THE SECRET TO SPEED IS IN YOUR BLOOD
Runner's World US|Issue 02, 2024
Some of the world's best runners credit this unorthodox Norwegian training method for their success. Is it right for you?
A.C. SHILTON
THE SECRET TO SPEED IS IN YOUR BLOOD

IN THE PILOT episode of the 2016 reality docuseries Team Ingebrigtsen-Norway's answer to Keeping Up With the Kardashians, except, of course, that no one can keep up with the family of runners-Gjert Ingebrigtsen has his teenage sons perform a set of 1,000-meter repeats in the dark of night. They pause after each to prick their fingers for blood samples.

Since the series aired, Jakob, now 23, has shot to stardom, becoming a two-time world champion, winning Olympic gold in the 1500 at the Tokyo games, and breaking the 2-mile world record in June of 2023. His older brothers, Henrik and Filip, both had successful track careers, too. The credit isn't purely genetic-it's also the result of an unconventional training regimen implemented by their father. (As of 2022, Gjert Ingebrigtsen no longer coaches his sons; and in late 2023, Jakob, Henrik, and Filip published an op-ed in the Norwegian newspaper VG accusing him of physical violence and threats. Gjert Ingebrigtsen has denied the allegations.)

One aspect of this regimen is regular blood-lactate testing (yup, with a needle) and running intervals at an intensity low enough to keep too much lactate from accruing. While blood testing is an accurate way to measure lactate threshold, it's also pretty invasive, and uncomfortable. It hasn't been a standard training tool for elite endurance athletes at least, not in the United States.

The technique, attributed to former elite Norwegian runner Marius Bakken, MD, is known as Norwegian lactate-guided double-threshold training, a mouthful of a name that speaks to its main features: the idea that running right below the lactate threshold as determined by on-the-spot blood testing-provides the most benefit, and that it requires two workouts in one day.

It's hard to argue with the Ingebrigtsens' results.

Denne historien er fra Issue 02, 2024-utgaven av Runner's World US.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra Issue 02, 2024-utgaven av Runner's World US.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA RUNNER'S WORLD USSe alt
TO RUN 26.2 IS TO FEEL ALIVE
Runner's World US

TO RUN 26.2 IS TO FEEL ALIVE

THE SUN IS rising from the east, and the waves of the Pacific crash below to the west.

time-read
2 mins  |
Fall 2024
LEAVE IT UP TO A PIECE OF PAPER TO TEACH YOU TO RUN EASY
Runner's World US

LEAVE IT UP TO A PIECE OF PAPER TO TEACH YOU TO RUN EASY

BEFORE I FELL for running, I thought the hardest thing about the sport was the fast stuff: the speedwork, the sprints, and the intervals.

time-read
3 mins  |
Fall 2024
WHY-AND HOW-YOU SHOULD RUN DOUBLES
Runner's World US

WHY-AND HOW-YOU SHOULD RUN DOUBLES

Those are just a few of the titles entered into my training log for the second run of a day.

time-read
2 mins  |
Fall 2024
FIND YOUR RUNNING COMMUNITY, ONLINE OR IN PERSON
Runner's World US

FIND YOUR RUNNING COMMUNITY, ONLINE OR IN PERSON

I SIGNED UP for my first marathon while sobbing in the back of a rideshare, on my way to the airport to fly to my uncle's funeral.

time-read
3 mins  |
Fall 2024
FUEL WITH WHAT YOU WANT TO EAT
Runner's World US

FUEL WITH WHAT YOU WANT TO EAT

AS AN ULTRARUNNER, I'm all too familiar with the saying that long-distance running is an \"eating contest with a running component.\"

time-read
2 mins  |
Fall 2024
AT THE FERTILITY CLINIC, MY PAST CAUGHT UP WITH ME
Runner's World US

AT THE FERTILITY CLINIC, MY PAST CAUGHT UP WITH ME

I SAT IN the fertility doctor's office white walls, bare wooden desk, opaque window-alone.

time-read
7 mins  |
Fall 2024
THIS IS NOT AN ESCAPE STORY
Runner's World US

THIS IS NOT AN ESCAPE STORY

AT 15, DARLENE STUBBS WALKED AWAY FROM A POLYGAMOUS CULT-THEN DISCOVERED A NEW LIFE AND COMMUNITY THROUGH RUNNING.

time-read
10+ mins  |
Fall 2024
RUNNING WITH HANK
Runner's World US

RUNNING WITH HANK

How my daughter's rambunctious mutt saved my sanity while she was lost to the darkness.

time-read
10+ mins  |
Fall 2024
WHEN I FOUND OUT I HAD MS.I THOUGHT I'D NEVER RUN AGAIN.
Runner's World US

WHEN I FOUND OUT I HAD MS.I THOUGHT I'D NEVER RUN AGAIN.

I checked the pins on my bib, shimmied my spandex shorts into place, and teed up the stopwatch on my wrist.

time-read
10+ mins  |
Fall 2024
A RUNNER'S GUIDE to sleep
Runner's World US

A RUNNER'S GUIDE to sleep

Nike rocked the running world in 2018 when it released the Vaporfly 4%, claiming that the shoe could boost a runner's efficiency by that amount.

time-read
10+ mins  |
Fall 2024