u/Macckarel

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the NSA method and I'm thinking about switching from my training plan.

My last 5K TT was 27:17 (VDOT ~34.5) back in Dec 2025. I'm planning to do another TT this week, aiming for sub-25.

My current training looks like this (45–50 km/week, ~4.5–5 hours):

• Mon: Rest
• Tue: Tempo 2×25 min @ 5:35–5:40/km
• Wed: Easy 60 min + strength
• Thu: Rest or strength
• Fri: 4×1000 m @ 5K pace (~4:55–4:59/km) + strength
• Sat: Rest
• Sun: Long run 15–18 km

I'm planning to switch to this:

• Mon: Rest
• Tue: SubT 3×8 min + strength
• Wed: Easy
• Thu: SubT 3×5 min + strength
• Fri: Easy
• Sat: SubT 3×10 min
• Sun: 90 min easy

A few questions:

1. Would increasing from 4 to 6 runs per week be a reasonable way to start the NSA method, or is that too much at once?
2. Based on my VDOT, my threshold pace is around 5:38/km, but I live in a city with very high humidity and poor air quality. According to the book, my SubT pace should be around 5:57–6:01/km, but I often have to slow down even more because of the weather. The thing is, those sessions don't feel very hard. I usually finish feeling like I could do another rep or two. Is that how SubT is supposed to feel, or am I just not getting enough stimulus?
3. Because of the heat, humidity, traffic, and pollution (AQI is often 150+ even early in the morning), my easy runs outdoors are much harder than they should be. My VDOT easy pace is 6:31–7:13/km, but running outside at that pace puts my HR well above the recommended easy range. On the treadmill, however, I can stay around 65–70% of my max HR at the same pace. Would it make sense to do all of my easy runs on the treadmill while keeping my SubT sessions outdoors? Would I still get the intended benefits of the NSA approach?
4. One thing I'm still struggling to understand is how this translates to half marathon training. I'm training for a sub-2 HM (5:41/km pace). I've run 2:18 before at what felt like an easy-to-moderate effort, and my last HM in June ended up being 2:22 because I cramped badly after going out at sub-2 pace. My next race is in October. I understand that the HM is mostly an aerobic event, but I'm wondering: how do I become confident holding 5:35–5:40/km for two hours if I rarely run continuously at that pace in training? With the NSA approach, most of the work seems to be done through relatively short SubT intervals. How does that prepare you to sustain goal HM pace over the full race distance? Is the idea that the aerobic adaptations from consistent SubT work naturally transfer to race pace, even without doing long continuous efforts at that speed?