There are several different training philosophies. Nils van der Poel’s periodization, the Ingebrigtsen brothers’ double thresholds, and the triathletes’ combined sessions are just three examples. But how do these transfer to cross-country skiing, and what do you need to consider?

When last year’s big trend with speed skating athlete Nils van der Poel’s training program spread like wildfire in the skiing world, former Norwegian elite coach Geir Endre Rogn was skeptical that it would bring revolutionary progress in the skiing track. The experienced coach explains why and what you should do instead.

“All sports have their characteristics, and there are good reasons behind the philosophy on which traditional cross-country skiing is based. It would be wise to pay attention to years of experience. Of course, you must develop the training, but it is rarely good to stray too far from what has historically worked well, says Rogn to Langrenn.com (ProXCskiing.com’s Norwegian sister site).

The former national team coach, who now is a training consultant through his company Topptrent.com, shares three specific sessions inspired by both van der Poel and the two other big trends in the skiing environment: triathlon and the track and field brothers’ Ingebrigtsen training program.

“The structure of these sessions can be an example of what can inspire and develop training in cross-country skiing without changing too much,” he says.

This is the first of two articles on training trends and inspiration from other sports.

Speed Skater Nils van der Poel

Swedish speed skater Nils van der Poel won two golds and set a world record during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Soon after, the Swede published his entire training philosophy and detailed his training schedule. It spread quickly among endurance athletes, not least in cross-country skiing.

Van der Poel’s plan, in short, is about extreme periodization throughout the base training season: all summer, there is a focus on a large amount of training without any hard sessions, followed by a long period focusing on threshold intervals. It is only 5-6 weeks before the start of the season that van der Poel trains in specific and high-intensity sessions.

“My impression is that those who have followed this plan fully have not received the full benefit, but that those who have adapted this more to cross-country skiing and included sessions that they believe in have been more successful,” says Rogn.

Van der Poel’s plan has generally only partially worked for cross-country skiers because cross-country skiing is a much more complex sport than speed skating.

“Cross-country skiing is so much more varied that you cannot leave parts. Then you’re not ready to get enough out of the specific intervals at race pace when you start them. Getting used to it is much faster on skates, where you basically do the same technical solutions all the way through,” explains Rogn.

Also, the intensity is uniform in a speed skating race, while it varies with the terrain’s topography in a ski race.

The athletics brothers Ingebrigtsen

Rogn has observed several similarities between how the cross-country skiers train versus the athletics brothers Ingebrigtsen and how triathletes plan their training.

“Van der Poel stood out a little because it is based on a clear and relatively extreme periodization. It’s generally wise to base your training on what you know works but use changes as a seasoning, not the main ingredient. But feel free to use sessions and let yourself be inspired by other environments because there is no doubt that there are good training sessions that can be downloaded from those programs,” says Rogn and adds:

“The basic idea is that you take individual sessions you are inspired by, but for example, not completely abandoning intervals in the summer. In this way, you can further develop what you did before.”

More specifically, what parts would you take from current trends?

“From Ingebrigtsen, we like to use sessions that are based on their philosophy of accumulating a lot of time at a competitive speed. They often run shorter distances and intervals than usual in cross-country skiing. This means you get a lot of time at high speed without the session costing as much. Then the session will not be as intense, and the recovery time will be shortened so you can be ready for the next session more quickly.”

Rogn points out that taking in many such sessions with competition speed is advantageous even in the summer.

“If you do a lot of competition speed in the summer, you get more out of the hard sessions you do in the autumn because you are technically and physically safe. It is positive for many,” he says.

Rogn also adds that such sessions have become especially relevant for men. After the FIS introduced equal distances for women and men, men now ski 10km instead of 15km, and this places higher demands on speed.

What about triathlons?

“Triathlon is a multi-sport where it is easy to train a lot, so they generally have a high training volume. It is also good for cross-country skiers.

Concretely, there are two parts of triathlon training that Rogn sees as particularly relevant for cross-country skiers.

One is that triathletes often do longer sessions with longer intervals, which fits well with traditional cross-country skiing. The second is that triathletes, and speed skater Nils van der Poel, have a significant element of cycling in their training.

“Cross-country skiers are welcome to cycle, especially during the first part of the summer. At the same time, roller skiing and running are even better long-distance training, so cycling must not come at this expense, especially after the latter part of summer and autumn,” says Rogn.

Trends come and go

Rogn reminds us that countless trends over the years have left athletes “lying on edge” after jumping on different training philosophies.

He highlights the trend of extreme intensity variations, with Marit Bjørgen’s poor form around 2005 as a striking example.

“There is a reason why the training most people plan around in Norway is relatively similar: it is good to get inspiration from other environments, but you probably shouldn’t do too many experiments,” says Rogn.

Geir Endre Rogn was the coach of the women’s national team for two seasons until May 2020 and of the junior national team for two years before that, and he has eight years behind him as a coach at NTG Geilo. Now Rogn does training consultancy through his company Topptrent.com and follows up with everyone from elite athletes in cross-country skiing, biathlon, and running to younger athletes and fit amateurs.