The Norwegian Method — Double Threshold Explained

Norway has roughly the population of the U.S. state of Wisconsin — and still dominates endurance sport. Jakob Ingebrigtsen, multiple Olympic champion and indoor world record holder over 1500 m and outdoor world record holder over 2000 m. Kristian Blummenfelt, Ironman world champion. Behind this is not chance but a training system: the Norwegian Method.

At its center is double-threshold training — two threshold sessions on the same day, precisely controlled via lactate measurement. This article explains where the method comes from, how it works, and above all: what you as an amateur athlete can realistically adopt (and what not).

Where the method comes from

Despite the name, the Norwegian Method is not the work of a single genius but grew over two decades. The central figure behind it is Marius Bakken, a two-time Olympian and for 20 years the Norwegian 5000 m record holder. In the late 1990s Bakken began taking his own capillary blood from his fingertip during training to measure lactate — over the years more than 5,500 times.

From these thousands of measurements a model systematically emerged: if you control intensity precisely and stay just below the anaerobic threshold, you can handle a surprising amount of threshold volume. Gjert Ingebrigtsen, father and former coach of the three Ingebrigtsen brothers, put this principle into practice. (There is now a public dispute over the exact authorship — but it is irrelevant for understanding the method.)

The roots run deeper: Arthur Lydiard's high-volume base training, the threshold-focused Italian school around Renato Canova, and Scandinavian lactate research have all fed into it.

The core principle: double threshold

The defining building block is double-threshold training. The idea in one sentence: two threshold sessions on the same day, both deliberately kept below the anaerobic threshold.

Classic threshold training consists of longer continuous blocks at threshold — for example 2 × 20 minutes. The Norwegian Method instead breaks these blocks into shorter intervals with very short recoveries. The advantage: the recoveries keep lactate controllable, and you can spend more total time near threshold without tipping into full effort.

So instead of one hard session a day, two more moderate ones — typically one in the morning, one in the afternoon. Both are held precisely in the sub-threshold range: about 2.5 to 4 mmol/L lactate, just below LT2 (the maximal lactate steady state). Not maximal, not exhausting — but relentlessly precise.

The three pillars

The method rests on three principles:

1. Double threshold: threshold training twice daily (on key days) to accumulate more controlled volume.
2. Lactate control: intensity is held precisely in the target window via regular lactate measurement, not by feel.
3. 80/20 distribution: the bulk of total volume stays easy and aerobic; only a smaller part is the more intense (but still controlled) threshold work.

The common thread: not training harder, but more precisely. Through exact intensity control the athletes can handle enormous amounts of quality without constantly being in the red.

Why it works

Physiologically, it is about improving the ability to use and clear lactate efficiently — the central limiter over long distances. By spending a lot of time just below threshold (instead of less often but exhaustingly above it), the athletes train exactly this transition zone especially effectively.

The key is that each individual session stays submaximal. That is exactly what allows the high frequency: if you make every threshold session exhausting, you cannot repeat it twice daily and multiple times per week. The control is not an end in itself but the precondition for the volume.

What amateur athletes can adopt — and what not

Here it is important to be honest. The Ingebrigtsens' original structure is unsuitable for the vast majority — not because it is too "secret", but because it presupposes a training age and a volume that amateur athletes simply do not have.

Who the method (as is) does not fit

• Runners at 30–60 km/week: they benefit far more from raising their weekly volume incrementally before fine-tuning intensity distribution.
• Time-limited athletes: anyone who cannot reliably fit two sessions into a key day cannot execute the core mechanism.
• Beginners in threshold work: adding a second daily session to a system that has not even adapted to single threshold sessions mainly raises injury risk.

By far the strongest injury predictor in running is sudden jumps in volume or intensity. Copying the Norwegian Method 1:1 is exactly such a jump for most people.

What does transfer well

The principle is valuable at any level: controlled, sub-maximal threshold volume instead of exhausting intervals. Concretely:

• Threshold sessions as intervals instead of a continuous run: e.g. 5 × 6 minutes at threshold with short recoveries instead of 30 minutes straight — this keeps intensity controllable.
• Stay sub-threshold: the session should feel "doable" at the end, not crushing. If you are wrecked afterwards, it was too hard.
• Control intensity instead of guessing: even without a lactate meter you can use heart rate (roughly ~85 % of max HR) or perceived exertion (RPE 6–7 out of 10).
• A second session only once the base is there: if you already handle high volume, you can experiment with a second, lighter threshold session on one day per week.

How to determine your thresholds

The whole method stands or falls with the correct threshold. You need to know where your LT2 (anaerobic threshold) is in order to stay below it. Three ways:

• Lactate measurement: the gold standard of the method — a step test gives you LT1 and LT2 directly. How to do it is in the article on the lactate threshold without a lab, the evaluation in the article on lactate step test analysis.
• Heart rate/pace: once you know your threshold values, you derive your zones from them — the training zones calculator does that for heart rate and pace.
• Race time: from a recent best time you can roughly derive your threshold pace — see the pace calculator.

Conclusion

The Norwegian Method is no secret recipe and no marketing — it is the result of over 5,500 lactate measurements and two decades of systematic work. Its core is sober: more controlled threshold volume through sub-maximal double sessions, precisely steered.

For amateur athletes the valuable part is not the exact structure but the principle behind it: threshold work can be dosed better when you control it and keep it below the line, instead of driving every hard session into exhaustion. And for most people the older, less spectacular advice applies first anyway: build the volume first, then fine-tune the intensity.