Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen’s Norwegian Single Threshold training approach

Perhaps the most unlikely sporting hero to come from Norway’s famous Ingebrigtsen family is Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen.

Though he has no Olympic medals, European titles, or world records like his brothers Jakob, Filip, and Henrik, the eldest Ingebrigtsen brother has accomplished a much more relatable goal for many recreational and amateur runners: losing 25 kg, getting back in shape in his mid-30s, and running very respectable times (32:58 in the 10k and 1:12:11 for the half marathon) while training once per day as a family man with a full-time job.

Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen’s training, set by his brother Henrik, has served as a source of inspiration for a burgeoning Norwegian Singles Approach to training, which attempts to apply the principles of the Norwegian model of training (pioneered by Marius Bakken and later advanced by the speedier Ingebrigtsen brothers) to self-described “hobby joggers”: ordinary people with ordinary jobs, who still have ambitions of improving their times.

Origins of the Norwegian Singles Approach

Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen is not the fastest standard-bearer of the Norwegian Singles Approach (sometimes called “NSA training”)—that honor belongs to “sirpoc84,” the internet alias of another runner who has chronicled his own improvements from out-of-shape hobbyjogger to 2:24 marathoner using a training approach that was heavily inspired both by Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen’s training and sirpoc’s own background as a cyclist.

Sirpoc’s training combines the Ingebrigtsen-style emphasis on sub-threshold training, exclusively done as intervals, with a focus on maintaining a steady chronic training load, or CTL—essentially a weighted average of training stress, with each minute of higher-intensity running being “worth” more than one minute of slower running. Sirpoc’s training approach, though, is not our focus today.

Instead, we’ll take a look at the origin of Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen’s “single threshold” adaptation of the much more intensive double threshold approach pioneered by Marius Bakken and the other Ingebrigtsen brothers.

To an even greater extent than the Jakob/Filip/Henrik Ingebrigtsen-style double threshold approach, the Norwegian Singles Approach has very few English-language “founding documents”—aside Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen’s own (public) Strava page and a sprawling 300+ page thread on the infamously toxic LetsRun message boards (the source of most of sirpoc’s updates), there are only a few centralized sources of information about the “NSA” approach: a small subreddit, a Strava group, a short summary website, and a calculator app.

This post is not an attempt to summarize or broadly critique the Norwegian Singles Approach—at some point I’ll share my own thoughts on it and link to them separately—but is rather an effort to add another foundational resource for runners who want to hear Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen describe his training in his own words.^[1]

Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen’s I det lange løp podcast, in English

In 2021, Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen appeared on the now-defunct Norwegian running podcast I det lange løp (“In the Long Run”) and provided a lengthy account of his journey from overweight out-of-shape dad to hobbyjogger hero. But the podcast, of course, was in Norwegian.

As regular RunningWritings readers will know, last fall I posted a translated transcript and commentary on Marius Bakken’s interview on this very same podcast, which detailed his pioneering double threshold approach to elite-level 5k training. I still had all of the “infrastructure” set up to transcribe and translate the audio from that podcast, and I figured I’d fire it up once more.

So, I’m providing an English-language transcript of that podcast, plus some commentary at the end about some of the more interesting aspects of the discussion—though, again, my postscript is descriptive, not prescriptive. Regular readers would also guess, correctly, that I do not necessarily agree with every aspect of the Norwegian Singles Approach, but if you want to hear my own thoughts on training, there’s no lack of good places to start!

As always, if you enjoy my work, please consider subscribing to my email list below—it’s the best way to find out when I have a new article out.

A note on the transcript

Like my transcript and analysis of the Marius Bakken interview, the initial transcript of the Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen podcast was generated using nb-whisper-large, a powerful automatic speech recognition model developed by the AI lab at the National Library of Norway (Nasjonalbiblioteket AI Lab) that was specifically tuned for the intricacies of the Norwegian language.

I compared text translations (Norwegian to English) from Gemini 2.5 Pro and Claude Sonnet 4,^[2] two of the best general-purpose AI models as of July of 2025, and made some corrections and light edits as needed.^[3] As with any translation—human or otherwise—don’t get too hung up on any one particular word or phrase.

