I guess Google Translate will render it readable for most here:
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I may have said this earlier in the thread (if so, apologies for the repetition) but I was a fairly good XC runner and CXer as a teenager. The XC county coach (Jurgen) was a refugee from the DDR. He basically only ever had us do 2 things; long slow runs (using the talk test) or hill repeats. He HATED us racing each other on training runs, and used to shout at us, sometimes in German, which as teenage boys we all found hilarious and elicited allsorts of immature Allo Allo type jokes (older UK posters will get the reference).
I transferred the same training to my CX and got to more or less national standard. I was pack fodder at that level, but I didn’t get embarassed.
It is incredibly striking how different my training is now.
More evil tempo! 
Thanks for that, good read. Slightly confused why he is talking about which bike he’ll be riding at the end, isn’t he the coach?
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Can you explain what you mean when you say your training is different now?
Why did you change?
Sure. When I was 15-20, apart from school, I had all the time in the world to train, and in the summer holidays, I was either riding my bike or running. Back then, only top pros had power meters and I didn’t get a heart rate monitor until I was 19, so everything was RPE. The focus was just lots of miles with a few hill repeats or the odd short/fast one.
I’m now almost 40 with a fairly demanding job and a family. I use TR because my most precious commodity is time. Every session (apart from once a week outdoor rides, where I go out and ‘just ride’ for 3-4 hours) is based around power, and most are interval -based. That’s the best way of maximising my c. 5hours in the week and 3-4 at weekends,
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Yet another really good podcast from @Mikael_Eriksson Looking forward to next Monday’s one with ISM.
I would also recommend EP259 with Sebastian Zeller. I’ve been working my way through his YouTube channel, “Triathlon Crew Cologne” and it only clicked during the second listen of the ST Podcast that it was Sebastian Zeller from TCC that I was listening to. The discussion at ca. 36min about the benefits of increasing your anaerobic capacity is very interesting 
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Just read an interesting piece of Norwegean vs German biathlon training. This comes from the German Institute of Sports. Both nations are leading in this sport. Therfore, a comparision is interesting:
Germany follows a threshold training model, Norway the polarised model. Zones look like this:
In the German model basic endurance goes up to 3mmol/L !! And there is plenty of “tempo/threshold” (23%). The German model requires more indiviualisation, otherwise athletes break down. Most athletes train and live in Olympic centers, therefore, this is given. Appears to be different in Norway.
Here are training intensity distributions for thre German Olympic athletes:
Interestingly, they compared the pure running times in Olympic competitions. No difference between Norway and Germany. They conclude, both models can lead to the same performance.
In another paper from the same institute published a few years later they say: both countries have changed their models slightly, incorporating what the others are doing. Germans do more low, low intensity and high high intensity now. However, the “common ground” appears to be block periodisation now. And Germans apply it different now, threshold model in the prep/pre season phase, sort of polarised in the competition phase. They don’t give details about what Norway has changed exactly.
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Is the full text accessible? I’d love to read the whole article. I’m firmly committed to the polarized model this winter 
there are a couple of (position) papers:
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Case Reports
Int J Sports Med
. 2019 Aug;40(8):519-527.
doi: 10.1055/a-0877-6981. Epub 2019 Jul 9.
Training Organization, Physiological Profile and Heart Rate Variability Changes in an Open-water World Champion
Robin Pla 1 2 3 , Anael Aubry 1 , Noémie Resseguier 4 , Magali Merino 2 , Jean-François Toussaint 3 5 , Philippe Hellard 2 3
Affiliations
- PMID: 31288291
- DOI: 10.1055/a-0877-6981
Abstract
This case study reports the training of an elite 25-km open-water swimmer and the daily heart rate variability (HRV) changes during the 19-week period leading to his world champion title. Training load was collected every day and resting HRV was recorded every morning. The swimmer’s characteristics were V̇O2max: 58.5 ml·min-1·kg-1, maximal heart rate: 178 beats per minute, and maximal ventilation: 170 L·min-1. Weekly training volume was 85±21 km, 39±8% was at [La]b<2 mmol · L-1 (Z1), 53±8% was at [La]b 2-4 mmol·L-1 (Z2), and 8±4% was at [La]b>4 mmol·L-1 (Z3). In the supine position, the increase in training volume and Z2 training were related to increases in rMSSD and HF. In the standing position, an increase in parasympathetic activity and decrease in sympathetic activity were observed when Z1 training increased. Seasonal changes indicated higher values in the LF/HF ratio during taper, whereas higher values in parasympathetic indices were observed in heavy workload periods. This study reports extreme load of an elite ultra-endurance swimmer. Improvements in parasympathetic indices with increasing Z2 volume indicate that this training zone was useful to improve cardiac autonomic activity, whereas Z1 training reduced sympathetic activity.
