– I want to make it clear to younger girls that it is incredibly important to get enough nutrition, in order to train what you have to train and perform in the track, and get the results in the long run, says Johaug to news. How serious her own weight problem was early in her career came out in her autobiography “Heile historia”. She has a clear idea why she has chosen to go out with the story about her weight problem early in her career. Among other things, she wants to show younger runners how important the increased weight was for her own development. Therese Johaug developed more power and weighed the most towards the end of her career. At the same time, it was then that she went faster. Photo: Carina Johansen / NTB – I can say with my hand on my heart that I won nine out of nine individual golds after I returned in 2018. And I have never weighed so much in my career. And that’s what I want to convey to younger girls. You can be successful for a year with a thin body, but it’s thank you and goodbye if you continue the trend, says Johaug. Lacks openness Former national team manager Vidar Løfshus, was manager of Johaug for a number of years. He wants more openness about this. He wants more athletes to open up more about problems they encounter. – I miss the openness. They are role models in many cases, to the extent that they are associated with being light and perhaps thin, and that this is perhaps part of the criteria for becoming good, so it comes across as very unfortunate. Then they are not the role models they should be for younger athletes, says Løfshus to news. Former national team manager Vidar Løfshus. Photo: Erik Johansen / NTB Johaug sees that the top athletes can become unfortunate drivers if they become too thin. It was during the year around the WC in Holmenkollen. – I was not a good model in 2010 and 2011, says Johaug. She says it is very easy today to think that she herself should be more open. – At the same time, I have been open about the fact that I have lived on a knife edge and that I have had people help me. But now I really go into it in this book and tell what happened and what is the reason, says Johaug. Great effect Johaug was up to 1,361 training hours at most in the year during the doping ban. It was more than ever before or since. When she got a handle on her weight problem earlier in her career, she also greatly improved her endurance. And according to the autobiography, penned by news journalist Anders Skjerdingstad, it happened quickly when she had gained control over her food intake and stabilized at a higher weight. Johaug then had a body that responded better to training. Therese Johaug celebrates the gold in the three-mile in Oslo. The celebration in the gold dress became a symbol of an upturn. But she knows she was not a good role model during this period. Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB «11. In October I was in for a test with Erlend at Olympiatoppen. My maximum oxygen uptake was higher than ever and reached 80 for the first time when it was measured at 81.1. The corresponding number after the WC in Holmenkollen was 72″, the book says. The year around the WC in Holmenkollen in 2011 was a period where she had a recurring weight problem and got help. Now it was a new situation. It gave results. – With this book I have now written, I want to clarify what could have happened to me if I had not taken action in 2011, says Johaug and points out that her career could have looked completely different if she had not dealt with the problem. Afraid of a signal effect Johaug’s endurance has been characterized as unique among Norwegian athletes. But the test speech is something she has kept to herself until now. In the book, Johaug warns against the signal effect figures from such tests can have, because athletes may think that it is good to lose weight in order to achieve the best possible endurance figure. Professor Øyvind Sandbakk has tested a number of national team athletes. He is head of the center for elite sports research at NTNU. – Athletes who lose weight may experience a short-term increase in maximum oxygen uptake when normalizing for body weight. At the same time, this will have a negative impact over time since they train with less working muscle mass and since both the tolerance for large amounts of training, the quality of training and the ability to recover are reduced when athletes have an energy deficit, says Sandbakk to news. He says this eventually becomes a negative circle that hinders development. – So Johaug comes here with important information for athletes who want to succeed, says Sandbakk. He emphasizes that cross-country skiing is a sport that requires relatively large muscle mass to create power at the same time as high values of the absolute maximum oxygen uptake. – In order to develop this, energy balance to carry out a lot of high-quality training over time is a prerequisite. In addition, too low a fat percentage will often be associated with an increased risk of illness and injuries, which hinders continuity and quality in training, says Sandbakk.
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