One final note: this interview was published in September of 2021, so it came out well before the months-long court case in which Gjert Ingebrigtsen, father of Kristoffer and the other Ingebrigtsen siblings, was accused of physical assault and physical and psychological abuse. Gjert was ultimately convicted of assaulting Ingrid, his youngest daughter, but was cleared of the abuse charges. So, that is why you will not hear this topic discussed in the podcast.

And now, let’s hear Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen’s story.

Contents

You can use the links below to browse different parts of the interview. Clicking on the ⬆️ icon next to each heading in the text will bring you back here.

• Podcast introduction
• The listener question that motivated the Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen interview
• Kristoffer’s humble beginnings an overweight hobbyjogger
• Trying to lose weight, dealing with injuries
• Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen’s diet
• Dreading hard intervals and Coach Henrik’s master plan
• Starting out with fartlek training on the treadmill
• Kristoffer’s first half marathon: 1:29:52
• Getting more serious about training, staying in control during workouts
• A typical training week for Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen
• Kristoffer’s next half marathon PR of 1:20:53
• Going for training runs with Jakob Ingebrigtsen
• Losing weight, getting healthy, and overall mentality
• Kristoffer’s future racing plans
• Kristoffer’s advice to recreational runners
• Closing: joining the family team
• I det lange løp host commentary after the interview
• Postscript: John’s commentary

Podcast introduction ⬆️

I det lange løp (LL): You are listening to podcast number seven [of I det lange løp]. There are at least three brothers who have made quite a name for themselves in the running world, but the other brother of Jakob, Henrik, and Filip has caught the running bug. His weight has gone down, his fitness has gone up, and he’s now the one who holds the family record for the half marathon.

His name is Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen. You've probably noticed the eldest brother there in the TV series, Team Ingebrigtsen. He's perhaps better known for sitting on a bike as a form of pacer when the guys are doing hard workouts, than he is as a runner himself, and it sounds like things are starting to happen?

Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen (KI): Yes, yes, yes. It first appeared when I was on Team Ingebrigtsen, where they interview the guys. I don't know how old Henrik and Filip might be there, maybe ten or eight years old in connection with a ski race. The father asks what Kristoffer is going to win, and he answers a bit meekly. He was a bit unsure and so on, and he was just going to participate and so on…Yes, he has simply found great joy in running.

LL: [in a cutaway clip] I spoke with Kristoffer’s “coach,” Henrik Ingebrigtsen—his slightly younger brother—during the Norwegian Championships in Kristiansand. We can hear what Henrik said then, about his new “student,” shall we say.

LL: Here stands Henrik Ingebrigtsen, and you've become a coach for your brother, who has set a new family record in the half marathon. What is happening now?

Henrik Ingebrigtsen (HI): When my brother asks if I can help him a bit with training, and he's willing to run every day up to 100 km a week, then I am 100% committed, he deserves a little extra follow-up.

LL: So now you get to test your own training philosophy on a recreational runner. Or a super-recreational runner, then.

HI: Yes, absolutely. We believe that the philosophy we train by is quite universal. But you have to train enough, and then you get a bit faster, but…he gets excited quickly, and then his legs hurt, and then he gets demotivated and stops. So we started at a lower level, and we're working our way forward slowly instead of getting overconfident and going too hard.

LL: Should we get him a few more followers on Strava now? Because now you recreational runners can go in and follow him, and then you'll get the recipe for how Henrik Ingebrigtsen thinks a super-recreational runner should train!

We'll do that. We'll send in an application. Most of the listeners are in that category.

So there was only one thing to do here. That was to contact Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen himself as soon as possible and find out what he has done to achieve this progress.

The question that motivated the Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen interview ⬆️

Relevant to this topic, I've also received a listener question here. Which I chose to answer, really, with this entire interview. This listener weighs 101 kg. He ran the 10k in 43 minutes and the half marathon in 1:45, but that was twelve years ago. Since then, he’s been busy with work. Here’s what he says:

[Listener question:] I have a wife who trains a lot, and I’ve been thinking about getting my act together and have given myself three years to get back into my old shape. We have a complete home gym and live right next to ski trails, so this should be possible.

