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Andreas Almgren: the training, nutrition and supplements behind the New York win

Races5 min read
On this page
  1. In short
  2. Who Andreas Almgren is
  3. How he trains
  4. Nutrition and fueling
  5. Supplements
  6. Limits
  7. Sources

Who Andreas Almgren is

Almgren started as a middle-distance runner: a 1:45.59 800 m best, world under-20 bronze in 2014 and fourth at the 2015 European Indoor Championships. A run of injuries pushed him - together with team-mate Kalle Berglund - to change approach after seeing the Ingebrigtsen brothers' "controlled, high-mileage" model at shared training camps. On his return he ran a national record straight away: "I was like: okay, this works for me."2

Recent results: European records in the 5000 m (12:44.27), road 10 km (26:45) and half marathon (58:06, winning the world half-marathon title in Copenhagen in September 2026), world 10,000 m bronze in 2025 and the 2026 European 10,000 m title in a championship record (27:23.44). In New York he beat Crippa by 13 seconds, with Kamohelo Mofolo third in 2:06:26.12

Two notes on how he works. First: he has been with coach Urban Aruhn since 2012, but writes his own programme; Aruhn acts as a "devil's advocate" whose main job is "to make sure that I don't do too much".2 Second: choosing New York over a fast course like Valencia was reasoned out a year in advance, with a written three-year plan for his manager: "Running 2:03 in Valencia would not mean as much as winning New York."3

Transparency on commercial relationships: Almgren is sponsored by Nike, uses Coros watches and works with Maurten on fueling. These companies publish part of the information about his method; where a source is a sponsor, we mark it.345

How he trains

Volume. For the marathon block he raised his mileage from about 200 km to a peak of 235 km per week, almost always with two sessions a day; his longest single day reached 46 km.3 Already in early 2026 he described 206 km weeks with a "light" day of 12 km in the morning and 10 km in the afternoon plus gym work, and an easy pace around 4:00/km with heart rate near 120 bpm.7

Threshold measured, not guessed. Threshold work is the backbone of his training, with four simultaneous checks: "speed, lactate, heart rate, and overall feeling." His threshold sessions usually sit between 167 and 178 bpm.4 His favourite base session: 12 × 1000 m on the track at aerobic threshold, around 3 mmol/L of lactate.2

Adapted double threshold. He uses the Scandinavian double-threshold format (threshold in the morning, controlled intervals in the afternoon), adapted to the marathon: longer reps at lower intensity than the track format, because "the standard double threshold way" does not combine with a good marathon.78 One documented day: 50 minutes at LT1 in the morning, then 16 × 1000 m with 60 seconds recovery in the afternoon, finishing with lactate still "very controlled".2

Specific to New York. He introduced "hard long runs" - 35 km or more, run fast for most of the way - for the first time in his career, and rebuilt his strength work around the front of the thighs: "the first two weeks I was really beaten up there", and that strength keeps you from "collapsing mechanically" on the late ups and downs of Central Park.3 A documented week of the block (31 August - 6 September 2026) also included three treadmill sessions in a heat chamber at 38 °C and 60% humidity, guided by pulse and core temperature, and a 40 km progressive long run on a hilly course with 10 km splits of 35:00 / 31:20 / 29:46 / 28:30.2

Altitude and support. He spent the final five weeks in Flagstaff (about 2,100 m), where Nike runs a hub with massage, physiotherapy, a gym and fast access to blood tests.3 Gym four times a week, recovery with massage, compression boots and 7-8 hours of sleep plus naps when possible: "I'm not the best sleeper."7

Nutrition and fueling

For a former middle-distance runner, eating during races is new territory: "on the track I never had to drink." His fueling was built from scratch with Maurten - his sponsor - measuring on long runs how much of the ingested carbohydrate is actually oxidised, using a carbon-13 breath test.5

The numbers Maurten published for two long runs (37 km in 2:03:24 and 40.3 km in 2:05:25): a target of 36 g of carbohydrate every 15 minutes; peak utilisation of the drink mix of 83-87 g/hour, about a third of his estimated total carbohydrate use (222-238 g/hour); about 60 minutes before ingested carbohydrate reaches a steady share of supply - which is why you start fuelled from the first kilometre; and a model estimating that, without fueling, his stores would last about 80 minutes at marathon pace.5 In a September podcast Almgren said he reaches 120 g of carbohydrate per hour on long runs.8

