Modifying the Norwegian approach to lower mileage

When you start NSA, 7:20 (roughly HM+5) is fine, or back off a bit if it feels too hard, especially on the first rep. After a while (6 weeks? 6 months?) it will make sense to speed up the pace on some workouts. Staying consistent week after week is far more important than hitting a proscribed pace. There's always time to try a more ambitious pace next week.

Is someone who runs a 5K twice a month getting a double dose of a key stimulus, or are they missing out on two workouts (or more, if they require recovery days)? My impression is that people who first see NSA assume the first is the case, but people who have been on it for a while come down closer to the second option. Try it for a year and see what you think.

Sorry, the Garmin numbers don't mean anything to me. And I use a Garmin watch every day, but a model that must be too old. I track my total mileage and my weekly workout volume in miles, and that works well enough for me. If the Garmin numbers give you meaningful feedback, great.

Hi All,

I just discovered this thread after listen to a podcast on the NSA. Ever since I read about the Norwegian Method, I have been looking for a way to adapt it to the "Hobby Jogger".

I am 44 and managing OA in my knee and I don't think my body will let me run 7 days a week. I have a few questions.

1. If I cross train on the bike to replace an easy run, am I just looking for the same TSS?

2. Do many people do full rest day?

3. Would it be possible to incorportate the third Q session into my long run?

Thanks in advance

Where did you find Sirpoc's training outline for the marathon?

Funny to see the mention of the frequency project. I have made that connection as well. Treshold training in general is very Dietmar ish.

It's on this thread. Also the outline for the "Grandma's Guy" is here if you route around.

FOD Runner also had an overview of it with a screenshotable view.

Sirpoc is on Strava and all his runs are public. Someone may have mentioned his name on the thread at one point.

Thread is long, and it is a bind to find stuff but it's worth looking back

Funny that the haters on here are bagging on you. Seems like you've taken the most important parts of this training style (intensity control and maxing a maintainable load), and adjusted them to your specific situation. Well done!

To the people on here rigidly copying specifics and hoping to hit times like the OG, I salute you. There have been a lot of success stories.

There's a post on reddit that links to a detailed spreadsheet.

I'm M58, fortunately no arthritic issues though. I cannot answer about cycling, but I do take a full day off each week. My six days of running (M-Sa) look like E/sT/E/sT/E/L-sT. On Saturday I do a hybrid long-subT, doing the longer subT segments of the week during this run. Right now it's at 75-80' with 2x12', only doing two reps because summer in Houston. Once it cools a bit this will bump to 3x12' within a 90' run.

Is doing a long run with subT work in it with a day off the next day really easier on your body than doing a subT day and an easy run the next day? Seems like a long run with subT is easier to get injured from than doing two runs. The bigger the spike in load, the higher the chance of injury. Adding subT to long runs probably spikes the load way more than spreading that load over two days.

Not sure if a long run is really needed with NSA. The idea is to do the most load you can handle. Sirpoc just did a slightly longer run on Sunday since he had more time on Sundays. And that was good enough for everything up to and including a Half marathon.

Didn't even Sirpoc start to incorporate long runs once his goal shifted to marathons? Honnestly, i am very sceptical about doing a 2hr+ race on no longer training runs than 80 minutes. That being said i might not want to add the stress of significant subT portions to long runs unless they feel very easy from start to finish and i'm maxed out in their practical duration for my availability/planning.

Yes, but the long runs were done entirely at an easy effort, and I think capped out at 2.5 hours.

I think the general consensus is to avoid subT effort during the long run when it's 2 hours+ as it's too much training load in one hit.

However, if your long run is 90 minutes, I don't think it's as important to keep the long run and a subT session separate, especially if you have a rest day the following day.

He did LR at 90 minutes for awhile, someone else will have to chime in.

Then for his marathon build he did his longest of 142 minutes, or 2:22, he also did a 120, 125, 130, 131, 135, and 141 minute long runs during his 15 week build.

Thanks. You explain it better than I did myself.

Could be, but so far so good for me. I get decent benefit both physically and mentally by having a complete off day. In part because I run early in the morning, like out the door by 5-5:30 a.m. So at least having the off day I can sleep in and not worry about an alarm going off. Also, consider that I'm running in Houston, so my "long" run is by time because I adjust my pacing to accommodate for high temp and dew point. It's not like I'm banging out 10-12 miles or more with subT built in.

NSA is dead. Our lord hath fallen. Only swimming and biking the last 2 days. RIP

actually its elliptical and biking.

Cool!

The poor little fella seems to be hurt. I guess he's no magic wizard

Not that he owes us anything but I'm sure he'll exain at some point what he's up to. Last time his Strava went a bit quiet everyone started speculating wildly. There was one ghoul even celebrated the possibility of injury as "proof" that the method doesn't work. Show's over, everyone get back to your 12×400 and 30 minute tempos. Turned out his watch wasn't pairing to his phone.

My money is on him being on holiday, it's too hot or he's too hungover to run, and he's trying to maintain some fitness by crosstraining in a dingy hotel gym. He's on record saying he hates treadmills, hence the bike and elliptical. He's also stated he will consider dropping running and moving onto something else when he hits sub-15 and sub-2:20. Not there yet.