Overview of the Norwegian women's team, which is...with one exception...a very young squad. The 3 major training factors: • Oxygen uptake • Anaerobic threshold • Efficiency Our working motto to address these three factors is "A good Training Environment." • Efficiency: Mostly related to technique issues: • Efficient movement solutions • Power in specific movements • Muscular efficiency developed through specific strength training. Reasons for adopting a non-traditional block schedule (periods): • Stagnation in capacity • "Hungry" athletes • New research • Variety, change of focus, motivation How to distribute more oxygen to the muscles? • Answer: train your heart muscle. This increases oxygen uptake and thereby performance. • Heart training at 90-95% of max HR - or 10-20 beats below max HR. Blocks/Periods: • May: Basic volume - lots of hours and varied activities • Development blocks: 4 periods of 12 to 14 days with 9 to 18 intensity sessions (level 5); standard workout is 5x4 minutes. • Stabilizing blocks: 4 periods of 3 to 5 weeks. Lots of volume, focus on strength, 2 to 4 "capacity workouts" (level 3-4). Development blocks (as performed in 2003): • June 14 days - 18 intensity sessions • Juli 14 days - 9 intensity sessions • August 12 days - 12 intensity sessions • September 12 days - 11 intensity sessions The June-block - "The Capacity Project" • Period: May 30 - June 12 • 18 effective intensity sessions, each 5x4 minutes with 3 min active recovery. Different activities. • Testing on treadmill before and after, lactate testing during the experiment • Focus on diet, hydration, sleep and restitution • Results: o Everyone improved maxO2; average 5% increase. o 10-15 heart beats down on same treadmill intensity. Important: • Precision: find their own intensity, hit their own intensity zones. (NOT: "Hang with the gang" or "win the workout," but: train at their own intensity). • Technical effect because we trained at race pace. • Improvement in practical workouts (time trials, tread mill testing, altitude training). • 90-95 % of HR max is not as hard as we think. You work close to "slightly stiff" and finish the workout in a fashion where you feel that you could have done more. • We can handle more than we think (even if you get tired during the intensity block). • Maintenance: To maintain the new capacity levels, two intensity workouts per week is sufficient. • The next season, we will do fewer workouts in each intensity block and add more variety in the ways we do them.
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