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NORWEGIAN METHOD

The Norwegian method: singles, double threshold and the evidence

The Norwegian method is mostly easy running with a few threshold sessions, with threshold effort at the edge between steady and hard running. Norwegian singles, the amateur version, is one threshold session a day, 2 to 3 times a week, while double threshold, the elite version, is two sessions on the same day, usually 6 to 8 hours apart. The evidence is thin: a 2023 review of the elite model reports that no controlled study had tested it by then, and the amateur version comes from coaches and running forums. We see Norwegian singles as a useful addition to a training plan for runners with an appropriate base, while double threshold remains an advanced option.

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What the Norwegian method is

The Norwegian method is a way of organizing running that comes from Norwegian coaches and runners. Most of the running is easy. A few sessions each week are run at threshold effort, the effort at the edge between steady and hard running. Those sessions are usually run as repeats with short rests, not as one long effort.

A 2023 review describes the model for elite runners. One of its authors, Marius Bakken, is the Norwegian runner who developed it. He began testing it on himself in the late 1990s and passed it to Gjert Ingebrigtsen, father and former coach of the three Ingebrigtsen brothers [1]. In the review’s model, a runner does three to four threshold sessions and one higher-intensity session each week, and fills the rest with easy running, up to 150 to 180 kilometers a week [1].

In those sessions the pace is set by blood lactate, a by-product of hard muscle work that you measure with a finger-prick drop of blood. The target is typically 2 to 4.5 millimoles per liter (mmol/L), checked every one to three repeats [1]. That is the part most people cannot copy, because it needs a lactate meter. Later sections cover how runners approximate it without one.

Elite distance runners train a lot. In the middle of their preparation, world-class track runners cover 130 to 190 kilometers a week and marathoners 160 to 220, in 11 to 14 sessions a week, with at least 80 percent of their running volume at low intensity [2]. The threshold sessions sit on top of that easy base.

The Norwegian method is not the Norwegian 4x4. The 4x4 is a single session of four 4-minute efforts at 90 to 95 percent of maximum heart rate, built to train VO2max [3].

Singles and doubles: the two versions

Coaches and runners define the two versions this way. Norwegian singles is one threshold session in a day, 2 to 3 times a week, with every other run easy [4][5]. Double threshold is two threshold sessions on the same day, usually 6 to 8 hours apart [6].

Be clear about where each one comes from. Double threshold is the elite model described in the research below. Singles is an adaptation that circulates in coaching blogs and running forums. One summary of a forum thread calls the idea a hypothesis and cites no research [5]. Treat the singles shapes on this page as how runners commonly do it, not as tested advice.

A singles week, as runners commonly set it up

This example week is from Marathon Handbook, a running-media site. It is one common shape, not a prescription from a study [7]. The threshold sessions are short repeats with 60 seconds of easy jogging between them. The other days are easy, with a long easy run on the weekend. Our guide to zone 2 training covers what easy means.

Sources also say threshold work should be about 20 to 25 percent of your weekly running, but neither gives research for the figure [7][8]. Treat it as a rough guide.

DaySession
MondayThreshold: 3 repeats of 10 minutes, 60 seconds of easy jogging between repeats
TuesdayEasy run
WednesdayThreshold: 5 repeats of 6 minutes, 60 seconds of easy jogging between repeats
ThursdayEasy run
FridayOptional shorter third threshold session, or an easy day
SaturdayLong easy run
SundayRest

How to find threshold effort without a lactate meter

Runners usually go by feel and pace. The usual cues are a talk test, where you can speak in full but short sentences, and an effort of 5 to 6 out of 10, comfortably hard at most. Pace sits between your marathon pace and your half-marathon pace: closer to marathon pace for longer repeats and closer to half-marathon pace for shorter ones [9]. A forum summary says to err on the slower side even when you feel good [10].

Heart rate and pace are rougher than they look. In a lab study, 15 trained runners with an average age of 18.6 ran 40 minutes at a fixed load set from a 2 mmol/L lactate threshold. Across the runners, blood lactate ranged from 1.90 to 3.80 mmol/L and heart rate from 88.1 to 95.3 percent of maximum [11]. So one percentage or one pace is a starting point. Use two or three signals together and, when they disagree, go easier. Bakken gives the same advice [12].

Our guide to personal heart rate zones explains threshold heart rate, the heart rate at the edge between steady and hard effort, in more detail.

Double threshold: two sessions in one day

In the version Bakken describes, both sessions stay in a lactate range of 2 to 3 mmol/L. The morning session uses longer repeats, typically 6 to 10 minutes. The evening session uses shorter repeats of 400 to 1000 meters. He puts the gap at 6 to 8 hours, and says that feeling better in the evening is not a reason to push harder [13].

Bakken describes it for well-trained runners. On a week with two double days, he says at least one full easy day between them is not optional [13]. In the 2023 review, his typical week was 180 kilometers with four threshold sessions as two double days on a hard day, easy day pattern, plus one higher-intensity session [14].

A 2024 lab study tested the idea of splitting a session. Fourteen male endurance athletes with a high VO2max, the most oxygen the body can use in a minute (69.2 milliliters per kilogram per minute on average), ran moderate-intensity intervals on two separate days: six intervals of 10 minutes in one session, or three intervals of 10 minutes in each of two sessions 6.5 hours apart. The split day felt easier (session effort ratings of 6.0 against 7.0), carried a lower training load score (743 against 929) and left the athletes less tired and sore the next morning [15].

