r/NorwegianSinglesRun

After a full send half marathon, what does the next week look like for you? Volume, SubT? How many weeks would you put between full effort half marathons?

Hey there - total noob here and just completed my first week this week and it went really well on the recovery side.

I (46F) do 5x per week at 5:30-6hrs with 2 SubT sessions (3x 10min and 8x 3 min - moving forward I will convert the 3x 10min into 5 x 5min and then layer in the 3rd SubT day when I can get my hilly long run under control).

I signed up for a 5K next Saturday just to get a baseline for the plan and wanted to check on race week routine.

The book says no tapering at all but just wanted to check with any other folks if they always follow this approach to the tee?

I have to move some runs around anyway so I wanted to check if any others make adjustments in intensity or time on feet.

It feels so foreign to me not to taper so I’m a little worried! But I also know I need to trust the process. Excited to collect this baseline so I can really start the program right.

TIA!

Hello everyone,

I am a fairly beginner runner with about 1 year of past training and just started the NSM style training one month ago. For the past four weeks, I have been able to run 4 hr/week over 6 days with 1 ST for the first week and then two STs for the 3 remaining weeks.

However, I am worried if NSM is the right method for me at this point of my journey or if there are better plans out there for a noob runner like me.

My 5K best is 27:30, threshold pace is 5:40 min/km and my easy runs (<70% Max HR) are at 8:00 min/km (this is extra slow because of my local weather conditions of extreme heat and humidity).

I have combed some posts on this sub and have gone through some of sirpoc84's replies on posts about beginners starting with NSM. The general idea is that NSM is better suited for runners in the 18-25 min 5K range with training frequency of 6-7 runs/week. Although I am able to train 6 days/week easily but my 5K times are slower than ideal for this method (as per some posts/comments).

That being said, in one comment sirpoc84 said that he is not against beginners doing this method because any form of structured training is beneficial at that point. Speaking from personal experience, I've tried plans from Runna and V.O2 last year and their mileage ramp always left me feeling sore and tired, unable to give my best at work and home. But with this semi-NSM style training I've been doing for the past month, I have seen a 4 point increase in my Fitness score on intervals.icu while feeling strong and prepared for training everyday.

Can anyone share their thoughts or experiences on this? For a beginner like me, should I build more base before starting with NSM? If yes, then which training plan/style is better suited for me?

I know in the book, James talks about staying in the grey zone for form, so >10% and having a ramp rate between >1-2, on intervals.icu.

How do you guys actually handle this? Do you focus on one or the other? Do you just look at the weekly total or do you look at the graph and values for each day?

I'm not looking for advice, I've found a ramp rate and form that works for me. I'm just curious to see what other people are doing and how that's working for them.

From what I remember in the book, Sirpoc says the program is designed for 5k-half marathon racing. I may have missed it, but do the weekly hour plans correlate to different race distances, i.e. 5-6 hour plans more suited for 5ks, 7-8 hours better for halfs, etc.?

Looking like I’m somewhere in the region of a 2:45 marathon. Wondering how people find their marathon pace relates to long rep pace?

I've been learning about Norwegian Singles for the last weeks, read the famous book, read lots of posts on this sub and I'm really intrigued about trying to apply some concepts of it.

The thing is - do you guys think it makes sense to try it 5 days a week instead of 6 or 7? I'm used to 30-35k per week nowadays (very slow runner, my 5k is around 29:00) and have a somewhat physical job (a lot of time standing on my feet). I reckon the mental burden of one or none days off would be too much for me, even if it's physically doable, plus the social side of it.

I know the plan is designed for the loads to be completely manageable, and the benefits come from traning as much as possible without overdoing it. Do you think these benefits are still there if you do it 5 days? Is this approach worth it in these cases? I've seen people in this sub doing it - and improving - but I'm curious to see the general feeling about it. Does a more standard training system makes more sense than NSM if you don't commit to 6/7 days per week?

I'm also curious to know about holiday training. For those of you training every day, do you stop somewhat when you are on vacation?

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?

I’m in a strange situation where even despite the summer weather, my heart rate is 3–5 bpm lower at the same pace (easy, intervals) than when I started the Norwegian Singles method two months ago. However, the effort still feels about the same, if not worse with my legs feeling more fatigued & tired.

For example, I recently did a 5K time trial in high heat and humidity and ran 30 seconds faster than I did in my initial 5K at the start of the plan. Both 5K trials were untapered, with the same seven-hour weekly load and a long run 2–3 days before. Even so, during the most recent 5k w/ the big PR, my heart rate was just at lactate threshold, and it still felt pretty rough.

For context, I’ve been running for about three years and decided to try Norwegian Singles after plateauing for the past year. I’ve been doing a vanilla Norwegian Singles ( 3x10, 5x6, and 10x3) with about seven hours of running per week.

I also don't think I am overtraining. My HRV is still in a good range and if anything has gone up significantly. My resting heart rate has also fallen by 1-2 BPM. My HR monitor also doesn't seem to be incorrect. Does anyone know what could be going on? Am I just getting fit? Could it be the summer heat making everything feel worse even despite my cardiovascular fitness getting stronger?

Summer has officially been kicking my ass in the Midwest and after some brutal workouts where I tried to hit my normal sub-t paces and came dangerously close to seriously overcooking, I decided to stop being dumb and adjust my paces. So I made a web app and I wanted to share it with the community.

