Training and Trends: Get Inspired And Take Advantage Of The Best

by INGEBORG SCHEVE • 15.05.2022
Are you inspired by Olympic winner Nils van der Poel’s training program? Or how do the Ingebrigtsen brothers train? Or both? How to make it relevant for cross-country skiing.
Are you inspired by Olympic winner Nils van der Poel’s training program? Or how do the Ingebrigtsen brothers train? Or both? How to make it relevant for cross-country skiing.

“What I see is that more and more cross-country skiers are looking at other sports to get inspiration. They look particularly at what athletes in other endurance sports with relevant duration to cross-country skiing do,” says former Norwegian national team coach Geir Endre Rogn.

Rogn was the coach for the women’s national team for two years until May 2020 and for the junior national team for two years before that, and he has eight years behind him as coach at NTG Geilo.

Rogn now runs training guidance through his company Topptrent.com and follows up on both hard-working skiers and ambitious recreational athletes. Rogn is responsible for training the Norwegian national team skier Helene Marie Fossesholm, this year’s Norwegian breakthrough guy Thomas Helland Larsen and former biathlete Maren Wangensteen who took the Norwegian National Championships bronze in the 10km classic.

Two Clear Trends

Rogn says that two programs, in particular, are highlighted among cross-country skiers now: This is how the skater Nils van der Poel trains and how the Norwegian athletics brothers Ingebrigtsen train.

Both have resulted in Olympic gold in the past year. And both models have several elements that are relevant to cross-country skiing. But Rogn warns against copying the skater’s or athletics guys’ schedule.

This Is What Van Der Poel And The Ingebrigtsen Brothers Do

 In short, van der Poel’s method is about extreme periodization. 

There is an extremely large amount in the start-up phase of the training, divided into five days of training and two days of rest. Then comes a period with many sessions on threshold intensity. In the last weeks towards the season, he runs a short specific period with very many sessions at high intensity. In total, van der Poel is well over 1000 training hours per year.

The Ingebrigtsen method has been circulating for a few seasons now. That model is also based on a highly structured program even though it is a much lower total amount of training for them than what van der Poel’s approach is based on.

In summary, this Ingebrigtsen model is generally about a smaller amount but higher speed, more but shorter intervals with shorter breaks than what is normally skied in cross-country skiing.

“It’s about finding ‘cheap’ ways to be very competitive. When the strokes are shorter, you recover muscularly faster, and you can run more strokes. In this way, you get more training up to competitive speed,” says Rogn.

Common to both is that they are highly structured and provide excellent control.

Useful To Be Inspired

Rogn thinks it is positive to see what others do to get inspiration and progression.

“What I see right now that is a bit special is that cross-country skiers do not primarily look at what other cross-country skiers do to get inspiration. They look at what athletes in other endurance sports with relevant duration in relation to cross-country skiing do,” he says.

Rogn points out that this can be extra relevant for older skiers who have a good endurance base from many years of traditional training but want to take some new steps.

For younger skiers, Rogn recommends sticking to the traditional Norwegian cross-country model based on the Norwegian Ski Association’s development ladder.

Relevant, But Not Directly Transferable

“In Norway, we have a good template for how training allows cross-country skiing to be set up and gives results in the sport. If you start from that model, it can be exciting to include elements from other sports where it makes sense,” says Rogn.

“But I am aware that one should be very careful not to copy completely what van der Poel and the Ingebrigtsen brothers do. Cross-country skiing has several peculiarities, which means that the training should be set up a little differently and elements drawn in from other sports must be adapted to cross-country skiing.”

Rogn says that ice skating and track running occur in one technique and at speed. You have to master several techniques, styles, and formats in cross-country skiing. Several variables in the form of snow conditions, weather, and temperature make you want more significant variation in intensity both in training and competition.

Therefore, it is essential to be critical of why you make the changes you make and that elements you draw in from other sports must be adapted to cross-country skiing.

Lots To Learn

 At the same time, Rogn sees that many cross-country skiers can benefit from better control over how the training actually works.

“The most important thing you can take advantage of from what van der Poels and the Ingebrigtsen brothers do is that they have standard trainings they do very often. This means that they always have full control, that the body is in balance, and can tolerate the training they do. Then they can act very quickly if they see that something is going in the wrong direction,” he says.

Rogn sees that many cross-country skiers have a lot to gain in that area.

“Many cross-country skiers are not good enough on standard intervals. They are not good enough at being accurate with the implementation, and they do not do them often enough, so they have too little data to compare results from time to time. Then it will be easy to explain away deviations and implement corrective measures too late,” Rogn explains.

How do you transfer these elements from skating and athletics to cross-country skiing?

“You can, for example, place fixed standard intervals on a treadmill so that all variables are the same every time. Outdoors, weather and wind can cause the heart rate and intensity to vary from time to time, even if the workout is the same. Then it will be easier to explain away why you are not making progress.”

However, Cross-country skiers will need a few more standard trainings than Van der Poel and the brothers Ingebrigtsen to cover more styles, sub-techniques and competition formats, and greater variation in terrain and course profiles.

For comparison, Rogn points out that van der Poel, for example, only runs two specific hard intervals: one for 5000 meters and one for 10,000 meters.

So, in summary: What is the most important thing that Van der Poel and Ingebrigtsen can add to cross-country skiing?

“There are two things: One is to have a clear system, a clear plan and thought behind all the workouts you do. The second is to become good at performing the standard sessions and do them often enough so that you have enough data to see that you can manage the training and have progress, or at least not go back,” says Geir Endre Rogn and adds:

“There are far too many cross-country skiers who have too little control over what they do. They just train well and hope that it will bring success. But if you train 1000 hours a year on chance and luck, then the risk is great that you miss something.”

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