Andreas Almgren: The Swedish Steed
Andreas Almgren is a 28-year-old Swedish distance runner. As a 16-year-old he ran personal bests of 22.8 for 200m and 48.3 for 400m. He would soon move on from the shorter distances and focus on the 800m, eventually running an impressive 1:45 800 as a 20-year-old in 2015. Despite breakthroughs in longer events, he has yet to improve upon that mark. It seems he has shifted his focus to still-longer distances as his career progressed, a pretty standard approach for distance runners.
Probably as a result of increased training volume and endurance, his 1500m time steadily improved from 3:53 in 2013 to 3:39 in 2022. While 3:39 is a quality time, especially in a country not known for top running as of late, it is not close to internationally competitive.
In 2022, Almgren broke through in the distance events, recording a 13:01 5000m. That remains the Swedish record, at least until Almgren gets into a 5000m this year.
The next year he stepped to the international level in the 1500m. In 2023, he ran a 3:32 1500m in Oslo, Norway, confirming that his improved endurance was also helping his mid-distance chops. It seems that Almgren is more focused on the 5000m and up going forward, but we would like to see him try a 1500m this year (he would likely break 3:30 in the right race, perhaps even 3:29).
Later in 2023 he ran the 5000m at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. He was out-leaned by fellow Scandinavian Narve Nordas by 0.02 for the last spot into the final. However, a week after that disappointing race, Almgren ran a 5000m in Zurich. He was on pace for approximately a 12:50 finishing time but fell on the final lap and did not finish the race. So he had apparently stepped up yet another level from his post-COVID era form.
The most shocking result thus far in his career occurred on February 11, 2024, at the Barcelona half marathon. Almgren ran 59:23 to just miss the European record and miss out on the victory by just one second. It is extremely unusual, if not utterly unprecedented, for a 22-second 200m sprinter to end up running a sub-60 HM. And Almgren did it in his debut half.
How did Almgren go from essentially a high school long-sprinter to a world-class half marathon runner in his late 20s, poised for a huge breakthrough in the 1500m, 5000m, and 10000m on the track in an Olympic year? The short answer is DOUBLE-THRESHOLD (AKA the Norwegian Approach) 🙂
“Hi Andreas Almgren how can do running under pace 3?? Can you give for tips😋” - Strava questions
Cycling Phase: 9 weeks
Coming off of a presumed injury, he trained along the lines of a pro cyclist for 9 weeks. This is one of the more unique approaches we have seen leading to such a high-level running performance.
Week Mileage: 264, 360, 462, 393, 384, 322, 200, 301, 245
Hours per week: 15, 19, 25, 20, 21, 18, 13, 21, 19
Average per week: 325 miles - 19 hours
Workouts: Often 4 sessions per week (M/T, F/S)
Sample week of training:
M. 78 miles - 4 hours w/workout: 8 x (2 x 2:30/30) @280/300 watts with 5min easy after set
T. 67 miles - 3.5 hours w/workout: 2 x (6 x 3/1) @310/190 watts with 5 min easy after set
W. 88 miles - 5 hours
Th. Off
F. 65 miles - 3.75 hours w/workout: 2 x 7/3 @280 watts, 3 x 5/2 @300 watts, 5 x 3/2 @310 watts
S. 62 miles - 3.5 hours w/workout: 5 x 7.5/3 @295/180 watts
Su. 81 miles - 4.25 hours
Total: 462 miles, 25h10m
*Week 3 of biking. His power got better
Bike Races:
37 minutes at 352 watts
This is the best effort, and quite impressive for a runner in cross-training mode. We could not confirm his weight, but according to Tilastopaja, he is 66 kilograms. That means this effort was 5.33 watts per kilogram for 37 minutes.
85 min steady from 2500-7700 ft: 292 avg watts & Lactate = 4.0 mmol upon finish
This is more of a long-sub-T (Tempo/Zone 3 effort rather than a race and it’s very good wattage for Z3.)
Running Phase: 14 weeks
115 miles per week avg....91 mile taper weeks
Two Races:
Valencia 10k: 27:20 for 6th place (4:24 mile pace, 2:44 kilometer pace).
Barcelona Half Marathon: 59:23 for 2nd place (4:32 mile pace, 2:49 kilometer pace).
Kibiwott Kandie, 57:32 Half Marathon PR, beat him by 1 second. That’s like splitting 22:30 for 8k and 45:20 for 10 miles and continuing on. His first two miles of this race were 4:44 and 4:38 before throwing down 4:20-35 miles for the rest.
