# The Mastermind Behind The Norwegian Method - Arild Tveiten

An episode of [The Triathlon Hour](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1595443343), 18 Sep 2025, 1 h 10 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2640942/episodes/19698025-the-mastermind-behind-the-norwegian-method-arild-tveiten.mp3

Following the Ironman World Champs podium clean sweep by The Norwegian’s (Casper Stornes, Gustav Iden & Kristian Blummenfelt) we talk to Arild Tveiten, the man who started it all, built it all and without whom non of it would have happened. However there have been several tough times in the process, including Kristian & Gustav choosing to leave Arild’s program, money getting in the way of what they’d built together, Olav Aleksander Bu’s role in the program, Casper and Kristian/Gustav not training together for a couple of years before ultimately coming back together in 2025 and the group once again finding their way to the top of the world. This podcast is the first in a long time that we’ve done which isn’t just an interview; rather, it tells a story. And that story is a long, interesting, successful and at times difficult one. Lever: Use the code TTH for 20% off your Lever system Lever Precision: Use the code TTH25 to get 15% off your first order with Precision at Precision Fuel & Hydration or subscribe to the Patreon and access the link that will save you 20% on every order, not just your first Patreon Patreon: We put a lot of time & energy into bringing you this podcast every week and have done for 4 years now. If you appreciate what we do, we would love your support and you can do so for less than the cost of a coffee per week on Patreon - Patreon link

## Transcript

[0:26] SPEAKER_00: Okay, so after a lot of both private and public pressure, finally we've got potentially the real mastermind behind the Norwegian method here on the Triton hour, Harold Tweiten, a name that I've had so much trouble pronouncing over the years.
[0:43] SPEAKER_00: But I'm lucky enough to be sitting across a coffee table with him right now, doing this podcast in person, following Kaspar Steyner's win at the Iron Man World Championships and obviously the podium clean sweep with Christian in third and Gustav in second.
[0:57] SPEAKER_00: And so I I just decided now's the time to finally talk to the to the guy behind it all and and who probably doesn't get a lot of credit.
[1:04] SPEAKER_00: So Arold, welcome to the Trithon hour.
[1:06] SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jack.
[1:07] SPEAKER_01: That was a nice welcome.
[1:08] SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, it was really uh happy and a pleasure to be uh on this podcast video.
[1:14] SPEAKER_01: I was very happy that we can actually met meet in person and be here.
[1:18] SPEAKER_01: And uh yeah, I'm looking forward to to this talk.
[1:22] SPEAKER_00: So Arold, there's multiple ways I thought about starting this.
[1:26] SPEAKER_00: Like there's there's a lot of drama behind the scenes with what's happened in in the Norwegian method.
[1:31] SPEAKER_00: There's also a lot of success and and a lot of history.
[1:35] SPEAKER_00: I think what we should do is start right here in what's happened this week, and then we'll work our way backwards.
[1:41] SPEAKER_00: So, firstly, what did you make of the race on the weekend?
[1:45] SPEAKER_00: Kasper's always been in the background, it's always been Christian and Gustav, oh, and Casper.
[1:50] SPEAKER_00: Um, but with both of the big podium sweeps, Casper's been the one on top.
[1:54] SPEAKER_00: Uh so just talk to me about what you saw on the weekend.
[1:57] SPEAKER_01: Well, uh, first of all, uh it was like really great racing for all of them.
[2:01] SPEAKER_01: Um I do think people who is watching them in the interview before and after the race that they are like three good guys, really good close friends, and really work hard together.
[2:15] SPEAKER_01: And and for me, uh, who know a little bit about the preparation they have done, and it was like really, really pressure to to see them racing.
[2:25] SPEAKER_01: Um, I was not surprised that Casper won.
[2:28] SPEAKER_01: I I know that he has it in him, and uh but he's sometimes struggled to be at the best when he should be at his best.
[2:36] SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I do think that everyone else expects um Christian to be the one to maybe take the win, and he likely thought it too uh after how the race unfolded.
[2:48] SPEAKER_01: But all in all, it was like a very special day.
[2:52] SPEAKER_01: I for sure followed the whole race, every second of it, and uh saw how the race unfolded, and uh I just saw how they work together and and and they know each other so well.
[3:05] SPEAKER_01: So it's very hard to say, but it's very emotional to watch.
[3:09] SPEAKER_01: I'm just so happy for them.
[3:12] SPEAKER_01: I'm happy for all of them.
[3:14] SPEAKER_01: I know that Christian was a little bit disappointed, but uh, as I said to him, yeah, I know that you've been the one who is making the training program the last year, and uh to just do that with your friends to all try to be the best and you try to beat each other.
[3:31] SPEAKER_01: I think that's uh that's show how mature he is as an athlete now uh and as a person.
[3:38] SPEAKER_01: Uh when I see um Gustav back at the podium and where he belongs, it's just so great to see he's smiling, he's happy, he's having a good time.
[3:49] SPEAKER_01: I uh yeah, he's uh I said to you, he's really hard and emotional to talk about.
[3:54] SPEAKER_01: And uh Kasper is uh guy I had a kind of a not to disrespect them because I I mean started working with Christian with the first atlas I worked with, uh, and I've been with them many, many years since they were 14-15.
[4:10] SPEAKER_01: But I always feel a little bit for extra for Casper because he's the guy who's been in the background, always doing the work, never complaining, always there, but very often have disappointing race, he's not able to perform at the level he we have seen it.
[4:31] SPEAKER_01: Um I saw it for sure the first time in Bermuda.
[4:34] SPEAKER_01: We likely come back to that, but uh and everyone's thinking, oh, how can that guy suddenly come from nothing?
[4:40] SPEAKER_01: And we who follow him closely knew that not from nothing, he's been working so hard in many years.
[4:48] SPEAKER_01: And and anyway, uh leading to Nice, I I I wasn't sure that he was able to win the race, but I saw he was up there.
[4:57] SPEAKER_01: And no, his running at his best is just really, really good.
[5:01] SPEAKER_01: And I was really uh proud of him.
[5:05] SPEAKER_01: That the best time ever I seen him race his race.
[5:10] SPEAKER_01: He didn't get stressed about the others, uh, which is some of the if I allow to say his weakness that he raced on other premises, and no, he he stick to his pace, he knew what he can do.
[5:23] SPEAKER_01: It took long time, he was slow in T2, it took some time to get up there, get dropped again, just constantly run his pace.
[5:30] SPEAKER_01: And if you look at his trava file on the pacing of that marathon, I I do think this is the of course, I would say the best marathon ever done in an Iron Man, and for sure the best pacing ever done.
[5:43] SPEAKER_01: And I I'm just so happy for him and so proud of what he and they have done.
[5:48] SPEAKER_01: That uh yeah, so it was a really, really great day, and um I'm just so happy for them.
[5:55] SPEAKER_00: You said a few very interesting things there.
[5:58] SPEAKER_00: Probably the bit I want to go back to and touch on is that Christian was disappointed after the race.
[6:04] SPEAKER_00: And what I saw after the race was that Kasper was ecstatic.
[6:10] SPEAKER_00: Gustav seemed relieved and happy and was celebrating Caspar.
[6:14] SPEAKER_00: Christian seemed happy too.
[6:17] SPEAKER_00: He he really did seem like he was a proud friend and and happy for Casper and Gustav, but I think he was the one who also he looked a little uh frustrated or disappointed or angry in in a in a small way after the finish line.
[6:34] SPEAKER_00: Can you talk about the difference in the boys and what you think will be happening in Christian's mind now?
[6:42] SPEAKER_00: Will he be a hundred percent happy?
[6:45] SPEAKER_00: Will a small or big part of him be angry at himself, disappointed in the result?
[6:50] SPEAKER_00: Will he already be like thinking about next year at Kona?
