88: THE TRAINING PRACTICES OF SUCCESSFUL WORLD-CLASS NORWEGIAN ENDURANCE COACHES - PART 2

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In the previous KisW Research Note, we saw some of the training practices used by 12 Successful World-Class Norwegian Endurance Coaches who are currently (2025) coaching male and female world-class athletes and “who have been responsible for the training of numerous world-class, mostly Norwegian endurance athletes who, in total, have won nearly 400 Olympic-, World-, and European-Championship medals” (1). This information has been reported in the study by Øyvind Sandbakk and Colleagues (School of Sport Science, UiT The Artic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway) published on Sports Medicine in 2025. (1) Learning on this topic can be relevant because, as already said in the last post, according to the website www.greatestsportingnation.com, a project which ranks the best nations in sports based on competition results (weighting each result for importance), in 2025 Norway is at the first place in the ranking which normalises success for the number of people living in the country. This outstanding achievement is a result of Norway being particularly good in endurance sports. Given that we are not aware of any genetic variations which might help the Norwegians to excel in endurance sports, it can be interesting to know how they train.

In the first part we learn about the high training volume, the time spent in intensity zones (even 80-90% at low intensity, zone 1/2 in a 5/7 zones model), the macro-periodization (load variation through months/weeks) and the micro-periodization (load variations day-by-day, within the week/microcycle) strategies they use. In this second part, we are going to see the following additional key training strategies that they reported to adopt:

1. Altitude training

2. Race-based block periodization (for road cyclists)

3. Peaking for the goal competition

4. Balance between load and recovery

5. Strength training

Have a good read!

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1. Altitude Training

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“Except for speed skating, where the coach did not incorporate altitude training systematically, all the other interviewed coaches reported individualized altitude training regimes”

- Sandbakk et al. 2025 - (1)

Here the characteristics that the Successful World-Class Norwegian Endurance Coaches reported to use for altitude training:

• Duration and Frequency: 3/4 camps per year for a total of 50-100 days of altitude exposure per year (so ~15-25 days per camp):

• Altitude: >1500 m above sea level:

• Training Content: increased training volume (high volume) with focus more on low intensity than on intensive training.

• Periodization within the annual plan:

  • First camp takes place early in the first phase of the preparation

  • Other camps are optimally timed in relation to key competitions

  Coach 1: Altitude training is a central part of the development philosophy and consists of 3-4 altitude camps, each lasting around three weeks. The first altitude camp takes place early in the first macrocycle, allowing us to focus on a lot of low-intensity training, as well as good recovery routines and intensity management. The remaining altitude camps are evenly distributed throughout the year and optimally timed in relation to the World Championships or Olympics, where the athlete needs to be in peak condition. (1)

  Coach 8: Altitude training is a central part of the training philosophy. At altitude, we prioritize a large volume of I-1 (read zone 1/2 in a 5/7 zones model) and I-3 training (read zone 4 in a 5/7 zones model) followed by intensive training and competitions after altitude camps. (1)

  Fostering high-volume low intensity training when doing altitude camps is in line with physiology. At high altitude, the partial pressure of oxygen in the air decreases. This generates an hypoxic stimulus for the body which can stimulate aerobic adaptations both at muscular and (especially) at blood level (an increase in haemoglobin mass, which permits to transfer more oxygen to the muscles during exercise). High volume at low intensity is generally better to get the most from the hypoxic stimulus as low intensity exercise capacity and quality is not particularly affected by hypoxia, while the quality of aerobic high intensity training (such as VO2max intervals) is negatively affected by high altitude. In this article, not many detailed practices about altitude training used by the Norwegian Endurance World-Class Coaches were reported (we listed above the points they reported), so we will come back on the ‘altitude training topic’ on a specific next KisW Research Note. For example, other factors which can be discussed more are:

  • The exact altitude level of the camp: 1500m a.s.l. is very different from 2500m a.s.l. Higher altitude can give a greater hypoxic stimulus but reduces the quality of aerobic high intensity work that can be done.

  • Living High-Training Low (LHTL) vs Living High-Training High (LHTH) strategy: if you sleep high (> 1800-2000m a.s.l.) and train low (<1800m a.s.l.) better quality aerobic high intensity work is doable, while with LHTH you try to exploit more the hypoxic stimulus in training, but you are not able to do the same aerobic high intensity work as at lower altitude. Usually, a combination of both LHTL and LHTH can be a good solution: you sleep/live > 1800-2000m a.s.l and train high at low intensity (zone 1-2 in a 5/7 zones model), while you choose a route at lower altitude (<1200-1500m a.s.l.) if you want to do some specific high intensity aerobic intervals, such as the intermittent short intervals (30-15, 30-30 or 40-20 sec) or the long intervals (4-8min with 4min recovery). An exception of high intensity training that can be done with good quality and effectiveness at high altitude are:

    • short neuromuscular all-out sprints (5-15sec) with long recovery (>2min) in this case the aerobic contribution is minimal and so the quality of this work is not negatively affected by hypoxia .

    • Repeated Sprint Training in Hypoxia (RSH), which consists in “the repetition of several short (≤30 s) “all-out” exercise bouts in hypoxia interspersed with incomplete recoveries (exercise-to-rest ratio <1:3/1:6)”.

    We will come back more on this specific training strategy (which can be particularly effective to improve the repeatability of high intensity efforts and the oxidative capacity of fast twitch fibres) in the next KisW Research Notes.

  • How to combine altitude training with the normal training before and after the camp? While in the article is stated that ‘altitude camps are optimally timed for the competition goal’ (1), it is not described exactly how. As reported above, one of the Norwegian World-Class Coaches reported that altitude training is “followed by intensive training and competitions”. (1) I think this can be a good strategy: major focus on high volume-low intensity training during the altitude training camp, and then focus on high intensity after the camp + a final tapering. This is line with one of the studies I did during my PhD, where (3) we reported that two cyclists which finished in the top 5 of the Giro d’Italia final general classification, during the final part of preparation performed a two weeks altitude camp where they focused on high volume-low intensity training and then a huge increase of high intensity volume just before a final tapering. Such a training combination (high volume-low intensity at altitude, then focus on high intensity, then taper and race) can be interesting as it can combine the positive adaptations usually obtained through altitude training and those gained through high‐intensity block periodization. However it is just a speculation without any data to support it. When future studies will investigate the effectiveness of this strategy we will divulgate them here at KnowledgeisWatt

  • How to combine heat and altitude training?