I tested my fitness the other day and it was dismal. Threshold pace of 9 km/h, and after 6 km my legs are shot and my stride gets worse and my breathing gets heavy.

What do you think I should start with? Frequent sessions on the treadmill? Five runs of 5 km per week? When my fitness improves, should I increase speed and distance? At what level should I introduce hard workouts?

LL: And I feel that this interview here with Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen... It's very much the answer to this question. So just stay tuned. In fact, we will also hear Henrik say that they have a two-to-three-year perspective on their type of training. So I feel it's a perfect answer to that question. Here we give you…Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen.

Kristoffer’s humble beginnings an overweight hobbyjogger ⬆️

LL: Now we're going to hear from a guy who just set a new family record in the Ingebrigtsen family…in the half marathon! And that's an impressive family to set a family record in.

It might be because a couple of the younger brothers haven't tested the distances yet, but we'll come back to that. The eldest of the flock, Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen, is a 33 years old family man with a  full-time job who is renovating his house. And he has managed to run 1:20:53 in the half marathon. Welcome to I det lange løp, Kristoffer.

KI: Thank you for that.

LL: If I had called you a year ago, you wouldn't have run a half marathon in 1:20. What was the situation then?

KI: No, back then I was basically an overweight 33-year-old. Who... yeah, wasn't very active.

LL: We've seen you in Team Ingebrigtsen on TV, and you're often out on your bike, like a kind of pacer for your fit little brothers. We haven't seen much running from you yourself, what happened a year ago?

Trying to lose weight, dealing with injuries ⬆️

KI: It actually happened at the beginning of 2020. I thought I had gotten a bit too heavy, so I thought, now I'll start running a bit. And so I started with 30 minutes every day. And when it got to February 2nd, something in my calf tore.

I got some kind of muscle fiber tear or muscle strain, whatever you call it. And then I could barely walk, and certainly couldn’t jog for a couple of months, I think. So I thought, this is it, I'm not going to run anymore. But then on the 27th, I remember the exact date of that. I thought, no, I'm not going to make the same mistake I did in January. I'll try to take it a bit easier.

LL: And what did you do then?

KI: Then I thought, I'll jog for 20 minutes. And then I'll do two days on the elliptical for 20 minutes, or whatever it was. And I'll do that for a couple of months and see how it goes.

LL: Did you tell the rest of the family that you were starting again, or did you keep a low profile?

KI: Yeah, but it was very tough. I weighed 93.5 kilos [206 lbs]. And I looked at it on the BMI scale, and I tipped over into overweight... no, obese. And then I became a coach for the girls' six-year-old soccer team, and I thought, I can't walk around here as an overweight person and be a coach. So it kind of snowballed from there.

LL: We can talk a bit about your family situation and job situation. What stage of life you're in. Because that also plays a role when you're going to make such a change. What is your daily life like?

KI: I'm 33 years old, married, and have two young kids, four and six years old. The last five years have basically been spent renovating the house. And there wasn't much training. A full-time job... So that's really where I am.

LL: Yeah, and you also help your brothers a bit when you have the chance?

KI: Yes, and it just got worse and worse now that I'm supposed to fit in training for the kids and their soccer games. And my own training and work and helping Jakob. It's like, “ugh... I've jogged five kilometers up to Sandnes stadium, and then I've biked more, and then I've jogged back home.” Yes. Just because I think it's a bit fun too, to be a part of it.

LL: Yes, I understand that very, very well. But that was the situation, and so my question is... When do you find time to train?

KI: Well, that's also a limitation, because I hate training in the morning. And then I have to work, and because the time I've trained is on Strava, so I can't train in the middle of the workday either. So it ends up being afternoon and evening.

LL: After the girls have gone to bed and so on?

KI: Yes, maybe not right then. My wife likes to train early, so she's done training. But yesterday the girls had a game, and I think I went out around 6:30 pm. Yes. Got dinner out of the way and got people out for activities, so there was a little hour there. It's about taking the chances you get.

