Broad run coaching

Bike racked and ready to go

As Ronnie Coleman says - ain’t nothing to it but to do it

Today; I feel Spanish 🇪🇸

🇳🇴 Norwegian Method: worth the hype?

Just finished Marius Bakken’s book on it. Genuinely one of the more useful reads I’ve done in a while.

The core idea is simple. Most runners improve their threshold not by grinding themselves into the ground, but by doing honest, controlled work just under LT2, more often than you’d think.

Bakken’s story behind it is the interesting part. He noticed the top European runners of his era were racing their training. Meanwhile the Kenyans he trained alongside, the best in the world, were running easier. Not soft. Just controlled. And they ended up faster and more efficient because of it.

No smashing every session. No chasing Strava segments in training. Just repeatable, sustainable work at the right intensity, done consistently.

How to actually use this in your own training:

Stay under, always. If you can’t hold a short sentence, you’ve gone too hard. Back off.

For most of us, singles make more sense. The pros use doubles, two sessions a day, but that’s not realistic if you’re fitting training around a job and a life. The Norwegian Singles approach takes the same principle, just under LT2, more often, and applies it to one session a day instead.

What that looks like in practice: threshold work 2-3 times a week, something like 6-8 x 1km or 4 x 2km just under LT2 pace, with full recovery between reps so quality doesn’t drop off. The rest of the week stays properly easy. That’s what makes the threshold days sustainable.

For most of us minutes is an easier practical example (Mon 10 mins, Wednesday 6 mins, Friday 3 mins) break into reps with recoveries 3,2 or 1 minute.

Use the talk test. No lactate meter needed. A few words at a time, that’s your zone. You can also very accurate your pace zones with the VDOT method - back it up with the talk test

Save this and give it a go!