Norwegian Foot March After Action

On April 4th, I completed my first Norwegian Foot March (Marsjmerket). For those of you who are not familiar, you can read about it here. I found out about the March and signed up at the end of January 2026, which gave me about two months to prep. I maintain a fairly regular workout schedule normally, and I have done a GORUCK 12-miler event previously, but nothing at the magnitude of the NFM.

PREP

My prep for the NFM consisted of 4 workouts per week – 2 rucks and 2 gym days. Typically it was hill repeats on Monday, gym Tuesday, off Wednesday, gym Thursday, distance Friday, off Saturday/Sunday.

Hills were a 4-5% grade, .4-.5 miles uphill, then .4-.5 miles back down, repeat until goal was reached. I started at 6 rounds and worked up to 10 rounds.

My gym days are usually full-body. I don’t do a leg day, arm day, etc. Every gym day has legs, a push, and a pull. So – squats/bench/row or deadlift/pull-ups/overhead press with ab work and other targeted muscle group exercises.

Distance days were just a straight out and back on a local trail with emphasis on maintaining a pace under 14 min/mi. Longest distance ruck prior to NFM was 12 miles. Pack for both ruck days was usually 30+ lbs with water, electrolytes, and fuel included.

I did not work out for the two weeks prior to the ruck. One of those weeks was a static-line jump course that really banged up my lower body and the second week was stretching and recovering from the jump course.

THE EVENT

The NFM event was very well run. Lots of water/electrolytes/snacks available every 1.5 mi or so. Route was a 6.2 mi out and back, repeat 3x. At the 3.1 mi mark, you were handed an item that you had to bring back to the start point to prove you completed the lap. Terrain was hardball, about half flat/half rolling hill. Regular medical vehicle patrols and medics at each water station. Check-in was at 0500, kick-off was at 0600. Temps were mild at start and increased to the 80s with relative humidity around 49%. The wind picked up during the final lap, which was annoying on the outward leg, but gave me a tailwind on the final inbound leg (even if only mentally).

I knew what to expect as far as pace and pain for the first 12 miles. The last 6 miles were really the unknown. Definitely had some pretty hardcore leg cramps around the 15 mile mark, but I sped up a little and they worked out. I also increased my electrolyte intake during the last lap. I fueled with a Stinger waffle about every hour throughout and ate a bag of the Stinger gummies during the last lap. I consumed about a 3-liter bladder’s worth of water during the ruck and 16+ oz of electrolyte mix. The worst cramps of the entire ruck happened after I took my pack off at the end (in my shoulders, not my legs). I actually avoided sitting down until I had to get in my car because I knew I’d stay down…

RESULTS

My max time for the ruck was 4:40, but I managed to keep an average under-13:30 pace and came in at 4:10.

I feel like it was a good showing for a first NFM and I’m definitely going to so for silver next year.

THINGS TO CHANGE

I tried to make my bottle of electrolytes last the entire march. There really wasn’t a good reason for that, given that there were plenty of opportunities to refill throughout. Front-loading the electrolytes probably would have helped stave off the cramps.

Next year I’ll definitely try to get a full 18 in before the actual event. While getting the 12 mile practice in was a positive, not really knowing how those last 6 miles would affect me made me more cautious than I needed to be.

I think I could have made it under 4 hours fairly easily had I pushed the last lap. But since I had no data on my performance past 12 and I knew I was well under time, I went conservative on the final lap to preserve a definite finish rather than a better time.

Conclusion

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