Week of Training
M. Double T: 22 miles total
AM. 6 x 6 min w/1 min rest
PM. 10 x 3 min w/1 min rest
T. 16 miles (AM. 10, PM. 6.2)
W. Double T: 23 miles total
AM. 6 x 6 min w/1 min rest
PM. 25 x 400 in 65 w/45 sec rest
Th. 10 miles (AM. 6.2, PM. 3.7)
F. Threshold or Combo Session: 22.5 Miles total
AM. 3 x 6k in 18:57, 18:29, 18:00 w/1 min standing rest
PM. Easy 6.2 miles
S. Long Run 15.5 miles
Su. 16 miles (AM. 10, PM. 6.2)
Week Totals: 126 miles - 12h 58m
*Americanized this - really he uses kilometers and goes 25k, 16k, 10k, 6k, etc
Almgren trekked to an altitude Spanish training center in the Sierra Nevada’s for two-one month blocks during this buildup. He would train at 7,600ft, 5,400 ft, and 2,400ft during these blocks.* Contrary to the common American altitude approach ‘live high, train easy high, train quality low’ i.e. Flagstaffers that live at 6,800ft and do sessions in Camp Verde (3,100ft), Almgren ‘lived high, trained quality high, and did easy lower’. This easily could’ve been because of the facilities available, but from our analysis, we found it interesting that he often traveled to lower elevation for easy/long runs and not for threshold or track work. Almgren did basically every workout on the treadmill at 7,600 ft. He would often commute to 5,400ft for his staple 6-10 mile easy runs and 2,400 ft for his 15.5 mile standard long run.
*5,400ft=1,650m, 2,400ft=730m, 7,600ft=2,315m
From what we can tell, once he is fit, three and six minute treadmill reps are run at 3-minute kilometer pace (4:49 mile pace). These reps are run strictly without progression even if he feels good. He progresses the volumes of LT reps: ex. 8 x 3 min to 10 x 3 min throughout the season.
Easy Paces: Typically 6:20–40/mile (3:55-4:10/km). His long run paces are typically 6:00-6:10 (3:45-50/km). For an extremely aerobically developed/trained 28 year old that can run 4:32 pace for his Lactate Threshold/1 hour race, this seems pretty controlled. Not to mention his talent level. We are unsure what he does for speed, power, lifting, supplemental training
Discussion
There is a popular idea in the endurance world out there regarding progressing or cutting down the pace on LT Intervals. On paper, this is smart. It stays within the in-the-box theory of negative split workouts which is a good starter pack for runners. But is it the optimal way to run LT intervals?
Willie: As any economist would answer, it depends. I like progressive LT intervals if the first couple are run way below LT and the last few are run slightly below or right around it. I think the problem is so many athletes start these at around LT before leaving the toaster on for too long. It’s low-hanging fruit because one can feel great after working into LT intervals, especially with a legion of comrades pulling them physically and mentally through each rep.
Jamie: There is zero purpose to cutting down threshold reps. Doing so will only cause more fatigue in the long run, as Willie elaborates on below. Unless the reps are far faster than threshold and done at the proper time within a training block, there is nothing to gain by going faster.
Doing progressive “threshold” reps is a sign of an insecure athlete (and maybe an insecure coach, too). If you want to run a threshold workout, run a threshold workout. Don’t exceed the pace and don’t prescribe a workout that intentionally goes over the athlete’s threshold.
Fatigue is 4-5 times greater for exercise 10% above LT than for exercise 10% below it. Rolling above LT often, especially in a scheme that emphasizes 5 threshold sessions some weeks, compromises the metabolic development, economic efficiency, power/speed training on other days, the thematic structure of the training, and grinds muscle fibers through a woodchipper. Staying below or around LT allows athletes to do an insane amount of LT work while not just balancing, but stimulating the rest of the training as demonstrated by Almgren…then boom….turning Swedes into steeds.
*We use LT (Lactate Threshold) interchangeably with AnT (Anaerobic Threshold) and define this as a lactate tested point where levels remain relatively constant - typically 2.5-3.5mmol for highly trained athletes like Almgren .
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We heavily believe in lactate testing. We’d even recommend testing lactate when you go grocery shopping, watch Basketball Diaries, or talk to your boss (don’t do this). Lactate is currently queen/king. In a decade, all athletes will have access to live lactate testing. Kids will be running to lactate numbers. Hobby jogging marathon pace groups will be run to lactate, not paces. The Thibaut Pinot French Athletic Fantasizers will go from a lackluster career to nonexistent…*
*What Willie means by this is that the anti-scientific training regimes out there will be wiped off the Earth by superior methods. His pseudo-anti-French bigotry tends to come out when he talks about this (and many other topics).
That being said, Almgren seems to train by heart rate. He targets 130bpm for his long runs at slightly under 4:00/km pace. Most of his easy runs are a bit slower (around 4:10/km pace) and a heart rate around 125bpm or lower. On his 3:00/km pace “threshold” reps, his heart rate is around 150-160bpm for most. We have no idea what his max heart rate is, so any theory about what percentage of his max he runs at would be speculative. That being said, his heart rate seems low, and 3:00/km pace is much slower than an American 59:xx half-marathon guy would do threshold runs, let alone for reps as short as 1k.
Will Double T take over cycling? Almgren did a few of these days in his cycling phase:
AM. 6 x (90/3:30) @325/305 watts w/4 min at 190 watts recovery
PM. 5 x 7/3 @295/190 watts
We are excited to see how Algmren progresses. His next race is The Ten, a 10k track race in California on March 16, in which he will attempt to run under the Olympic Standard of 27:00. We are pretty confident he will do so.