Hosted on Github pages. Just drop in your city name or use the location service, enter your workout pace, and hit Check Conditions. The app will grab the current dewpoint and adjust your pace accordingly. Location should work anywhere in the world but I haven't tested everywhere 😉

The adjustment scale is fully adjustable and stored in your browsers local storage but comes with presets from the chart at https://runnersconnect.net/dew-point-effect-running/.

It's totally free, no ads or trackers. Feel free to send any feedback or suggestions!

Dew Point Pace Converter

https://preview.redd.it/rjtg9uaqbjah1.png?width=421&format=png&auto=webp&s=b655d69d165494249f0a208fcf6551f807fb1673

Hello again! I’m checking in as I got great advice before on not being stuck to miles per week and shift to hours on feet for training. I’m starting NSM on the 6-hrs per week plan and adjusting with 1-rest day and already doing one long run with hills that I count as one workout for now.

I have read the book.

I introduced my first SubT workout today (3 x 10min) and it went well but I realized I should check in to see if I was only going to add one workout (for now) what is the recommended progression of adding the SubT workouts? Should I do 3x 10, 5x 6 or 9x 3 first and why?

I didn’t see this in the book and even the 4-4.5hr program has 3 SubT workouts.

Thanks!

I was looking back at my training since I fully committed to NSA at the beginning of January. And it has been crazy to see how much fitter I got when the day to day feels the same week after week.

When I started the year, I was doing:

6 x 3 @ ~7:35/mile

12 x 1 @ ~7:05

10 x 30 sec @ ~7:10 on a 5% grade

Now I'm doing:

9 x 3 @ ~7:05/mile

18 x 1 @ ~6:30

2 x 9 x 30 sec @ ~6:50 on a 6% grade

And during this same block my easy pace range has naturally fallen by about thirty seconds.

I knew I was getting fitter, but being able to look back and see where I was to where I am now is wild. I didn't realize my old 1 minute pace is my new 3 minute pace until I checked my training log

This is a typical workout by Bret Sutton, a very successful triathlon coach. He considers it running specific weightlifting and around 10K pace, heart rate at the end of the last rep is close to threshold.

After a warm up you do 3 sets of 6X20 seconds with 30 seconds rest standing at the side of the treadmill, each set separated by 5 minutes of easy running. As there is zero eccentric component recovery is super fast.

After a few weeks your stance completely changes and feels very powerful, absolutely love this workout!

I’ve been running NSM for the past 6 months, averaging around 7 to 8 hours per week and 70 to 80km.

My current half marathon time is 1:26:30 from March 2026, and I’m aiming for a sub-3 marathon in October. Training has been consistent, I still have a few kg to lose, and I’m planning to start the 15-week marathon block in the next 4 weeks.

I also have another half marathon in the next 4 weeks as a progress check. I’ll be targeting sub-1:26, and hopefully closer to or under 1:25.

For context, I’ve previously run a 3:06 marathon, where I went through halfway in 1:28 and then blew up. I’ve also run a couple of 3:2x marathons off the bike in sub-9:30 Ironmans.

Current ST pace is roughly:

• 4:00/km for 3 to 4 minute reps
• 4:05 to 4:10/km for 6 to 7 minute reps
• 4:15 to 4:25/km for 10 to 11 minute reps
• 5:40 to 5:50/km for easy running and long runs

I’ve been looking at the marathon plan in the book, and my main concern is the duration of the long run.

James’ longest run was 2 hours 25 minutes, but that covered 33km. At my current easy/long run pace, I’m covering about 21km in 2 hours. Adding another 25 minutes would only get me to around 25km total.

My concern is that this doesn’t seem long enough to properly prepare for a marathon, especially when aiming for sub-3.

For other sub-3 runners who have used NSM, what did you do in this situation?

Did you:

• keep the long run capped around 2:25?
• extend it closer to 3 hours, which would be around 32km for me?
• increase the pace of the long run, even though that feels counterintuitive?
• do something else entirely?

Curious to hear what has worked for others. I’d like to get this sorted before starting the final marathon block.

Hello, I am 4+ weeks deep into a 5days a week NSM inspired marathon plan. (long run distances based off a traditional novice hal higdon plan, but adding two sub T NSM workouts weekly instead of their speed) I read the original book, but was seeking some feedback. Goal sub 4 hrs marathon if possible

Mon: Rest or 35minZ1

Tue: 3min@8:30min/mi x7 or 5 min@8:42min/mi x 4

Wed: 35minZ1

Thu: 10min@8:52min/mi x2

Fri: 35minZ1

Sat: Rest

Sun: Long run Z1 (with <30% at MP)

Injury prone, so is adding some MP work at the end of a LR an ok way to add a third "ST" session? I have run a marathon before, my longest LR prior to that one was 17 miles. I'm currently building up after injury, doing 10 mile LR this week.

How do you progress on intervals? For example, do I just add an extra set to each workout once every four weeks? ex: instead of 10minx2 I do 10x3?

Thank you!

Does anybody have experience following the marathon plan as a slower runner? I am targeting a 3 hour and 45 minute marathon in October so that at my marathon pace I don’t cover nearly as much distance in ~18 minute intervals. I am worried I won’t have the mileage volume at marathon pace to be prepared for the race. Does anyone else have experience as a slower runner either executing the 18 minute intervals or instead running much longer intervals to cover the 5k distance?

I know that hilly terrain is not optimal but hear me out.
Instead of running on flat you are doing subthreshold runs on uphill treadmill, which should allow you to keep it under the threshold. 3x week
Rest easy and one long run in the mountains
Does it make sense? I know that it’s more complex and of course you can support your training with necessary exercises on the gym.