[6:53] SPEAKER_00: Or or is that just you know a small thing that happened after the line and and he's kind of past it now?
[6:58] SPEAKER_01: Oh wow, uh yeah, I I I do think right now he's just thinking about the word centipole three.
[7:04] SPEAKER_01: What he said to me is that he was kind of disappointed that he had his worst run this year on this big day.
[7:12] SPEAKER_01: So but he's like very disappointed about himself, not about that and he was very happy that the other executed better than him.
[7:22] SPEAKER_01: But but of course I know that he will never finish his career before he has won in Rokona, and it it is just uh burn to his flame flame that he really really wanted, and he's maybe one of the guys I know that the internal motivation he gets from things like that and the driving force for him to every day try to be better and better.
[7:50] SPEAKER_01: I just think it's I've never seen it in any athlete.
[7:54] SPEAKER_01: And I should be careful with what I say, but I cannot see anyone can beat him in uh Mabeya Central 3.
[8:00] SPEAKER_01: And uh it will not be easier for anyone else to try to win in corner next year, uh for sure.
[8:06] SPEAKER_01: He he has the bit motivation he needs to keep going, as uh he also said, and we all know that he knows that the way they work together is something that it really works.
[8:21] SPEAKER_01: And for him, after that disappointment last season, that he know that the way they do it now, whether they're working together as friends, training together every day, creating the training program together, helping each other is that the the success formula that I just need to stick to in in the future.
[8:43] SPEAKER_01: But he he wants to try harder to be better than the others.
[8:47] SPEAKER_01: But I also know they will do the same, so so it will be a kind of a hard driving force within the Norwegian guys toward the next season races.
[8:56] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I will happen to see what's happening.
[8:58] SPEAKER_00: And you did say that you you knew that Christian was the person who was setting the majority of the training and was in charge of the training program.
[9:08] SPEAKER_00: So I'm not sure.
[9:09] SPEAKER_00: Uh the first part of the question is do you know exactly how much input Gustav and Kasper have on the training program?
[9:17] SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you can break it down into like percentages or or what way you might think of it, but I'd also heard that Christian was the one who was in charge.
[9:25] SPEAKER_00: He was running the training, he was the big dog, and the other boys were kind of following a bit with some occasional input from them, particularly maybe from Gustav.
[9:33] SPEAKER_00: And they came first, second, and third at the Iron Man World Championships after maybe somewhat of a disappointing 2024 when they were still being coached by Olav Alexander Boo.
[9:44] SPEAKER_00: And you've obviously been the person who's coached them for the longest as a as a trio.
[9:49] SPEAKER_00: What do you think would have been the thing that changed in their training with Christian running the program versus what it was with Olav?
[9:57] SPEAKER_00: What do you know with were the changes and what they've prioritized this year?
[10:01] SPEAKER_01: I for sure don't know in detail.
[10:04] SPEAKER_01: Um we haven't actually talked about that at that level.
[10:08] SPEAKER_01: Um but what I know, of course, with every athlete, you you take some aspect video from all the courses you have, but I also know that they are going much more back to the root, to the basic, uh the thing which I know that works well before.
[10:27] SPEAKER_01: And I I know that I was uh the one in charge of that uh the first year, but they are owning their own program.
[10:34] SPEAKER_01: So exactly how much influence, how much that took for what I did from Olav Alexander, that I don't know.
[10:41] SPEAKER_01: I I can't answer.
[10:43] SPEAKER_01: I don't know either who decide most.
[10:46] SPEAKER_01: I I I know that Christian is making the overall program.
[10:49] SPEAKER_01: I know that um they are training together every day, but they have a kind of a formal meeting once a month where I discuss the the next period.
[10:58] SPEAKER_01: But of course, if you are three people training together two or three sessions a day, of course, you talk about the next step all the time.
[11:07] SPEAKER_01: And I do think they've been able to create um unique friendship that they are very honest to each other, they're where they like Kasper and Gustav can tell to Christian what where they are now, what they think they need to do, and then they actually discuss it as as I know them.
[11:26] SPEAKER_01: Um and and I I must say that um the friendship they have and been working so much together for so many years.
[11:35] SPEAKER_01: Remember that they were brought in and was a part of the team which I was started to to work with in 2012.
[11:44] SPEAKER_01: So we're talking about many, many years of training together, many years of friendship, thousands of thousands of hours training together in good days, bad days, and they also know that which we are seen so many times that very often not everyone have the good days at the same days and the bad days at the same days, but uh over the years they have learned that make the best out of it.
[12:09] SPEAKER_01: And um I know that in the beginning of the years, they always seen themselves as equal.
[12:16] SPEAKER_01: So when one athlete had one of the boys had a really good day and the other had a shit day, the other were like really, really pissed back in the days and I was like 16, 17, 80s, and it was like, what I'm doing wrong, everything is wrong.
[12:29] SPEAKER_01: And then the next day it maybe changed the other way.
[12:32] SPEAKER_01: And but but one of the main things I tried to teach them when when I was uh in charge of them was like everyone having a good day, everyone on having bad days.
[12:43] SPEAKER_01: It's about trust yourself, trust the program, trust the tensor you agree that you do.
[12:49] SPEAKER_01: And then it comes a time time where we're not doing intervals and one having an off day.
[12:54] SPEAKER_01: It doesn't care that uh one of those running much faster than him.
[12:59] SPEAKER_01: Okay, this is a threshold session, I can be below 2.6 in like that and just stick to it.
[13:05] SPEAKER_01: Yes, uh you do see that you maybe run five, ten seconds slower per K.
[13:10] SPEAKER_01: But you accept it that you need to do that, and you still have a training benefit of that session, and and that uniqueness to to uh accept that and tolerate that and also embrace that and help each other to have more and more better days together so they can get have even better training.
[13:26] SPEAKER_01: I think that that is some of the the uniqueness with them.
[13:30] SPEAKER_01: So it's not directly answering your question, but I do think the communication, how they work and how they discuss will be around that.
[13:37] SPEAKER_01: And uh they are, of course, uh they have girlfriends, uh husbands, but but except that the thing they have is throttle.
[13:47] SPEAKER_01: Their interest is in life is thrital.
[13:50] SPEAKER_01: Their interest when they're on training is to learn more about how can I become a better thrat.
[13:56] SPEAKER_01: So they are nerds, they are spending time to listen to other athletes' podcasts, they're reading, they see what other athletes do.
[14:06] SPEAKER_01: That's that's a whole life for them.
[14:09] SPEAKER_01: And uh it's yeah, even I'm now from roadside, it's like really cool to watch how that I put it all together, and they found each other.
[14:19] SPEAKER_01: Uh, as you know, they didn't train together together much the last years.
[14:24] SPEAKER_01: Kasper were more with the national team, and Gustav and Christian was of course together, but Gustav was mostly injured, it didn't have a different part.
[14:32] SPEAKER_01: So I do all of them feel I have more or less trained alone the last years, and then uh finally found together the end of uh October, uh end of uh 2024, and that has been a like a really, really good match for all of them.
[14:47] SPEAKER_00: And that's a perfect segue into going back a little bit in time and and kind of trying to piece together the journey of the three Norwegian boys.
[14:58] SPEAKER_00: So we've had this year, 2025, where Kasper came back to the group, Olav Alexander Boo stopped being coach of Christian and Gustav, and the three boys came back together.
[15:10] SPEAKER_00: So for the first time, I think in their careers, none of them have had a coach.
[15:15] SPEAKER_00: They obviously had yourself, Arald, for the longest period of time.
[15:18] SPEAKER_00: You were coaching all three of them.
[15:20] SPEAKER_00: Then Christian and Gustav became coached by Olav Alexander Boo, and Casper became coached by Mikhail Eden, and then they've come back together and and and then they've been doing the program that we just talked about.