Read that with care. It was one day in a laboratory, with male athletes who train far more than most people. It did not test weeks of double threshold training or whether it improves performance, and the authors call it a starting point [15].

What the research shows, and what it does not

Published science on the Norwegian model is thin. The 2023 review describes it as a practice used by elite runners and reports that it rests on observational studies and reports and that no controlled study had tested it; one of its four authors developed the model [16]. Elite use is useful observational evidence, not proof that the method suits every runner.

Other research points to the same shape: mostly easy running and a few hard sessions. A 2022 systematic review of 10 articles found that elite runners usually follow a pyramidal pattern, with the most training at low intensity, less at moderate intensity and the least at high intensity, and that they used threshold sessions and harder sessions at least once a week each [17]. In 2025, a study of 12 male Norwegian coaches described lots of easy running plus 2 to 3 key workout days a week with 3 to 5 intensive sessions, and its authors present that as a source of new hypotheses, not proof [18].

None of this tests singles for recreational runners. That version rests on the blog posts and forum summaries listed on this page. We see Norwegian singles as a useful addition to a training plan for runners with an established easy base and enough recovery; double threshold is an advanced option for well-trained runners.

One controlled trial of threshold training did not favor it. In 2014, 48 well-trained athletes trained for 9 weeks in one of four groups. The group that trained polarized, mostly easy with some hard work and little in between, raised its peak oxygen uptake by 11.7 percent, the most of the four. The threshold group made no further gains apart from a slight gain in work economy, how little oxygen a given pace costs [19]. The trial did not test the Norwegian model, so it cannot settle this question. It is a reason to measure outcomes rather than assume that the same mix suits every runner.

Our long-term goal is to help close this evidence gap. With users' consent, we want to build a research-useful training database that could give future sports-science studies better real-world data.

Who should not start with double days

Start with singles, not doubles. Double threshold is an elite method built on a big easy base: world-class runners cover 130 to 220 kilometers a week in 11 to 14 sessions [20]. Bakken describes it for well-trained runners and says threshold work every day led to overtraining for him [21].

Singles is lighter, but it is not light. Marathon Handbook says runners who have run consistently for several years and average 50 to 70 miles (about 80 to 110 kilometers) a week are likely good candidates, and that newer runners, or runners still building mileage, should hold off. That is the author’s view, not a tested threshold [22].

Our advice: skip double days, and go gently with singles, if you are new to running or to structured intervals, are coming back from an injury or a long break, or already feel run down. Begin with one threshold session a week and add a second only when your easy runs stay easy. If easy runs stop feeling easy, you dread a session, or your pace creeps up in the second one, drop a session or take an easy week.

If you have a heart condition, are coming back after a long break or are not sure, talk to a doctor first.

How Complete fits

Complete starts from your long-term goals: build muscle, lose fat, improve cardio, get stronger, general health or become an athlete. Threshold running is one way to work on the goal of improving your cardio. Every workout that reaches Apple Health counts toward your score and your daily recommendation, in any sport. You can also log it in the app.

A tempo run is one steady effort at your threshold, and cruise intervals are repeats of a few minutes there with short rests. Complete sets your threshold heart rate and paces from your own data, and its cruise intervals and tempo runs are run at them.

Complete is free to download, and logging and sharing your workouts on it stay free.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the Norwegian singles method?

It is one threshold session in a day, 2 to 3 times a week, with every other run easy. Threshold effort is the effort at the edge between steady and hard running. The version for recreational runners comes from coaches and running forums, not from controlled studies.

Is the Norwegian method the same as the Norwegian 4x4?

No. The Norwegian 4x4 is one session: four 4-minute efforts at 90 to 95 percent of maximum heart rate with 3 minutes easy between, built to train VO2max. The Norwegian method organizes a whole training week: mostly easy running, a few threshold sessions and, in the elite model, one higher-intensity session.

What is double threshold training?

It is two threshold sessions on the same day, usually 6 to 8 hours apart, with the pace set by a blood lactate of about 2 to 3 mmol/L. It is an elite method, and coach Marius Bakken describes it for well-trained runners.

Does the Norwegian method work?

Elite runners use it, but a 2023 review reports that it rests on observational studies and that no controlled study had tested it by then. We see Norwegian singles as a useful addition to a training plan for runners with an established base; double threshold is for advanced runners. A 2024 lab study of 14 male endurance athletes found that two short moderate-intensity sessions in a day cost less than one long one, but it lasted one day and did not measure performance.

How many threshold sessions a week should I do?

Singles is commonly set at 2 to 3 sessions a week. Our advice is to start with one, add a second only when your easy runs stay easy, and leave double days to advanced runners.

Can I do the Norwegian method without a lactate meter?

Runners approximate it with a talk test, an effort of 5 to 6 out of 10 and a pace between marathon and half-marathon pace. These cues are rough. In a lab study of 15 runners, one lactate-based load gave heart rates from 88.1 to 95.3 percent of maximum, so use more than one signal.

Who should not do double threshold days?

Anyone who is new to running or to structured intervals, is coming back from an injury or a long break, or already feels run down. Start with singles instead. If you have a heart condition or are not sure, talk to a doctor first.

Does a threshold run count in Complete?

Yes. Complete counts every workout that reaches Apple Health toward your score and your daily recommendation, in any sport. You can also log it in the app.

Related guides

By Paul Schmidt, founder of Complete · Last reviewed 31 Oct 2026

Norwegian singles method, 2 to 3 threshold runs | Complete