The New York race plan published by Maurten: a gel two minutes before the start, one bottle every 5 km aligned with the official stations, a caffeine gel at 15 km.5 The preparation was just as meticulous: for a year he drank his mix during treadmill threshold intervals instead of afterwards; on long runs a cycling companion (Emil Blomberg) handed him bottles every 15 minutes; he practised grabbing bottles from a table on the track because he is left-handed and the race tables are all on the right; and as a backup he taped gels to the bottles, to double the energy at the next station if a bottle was missed.35

Supplements

Sodium bicarbonate. Almgren says he uses the Maurten Bicarb System on long runs and used it in New York: "I've used it for both my half marathons, and I felt I got a very good effect from it." The sponsor's own page notes that bicarbonate is not typically considered a primary ergogenic aid for the marathon: the evidence concerns higher-intensity efforts, and for continuous running it is less consistent; it should be read as a plausible application for the hard phases of a race (surges, bridges, pace changes), not as a proven marathon effect.5

Broccoli sprout extract (Nomio). According to Outside (October 2025), Almgren is among the athletes who use it regularly. It is a concentrated isothiocyanate extract developed by researchers at the Karolinska Institutet and GIH in Stockholm, some of whom co-founded the company. The cited evidence: a 2023 study (lower oxidative stress and lower lactate during exercise, time to exhaustion improved by about 12% in a VO₂max test, with no change in VO₂max itself), one not-yet-peer-reviewed preprint and one test-tube study on muscle fibres. There is no direct evidence that it improves race performance; one expert interviewed by Outside called the data "weak and unconvincing", while others find it credible but scarce. The company itself recommends using it only before hard sessions.6

Caffeine. Present in the race plan as a gel at 15 km.5 We found no public sources on other supplements in his programme: absence of documentation does not mean absence of use.

Limits

  • Most of the fueling and supplement information comes from sponsors (Maurten, Coros) or interviews: these are athlete statements and commercial material, not independent verification.345
  • This is the programme of an elite athlete holding European records: volumes, paces and carbohydrate amounts do not transfer to the reader and should not be copied as personal doses or protocols.
  • His everyday diet outside training and race fueling is not documented in the sources we reviewed.
  • For bicarbonate and the broccoli extract, direct evidence for marathon performance is limited or absent; an athlete's reported use is not proof of effectiveness.56
  • The carbohydrate oxidation measures are published by the sponsor from two long runs plus a third at altitude whose analysis was still in progress at the page's publication date (28 October 2026).5

Sources

  1. World Athletics, "Almgren wins on marathon debut, Chepkirui regains title in New York", 1 November 2026. worldathletics.org. Read 1 November 2026.
  2. Athletics Weekly, "How they train: Andreas Almgren", 6 October 2026. athleticsweekly.com. Read 1 November 2026.
  3. Expressen, "Andreas Almgren tvingades hålla allt hemligt" (in Swedish), 1 November 2026. expressen.se. Read 1 November 2026.
  4. Coros (sponsor), "Behind the Training of Andreas Almgren", 6 January 2026. coros.com. Read 1 November 2026.
  5. Maurten (sponsor), "Andreas Almgren - New York City Marathon", 28 October 2026. maurten.com. Read 1 November 2026.
  6. Outside Online, "Nomio Is the Hot, New Endurance Supplement Made from Broccoli", 29 October 2025. outsideonline.com. Read 1 November 2026.
  7. Marathon Handbook, "Inside The Training Of One Of Europe's Fastest Runners" (from The Running Effect podcast), 5 February 2026. marathonhandbook.com. Read 1 November 2026.
  8. The Running Effect Podcast, episode "You Don't Go To New York For A PB, You Go There To Race", 1 September 2026, notes and transcript. spotsports.com and exa.ai. Read 1 November 2026.
  9. FIDAL, "Super Crippa, secondo a New York!" (in Italian), 1 November 2026. fidal.it. Read on 2 November 2026.

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