[15:33] SPEAKER_00: Can we start in 2024?
[15:35] SPEAKER_00: And then we're gonna go back even further.
[15:38] SPEAKER_00: But in 2024, we had a kind of breakup in a way of Kasper and Gustav and Christian, and it became uh the Norwegians became Gustav, Christian, and Olav Alexander Bu.
[15:50] SPEAKER_00: And then there was the Norwegian Federation side of things with Mikkel Eden as the head coach, you as the director, and Caspar was being um coached by Mikkel and training um within the Norwegian Federation system.
[16:02] SPEAKER_00: Can you talk to me about that whole story, everything that happened in detail, and and particularly from your point of view, not just from what we've seen outside looking in, because as your wife reminds me all the time, you're the forgotten person in all of this, but actually one of the key put people in all of this.
[16:19] SPEAKER_01: Yes, uh it's a kind of a long story, and um, I do think we need to respect that every person who's been involved look at it a little bit differently.
[16:30] SPEAKER_01: Uh, and I do think we we need to go further back, we need to actually go back to the after Olympics, the Olympics in Tokyo, where the splits more or less happen.
[16:40] SPEAKER_01: In one way, you can say that it's kind of a part of a natural process.
[16:45] SPEAKER_01: I've been coaching them for more than 10 uh more than 10 years then.
[16:51] SPEAKER_01: Uh they want something else.
[16:54] SPEAKER_01: Uh Olaf Alexander was there, especially Christian.
[16:59] SPEAKER_01: He wanted to go long distance and just focus on that and stay a little bit outside the Federation, want to do his own thing.
[17:06] SPEAKER_01: We had the Sub-7 project at that time.
[17:09] SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot of things that make it natural that I let it go.
[17:14] SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then in the same path, um Casper wanted to also have some new experience, so he wanted to follow the new Olympic pathway with the Federation within uh Mikhail Eden as a head coach, which was very undramatic.
[17:30] SPEAKER_01: Uh I've been working with Mikhail many years and brought him in when he was an athlete over to be a coaching and then spent a lot of time to develop him as a coach, so that was just very uh honest, easy thing to do because I was still like stepping a little bit back from coaching at that time.
[17:50] SPEAKER_01: Uh and Gustav at the in the beginning he was with his brother Michal, uh, but then he found out it was likely better to get closer to Christian and uh Olav Alexander Bu.
[18:02] SPEAKER_01: So so so that was the setup was kind of kind of natural, but it was also like we tried to when I talk about we talk about the Federation, uh I do think it's important to understand that I have a which at that time become a really really difficult role because I was the head coach and been coaching all of them until that point.
[18:24] SPEAKER_01: Uh and I was also the sport director, and I was have some kind of as a sport director, and my role was also toward the financial position, try to make uh more out of the position that we have an Olympic champion, and some of the negotiation there with new contracts to still be on the national team was something I felt really comfortable with.
[18:52] SPEAKER_01: And I know that um especially Christian and Gustav with and that left that that didn't it was not a good process.
[19:00] SPEAKER_01: I uh wish we could done it differently, and I found it really, really difficult.
[19:05] SPEAKER_01: And at that time I felt that my days is over.
[19:08] SPEAKER_01: I I I don't I don't want to do this anymore.
[19:11] SPEAKER_01: Because I feel I they they wanted to go a different path, which I for sure I do think was the right thing for them to do.
[19:19] SPEAKER_01: Uh but it was still difficult because they've been so close to the team, and the whole dynamic of the team was built around them.
[19:28] SPEAKER_01: And of course, we have other athletes on the team.
[19:31] SPEAKER_01: I I will not forget them, is a lot of really good athletes that we had on the team at that time.
[19:35] SPEAKER_01: But I would say that Christian was uh had a really big impact in Portugal for the team really hard for me when we tried to negotiate a contract, but that was not in terms that I as an athlete would accept myself.
[19:51] SPEAKER_01: I was as I said in Alter, I was in a really, really shitty position uh and I didn't like it at all.
[19:59] SPEAKER_01: But but but anyway, uh it was very natural that I should go their own way, uh, and we really tried to get them back.
[20:07] SPEAKER_01: We tried to find a way to get Olav Alexander in in on the team uh further.
[20:14] SPEAKER_01: And I um I I do think it's a part of the story that uh when we get in Olaf Alexander is what I got, it was because of the choice that I made that I wanted him.
[20:26] SPEAKER_01: Uh he had uh some qualities that strengthened the team at that time and and we were willing to have him uh further.
[20:37] SPEAKER_01: Uh but it at that time, that was actually in 2022, it's gonna become too difficult to find a solution.
[20:44] SPEAKER_01: Uh what he wanted to do with the team and the national team working on the Norwegian Federation was not something that the Norwegian Federation could accept.
[20:54] SPEAKER_01: Uh and it was not money enough to pay uh what he wanted, uh, and we could not give him the freedom he wanted.
[21:03] SPEAKER_01: So I I uh that was also a kind of a hard, uh hard discussion, but uh it it all ended up that after the 22, we all agreed on the device that we're enable folks on the long distance.
[21:15] SPEAKER_01: Uh they uh could go back to the national team working toward the Paris Olympics, but uh it didn't end well, and I uh said it again, uh I it was a really difficult situation for me.
[21:28] SPEAKER_01: I wish we could handle it differently.
[21:30] SPEAKER_01: I know that having able to have the team together, we would for sure have produced a better result in uh the Paris Olympics.
[21:39] SPEAKER_01: So Sunday's actually ended up that um I was working for the Federation and I was in charge of the Olympic programme with the athletes we have then.
[21:49] SPEAKER_01: Uh Casper was a part of that.
[21:50] SPEAKER_01: Uh we also have other athletes for sure.
[21:53] SPEAKER_01: Uh and some of the main role there was to try to create and qualify a mixed relay team.
[22:00] SPEAKER_01: Which we actually did.
[22:02] SPEAKER_01: Really proud of the work that we had.
[22:05] SPEAKER_01: In the end, it was like Betler Torn, Christian Brunfeld on the on the main male on the team, and it was Surel Löfset and Lotte Miller on the female.
[22:15] SPEAKER_01: I want to say one thing that there's a part of that story that very few people know.
[22:21] SPEAKER_01: We then had a split.
[22:22] SPEAKER_01: Christian and Gustav tried to qualify without the going outside the Federation.
[22:29] SPEAKER_01: We tried to qualify a mixed relay team.
[22:34] SPEAKER_01: At that time, Christian's willingness, which are totally unsent to race in mixed relay, was that he we really didn't want to do it because he also tried to balance winning Iron Man and uh Olympics at the same period, so he found it very difficult to do some of the of the relays.
[22:54] SPEAKER_01: So we actually used Casper for all the qualification races for the relay.
[23:00] SPEAKER_01: Casper knew because of injury he had, and also like Gustavo injury, that the chance for us to have three male athletes in in the Olympics was close to zero.
[23:11] SPEAKER_01: And he knew that again Olympic champion Christian Brumann will have one star and he saw that Vettel likely had a second.
[23:20] SPEAKER_01: But he travelled around the world in one year just doing uh not just but doing mixed relay, which he uh did a really good job and uh to qualify that mixed relay team, which ended up that we were having one more female athlete qualified to the Olympics than we normally would have.
[23:41] SPEAKER_01: That is uh I I I cannot say how much that show about the person Casper is the willingness to do that and the way he handled it uh at that time because he was really frustrated by himself and his racing, his fitness, his injuries, and uh but he was able to do these races, and uh some of the traveling he needed to do and the team needed to do to qualify was just insane.
[24:10] SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a long story, and we'll but the thing one of the races I needed to do that I traveled to Japan, they did the Yokohama race, need to go directly to Mexico to do the the last qualification race because the qualification race we planned to do in Abu Dhabi that was cancelled.
