Block Training

This is always the million dollar question. Block training in skiing is nothing new, in fact it became very popular in the mid 2000s because of Norwegian skier Marit Bjorgen. 

Marit's block training regimen was not nearly as dramatic as Nils however what made her training program special was her intensity blocks. Marit would schedule 7-11 day high intensity blocks where she would do L4 intervals (typically 5x4 min) every day, sometimes twice per day. 

These training blocks were preceded and followed by easy L1 training weeks. Marit's yearly totals remained on par with typical endurance training, still logging 88 percent of her total training in L1, the rest however was L4. 

Here is a link to an overview of Marit's training from parter.science.no

It's important to note that Marit utilized this block training model during 2005,2006 with great results. She also had amazing results and personal bests on other years when she reverted back to more traditional style periodization which focused more on mixing volume and L3 training. 

Because of its popularity the US Ski Team and I also used intensity block training in the mid 2000's. US national team skiers including Kris Freeman, Andrew Johnson, and myself would performed 8-10 day L4 intensity blocks starting in July through October exclusively using 4-5 min L4 interval sets. Across the board results were solid, from what I remember Kris Freeman had some of his best races. I remember having positive results in both sprinting and distance skiing on the World Cup. 

If you read through Nil's study and the article outlining Marit's intensity blocks you will see that this training method was success full for them, but they also succeeded using traction periodization. The general consensus is yes, forms of block training can be very effective but probably not for developing athletes and probably not effective when done year after year. 

By their nature, block training plans can be successful simply because they are different from what the athlete has done previously. Meaning, it created a new stress that the body had to adapt to and therefore increased fitness. In the case of Marit Bjorgen and the USST in the mid 2000's we trained an incredible amount of L4 without much L3 logged. This can work for one or two years, but is not sustainable in the long run. 

For many of us simply increasing total training volume and total interval volume from year to year is enough to elicit a positive training response. However if you are an athlete that has seen a plateau in results and fitness it could mean a year of block training could be right for you. Furthermore, as athletes get older they sometimes need to create a new training stimulus. Master skiers who are generally held to one training session per day year after year, and do not see a lot of variation in volume, intensity blocks could be beneficial. This is the theory behind our planning at NTS when we recently recommend back to back intensity weeks that implement more L4. 

Questions about block training? Feel free to reach out through or website contact form!