Modifying the Norwegian approach to lower mileage

Oh man, soon-to-come post on Let's Run: Norwegian Singles Method disables phone - sirpoopy Goes Home Devastated™!

yep. I had to do this after they pushed that update that blue triangle bricked everyone's watches.

Seriously, Fitzgerald? I can't think of anyone worse. Like a lot of things the guy has posted on this thread, you honestly think he would do this if he didn't know he could himself? It's a bit like the marathon, everyone said what he needed to do etc yet he has now come up with a plausible way to bolt on a marathon to this training. In fact there's a guy I follow on Strava who I suspect is copying sirpoc directly and will run a faster marathon for what it's worth.

Let the guy get on with whatever he's gonna get on with. Deserves some peace and quiet.

Maybe a weird or dumb question, but I am trying to dial in on recovery and was wondering: how does everyone feel waking up each morning training with this method? Fresh? Achey? Tired? Varies?

I have consistently increased CTL with much success (8 months!) and have improved most of my times. However, I do wake up achey and stiff each morning (as I did training with threshold/VO2/progressive long run and high mileage) and then was curious if maybe I’m pushing the envelope a bit too much or if this is normal (HR and paces say otherwise). With other methods, I’d improve for a quick while before burning out, but I’m mostly still doing ok here. Just happen to wake up sluggish and wasn’t sure how “fresh” or recovered most people (who are doing this right) feel in the mornings while training with this method (and if being low-grade achey is a sign of slightly overdoing it). Thanks all.

Someone mentionned earlier in this thread that the hardest days are actualy the Easy ones.

I personaly agree with this statement. The hour long easy run at 70% hrmax isn't always a pleasure, but the day after for subT i feel very good.

Concerning the physical feelings, my muscles never feel full rested, but not at a point i can't run. I believe this is the point of that training .. Putting permanent controlled stress on body.

My wife always beats me climbing up stairs as my legs are always a bit fatigued until I warmup

I was worried for you and your marriage until I realized you simply meant that she climbs the stairs faster than you. Glad to hear we're all a bit achey but not regressing in training

Great thread, have been implementing this a while now. Thoroughly enjoyed the podcast. I recently ran a 5k PB at 49. Have been running since I turned 40. Remarkable just how following it after a while everything feels so steady and under control. Compared to the hectic nature of any previous plans I had put myself on or be coached. Nothing remarkable but 17:58 not bad for my age. PB was 18:12 from 5 years ago. Basic program, no hills, no 200 repeats, no strides. Hardest part is actually running super easy I would say, on the long run or non workout days.

Until recently biting the bullet and doing a HRmax test so I could start doing my easy days under the 70% cap, I was doing all my easy days much closer to 75%. Each morning I would wake up and my calves would take like 20 minutes to feel normal and the start of each run felt awful. Now I’ve actually started to follow sirpoc’s arbitrary 70% cap rule and that hasn’t happened once after two weeks with that being the only variable.

i just ran the easiest 4 min/km pace sub t intervals I’ve ever done. Ie the pace felt very easy and controlled. Last 5km was 19.30 back in April. I ran the intervals in the puma fast r 3s so not sure if it was my improved fitness or the shoes, but it felt effortless. First time wearing the shoes.

I’ve been doing triathlons since around 2003 until going to just running last 3 years and i think a 5km pb could be on the cards. And I’m 47 years old. Pb is around 18.40 done during Covid lockdown. I probably would have gone faster at other times, but have been training and competing in tris, so only ever did 5kms as part of sprint distance tris and i could go around 19.30 for my best sprint tri 5km - although i have faster paced 10kms in oly distance tri races, i suspect they were short.

like others have said, by the time sub t day rolls around i feel great.

For those interested, I discuss the Norwegian Singles Approach in my latest blog post.

The link is below:

pluttrell3.wixsite.com

Mistake #2: Too Much VO2 Max Training

Paul Luttrell

For many, a VO2 Max workout is a staple of the 7-day training cycle, but is it the thing preventing consistent, long-term improvement?

Link:pluttrell3.wixsite.com/train-of-though...

I've been at this for 5 weeks now, and still only two days a week of subT (will move to 3 soon, not quite there yet). Per intervals.icu my CTL is as high as it's ever been and my aches and pains are minimal. I'm feeling great. Even if this doesn't work at all (which I seriously doubt), it's much more pleasant on my 50 yo body than trying to bang out a 6 x 800 at 5k pace on a weekly or so basis, which leaves me completely drained.

Show us your gps data.

Were you by any chance one of the people early in the thread who said they don't believe sirpoc ran 17 off this? That didn't age well either. It's funny as a lot of the early days were people claiming he was also making claims that weren't true. Im on the Strava group and there's plenty of remarkable improvements, much bigger than this relatively unspectacular claim.

One of my favourite posts in the thread was when sirpoc started putting stuff on Strava around this time, people then mostly started to believe the thread. But one guy even claimed he was digitally doping.

I think a lot of people hate to learn probably how they have trained as a hobby jogger previously was probably pretty awful . The hate on the thread is usually their own frustration for wasting their best years so choose to bury their head in the sand or accept this could even possibly work!

Just a reader here, but wanted to remind people about the website norwegiansingles.run that one poster created. Its a great summary (many thanks, valuable work!), so no one has to read through every page of this thread to get the most important information.

Hi James, really loved the podcast, thanks for sharing your thoughts here, in reddit and on the podcast (I was one of the people who contacted the hosts to suggest they look into your method) and being so generous with your time talking with everyone who is interested in the method.

I am writing about the book to say, firstly, you should definitely write one, but also - perhaps the best way to go about it would be to team up with Matt Fitzgerald! If you never heard of him, he is a prolific author on endurance books, and has partnered in the past with others (mainly professional coaches, like Brad Hudson and Ben Rosario) for his books. If anything, it would make it very straightforward to publish and market the book and am sure some help on the authoring would not go amiss.

Hope his suggestion is constructive and am looking forward to seeing how this develops. Wishing you all the best for your future endeavours, athletic or not.