[24:26] SPEAKER_01: That was actually the race where Christian should race for the mixed reality, but then the race was cancelled, so he couldn't race.
[24:32] SPEAKER_01: So it's not that he didn't want to race, but it didn't fit into his schedule so well.
[24:37] SPEAKER_01: But again, um it was still very tense.
[24:41] SPEAKER_01: So when the two groups, if you can say so, met at training camps.
[24:45] SPEAKER_01: Uh it was it was not very unfriendly or not, but we very rare trained together, and I I feel it very uncomfortable in that situation.
[24:59] SPEAKER_01: And um here in Fontaineur, we saw them trading day in, day out.
[25:04] SPEAKER_01: We did the same, we were uh could be at the pool at the same time, but of course we talked and say hi, but it was very strange, very different feeling.
[25:13] SPEAKER_01: And uh I do many years, many things I would say that this year was the hardest thing for me as a coach and a sports director.
[25:22] SPEAKER_01: It's very difficult to say that uh we could have done it much better.
[25:27] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know we could have done it differently, but I also know that uh Christian, Gustavo Laura San and the team could also have done things differently.
[25:36] SPEAKER_01: And I do think that I know that Christian was not very happy with how he developed the last 2024 season toward the Olympics and also in Corner.
[25:51] SPEAKER_01: So I also knew that was kind of a frustration within the team too, for many reasons.
[25:57] SPEAKER_01: Uh so so all in all, I I would say that uh it was a hard period, and uh no one actually, of course, you should never forget that they won the Hawaii in 2022 and Christian won his Iron Man uh words, and uh and it was a lot of good results, but it was also some yes for Gustav, especially with long-term injury.
[26:22] SPEAKER_01: Christian, he actually didn't perform as he wanted to.
[26:25] SPEAKER_01: So I do think they were like really disappointed of this, and uh and I know that they're very happy that they are now to get together.
[26:34] SPEAKER_01: And um for me, I said in the beginning that the way they work together is that that's like true friendship, and they really care for each other and want the best of each other, and they are able to get the best out of each other, and I do accept now that it's not always the one the same person who wins, it can change, and they all try to do the best for each other.
[26:55] SPEAKER_01: So I'm like really happy as it is now.
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[28:23] SPEAKER_00: Get consistent in your running.
[28:25] SPEAKER_00: It's the main thing that will get you running faster.
[28:29] SPEAKER_00: That's a great story about Casper and his selflessness.
[28:33] SPEAKER_00: And I guess it's made better by him finally getting the big reward of winning on the world stage and and joining the other two as as winning an Iron Man World Championships and maybe finally getting some credit for like 15, 10, 15 years of hard work and and some sacrifice.
[28:51] SPEAKER_00: So thanks for sharing that story.
[28:53] SPEAKER_00: Um again, you said so many things that we want to ask questions about inside of that.
[28:59] SPEAKER_00: 2022 was the last year you were involved, right?
[29:03] SPEAKER_00: So you were maybe not as involved as what you had been prior to that, but you were you were still involved involved a little bit.
[29:09] SPEAKER_00: 2023 and 2024, you weren't involved at all.
[29:13] SPEAKER_00: 2025, still not involved, but I feel like I'm reading between the lines, you've started to rebuild your relationship with the boys, and I'm not sure, maybe you can touch on that and and talk to that.
[29:24] SPEAKER_00: You brought Olav Alexander Boo on the team when you were the head coach.
[29:28] SPEAKER_00: So you brought Olav Alexander Boo on the team to help with progressing the scientific nature of the Norwegian method and your training system, and he was second in charge to you when it when it kind of started.
[29:43] SPEAKER_00: What happened that made you kind of step further and further away into the shadows until the point where you were no longer the head coach and Olav assumed the role of head coach?
[29:55] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[29:56] SPEAKER_01: Um, yes, okay.
[29:57] SPEAKER_01: Uh again, we go a little bit back.
[30:00] SPEAKER_01: Uh, yes, I was the one who brought in Olav Alexander.
[30:03] SPEAKER_01: It's a little bit about as a CEO, CEO of a company, you should not be the you are not the best in everything.
[30:10] SPEAKER_01: A good CEO picking people who can develop the company further, picking the right people.
[30:16] SPEAKER_01: I was lucky to find Olav Alexander, who has a scientific background and understanding that is insane.
[30:23] SPEAKER_01: He uh he spent a lot of hours to investigating everything related to training, what we could do better, and and stuff like that.
[30:32] SPEAKER_01: So he was like really, really good at that.
[30:35] SPEAKER_01: Um and we cooperate really well.
[30:38] SPEAKER_01: Um and it it was a really good mix many years.
[30:43] SPEAKER_01: Um but then again, how I see it, I I was I was the sport directors, I was the head coach.
[30:51] SPEAKER_01: I after the Tokyo Olympics, I knew that my role in the Federation is I wasn't sure if I would continue or not.
[31:01] SPEAKER_01: Um I wasn't sure what my role would be.
[31:07] SPEAKER_01: So I must say that again I need to have a backstory because I at that time I spent up to 200 days a year traveling with a team.
[31:17] SPEAKER_01: Uh spent so much of the year on training camp.
[31:21] SPEAKER_01: Um have two kids at home, twin daughters, who's now almost 14.
[31:28] SPEAKER_01: And uh they have spent every summer since they were four or five here in Foncomer with me.
[31:38] SPEAKER_01: I have uh actually many years I actually paid more by traveling with the family and my kids and accommodation I actually earned in the same period, so I more or less work for free.
[31:50] SPEAKER_01: But that was the only way I can to do the work.
[31:52] SPEAKER_01: And when I come to 20 after the Tokyo Olympics, I was very empty.
[31:58] SPEAKER_01: I felt I I cannot continue that anymore.
[32:00] SPEAKER_01: So it's more natural that I took a more leading role as a sports director.
[32:05] SPEAKER_01: And it's also kind of important, the job I did in many years alone today is done by two and a half people.
[32:14] SPEAKER_01: So the workload was just insane.
[32:16] SPEAKER_01: It was not sustainable at all, and I was very close to burnout.
[32:22] SPEAKER_01: I was never like a really burnout, I've already been functioning, all being working, it's all that, but it was just too much.
[32:29] SPEAKER_01: So to be an active role on all training camps, traveling around all the world, I felt I was very finished with that, but I still want to coach a few other athletes on the team, and I wanted to develop a new head coach.
[32:46] SPEAKER_01: So uh Olav Alexander has never been the head coach in the Federation, he's never had that position, he's always been the sports scientist.
[32:55] SPEAKER_01: He has been negotiated about him having that kind of a role, but I also say that um uh we at that time we felt it's more right we want to work with Michael Eden.
[33:08] SPEAKER_01: Uh a coach and athlete I've been also followed since he was 16.
[33:13] SPEAKER_01: I brought him into coaching when he finished his career when he was he was just 19.
[33:20] SPEAKER_01: Uh he didn't know where to do with his life.
[33:23] SPEAKER_01: He was very empty after finishing high school, finished his career, and I brought in him as a helper for me on some of the training camps.
[33:34] SPEAKER_01: I was having close contact with him.
[33:37] SPEAKER_01: I was getting him a job at a high school working with triathlon as a club coach in a triathlon club, and I used him in training camps over the year, and asked him several times over the year, you want to join the federation more in a full-time position?
[33:55] SPEAKER_01: No, I'm happy where I am, I don't want to go that path.
[33:59] SPEAKER_01: But then after the Olympics, Tokyo, is that I'm ready, I want to do that.
[34:05] SPEAKER_01: And I was able to get the funding to get in.
[34:09] SPEAKER_01: So he's a coach and athlete and a person I have a really soft spot of, and I was really happy to have him within the team.
