Marius Bakken: The Norwegian Method Is Built Around Your Muscles, Not Your Heart

Marius Bakken is a physician, a former professional runner and two-time Olympian with a 13:06 personal best for 5000 m, and the person who developed the training approach that later became known as the Norwegian method, since used by Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Andreas Almgren and many others. We cover why he sees the muscles rather than the heart and lungs as the real limiter, how double threshold works, how to find and control your threshold with or without a lactate meter, and how much of it carries over to triathlon.

HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:

• What muscle tone actually is, why it rather than the heart and lungs sits at the centre of how the method builds a training week, and how to palpate your own quads or use a simple morning stair test to track it.
• The weekly template behind the method, why double threshold is treated as one long session with a break in the middle, and why the sequencing of short and long reps matters.
• Finding your threshold with a lactate step test and a follow-up field test, or with no lactate meter at all, and how far below it the training should actually sit.
• Controlling intensity within a 6 x 6 minute session with and without lactate, the RPE that matches the zone, how you should feel when you finish, and the most common way people get it wrong.
• Why total running volume matters for muscle tone as well as running economy, when to split easy runs into doubles, and where strides do and do not earn a place.
• The Saturday X-session, what an Olympic champion hurdler's threshold sessions suggest about triggering the anaerobic system too early, and how a marathon block changes the week.
• How much of this carries over to cycling and triathlon, how the Norwegian triathletes organise their hard days, and what Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Andreas Almgren have added to the method, building upon Marius's work.
• Flat periodisation, fitting the method into a spring marathon build, the final four days before a championship race, and adjustments for beginners, older and female athletes.

SHOWNOTES, LINKS, RESOURCES AND RELATED EPISODES:

• Follow Marius Bakken on his website.
• Marius's book, The Norwegian Method Applied.
• The shownotes for today's episode can be found here.
• The full podcast episode archives (including category filters) can be found here.
• Related episodes:
  • How Norway became a triathlon powerhouse with head coach Arild Tveiten | EP#154
  • Arild Tveiten – coach of Kristian Blummenfelt, Gustav Iden and Casper Stornes on triathlon training the Norwegian way | EP#223
  • Olympic gold medal training and preparation with Arild Tveiten | EP#304
  • Applied triathlon science with Olav Aleksander Bu (Norwegian Triathlon Olympic team) | EP#264
  • Olav Aleksander Bu | EP#369
  • Ironman World Champion Solveig Løvseth on her race day strategy in Kona, her training block at altitude, heat training and more!
  • Solveig Løvseth – Olympian and the fastest Ironman debut in history | EP#466
  • Training talk with Eirik Myhr Nossum, national team coach of Norway’s cross-country skiing team | EP#245
  • Vasco Vilaça | EP#401
  • Strength and Speed Training Methods of Norwegian Endurance Coaches | Research Roundup
• Resources and tools mentioned:
  • VDOT calculator

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