Ørjan Moseng, the reigning Norwegian junior biathlon champion as well as a regular podium finisher in the national cross-country series, shares his favorite November workout.
“If you want to aim high and go far, there are no shortcuts. You have to put in the hours,” says the ambitious junior, who has his eye set on a spot on the Norwegian national team to the junior world championships this winter.
“In November, I generally put in 15 to 20 hours of training per week prior to the race season, depending on whether it’s a volume week or an intensity week,” he says, explaining that volume weeks have a few more over-distance workouts than intensity weeks.
“During volume weeks, I typically have several overdistance workouts of up to three hours each, sometimes even a bit longer. But I make sure I have some easier weeks too, where I hardly do anything really long, in order to absorb the harder weeks.” Moseng says.
The 17-year-old, who is a junior at the ski academy NTG in Lillehammer, not only has to balance his training program to the race season, but also with his academic program, tests and finals.
“NTG helps us set up our training and peaking program to where we also have time to focus on school. We do our first workout in the morning, then we go to school mid-day, and then we do our second workout late afternoon. That leaves some time for homework in the evening too. It works, but you have to be disciplined about both training and school, because you don’t have a ton of spare time to catch up if you fall behind,” Moseng says.
This is Moseng’s favorite workout in the final preparations for the race season, which starts in early December.
“My favorite workout at the start of the season is a speed/intensity combo. I start with a thorough warmup; then I do several intervals at level 3-4, which is just below threshold and at threshold. These intervals are typically 6 to 7 minutes long. Then a ski a few minutes and find a long, flat straight section of 100 to 200 meters where I go all out. The combination of intervals and sprints makes this a level 4-5 intensity workout. The training effect is perfect: It’s hard, it builds and maintains capacity and also allows you to work on technique, but doesn’t take too long to recover from,” explains Moseng, adding that he loves to go hard.
“I really like to push myself. The best feeling is when you race so hard you can barely stand up when you cross the finish line. Then you know you really gave everything,” Moseng says.
Name: Ørjan Moseng
Birthday: 19.mai 2000
Club: Røros IL
Team: NTG Lillehammer
Top results :
– Gold at the Norwegian junior nationals M17 (2017)
– Gold at the Norwegian junior nationals mixed-relay 17/18 years (2017)
– Won the overall Norwegian junior Biathlon cup 2017
– 2/2 podium finishes at the Norwegian junior cross-country cup (2017)
Goals: To represent Norway in international competitions. The short term goal is the IBU junior world championships this winter, but the long-term goal is the World Cup, the World Championships and the Olympics.
Favorite activity outside training and racing: I like driving the tractor at home on the farm in Dalsbygda. I like working, and I like doing different things. It’s good to do something other than training too.