[34:18] SPEAKER_01: And the way we want to develop the team, that was more right for us than uh go with Olav Alexander.
[34:27] SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of reasons we couldn't go with Olaf Alexander, but I also said to you earlier that we felt that after the Olympics we are really appreciated all the scientific approach because we did a lot of things that make a difference in Tokyo.
[34:41] SPEAKER_01: But I felt that we had lost a little bit of the real coaching and how we were, and Ricali's been close to me over the years, so for me it was more natural to follow up him and step back a little bit more.
[34:57] SPEAKER_01: So so that is the reason he decided this.
[35:01] SPEAKER_01: But as I said, that Ula was never a head coach in the federation, he was never in charge of the training program.
[35:08] SPEAKER_01: Yes, he was at training camp, and sometimes he was alone at training camp, and he needed to be there and to be the coach, as every coach on the training camp.
[35:19] SPEAKER_01: You are there, you have a program, but you adapt the program, you adjust the program, you see the atlas.
[35:26] SPEAKER_01: And but he he was not never the one who sit down and write the program and stuff like that.
[35:31] SPEAKER_01: But he he was there, he spent a hell of a lot of time with the national team, uh, and he's invested a lot himself, so it's no doubt about that.
[35:42] SPEAKER_01: And I'm always will be really grateful to the team.
[35:47] SPEAKER_01: And I for sure learned a lot of him about the science, uh, but it was no way he could continue the way he was.
[35:55] SPEAKER_01: And I do actually think that he was really happy that going outside, follow his dream, he highside to be developed that for some years, and then got the role he has in the pro cycling team UNX is likely the best uh choice for him uh in the end.
[36:13] SPEAKER_01: And so I'm I'm really happy that he is where he is today.
[36:17] SPEAKER_01: But uh again, it was he he didn't have that role in our team, and we couldn't agree that he could continue to have a head coach role and reduce Michael for any reason, but it was a little bit back to the original like real coaching and stuff like that.
[36:38] SPEAKER_01: And yeah, we we want to do it a little bit different than the way Olav wanted to do it.
[36:43] SPEAKER_00: And so Christian and Gustav step away from being coached by Olav at the start of 2025, end of 2024.
[36:51] SPEAKER_00: Christian starts writing the programs, the boys start getting involved, Casper comes back.
[36:56] SPEAKER_00: I've heard that they have stepped back and maybe gone a little bit more towards the things they used to do in quotation marks, less lactate testing, you know, they're not obsessed with the science, they're not living in a lab anymore, and and maybe they've blended what both you and and the Norwegian Federation and Olav have kind of instilled in them for their program.
[37:21] SPEAKER_00: To the best of your understanding, and and I'm I know it's not about you, so it's tricky to talk about, but was it an amicable split between Christian Gustav and Olav Alexander Boo?
[37:34] SPEAKER_00: Have you talked to them about what actually happened?
[37:36] SPEAKER_00: And can you talk to me about that?
[37:38] SPEAKER_01: I know a little bit, uh, but I I don't think I'm the right person to say anything about it.
[37:45] SPEAKER_01: Uh because I I haven't actually sat down and talked to them about it.
[37:53] SPEAKER_01: I have sit down with the three guys, I have lunch with them, talked to them, but that was more like catching up, like being the good old days.
[38:01] SPEAKER_01: So how it all ended, um I actually don't know, and I'm not so interested to know.
[38:10] SPEAKER_01: Of course, I heard rumors and stuff like that, but uh, but I'm not the right one to comment on saying anything about it.
[38:16] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think we've heard the same rumors though, based on uh based on the way you said that.
[38:20] SPEAKER_00: Um you also brought up some really interesting points before that you didn't dive into that have been, again, background rumour for a long time, and it was Christian's frustration with the Norwegian Federation.
[38:33] SPEAKER_00: Um, we spoke about it on the podcast in 2023, I believe.
[38:39] SPEAKER_00: And I still, to this day, never really tried to get to the bottom of the story because I didn't really care, but I think with things coming back full circle, it's quite interesting to go back in time and learn about what happened.
[38:52] SPEAKER_00: So, from my understanding, the period where Christian and Gustav moved away from the Federation and removed themselves from the Federation was largely driven by Christian.
[39:04] SPEAKER_00: And the reason why is that Christian and Gustav had started to have a lot of success.
[39:09] SPEAKER_00: Gustav obviously won the I-Man World Championships in 2022 at Kona.
[39:13] SPEAKER_00: Um, Christian won them at St.
[39:15] SPEAKER_00: George, Gustav had won multiple 70.3 world championships, Christian won the 70.3 world championships as well after Kona in 2022.
[39:22] SPEAKER_00: They'd Christian won an Olympic gold medal, they won everything, and they'd started to make a lot of money.
[39:27] SPEAKER_00: And Christian was starting to get big contracts from big companies, and the Norwegian Federation was struggling financially, and their program didn't really have much funding, and their two big superstars were making a lot of money outside of the program.
[39:43] SPEAKER_00: There was a situation brewing behind the scenes where the Norwegian Federation was feeling some frustration towards Christian and Gustav because they weren't getting a piece of the pie, despite the fact they felt like they were a big part of the development of those boys and the ultimate success of those boys.
[40:00] SPEAKER_00: Was is there truth in what I'm saying?
[40:02] SPEAKER_00: Was there kind of a lot of animosity between Christian and the Federation and maybe even Gustav as well?
[40:08] SPEAKER_00: And where does that situation sit right now?
[40:12] SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes, that's a good question.
[40:14] SPEAKER_01: Uh for sure it was a really difficult and uh situation, and for sure that um I know the negotiator by the contract for them to be able to follow the path toward the LA Olympics.
[40:29] SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I it it's a little bit of the same, as you say, uh I found my role there really difficult.
[40:36] SPEAKER_01: It is kind of natural.
[40:38] SPEAKER_01: I do think when I say it like this, because if hope the federation is built in Norway and also in other European countries is likely different than other places.
[40:48] SPEAKER_01: So uh so from from the federation view of this is that when I started coaching, and I was employed by the federation.
[40:58] SPEAKER_01: We have no clubs, no club structure, we have no coaches in Norway, we have no private coaching system or anything in Norway.
[41:08] SPEAKER_01: So when they started triathlon at the youth national team, they were picked for the team without actually having any real result in triathlon.
[41:21] SPEAKER_01: Uh I will to be honest, they will never be be selected to any triathlon national team in the world with the level they were at that time.
[41:30] SPEAKER_01: So someone saw them, find them, develop them, and um invested a lot of money in it.
[41:39] SPEAKER_01: And uh as I I was in the beginning, I was working part-time.
[41:43] SPEAKER_01: Uh, I was able to get funding so I could work full-time, but I was holding back of employing another assistant than an assistant coach because I just want all the money go to develop that, let's go to camp, go to races.
[41:56] SPEAKER_01: So I have no uh problem from a federation standpoint to see that we developed and we should have a piece of the cake when they get results.
[42:06] SPEAKER_01: But but uh for me as a person, I'm like no matter, yes, I was deeply involved with them, I was working close with them, but it was still they as an atlas, atlas who did the job.
[42:20] SPEAKER_01: I I I must say that when I started working with them, it's like it was a lot about training and the way to develop the atlas I didn't know.
[42:28] SPEAKER_01: But I was lucky that I have an atlas, Christian first, but also Gustav and Casper and some of the others coming up that they were just willing to test out everything and they was willing to do the hard work.
[42:41] SPEAKER_01: So I I'm like I I honestly truly think that they deserve all the money and all the contract they get.
[42:51] SPEAKER_01: And it is we when I was working in the federation had mu done a much better job of getting a better contract for the federation which everyone can benefit of, instead of try to find a solution where you should have a representative of their sponsor contract or whatever.