Russians (don’t have the fulltext though), pyramidal TDI:
The Annual Periodization of Training Volumes of International-Level Cross-Country Skiers and Biathletes
in International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance
Evgeny B. Myakinchenko, Andrey S. Kriuchkov, Nikita V. Adod
Purpose : To compare the training-volume (TrV) distribution of Russian international-level male biathletes, female biathletes, and cross-country skiers (XC) during an annual cycle.
Methods : Day-to-day TrVs were recorded and averaged for a 5-year period for male biathletes (n = 6), female biathletes (n = 8), and XC (n = 14) with VO2max values of 77.7 (3.8), 64.6 (1.9), and 79.4 (3.5) mL·min−1·kg−1, respectively.
Results : The volumes of low- and moderate-intensity endurance training and all types of nonspecific endurance and strength training gradually decreased toward the competition period. However, the volumes and proportions of high-intensity endurance training and specific exercises (roller skiing, skiing, and shooting during high-intensity endurance training) increased by the time of the competition period. The total volume of training, volumes of low- and moderate-intensity endurance training, moderate- and high-load strength training (70%–95% 1RM), and power/speed loads did not increase gradually but reached their maximum immediately after a short stage of initial training. All teams employed the “pyramid” model of intensity distribution. Compared with the biathletes, XC demonstrated a larger ( P < .01) annual volume of endurance training (~190 h), low-intensity endurance training (~183 h), and strength training (~818 sets). They also engaged in more upper-body and core-strength exercises (~769 sets), and they reached their maximum aerobic TrVs in June, while the biathletes reached theirs in July.
Conclusions : In recent decades, the traditional model of periodization has been altered. The Russian XC and biathletes had significant differences in TrVs.
Only an hour a day of aerobic exercise?
I don’t know much about open water swimming but this seems a pretty interesting sport. 25k worlds take about ~5hours for men. Found this slightly dated paper from 2004. Provides a nice peek into their training, a 7day training camp. Don’t know when in the year but this is almost exclusivels high aerobic. And they add some intensity on top of it:
Surprised by the comperatively low vo2max for the swimming world champ. Is low vo2max normal for swimmers? Maybe because breathing is restricted?
Yes, very surprised. This actually triggered my motivation to “research” open water swimming.
only one OWS data set with “kg” normalised vo2max. The other appears similar to other sports.
However:
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To all these reasons I would also add the fact that a higher fat % is an asset while swimming, bringing the mL/Kg/min down…
If by any chance athlete mass is provided we could check whether this holds true.
Tall dude, actually unusual for open water swimmers:
The low vo2max? The incremental test in the pool may have produced this results. Or perhaps he has a low vo2max? Many elites have high vo2max, however, there are also many with a lower. This is what makes vo2max such a bad predictor for performance. Perhaps all these factors combined explain the value?
After what you posted above, I think he might just tested low on vo2max, because of problems with the testing method.
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That is interesting. When was the data for the biathlon study collected, btw?
I have no horse in the training model match, and it would not be very sensible to attribute individual success to the model alone. However, even if the aggregate athlete ski times were leveled in the study, I think it is fair to point out that norwegians churn out top skiers in every discipline, constantly. And that Germany has not produced any biathletes whose skiing level is even close to Ole Einar Björndalen or, more recently, Johannes Tignes Bö.
I mean, in the 2002 Olympics OEB was among the last ones to cling onto Muhlegg in the infamous 30k freestyle in Xc (not biathlon!) and in biathlon JTB regularly just obliterates his competitors. Sometimes he does not have to even ski that hard, because of his quickness in the range, but in one-to-one ski matches I would bet for him almost every time.
Magda Neuner and Laura Dahlmeier were very good, but IMHO not necessarily the best skiers of their time. Kaisa Mäkäräinen and Darya Domracheva were better, I would say. Dunno how they trained, though.
That aside, I think the thread’s last 50 or so posts and a couple Scientific Triathlon episodes have touched on an interesting issue re elite training and the polarised model. As is well known, the model originated from ex-post descriptive studies of skiers mainly. And cross country skiing is a sport where sprinting ability and short very high power output has become ever more important starting, roughly, from the turn of the millennium thanks to the proliferation of mass start races and sprints. If you want to do well in the world cup, you need to have a sprint and a finishing kick, end of. There are of course niche skiers like 50k classic specialists, but that’s it in the world cup.
So given this characteristic of the sport, it is probably not surprising that xc skiers, at least in norway, tend to train more similar to sprinter cyclists than classics or especially GC riders. And even the skiers are not strictly polarised.
Anyhow, pardon for the slight off topic, and thanks to everyone for posting interesting material in the thread!.
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