The Best Training for Amateurs? | Norwegian Singles Deep Dive
Norwegian singles training has emerged from online forums as a simplified adaptation of elite threshold methods for serious amateur runners. The approach promises substantial aerobic gains through two to three sub-threshold workouts weekly, paired exclusively with easy runs — eliminating the traditional mix of speedwork andVO₂ max intervals. But can a method built entirely around one intensity zone deliver optimal performance across race distances? And what happens to anaerobic capacity, running economy, and race-specific speed when threshold work dominates the training diet?
Points clés
Norwegian singles — two to three sub-threshold sessions weekly plus easy running — rapidly develops lactate threshold and high-end aerobic capacity, making it an effective base-building tool for serious amateurs.
Exclusive focus on sub-threshold work suppresses anaerobic capacity and can reduce speed reserves, particularly harming performance in races from 800m to 5K where anaerobic contribution is significant.
The method traces back to Marius Bakken's early-2000s approach, which emphasized sub-threshold accumulation but included hill sprints and «real speed» sessions every 10–14 days to maintain anaerobic capacity and running economy.
Optimal performance requires periodization: use Norwegian singles to build aerobic foundation, then transition to race-specific work, VO₂ max intervals, and controlled fast running to bring all physiological components into balance.
No single training system is perfect; the best approach blends tools from multiple methods based on individual athlete needs, race distance, and training phase rather than adhering dogmatically to one model.
En bref
Norwegian singles effectively supercharges high-end aerobic ability and works well as a base-building phase, but relying solely on sub-threshold work and easy runs creates physiological imbalances that will eventually limit performance — especially for faster race distances — unless counterbalanced with anaerobic maintenance and transitioned toward race-specific training.
Origins: From Bakken's Message Board to LetsRun Simplification
Norwegian singles adapts Marius Bakken's early-2000s sub-threshold emphasis for amateur athletes.
Norwegian singles training emerged from LetsRun forum discussions as a distilled version of methods pioneered by Norwegian runner Marius Bakken. In the early 2000s, Bakken posted his training publicly on message boards, revealing an approach centered on accumulating high volumes of sub-threshold work — running at lactate levels between 2.5 and 3.5 millimoles rather than right at the 4 mmol threshold line favored by Jack Daniels. Bakken, who ran 13:06 for 5K as one of the few non-East Africans competitive at that time, advocated building up to 30–40% of total weekly mileage from sub-threshold sessions.
The Norwegian singles method simplifies this for serious amateurs: two to three sub-threshold workouts per week (targeting roughly 20–25% of weekly volume), with all remaining runs at genuinely easy paces. The theory holds that staying below threshold allows greater training load accumulation with lower injury and overtraining risk compared to traditional mixed-intensity programs. However, Bakken's original approach included crucial elements often omitted from the singles method: he incorporated «real speed» sessions every 10–14 days (30m to 150m sprints with full recovery) and came out of the Sebastian Coe / Peter Coe mixed-stimulus model that balanced threshold work with other qualities.
The speaker experimented with a Bakken-inspired approach in 2005–2006, running two to three sub-threshold sessions weekly during base phases while adding hill sprints and rhythm 200s to maintain speed. The result was exceptional aerobic development — including a 50:15 performance on a challenging 10-mile hill circuit — confirming that the method functions as a «supercharger» for high-end aerobic capacity. Yet the experience also revealed the method's limitations when speed maintenance elements were neglected.
The Anaerobic Capacity Problem
Excessive sub-threshold work suppresses the body's ability to produce energy anaerobically.
Bakken's Actual Prescription
The original method included speed maintenance that Norwegian singles often omits.
“You have to run at faster speeds to improve running economy, and you have to do this on top of heavy sub threshold work and mileage.”
Multiple Limiting Factors Beyond Threshold
The Ron Clarke Lesson
1960s running icon broke world records but never won Olympic gold.
The Ron Clarke Lesson
Ron Clarke exemplifies the pitfalls of threshold-only training. Running moderately hard most days of the week, he developed extraordinary aerobic capacity and smashed world records at 5K and 10K. Yet he never won an Olympic gold medal because he never trained the anaerobic ability and speed reserves needed to shift gears in championship races. His story demonstrates that aerobic supremacy alone cannot compensate for missing physiological qualities when tactics and surges decide medals.
Practical Implementation: Counterbalancing the Method
Add speed maintenance and periodize toward race-specific work for optimal results.
Base Phase: Add Speed Maintenance Run two sub-threshold sessions weekly (e.g., tempo runs, longer intervals at controlled effort). Include one weekly session of hill sprints (short, explosive efforts with full recovery) or «rhythm 200s» — 200m repeats at mile pace or slightly faster with 90-second to 2-minute jog recovery. These maintain anaerobic capacity and running economy without excessive fatigue.
Build Aerobic Foundation Use this phase for 6–12 weeks to develop lactate threshold and high-end aerobic capacity. Keep all other runs genuinely easy — not steady or moderately hard. The sub-threshold work should feel controlled and sustainable, not a maximal effort.
Transition to Specificity After the base phase, shift training toward race-specific paces. For 5K athletes, introduce 5K-pace intervals or slightly faster repetitions with appropriate recovery. For marathoners, increase volume of marathon-pace work and longer efforts around first lactate threshold (≈2 mmol) to enhance fat oxidation and glycogen sparing.
Periodically Pull Threshold from Above For more advanced athletes, don't only push threshold up from below with sub-threshold work. Occasionally include sessions slightly above threshold (critical velocity intervals, short VO₂ max repeats) to pull the threshold upward and prevent stagnation.
Blend Systems, Don't Dogmatize Recognize that no single method is complete. Borrow tools from multiple approaches (Jack Daniels, Renato Canova, Peter Coe, Bakken, Zátopek-style short intervals) based on individual needs, race distance, fiber type orientation, and current training phase.
Key Numbers from the Transcript
Quantitative benchmarks and examples illustrating the method's effects.
The Verdict: A Tool, Not a Complete System
Norwegian singles excels at aerobic development but requires integration with other methods.
Norwegian singles training is best understood as a powerful phase-specific tool rather than a year-round comprehensive system. It delivers rapid improvements in lactate threshold and high-end aerobic capacity, making it especially valuable during base-building periods for serious amateurs who lack the recovery capacity for double-threshold days or the training age to handle mixed high-intensity programs. For ultramarathoners and aerobically-limited athletes, the method's narrow focus matters less because anaerobic contribution to performance is minimal.
However, the method's Achilles heel lies in what it excludes. Lactate threshold is one piece of the performance puzzle alongside VO₂ max, running economy, anaerobic capacity, physiological resilience, and speed reserves. The limiting factor shifts between individuals and across training phases; serious athletes eventually reach a point where threshold is no longer the constraint. At that juncture, continuing to hammer sub-threshold work while neglecting other stimuli creates diminishing returns and physiological imbalances. Fast-twitch athletes training for 800m through 5K are particularly vulnerable to the suppression of anaerobic capacity that accompanies threshold-only training.
The speaker's recommended approach synthesizes historical wisdom: use Norwegian singles as a foundation, but counterbalance it with weekly hill sprints or rhythm 200s to maintain speed and economy. After 6–12 weeks, transition toward race-specific training — VO₂ max intervals for 5K, marathon-pace volume for 26.2, and controlled faster running to connect physiology with the rhythm and mechanics of goal pace. The best coaches don't pledge allegiance to a single system; they select tools appropriate to the athlete, the moment, and the goal. Norwegian singles is one such tool, effective within its proper context but incomplete when used in isolation.
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