[43:10] SPEAKER_01: And uh but but that is uh a really tricky part, and in in some federation in always kind of common that you give a share of your sponsor deal back to the federation.
[43:25] SPEAKER_01: And if you have big sponsorship, you you can even in some sports, I actually owned the development team by money from sponsor private sponsor to athletes.
[43:35] SPEAKER_01: So I do understand as a federation and the way the system works in Norway is a very a common way to work and try to find a solution.
[43:46] SPEAKER_01: But I do think that uh again for me I I I do think the way federation wish I also had a role because I need to get negotiable and was not the way we should have done it.
[43:59] SPEAKER_01: I I I just need to repeat again.
[44:01] SPEAKER_01: I do think they are extremely good athletes.
[44:04] SPEAKER_01: They have done all the training.
[44:07] SPEAKER_01: Yes, you have someone who created that program, but they are still the ones who go out and do the training every fucking day.
[44:14] SPEAKER_01: And I do think when you are good and you get sponsor contract and you win races, I actually think you deserve the money you you get.
[44:22] SPEAKER_01: That's my point of view of it.
[44:23] SPEAKER_01: So I really wish that could be sorted differently than it was.
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[46:12] SPEAKER_00: And my last real question on this group of questions.
[46:17] SPEAKER_00: Is there any bad blood between yourself and Olav Alexanderbu as it stands today?
[46:23] SPEAKER_00: To be honest, I haven't talked to him in two years.
[46:25] SPEAKER_01: So uh I don't I don't I'm mostly sorry that the athlete like uh Christian and Gustav didn't get the the results they should have the the last years.
[46:37] SPEAKER_01: Uh but yeah, so so uh so I I don't talk to all of it.
[46:42] SPEAKER_01: It's not any bad problem, it's very neutral.
[46:45] SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
[46:46] SPEAKER_00: You just said something that made me have to ask another question about this, though.
[46:49] SPEAKER_00: You mainly feel sorry that they didn't get the results they should have over the last couple of years.
[46:55] SPEAKER_00: I read between the lines there and and think that you maybe think that in 2023 and 2024, which were the worst years probably in terms of success for Gustav, Christian, Kasper, and the entire Norwegian system, since it became a big deal in maybe like 2016 is when I really think the Norwegians with Christian's short course results first started coming about.
[47:19] SPEAKER_00: You think that potentially the lack of results and the kind of breakdown of Gustav Eden might have been because of the training program, the coaching structure, and Olav Alexander Boo being at the at the head of all of that.
[47:34] SPEAKER_01: Yes, but I but but since I don't know in detail, I think it's very difficult to say is that, and I I would never be the coach who said that if you have done what I should say you should do, or if you listen to me a little you'd be much better because we never know.
[47:48] SPEAKER_01: Uh, but I I do think you can see that of course with all the results they have over the years, is no reason that you'd uh underperform so much the these years, as I see it.
[48:01] SPEAKER_01: But of course, I know it's for Gustav a lot of personal things with his mom died.
[48:07] SPEAKER_01: Um of course the injury was serious, but then again, maybe that injury could be treated differently.
[48:14] SPEAKER_01: But I will be it very de uh it's hard to say that what it is, but uh I I just say that there's no reason that so good athletes should underperform so much in this season.
[48:26] SPEAKER_00: And let's talk about the Norwegian method, which is now famous.
[48:31] SPEAKER_00: You are behind the scenes, in a lot of people's eyes, seen as the person responsible for the Norwegian method.
[48:38] SPEAKER_00: Now, Christian, Gustav, Kaspar, even Olav, I would say, are more synonymous with the Norwegian method.
[48:45] SPEAKER_00: But you were the head coach, like you said, you were leading the charge when all of those three boys got found and developed and made their way through short course into long course, ultimately all three of them becoming Iron Man World Champions, which is crazy.
[48:59] SPEAKER_00: Uh what do you think the Norwegian method is?
[49:04] SPEAKER_00: Do you do you think it's a training system?
[49:06] SPEAKER_00: Do you think it's uh a group environment system?
[49:11] SPEAKER_00: Do you think it's a scientific system?
[49:13] SPEAKER_00: Do you think it's all three?
[49:14] SPEAKER_00: And can you give me in as much detail as possible what you view the Norwegian method being?
[49:21] SPEAKER_01: I for sure it's a combination of all these three things.
[49:25] SPEAKER_01: Uh I never like seen myself that uh I figure out what the Norwegian method is.
[49:32] SPEAKER_01: I never thought about that way.
[49:34] SPEAKER_01: But when I started coaching Christian, that was in 2011, uh, it was no one in Norway who knows anything about trial on coaching.
[49:47] SPEAKER_01: But there were some people who know a little bit about uh endurance training, and we had really good results in cross-country skiing, um mountain running, uh also middle long distance running, rowing.
[50:03] SPEAKER_01: So one of the things I did I find inspiration for what other athletes and coaches have done in Norway in other sports.
[50:14] SPEAKER_01: And then I I tried to look to different countries what they do with triathlon training, and and that is where things actually happen because everyone said to me when I started uh you you look to US, look to Australia, they're so good in triathlon, they know how to do that.
[50:33] SPEAKER_01: And then I was actually thinking, no, I don't think what they do is especially good.
[50:40] SPEAKER_01: I do think the way they coach athletes and the philosophy in training is very short-term related.
[50:50] SPEAKER_01: Um you're from Australia.
[50:53] SPEAKER_01: Uh at that time you have a very short super sprint series.
[50:56] SPEAKER_01: It's a lot about focus on building a lot of speed work and uh build up the VO2 max.
[51:04] SPEAKER_01: Uh everything is more like uh you need to develop the speedup, and then you do the endurance later.
[51:10] SPEAKER_01: And I was more like, why?
[51:13] SPEAKER_01: Uh the stimulus you need to get the speed you need is uh in my view very little, but what you can do a lot of virus really early age is uh low intensity volume training.
[51:27] SPEAKER_01: So so I do think if you break it up and make it like really, really, really simple, it's like uh we need the opposite of what is supposed to be the right right path for young athletes to develop.
[51:41] SPEAKER_01: We put in a lot of volume, a lot of low intensity volume, and if you can do that, you can put in a lot of threshold, and then you can more or less handle everything, and then you put on speed work and thing, and then you get good results if you make it really, really easy.
[51:57] SPEAKER_01: But of course, it was very uncommon to say to a 16, 17-year young uh triathlete that I think you should train 25 to 30 hours a week, which is insane much, and I and I felt that that's what they needed to do.
[52:16] SPEAKER_01: And um but to be able to do that, I it's difficult to explain how we were, but one of the things that we were able to create an environment where everyone wants to train most in the world and try to be the best in the world.
[52:33] SPEAKER_01: And I do think that um I say really early to this, you know, I say that to them when like say both Caspar and Gustav that when they were 15, 16, they were they were not good.
[52:45] SPEAKER_01: They were like when they're doing European cup, they were like maybe top 50 in the beginning.
[52:50] SPEAKER_01: But I still stand there and say to them, we want to be the best in the world.
[52:54] SPEAKER_01: I think we can be the best.
[52:56] SPEAKER_01: You just need to do the work.
[52:58] SPEAKER_01: We need to trust the work I think you need to do, and we need to create an environment.
[53:04] SPEAKER_01: I didn't say we we will create environment, but I work work really hard to have the environment that they love the training and they really want to go and do more, and they really, really want to do more training than the other in the world.
[53:18] SPEAKER_01: And then I that was the main thing, and then we start talking about yeah, but if you want to do that, you need to it's not about chasing each other and when the training uh is about doing at the right intensity when start to learn about like that, that the heart rate need to be low, very easy.
