is missing the point and educating new coaches in the wrong direction, and that promising cross-country skiers are wasting their time on worthless distance training.
Through a thought-provoking article in the Norwegian magazine Skisport, Wisloeff attacks coaches and institutions that fail to acknowledge the findings of new research he and other researchers have performed at the St. Olaf’s Hospital heart institute in Trondheim.
Minimal effect
"Other than active recovery, what will you use distance training for? Probably nothing… It’s nice if you enjoy nature and have time for it, but distance training has minimal training effect," Wisloeff writes in his controversial article.
- Are you actually saying that the traditional mainstay of the cross-coutnry skier’s training diet is worthless?
"Most likely so. Some blame me for ignoring the muscle memory effect of distance training, but I am not," Wisloeff says. "Even muscle memory is best developed through interval training. Rather than distance efforts, these skiers are equally well served spending their time on technique training or simply hanging out with their friends."
Intervals
Ulrik Wisloeff has been a part of a research project lead by Jan Helgerud and Jan Hoff, who are among the main influences on Tore Samdal and the Norwegian women’s National team. Through the research project, Wisloeff has developed a keen appreciation for interval training. He recommends three intensity sessions per week on average, but argues that during weeks with ample opportunity for recovery, five or even up to ten such sessions can be beneficial.
- How do you figure Norwegian skiers have performed so well if they trained so wrong? "I believe a lot of them trained correctly. Many of them have incorporated plenty of intensity without calling it intervals. What Bjoern Daehlie and other legends have done training-wise is not much different from our recommendations," Wisloeff says.
The researchers do recommend some longer efforts, but they should be executed at race pace rather than at low intensity. They argue that slow distance workouts are only meaningful when intended as recovery. According to Wisloeff, the most important training focus is VO2 max. Studies indicate that the top racers have high VO2max values, which is increased by intervals, intervals and more intervals.
"Skiing with a lower VO2max than the other racers is like drag racing with an old VW beetle when your competitors are driving top-of-the-line race tuned Mercedes engines," Wisloeff argues, adding that training to attain that Mercedes engine is easy as long as you do it right.
Wisloeff also claims that the cross-country skiers have been off in left field when it comes to strength training. So far, the emphasis has been on endurance strength – lower resistance with lots of repetitions – rather than max strength.
"Endurance strength is simply a word for a non-existing concept," Wisloeff says. He recommends more resistance, something the Norwegian women incorporated into their training programs already last season.
"Strength training needs to be done with becoming stronger in mind – which calls for fewer reps of heavier load – unless the goal is to become larger and pull more dead weight around the race courses," writes the researcher.
After reading the coaches’ educational material published by the Norwegian Olympic Development Program (Olympiatoppen) in Trondheim, Wisloeff is appalled. "Olympiatoppen presents concepts the officials don’t even believe in, and the material lacks any kind of scientific proof. I feel sorry for the young skiers who have to go through this pile of recommendations. No wonder we have a recruitment problem."
Wisloeff also dug through the material published by the Norwegian Ski Association, some of which claims that athletes must develop the small capillaries in order to handle an increased stream of blood coming from the heart. "For cross-country skiers, this is simply irrelevant. We have known for years that even a moderately trained muscle can handle two to three times more blood/ oxygen than the heart can offer…"