LL: Yes. And after all, it's just... I tell people, I hardly train for more than an hour and five or ten minutes. And since it's the world's simplest sport, you just have to go out and do it. And then go straight home again.

It's the world's simplest sport in that sense, but it can be a bit tough mentally. How was it in the beginning? Was it great athletic joy and a feeling of flow from the start?

KI: It has often been very tough. Definitely. But it's the combination of having to change everything. I have to change my diet, change my training habits, or add training habits. And I must say, it has been extremely tough. Especially when you have to do everything at once.

Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen’s diet ⬆️

LL: What did you do regarding your diet?

KI: I took a very drastic approach. I started what I call my own diet. But I went for meat, chicken, only lean meat and lots of vegetables with almost every meal. And a skyr [a high protein, low-fat/low-sugar dairy product, much like yogurt] for breakfast, maybe. We should of course be careful talking so much about dieting, I think, if there are young people listening. But I had to make some drastic changes to my diet.

LL: Yes, but it sounds like you were still eating enough. Your diet just changed a bit. What was your intake before? What was replaced here?

KI: I've perhaps had a strange diet. No breakfast, and then a dinner-sized meal for lunch with all the trimmings, and then another dinner-sized meal again, and then probably dinner in the evening. So three dinners. And a lot of chips and beer and... Just a mess, really.

LL: So that was a bit of a tough transition, then?

KI:Oh yes. I ate little, I mean. It was small amounts.

LL: But how quickly did you start seeing results?

KI: Well, do you mean overall?

LL: In terms of fitness, I mean. It's all connected.

Starting training, getting hurt, and deciding to run a half marathon ⬆️

KI: Yes, it's connected. The kilos just melted off, and I tried to maintain this one-and-one schedule of one day of jogging and one day on the elliptical.

And then I think after a month of practice, I was jogging every day. And then I wondered…I had to look back at my Strava. And that was in October, I think. So two months. Then I thought, “I'll start with intervals.” No, no, I'm kidding. It was in November. “Three months, then I'll start with intervals.”

And during that month of November, I hit a bit of a wall. Even though I was getting treatment, I started having pain in my calves again. So I had a little break for a couple of days in December.

And then I thought, now I'll just jog for 30 minutes every day, at the same pace, for as long as I feel it's necessary. So I did that pretty much through December, and out again through January, and maybe went up to 40 minutes. And I think it was at the beginning of February that I started to change my training again. But at that point, it was really just easy training.

LL: Was it really easy, or was it like you ran based on your daily form, and sometimes it went a bit faster and sometimes a bit slower?

KI: I'm very focused on the watch and very into the statistics and kind of like the “Gjert thing,” the laminated plan. So I basically decided: I'm going to run at that pace. And so I did. I started at about 6:30 per kilometer.

LL: And at some point, you decided it would be fun to run a half marathon.

Dreading hard intervals and Coach Henrik’s master plan ⬆️

KI: Yes. And then I thought, then I probably need to figure out how to do that. But I knew that I didn't want to go back to…I have trained before, run a few thousand kilometers when I was younger. I didn't want to go back to running 400 meters at my limit and 1000 meters. That hard training, I didn't want to start with that again. Because I find it extremely tough to dread a workout. So... yeah.

LL: Yes, that's exactly it. I really identify with that. When Bjørn Dæhlie^[4] was the big role model in the 90s, and we heard he was so good at pushing himself. We thought we had to run as hard as we could, so we started dreading the workouts. So I understand that way of thinking. But then you set some principles leading up to this half marathon?

KI: Yes, I did. I thought, who knows this best? That's dad, of course. Gjert. I thought, “He knows this.” So I went to him and said, what should I do in training to run a half marathon?

Well, he had to think about it a bit. And he thought, and he thought, and a week went by, so I said, “Are you still thinking about it?”

Yes, he's still thinking. And he didn't really come up with anything, but he said, “You mustn't run with interval shoes [i.e. racing flats or spikes], you mustn't do intervals. He's afraid I'll injure myself. So he didn't come up with anything.