[53:36] SPEAKER_01: And you see, when they are for easy session, it's still like really low intensity.
[53:42] SPEAKER_01: And I know athletes who never run so slow in their life on the easy session, so they they trusted that and want to do that, and then we brought up yeah, about doing threshold training and try to do some basic principles on how to do that.
[53:58] SPEAKER_01: And there were the good thing I must say, I I do think I was like very really happy or pleased with athletes I get.
[54:07] SPEAKER_01: They didn't questioning too much the first years.
[54:10] SPEAKER_01: I can do whatever I thought I needed to do.
[54:14] SPEAKER_01: For sure, uh after a while they did understand that they did a lot of things differently than the rest of the world because at that time we were not good, so we were invited on development camp and they want to see how the other athletes from the big uh control training.
[54:31] SPEAKER_01: And and it was like, what the hell are they doing?
[54:34] SPEAKER_01: We don't want to do it that way.
[54:36] SPEAKER_01: And I know we had already in 2012 we were invited to a development camp in New Zealand before the World Union Championship.
[54:45] SPEAKER_01: And I was there with Christian, and after after a few days, I just shake my head.
[54:49] SPEAKER_01: You know, if you follow this program, we we are not able to perform in the world.
[54:54] SPEAKER_01: We we actually need to do what we need to do, and totally different than the others.
[54:58] SPEAKER_01: So we actually trained totally different than the others, and even on a really, really shit day, and everything was bad, Christian ended up four in the junior world championship.
[55:08] SPEAKER_01: That but the training they did on the camp was like, wow, is is that how they train in the world?
[55:14] SPEAKER_01: We cannot do that.
[55:16] SPEAKER_01: So so so it was a little bit about a lot of volume, control intensity, we will be more and more accurate over the time.
[55:24] SPEAKER_01: In in the beginning, it's like if you said to a young 16 year old, you're gonna do 10 times 1,000 meters of the threshold, likely that would go a little bit too fast.
[55:32] SPEAKER_01: But if you said to them, yeah, you should go five times 1000 V auto max session, they likely blow up and go way too hard.
[55:40] SPEAKER_01: So maybe that was doing some of the training a little bit too hard, but it was if you had a different approach, it will be way too hard.
[55:48] SPEAKER_01: And that will be the development will be that will be likely be good really early, but that will be a stop up.
[55:54] SPEAKER_01: And I I know for sure that I I don't I will never take credit for what they've achieved the last year, but without the foundation and the training base that did from Christian from 2011 to the first seven, eight years, no chance in hell level would any RMN or 72.3 races uh if if they didn't have that foundation and that kind of training in the beginning.
[56:20] SPEAKER_01: So so but if it's a Norwegian method or not, but it was it's very different than the other.
[56:26] SPEAKER_01: And I I also was warned that but you cannot do that because then you were not developed the maximum speed, you max.
[56:33] SPEAKER_01: But but we were able to test this atlas in the early years, and of course I I don't have the data now, but it is day I remember going to the lab in when Christian was 60 and Gustav was 50, and they were having low 70s in VO2 Max, and I've also been in a lab when I have above 90.
[56:52] SPEAKER_01: So I know that they have developed the VO2 max with that kind of training a lot.
[56:57] SPEAKER_01: So so it's um for sure it works, and over the years it's been more and more improved it better in intensity and control, and for sure Olaf Alexander added some values to that for sure.
[57:11] SPEAKER_01: And uh, but but some of the main things like doing double threshold days, and I don't know if they call it Norwegian method, but that's something I saw very early.
[57:21] SPEAKER_01: Uh, okay, if you want to develop a certain amount of intensity in your training, and you think very basic, uh maybe you do two interval sessions a week, and you do three disciplines that you have uh at least six sessions a week, then you can either do one a day and try to rest on the seventh day, or you can try to block it a little bit differently.
[57:43] SPEAKER_01: And back in the days it was studies from Norwegian runners starting to doing double threshold intervals based on actually ideas that I saw from when I were training in Kenya.
[57:55] SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot of things that is not that I just find out I want to do, but uh, but I I saw that uh put it together in in the way I think it could be.
[58:06] SPEAKER_01: It worked out well, but but it's still like when I started, I was very sure that the way that did it most of the world I dig into was very different than how I wanted to do, but I I wasn't sure.
[58:19] SPEAKER_01: At that time, I have never coached a young athlete in my life.
[58:24] SPEAKER_01: So when I look back, I would say that one of the things I was most maybe I'm most proud of is that I actually believed in myself enough to follow the path that mostly no one else except the athletes and me thought was a good way and just stick to it and being very consistent about this is the way, this is the way I want to do it, this is the way I want the athletes to follow.
[58:52] SPEAKER_01: And I and then also really proud that we we were able to create a training environment where I actually love doing it, I love the training, I love to train train a lot, and the friendship they have is uh yeah, it is like really unique.
[59:09] SPEAKER_01: And I said we are now in Fort Remeux.
[59:12] SPEAKER_01: Uh I've been here every summer since 2014.
[59:16] SPEAKER_01: We have almost every time we have been here, we have lived in a cabin, been close together, we have been cooking food together.
[59:22] SPEAKER_01: When I was 17, 18 years old to make them to cook dinner for each other, it's not the easiest task.
[59:29] SPEAKER_01: I can show promise you that the food I made was not the best, but but but we were there.
[59:36] SPEAKER_01: We did the shopping, we were there with them.
[59:38] SPEAKER_01: I I was on every almost every training session with them on the bike, on the run when I could.
[59:44] SPEAKER_01: Uh, on the pool, I was more on the pool deck, but we did a lot of training with them, we helped them making the food, we sit down with them, we sing for hours or hours at lunch and dinner and discussing everything.
[59:56] SPEAKER_01: And uh I do think that we created that kind of environment that is really unique, and you see the fruits of it now that um the boys, even if we had some like hard years, they were not maybe so close, it's still like they are become really good athletes and they have really good friends, and the connection they have I I think that it it was created uh uh these years, and uh and I of course I know since I was there that uh I play a big part in that.
[1:00:30] SPEAKER_01: Uh of course I was not alone.
[1:00:32] SPEAKER_01: We have some assistants who was with us and and also did a tremendous work, and most of them was working for free to just make this happen.
[1:00:42] SPEAKER_01: So so uh yeah, so it I I do think it's a mix of everything, but in the main thing is they were willing to do a hell of a lot of work.
[1:00:51] SPEAKER_00: So, since the weekend where Casper won the Iron Man World Championships, Gustav came second and Christian came third.
[1:00:58] SPEAKER_00: Earlier you kind of mentioned that maybe you've talked to Christian.
[1:01:01] SPEAKER_00: Have you talked to all three of the boys?
[1:01:03] SPEAKER_00: Do you have plans to where is your relationship with them now?
[1:01:08] SPEAKER_00: And do you think there's a chance that maybe the relationship between them and you becomes closer after the weekend and and there's kind of a bit of a reunion and you start spending more time together again?
[1:01:20] SPEAKER_01: Uh yes, I I I hope so.
[1:01:22] SPEAKER_01: Uh, but it's also like they they have created the result they have this weekend because of what they have done.
[1:01:30] SPEAKER_01: Uh and I don't feel I should take any credit for that.
[1:01:34] SPEAKER_01: Uh so I'm just happy for them.
[1:01:37] SPEAKER_01: But uh, but for sure I um I I'm texting them and uh we're having some contact and kind of often in Bergen uh with my other job and uh of course I plan to meet them and uh but but for me it's like I I want to just to come in as to be a I I they do a really good job, hopefully they work together.
[1:01:57] SPEAKER_01: I uh I I really want to have have the contact with them as we had before.
[1:02:03] SPEAKER_01: It's not that it's uh it it is more separate than now, but of course I said to you, I I have contact with them and really appreciate that, and I do think they appreciate it too.
