Norwegian Method by Brad Culp

Author:Brad Culp [Culp, Brad]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SPO047000 SPORTS & RECREATION / Training, SPO066000 SPORTS & RECREATION / Cultural & Social Aspects, SPO058000 SPORTS & RECREATION / Olympics & Paralympics
Publisher: 80/20 Publishing

An outsider sees it differently

Olav became something of an understudy for both Arild, who had become the coach of the new triathlon team, and Madsen, even though his goals, initially, were quite different. Ever the entrepreneur, Olav sought out new technologies that he thought could help triathletes train smarter and new ways to collect and analyze all the data that should be available from all the hours of training. He was fascinated by lactate testing, the data it could provide, and how it could bring focus and purpose to each workout.

By 2016, Olav was brought on as an adviser to the national team and was asked to shadow the very small Norwegian triathlon contingent at the Rio Olympics, which was essentially just Kristian and Arild. A small part of a childhood dream of making it to the Olympics was realized, but as he watched the triathlons unfold, he wasn’t all that impressed. He was impressed with three athletes: Alistair Brownlee, Jonathan Brownlee, and Gwen Jorgensen, who were in a different zip code from their competition on the run. The fact that the rest of the best athletes in the world could be so far behind had Olav thinking there was still a lot to be exploited in triathlon training. He didn’t see any reason why Kristian—who had finished two and a half minutes after the Brownlees—couldn’t be the one running away from the field four (or five) years later in Tokyo.

Over the course of the Olympic cycle that followed—the longest ever due to the pandemic pushing Tokyo 2020 to 2021—Olav went from an aspiring sports scientist to the coach who was making humans swim, bike, and run faster than ever before. Olav eventually took over primary coaching duties for Kristian and Gustav, and the trio took over the sport over the course of the next six years. The “boys,” as Olav formerly called them, won six world titles during those six years to go along with Kristian’s Olympic gold. They were winning short- and long-distance events all at once, something previously assumed impossible.

Oftentimes, it takes an outsider to move a sport forward. It’s not uncommon for the best coaches to have little or no experience in the sport they’re training athletes for. In running, some of the greatest coaches, like Joe Vigil, Colm O’Connell, and Jack Daniels, had never run themselves and never would. Especially in a sport as young as triathlon, Olav thought there may be a big chunk of time that could be lobbed off by being a little smarter. And by committing to a lifestyle that probably seems a bit deranged to most. Just as Arild seeing Marius use lactate testing planted the seed that there was another level of intensity control, Olav seeing Arild do the same made him wonder what other data and biometrics they could be mining. And he had two athletes who were ready and willing. Olav went about setting up the microculture that he believes has enabled them to figure out the sport in a better way than any men before them.

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