From Schooled to Success – Lessons Learned from the Norwegian Foot March

By MAJ Carl Amolat, USAR

Note: The views represented in this article are the author’s alone and do not represent the US Army Reserve, US Army or Department of Defense.

BLUF: On two separate mobilizations with the US Army Reserve, I attempted the grueling 30 kilometer (18.6 mile) Norwegian Foot March with vastly different results. My first failed attempt proved instructive, however, and I was able to score a ‘win’ on my second attempt.

About Me: I’m a middle-aged male Army Reserve staff officer who drives a desk and occasionally a Non-Tactical Vehicle (NTV). In my civilian life I study Information Technology at Florida State College of Jacksonville. In my off-duty hours, I enjoy training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai, adding to the mix Judo at the age of 40. I’ve been an obligate fitness enthusiast due to military service, with a heavily strength and work capacity-based bias. This de-emphasis of endurance came back to bite me.

What is the NFM? The Norwegian Foot March is a 30-kilometer (18.6 mile) foot march where participants carry an 11-kilogram (24 lbs) rucksack and have an age and gender graded time hack to meet. Soldiers who make the cut earn the right to wear the Marsjmerket badge on their service uniforms. The test originated from military requirements in the Norwegian Army in 1915 while Europe was in the throes of the First World War. The Norwegian Army wanted to ensure its soldiers could cover long distances quickly under basic military kit. The distance was selected based on the outcome of a military march in Scandinavia a generation or so earlier per a Norwegian veteran (link).

Schooled Badly, First NFM: I first got wind of the NFM in late 2022 when we mobilized to Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. A lot of Soldiers on post spoke of the event and a good friend of mine was involved in the risk assessment for it. Between those two influences I elected to take part in the event. However, in a strange convulsion of stubbornness and overconfidence I didn’t alter my training towards the event. I reasoned as a reasonably strong and active kind of guy I could make it.

The night of 11 March 2023 schooled me rather badly.

At my age I had 4 hours and 35 minutes to complete the event. Due to flagging energy and a massive hit from nausea and dry heaves in the last quarter of the event I managed to finish the event in 5 hours and 2 minutes. That was 27 minutes above the allocated time.

To paraphrase a wise NCO from my lieutenant years, “You done f-ed up, sir.”

At assorted intervals during 12 March 2023 onward I mined my training logs to see just where I went wrong. I managed to even the score a bit by completing the less painful 27-kilometer DANCON (Danish Contingent) Ruck just over a month later in April 2023 albeit at the stately pace of 16:27 (min:sec)/mile.

Just under two years later, on a second mobilization I learned of the opportunity to tackle the NFM again. Already resolved to tackle this challenge should the opportunity arise, I set about how would I do it right this time.

The first task? Evaluate where I went wrong.

“You done f-ed up, sir.” First NFM Training: Leading up to the first NFM I ran a generally balanced program of six days/week with two days apiece of strength, work capacity, and endurance.

• Strength focus centered on a modification of Rob’s Fundamental Four (link) before I hit a plateau and moved into a kettlebell swing based alactic and aerobic effort program a few weeks before the NFM.
• Alactic and Aerobic heavy kettlebell swing sessions (loadings from 28KG to 32KG) with shuttle sprints formed work capacity efforts and I added Turkish Getups in singles for 10-20 minutes for chassis integrity.
• Running, rucking, and step-ups to a bench 1x week for durations of up to 60 minutes. I shortened it from 2x/week to 1x/week due to unit PT on Fridays. For the most part my endurance training was Zone 2 heart rate regulated work.

Insufficient time on endurance training was the major flaw in programming here. I overemphasized strength and work capacity thinking long efforts of the latter would benefit me. In retrospect one work capacity day warranted removal from the program and replacement with a dedicated endurance day.

Showing up to the NFM on the day of the event I gave the safety brief to the first wave of participants and then waited my turn to launch with the next wave of participants. Here I erred a second time. I did not bring my heartrate monitor which made pacing myself more challenging.

What did me in was also bad nutrition. Between the lunch at the on base Chilis at Camp Arifjan and trail mix during the actual ruck I wound up catching a bout of nausea and dry heaves three-quarters of the way in. It was all I could do for a couple miles to just drag my feet forward.

Coming in at 5 hours and 2 minutes, I schlepped back to the barracks feeling both the weight of my ruck and like a pair of vice grips were attached to my calves.

“Try again, lunkhead.” Second NFM Training. With that quote from Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes comic strip on my mind I set about properly training for the event the second I learned of the opportunity to tackle the NFM again, two years later.

