Double Threshold Training Explained: The Norwegian Method Behind Modern Distance Running Success
If you've followed elite distance running over the last few years, you've probably heard the term double threshold training.
The method has become closely associated with Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen and the Norwegian running system, leading many athletes to wonder whether they should be incorporating double threshold sessions into their own training.
But despite its growing popularity, double threshold training is often misunderstood.
Many runners assume it's simply about training harder, running more sessions, or pushing themselves to exhaustion.
In reality, the opposite is true.
Double threshold training is not designed to make training harder. It's designed to increase the amount of quality aerobic work an athlete can complete while carefully managing fatigue and recovery.
So what exactly is double threshold training, where did it come from, and should you be doing it?
What Is Double Threshold Training?
At its simplest, double threshold training involves performing two threshold sessions on the same day.
Typically:
One session takes place in the morning
A second session takes place later in the afternoon or evening
Rather than completing one large threshold workout, athletes split the workload into two separate sessions.
For example:
Morning:
5 x 6 minutes at threshold pace
Afternoon:
10 x 1,000m at threshold pace
Instead of trying to complete all of that work in a single session, the volume is divided across the day.
The goal is simple:
Accumulate more quality threshold volume while keeping fatigue under control.
what is threshold training?
Before understanding double threshold, it's important to understand threshold training itself.
Threshold training targets the intensity where your body is producing lactate but can still clear and reuse it effectively.
At this effort level:
Aerobic fitness improves
Endurance increases
Running economy improves
Lactate clearance becomes more efficient
The result?
Athletes can maintain faster paces before fatigue begins to rapidly accumulate.
This is why threshold training has become a cornerstone of distance running programmes worldwide.
understanding lactate threshold training
When runners talk about threshold training, they're often referring to two different physiological markers:
LT1 (First Lactate Threshold)
LT1 represents the point where lactate first begins to rise above resting levels.
Characteristics include:
Comfortable but purposeful effort
Highly aerobic
Sustainable for extended periods
Lower physiological stress
Many athletes describe LT1 as a pace they could comfortably maintain while still speaking in short sentences.
LT2 (Second Lactate Threshold)
LT2 occurs at a higher intensity.
This is often considered the highest effort where lactate production and lactate clearance remain roughly balanced.
Above LT2:
Lactate accumulates rapidly
Fatigue increases significantly
Recovery demands become much higher
LT2 is often closely related to race pace for longer-distance events.
Why LT1 in the Morning and LT2 in the Afternoon?
One of the key features of the Norwegian model is the strategic use of both thresholds. Typically:
Morning Session - Closer to LT1
This session:
Produces lower lactate levels
Creates less muscular stress
Is easier to recover from
Acts as preparation for later training
Afternoon Session - Closer to LT2
This session:
Produces higher lactate levels
Involves slightly faster paces
Creates a stronger race-specific stimulus
Further develops threshold performance
A useful way to think about it is:
LT1 pulls aerobic fitness up from below.
LT2 pushes performance from above.
Together, they help move an athlete's lactate threshold to increasingly faster paces.
who invented threshold training?
Many people assume Jakob Ingebrigtsen invented double threshold training.
He didn't.
The method was largely developed and refined by Norwegian athlete, coach, and medical doctor Marius Bakken during the 1990s and early 2000s.
Bakken became fascinated by lactate physiology and spent years conducting thousands of lactate tests on himself and other athletes.
His goal was to identify training intensities that maximised adaptation while minimising unnecessary fatigue.
Through this process, he developed a highly structured threshold system based on precise lactate measurements.
Years later, the Ingebrigtsen family adopted many of these principles and helped popularise them globally.
How Jakob Ingebrigtsen Uses Double Threshold
Today, Jakob Ingebrigtsen remains one of the most famous athletes using the approach.
During heavy training phases, he will often perform:
Two double-threshold days per week
High overall training volume
Strict lactate monitoring throughout sessions
Most workouts are carefully controlled to remain between approximately: 2–4.5 mmol/L blood lactate
This is an important detail. Many athletes assume elite runners are constantly pushing to exhaustion. In reality, the Norwegian model is built around restraint. The objective is not to win training sessions. The objective is to maximise adaptation.
the biggest misconception
The biggest misconception surrounding double threshold training is that it is simply "harder training." It isn't.
The best athletes using this method are often surprisingly conservative. They are not trying to:
Set personal bests in training
Race every workout
Finish sessions exhausted
Instead, they focus on:
✅ Consistency
✅ Controlled lactate levels
✅ Repeatable training quality
✅ Long-term development
The goal is to increase training volume, not training intensity.
should every runner use double threshold?
In short: No.
Most runners can achieve almost all of the benefits they need through traditional single-threshold sessions.
Double threshold training generally becomes useful only when an athlete has already maximised what they can tolerate from conventional threshold work.
It is most commonly used by:
Elite athletes
Professional runners
High-mileage distance runners
Athletes training 80–100+ miles (130–160km+) per week
Even then, there is no magic mileage number.
Training age, recovery ability, injury history, and coaching supervision all play important roles.
For many recreational runners, introducing more consistent threshold work may be far more beneficial than attempting a full Norwegian-style double threshold programme.
why has the method become so popular?
The recent success of Norwegian athletes has naturally drawn attention.
Athletes such as:
Jakob Ingebrigtsen
Henrik Ingebrigtsen
Filip Ingebrigtsen
have demonstrated extraordinary consistency over long periods.
Their success has encouraged coaches worldwide to explore whether carefully controlled threshold volume may offer advantages over more traditional approaches.
Research continues to evolve, but current evidence suggests that accumulating more time around threshold intensity can be highly effective when recovery is managed appropriately.
final thoughts
Double threshold training is not a shortcut. It is not a “secret workout”. And it certainly isn't about suffering more.
At its core, the method is about increasing the amount of quality aerobic work an athlete can complete while keeping fatigue under control. The Norwegian system shows that some of the world's best athletes don't necessarily train harder than everyone else. They often train smarter. And perhaps the most valuable lesson from double threshold training isn't the sessions themselves. It's the discipline to stay controlled when everyone else wants to push harder.
further reading
Casado, Foster, Bakken & Tjelta (2023)
Does Lactate-Guided Threshold Interval Training within a High-Volume Low-Intensity Approach Represent the Next Step in the Evolution of Distance Running Training?
Kelemen et al. (2023)
Norwegian Double-Threshold Method in Distance Running: Systematic Literature Review
Evertsen et al. (2001)
Effect of Training Intensity on Muscle Lactate Transporters and Lactate Threshold
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