The Norwegian method beyond running: triathlon, cross-country skiing and swimming, what is documented
On this page
Not a single protocol
"Norwegian method" is a media label, not a written program. The sources describe recurring elements - lactate measurement, regular lab testing, days with two quality sessions, a very high share of easy work - but combine them differently in every sport and every athlete. The page on the double threshold in running explains the running-specific versions; the distinction between polarised and pyramidal distribution has its own page. Here we look at what is documented outside running.
Triathlon: the Blummenfelt case, named and measured
The best-documented case is also the declared one: Kristian Blummenfelt gave written consent to publish his data. A 2024 study in the Journal of Applied Physiology analysed three years of training (2020-2022) and two periods of energy-expenditure measurement using doubly labelled water.1
- Volumes: 1,480 hours in 2020, 1,350 in 2021, 1,308 in 2022. During the two measured altitude camps (2,320 m) the weeks reached 54.5 and 58.9 hours; the weekly average across the whole period was 26.3 hours.
- Pyramidal distribution: most of the time below the first lactate threshold, an intermediate share between the two thresholds, little work above the second threshold.
- Thresholds measured per discipline: bike 310 W (140 bpm) and 373 W (161 bpm); run 16.4 km/h (148 bpm) and 19.0 km/h (167 bpm); swim 1.32 and 1.34 m/s. Intensity is not set by feel.
- Energy cost: 7,019-8,506 kcal per day in the measured periods, a physical activity level of 3.4-3.8 times basal metabolic rate, above the roughly 2.5 "metabolic ceiling" discussed in the literature.
The record in the observed period and right after: Olympic gold in Tokyo, the World Triathlon title, the IRONMAN world title, the IRONMAN 70.3 world title and the ironman-distance world record.1 The federation program behind these results, described by Olympics.com in 2023, has been led since 2012 by Arild Tveiten with sports scientist Olav Aleksander Bu: the stated logic is that the plan does not follow classical periodisation but "what we see in the lab tests", with double threshold sessions under monitored lactate.2
It is one athlete's case, however dominant: it describes how Blummenfelt trained, it does not prove the same scheme makes anyone win.
Cross-country skiing: three decades of elite female skiers
Cross-country skiing is the historical cradle of the model. A study published on 21 November 2025 in Sports Medicine - Open reconstructed the careers of six top Norwegian female skiers, with 61 Olympic and World Championship medals between them, split into two groups: three "world-leading" athletes (at least 8 medals) and three at the level just below (at most 4).3
- The increase in training volume from junior to senior level was driven mainly by low-intensity work.
- The more decorated group showed a longer, more consistent volume build-up over time, VO₂max progression from junior to senior level (only one of the other three showed the same pattern) and larger threshold improvements: speed at the estimated lactate threshold grew by about 14% on average, against about 7% in the other group.
The limits are stated by the authors: a sample of six athletes, partly self-reported data collected retrospectively. It is a picture of winning pathways, not an experiment.
From skiing to running: the Dewall case
Lars Dewall, a former NCAA cross-country skier from Minnesota, applied the training culture of skiing to running: his college coach's rule was to keep easy runs under 140 bpm, even when that meant running very slowly. In an October 2026 interview with FasterSkier he describes four marathons with four consecutive personal bests, up to 2:12:13 in Berlin on 27 September 2026.4 It is a transfer of principles (truly easy easy days, multi-year patience), not a copied protocol: his is a hypothetical comparison, not the documented length of his own build: with "two to three months" to get an athlete as fit as possible, he says, you would end up doing a lot of zone 2; with eight years available, you would handle the intensity of easy days very differently.
Swimming: a single case, and different from the cliché
A September 2026 study (Tønnessen and colleagues, with Øyvind Sandbakk among the authors) describes ten years of training of a Norwegian world-class 800-1500 m swimmer, not named in the text.5 The data: 1,000-1,380 hours per year, about 80% in the water (2,700-3,700 km per year), a traditional three-macrocycle periodisation with high volumes of low intensity in preparation and more intensity towards competition. The most cited detail: the performance decline around age 25-26 coincided with a shift of volume from zone 1 to zone 2 and with less long-course work.
It should be stated clearly: this case does not replicate the double-threshold format associated with the "Norwegian method" in running. It is a Norwegian athlete inside a Norwegian system, on a traditional periodisation. One case, descriptive.
What we did not find
- Road cycling: no documented winning case attributable to this model in the sources consulted (as of 2 November 2026). Triathlon includes the bike, but it is a multimodal sport: it does not count as evidence for pure cycling. Coaching blogs proposing amateur adaptations exist, but they are not documented cases.
- Speed skating and rowing: flagged as possible application areas, but we found no solid sources to cite.
- The failures: the published sources tell almost only success stories. How many athletes followed the same model without results is not documented.
What an amateur can take
The transferable elements are behaviours, not numbers:
- measure intensity (heart rate, paces, occasional tests) instead of chasing it by feel;
- truly easy easy days: the Dewall case is extreme but the direction is clear;
- volume built over years, not weeks: none of the careers described started at elite volumes;
- periodic testing to adjust zones, instead of fixing them once and for all.
Not transferable: 1,300 hours a year, 200 km of running a week, daily double threshold sessions, staff and a lab. That is the context of professional athletes, not a plan for the reader.
Limitations
- Four cases across four sports are single studies or tiny samples: none proves a causal link between method and wins. Talent selection, context and support matter as much as the training scheme.
- Interviews and sponsor materials are statements, not independent verification.
- The accessible sources are in English and Norwegian and tell almost only Norwegian success stories: the coverage itself is skewed.
Sources
- Dasa MS, Bu OA, Sandbakk Ø, Rønnestad BR, Plasqui G, Gundersen H, Kristoffersen M. "Training volume and total energy expenditure of an Olympic and Ironman world champion: approaching the upper limits of human capabilities", Journal of Applied Physiology, 2024. journals.physiology.org. Read on 2 November 2026.
- Olympics.com, "Not only Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden: How Norway has turned into a triathlon powerhouse", 11 July 2023. olympics.com. Read on 2 November 2026.
- Staff H, Solli GS, Welde B, Tønnessen E, Sandbakk Ø. "Long-Term Development of Training Characteristics and Physiological Determinants in World-Leading and Medal-Winning Female Cross-Country Skiers: A Three Decade Comparative Analysis", Sports Medicine - Open, 21 November 2025. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Read on 2 November 2026.
- FasterSkier, "'Let Your Ego Go': Lars Dewall on the Ski Training Behind a 2:12 Marathon", 21 October 2026. fasterskier.com. Read on 2 November 2026.
- Tønnessen E, Flaten II, Sandbakk Ø, Bucher Sandbakk S, Haugen T. "Ten years of training in a male world-class 800-1500 m swimmer", September 2026, full text via ResearchGate. researchgate.net. Read on 2 November 2026.