When the mobilization started, I was already running a balanced program with two days apiece of strength (built around MTI’s Efficient Strength Program), work capacity (using kettlebell swings and shuttle runs), and endurance (running/rucking/step-ups and occasionally using the rowing machine).

With a little over seven weeks’ notice I signed up for the event and mostly kept to the split above with some modifications.

• For one month I’d started the Simple and Sinister Challenge from the StrongFirst website which consisted of mixing swings and getups into my existing training for as many days as possible. For my strength days I blended the getups and swings as part of my Efficient Strength circuits, built around one barbell lift. So, if I were front squatting that day, I’d do Turkish Getups and Swings as the other lifts of the circuit.
• I continued twice a week endurance events, helped by the fact that there was a rucking club at my location, and we rucked distances from 5 miles to a bruising 14 miles twice weekly. The loads we carried ranged from 25 lbs to 45 lbs. Due to time commitments, I could only spare rucking with this group once a week. On a second day of the week I’d run, rucked, or did some sort of sub-aerobic threshold running-and-step-ups circuit for forty to sixty minutes on my own.

A friend of mine who qualified for the Marsjmerket badge said that being able to do a 12-mile ruck at a good pace is indicative of the ability to pass the march.

Question: What constitutes a good pace?

Answer: The 18^th Airborne Corps standard is a 15-minute per mile pace or faster.

There were some veritable gazelles on our rucking team that I had no hope of keeping up with, so my own personal goal was to keep my 12-mile rucks at or below the 18^th Airborne Corps standard pace. For the most part I succeeded. I noted that when the distance exceeded 12 miles some performance deteriorations occurred (slower than 15 minute/mile paces at 45 lbs).

That 14-miler was one week before the event was scheduled. As I trudged back to the barracks, I began to plan out the taper for training.

The Last Week: After that 14-mile Sunday stroll with a 45-pound ruck finished, I refined the idea of my taper before the event in six days’ time.

To quote Jim Wendler on the last week before a big event, “You can’t get stronger, but you can certainly get weaker.”

Towards that end I ramped training way down, going to combatives for only one night versus my usual 2 or 3, one kettlebell session, and one Efficient Strength Session. For two days before the march, I did nothing for physical training. All time was spent on work, hydration, and mental preparation.

“One step forward, march!”: After giving the safety briefing for the event I shouldered my 31 lbs of rucksack and got moving. My plan was to keep as many ‘good miles’ in the bank for as long as possible. To pass I needed a 14:35/mile pace, so a good mile was any mile under that pace.

Unlike two years ago I had my heartrate monitor fitted, and my app of choice called up on my phone to monitor my pace. Anytime I saw my pace slow to below a 14:30, I’d start jogging again.

After walking for a moment, I took off on a steady paced jog. When said jog felt tiring, I immediately settled into a brisk walking pace where I’d drink some water or electrolyte drink or munch down a Clif Blocks chewable.

I kept this pace for about 12 miles, getting into a solid rhythm of jog and walk. I’d jog my way into the last part of a mile, so I’d build up a good pace for the next mile. I kept this up for twelve miles, maintaining a sub-14 minute/mile pace.

Mile 13 is when things began to take a turn for the slower. Between cramping legs and fatigue finally starting to make itself felt, the pace died to a 14:35 minute/mile.

Mile 14 was the slowest and a painful slog at 15:55 minutes/mile, to include having to answer the call of nature.

Somehow, I found some form of second wind and for the remaining 3.6 miles I mostly walked, with very short stints of jogging. The last 45 meters or so I managed to find that very last wind and jog in, to the encouragement of my teammates as well as other servicemembers at the finish line to a respectable 4:27:06 (Hour: Minute: Second) finishing time.

Conclusions/Lessons Learned: After the endorphins wore off and I finally made it back to my barracks room to start recovering I reflected on this latest achievement. I began to capture lessons learned through the following week:

• Despite not having consistently rucked for just under a year I had built a reasonable aerobic base by running 2x-3x/week with my local running club back in Jacksonville Beach.
• Programming both the Efficient Strength Program and Hardstyle Kettlebell Training for both work capacity and durability ensured the ‘chassis’ was able to take on the load of both training and event.
• Recovery was quick. Unlike two years ago I didn’t suffer sore calves for a week, and I was back on my usual programming by the start of the next week.
• I ached the worst after the event, but after a couple of naps I was walking just fine.
• It took discipline to ensure I did less and not more the week before the event, in terms of physical training.

I’d built the right sort of base for the event before I got started and when I learned of the event, I shifted training to event specific training seven weeks out. Some other participants in the NFM used a 13-week program, but I found the seven weeks of training adequate for my goal.