How Norway became a triathlon powerhouse with head coach Arild Tveiten | EP#154

23:05 - 

• Stephen Seiler and I want to discuss polarised training! 
• In one way our training is polarised: we have a lot of volume at low intensity. 
  
  However, it's not the way Stephen described polarised training - we're not going as high on the intervals but we are low on volume. 
• In a way, it's a polarised training principle. 
• The polarised training principles in Norway are often based on cross country skiers, who have races that are shorter than triathlon and very high intensity. 
  
  The principles make sense but they need to be adapted to triathlon. 

31:52

• Sierra Nevada is 2300m high, which is where most of our training is on this camp. 
• It depends on the season, but we tend to return to sea level 10-14 days before the race. 
• This summer we were in Font Romeu for 8 weeks, which is 1850m and therefore less demanding on the body. 
  
  From here, we have gone directly to races 2-3 days after coming down to sea level. 
• This year the final race was in the Gold coast so we went down from altitude 4 weeks before the World Championships there. 

33:29

• Similar to the other disciplines, it's a lot of volume with 2-3 intervals sessions a week. 
• The run training is the most complex, because you need to take an individual approach. 
• Kristian is rare in that he can do whatever you want in training. 
• Most of the other athletes are coming from a swimming background and it takes time to develop the muscle and ligaments needed to tolerate high volume running. 
• We need to establish what is too much or too little for each individual athlete. 
• We pay close attention to athlete completing their training diaries to try and catch injuries before they happen. 
• I have athletes who are always coming back from little injuries so we're constantly changing their volume. 
• We also do strength and conditioning training to try and prevent injuries. 

36:37 - 

• When we're at altitude, we pay close attention to the mood and weight of the athletes. 
  
  If they're losing weight at altitude, that is never a good sign. 
• We also measure the heart rate at rest, and heart rate variability. 
• We use the oximeter to see how their oxygen levels in the blood are, and we also pay attention to urine. 
• The diary log between the coach and athletes is key though. 
• It happens that athletes will sometimes do too much, especially if they're going with a group. 
  
  We try to stress that although we train together, it's at your individual intensity. 
• We recommend that if you're having a bad day, go by yourself and keep to your intensity rather than trying to keep up with the group. 

39:05 - 

• We periodise in a way, but it's not directly following a specific model as I don't believe in that. 
• I believe in variation in training.
• We do put different training loads at different times during the year, and we vary our training loads across disciplines. 
• During demanding training camps at altitude we have strict periodisation because it has worked really well before. 
  
  This is normally day cycles:
  
  1st day: 2 interval sessions
  2nd day: long, low intensity
  3rd day: 2 interval sessions
  4th day: half rest day
• Back home, life is structured Monday-Friday so we periodise a little differently.
  
  All in all we're trying to optimise the training load to achieve the highest level possible. 
• We do much of the same intensity around the year, which involves building the aerobic threshold. 
• We go straight to intervals from the first week of training, and these intervals are the base during the year. 
  
  We do vary the duration of the intervals and the races.
• Closer to races we do more training at race pace or above race pace. 
• Studies in Norway show it doesn't matter what way you do the intervals, just that you do them throughout the year. 
• Our primary focus is building the engine and training the physiology. 

43:53 - 

• As a coach I see that most athletes depend on a strong swim and strong run during the race. 
  
  I think you have a limitation then.
  
  You need to think about what else you can do to make an impact on the race. 
• I think around 50% of WTS athletes have the same plan - stay in a group and take it easy on the bike, and hope for a good run. 
  
  However this doesn't always work.
• For us, we don't necessarily want to attack on the bike all the time, but I think it's equal to the other disciplines.
  
  If you can use your strength on the bike, you should do it.
• We work to have that possibility. 
• Sometimes we don't succeed, but at least we try! Most athletes in WTS racing never try. 
• In Bermuda, it was a bit of a coincidence because Casper said he didn't feel like he was attacking on the bike and then found himself off the front. 
• When we were training in Sierra Nevada we were looking at the profile of the bike course in Bermuda to try and plan attacks. 
  
  We analysed it and found that the hill was very short (45 seconds - 1 minute) and WTS athletes are good at going all out on short hills. 
• We saw that athletes can push 500-600 watts but then need to rest at 200 watts for the next 5 minutes. 
  
  From this we did specific training where we attempted to keep pace at threshold intensity at the top of the hill, not going down to rest. 
• We found this worked, and the athletes were then able to push hard at the top of the hill and this is what made the difference. 
• I think athletes also didn't take Caspar too seriously because his ranking was not high, so they did not know how to react to him. 

49:54 - 

• Normally we start when they are Juniors, around 17-18.
• Most athletes in Norway come from a different sport before they do triathlon, so they don't start very young. 
• Now there is the Youth Olympic games in Buenos Aires, we've never had any athletes qualify before.
  
  4 years ago Caspar did not qualify, but he was starting the process to be a world class athlete. 
  
  Now there is no one in his age group there that would beat him. 
• Those who succeed at the Youth Olympic games are those who have a natural talent and started young. 
  
  I do not think this is necessary. We start with them at Junior level. 
• If they have the motivation, we start to quickly progress them towards world class performance.
  
  The volume at that age also increases quickly, but in a controlled way.
• Through this, you can see which athletes are motivated. 
  
  I think motivation is the biggest gift, and with our guidance they can perform at a high level
• Kristian, Lotte (Miller) and Jorgen (Gunderson) are all from a swimming background.
  
  Caspar came from karate, and got into triathlon. During his first Nordic championship he was dropped by Kristian on the run, which was only three years ago!
  
  Gustav was a really talented cyclist. He won the six days of racing in Sweden when he was 16. He was also a very good runner. 
• We do a lot of testing with our athletes, and we start with an 800m swim and 5000m run test. 
• When you are on the National team we go to the lab around 6 times a year to have all the tests. 
  
  Our athletes are in the lab now as we're going to altitude next week, so they will be doing three days of testing. 
• If you're threshold power on the bike increases 20-30% during the season, that's normal, but we need to establish the intensity. 
• We do tests before and after our training camps to measure the progression. 

56:20 - 

• We use the Stryd running power meter regularly.
• We also do a lot of field testing on lactate, and we take around 1000 lactate tests per year. 
  
  Our best athletes are probably taking around 200 lactate test samples a year. 
• In altitude, we regularly use oximeters to test the oxygen in the muscle.
  
  It also tells us how well you're adapting to altitude. 
  
  Using it on the quads on the bike we can also tell how efficient your technique is. 
• In swimming we use a Canadian system called TritonWear which analyses your stroke. 
• We also use heart rate in all of our sessions. 

59:13 - 

• Motivation is the key, and take your time. 
• Older athletes seem to be getting good young, but they will have had many good years of training. 

59:42 - 

• The most important thing is to remember it is an aerobic sport. 
• Work on the things that will make a big difference to your time, not the small details. 
• Athletes can get so into the details that they forget the basics. 

1:00:45 - 

• What is your favourite book, blog or resource related to triathlon?
  • I don't find these too interesting so I don't really read them! 
• What do you wish you had known or done differently at some point during your career?
  • If I knew today what I knew 20 years ago that would be good! I have a tendency to overdo things with my athletes so I'll try not to do that mistake again. 
• Who is somebody in triathlon that you look up to?
  • Marc Allen was my favourite triathlete, and his coaching business today is something I look up to. 

• Arild's Twitter