[1:02:13] SPEAKER_01: Uh and I hope that we can meet uh within the the next weeks when they are still in Bergen.
[1:02:20] SPEAKER_01: But uh little bit up to them.
[1:02:22] SPEAKER_01: They are busy and they don't compromise on the training, and that I do understand.
[1:02:26] SPEAKER_01: But uh yeah, I don't know.
[1:02:28] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's the way I can say it.
[1:02:30] SPEAKER_00: If they came to you and said, Look, we want you involved again in some capacity.
[1:02:36] SPEAKER_00: We we still want to run the program, but maybe we could use you as a sounding board, or maybe at camps, like I know we're in Font Remo right now having this conversation.
[1:02:45] SPEAKER_00: I I believe they spend a bit of time here still.
[1:02:48] SPEAKER_00: Would you say yes to that if that did, you know, uh eventuate?
[1:02:52] SPEAKER_01: Yes, uh I I do think I can help them a little bit, but uh and then again I really trust them and I know that what they're doing now is like really, really good.
[1:03:02] SPEAKER_01: And uh, but I'm I'm I'm sure really able to help them if they want help, but I also do respect and understand that they feel that they have found a way to work together now that is really good, and uh I have no problem them doing that because what they do is really good, and I am really happy for that.
[1:03:23] SPEAKER_01: But uh I'm I'm available, yes.
[1:03:26] SPEAKER_00: And now let's project a little bit into the future.
[1:03:28] SPEAKER_00: So, like I said, Christian won the IMM World Championships in 2022-2021 at St.
[1:03:34] SPEAKER_00: George, Gustav won at Kona, and now Caspar's won in 2025 in Nice.
[1:03:40] SPEAKER_00: Do you think that the dynamic can can stay strong with those three given they are each other's biggest competition?
[1:03:46] SPEAKER_00: They just went toe-to-toe on the run course at Nice, and next year we have the comeback to Kona.
[1:03:53] SPEAKER_00: So it's probably going to be the biggest long distance race in the history of our sport with the men and women rejoining together at Kona.
[1:04:00] SPEAKER_00: And I don't think there's a race that more people will be more desperate to win.
[1:04:05] SPEAKER_00: How do you see the next 12 months playing out with those three?
[1:04:08] SPEAKER_00: Given I think out of everyone in the world, those three are probably three of the people who want it more than anyone.
[1:04:16] SPEAKER_00: They seem super competitive, particularly Christian.
[1:04:19] SPEAKER_00: And you know, Gustav and Kaspar have got the better of him the last two times they've battled it out at the Iron Man World Championships.
[1:04:25] SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, how do you see that dynamic over the next 12 months leading into that race?
[1:04:30] SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes, that's interesting.
[1:04:31] SPEAKER_01: Um, I do think that everyone who has followed them knows uh after uh interview that John done after the words now that they're really close.
[1:04:42] SPEAKER_01: They're good friends, and uh I do think that the friendship and how they will work together will be even stronger.
[1:04:50] SPEAKER_01: But it will be a new dynamic.
[1:04:52] SPEAKER_01: You say I said to you like Christian, like his motivation how to try to win Corner is like extremely big.
[1:04:59] SPEAKER_01: And I just uh recall uh I I can't remember who said that uh it's kind of easy to win uh the the RN or the world one time, but it's to do it two times.
[1:05:10] SPEAKER_01: That's hard.
[1:05:10] SPEAKER_01: And everyone has won it one time, and only one has won in Hawaii.
[1:05:15] SPEAKER_01: So I I do think they they know they are stronger together, and I know that I will do everything they can, that all of them are even better than before on the race day next year in Corner, and I truly believe that I really will be great, no matter who wins, they will just be happy for each other.
[1:05:39] SPEAKER_01: And uh and I'm pretty sure that will be one of them next year, but I would never say who because I I don't know.
[1:05:47] SPEAKER_01: Uh and I I I do think I do think this is also one thing that's unique with them.
[1:05:53] SPEAKER_01: It's a lot of athletes when you win something, you are kind of happy or satisfied, but I Do you think that this is just a more like even bigger motivation to do even better to do things even better?
[1:06:08] SPEAKER_01: And I think that motivation I don't think you can uh I I'm not able to explain how strong that is for that.
[1:06:15] SPEAKER_01: I know them and I know that by winning something is not that you are happy and satisfied and relaxed, they are just even more motivated to be even better, even stronger than before.
[1:06:26] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I think it will be really, really hard to be uh computer or to be them the next year in corner.
[1:06:35] SPEAKER_00: I know that Craig Alexander, he's has said this for as long as I've personally known him as a and as long as I've been following the sport, that it's easy to win at once, but it's hard to go back and win it twice with a target on your head.
[1:06:47] SPEAKER_00: And and he was one of the people who was able to do that, and and it is interesting that all three of the Norwegian boys have won at once, and it's who can separate themselves from the others and and finally get that second title.
[1:06:58] SPEAKER_00: That is going to be one of the storylines of the year.
[1:07:00] SPEAKER_00: I was gonna ask you to predict which one it will be, but you've just said that you you're never gonna do that.
[1:07:05] SPEAKER_00: So my question to finish up our chat, Arald, is can you please, and I really mean this, one word, nothing more, describe Christian Blumenfeld, Gustav Eden, and Kasper Stoyners.
[1:07:18] SPEAKER_00: One word to describe each three of those boys.
[1:07:21] SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a difficult one.
[1:07:23] SPEAKER_01: Um this is not a one word for colours that never give up here, always there.
[1:07:28] SPEAKER_01: Uh Gustav is like true love for the sport, love, uh would say.
[1:07:33] SPEAKER_01: Uh passion.
[1:07:35] SPEAKER_01: Maybe passion is the right word.
[1:07:37] SPEAKER_01: Chris is more like the determination to achieve his goal is like I was at the biggest thing.
[1:07:43] SPEAKER_01: But all of his work can be be mixed and used on the old, but uh Casper's the ability to never give up, never give up.
[1:07:50] SPEAKER_00: It's not one word, but uh Harold, thank you so much for coming on.
[1:07:54] SPEAKER_00: It's been a long time overdue.
[1:07:56] SPEAKER_00: We've talked about it a couple of times now, and we we nearly did it earlier in the year, but I think funnily enough, the the timing with with Casper winning and all three of the boys now having won an Iron Man World Championships, and and from what it sounds like to me, a lot's happened, a lot of water's gone under the bridge, but it kind of seems like things are in a good spot now.
[1:08:14] SPEAKER_00: And uh so I think the timing to have this chatters has ended up being uh incredible.
[1:08:19] SPEAKER_00: And uh thank you for agreeing to sit down with me in person and and uh meeting up with me here in Font Remo.
[1:08:25] SPEAKER_00: It's uh it makes it a little bit more special uh and great just to get all of your insight into what's happened, learn the history of of what's happened with Norwegian Triathon because it is such a deep history and hearing you talk about starting with Christian in 2011, and here we sit in 2025 with all three of the boys winning Iron Man World Championships, there's an Olympic gold medal, there's multiple 70.3 world championships, there's WTCS podium, you really have done it all.
[1:08:51] SPEAKER_00: There's there's nothing in the sport that you guys haven't achieved uh with T100 wins as well.
[1:08:57] SPEAKER_00: So it's incredible.
[1:08:58] SPEAKER_00: Um, and and like like I said, like your wife reminds me, you are the mastermind behind it all, even if you don't give yourself that credit.
[1:09:06] SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah, to hear from you's been amazing.
[1:09:09] SPEAKER_00: So thank you for for doing it, uh Harold, and it's it's been great.
[1:09:12] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[1:09:12] SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me here.
[1:09:14] SPEAKER_00: It was a pleasure talking to you.

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