 So I went to Henrik, and he had many, many good ideas for training for a half marathon and such. So together with him, we basically figured out, “okay, we start here…” I think I started with under three minutes on the treadmill.

So the principle is really: I'm going to train every day. Where I run easy on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. And quality on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

LL: That sounds a bit familiar.

KI: Yes, and those are the days there are intervals or quality in our family. So those are the natural days.

LL: Now you were kind of “on the team” and had the same days as the others to look forward to when it comes to hard training. Did Henrik kind of…declare himself as your coach already then?

KI: That's right. My fitness level was rather poor. So it was more like, “you should do this and that.” And then I managed it a bit myself.

LL: And when were you told to push yourself?

Starting out with fartlek training on the treadmill ⬆️

KI: There wasn't much instruction, so it's hard for him to know what level I was at. But I have always thought that I'd rather run a bit slower, because I'm so prone to injury. Pain everywhere.

I still have a little pain all the time, but back then I was more like... OK, it won't be long before my calf tears again. So I thought, I'll keep myself at a heart rate that is…oh I don't remember what it was, but I simply set a pace for myself.

For example, on a fartlek I'd say OK, jog at twelve [km/h, about 8:00/mi or 5:00/km]. That's the jogging pace for that session. So then I'll do a kilometer and a half faster, on the fast part of the workout, which wasn't “fast.” But I just have to start somewhere.

LL:Yeah. The treadmill was probably good to have for that, for making clear choices.

KI: Yes, it's actually quite good, but too much treadmill training is demotivating. It's not that exciting in that sense. No, the fartlek, that's probably the most unfamiliar session for me. I felt that I was actually quite bad at the half marathon. Like 10k, half marathon previously, when I was training. Because it was more like... I ran fast on the 400-meter repeats. I didn't feel I got the endurance training to maintain my pace over time. No. I grew to really like that session.

Kristoffer’s first half marathon: 1:29:52 ⬆️

LL: But the half marathon was on April 1st. It took place, and it didn't go too badly. Can you tell us a bit about what it was like?

KI: Yes, it was actually... I was quite dreading it. And what I found out with the half marathon is that you have to set a pace. You have to decide on a pace. And preferably a pace you can run.

I did a 10-12 km run with ten minutes at my pace a couple of days before, and that went fine. So I started with that pace, I ran 10-12 km at that pace, I think. And then I noticed that I had more to give.

So my wife was leading by 2 minutes and 7 seconds when 15 km had passed. And then dad started saying that now you have to start pushing. He was going all out around the course in a kind of power walk. And then I ran my way down to an average pace of 4:16/km, was it? 4:15 or 4:16/km, I think.

LL: 4:15, I think. 1:29:52, if I've noted it correctly here [which is indeed 4:15.6/km]. That's what you came in at.

KI: Yes, and I even went so far as to say to Henrik that I have no respect for the half marathon distance, I can handle it. And then he just said, “Don't be so cocky now. You're talking with a bit of adrenaline in your system, you know.”

LL: But that must have been a very good first experience with a race number on your chest again?

KI: Yes, very. And my big problem my whole life has been that I've been so extreme. That was one of the reasons I wanted to run a half marathon. I want to have a time before I get too old.

Getting more serious about training, staying in control ⬆️

LL: Can you describe the feeling you had inside your body for the first few minutes after crossing the finish line there?

KI: It became that I'll train more and lose weight, and so on. But then I started to dread it. What should I aim for in the next race?

And then another race came up in May. I ran a ten-kilometer race. I had been a little sick, but I ran it in 37:15. And then too, I thought, now I'm starting to get in good shape. And then... it's really just that I've gotten lighter. I've been able to train properly and have gradually added volume as I feel it's been feasible. But I've held back a lot on intervals and volume.

LL: So you don't dread going to interval training anymore?

KI: No, I don't. But I have to catch myself and make sure I run at the pace I'm supposed to run at. I have to be disciplined even though I'm a recreational runner. You have to be.

Otherwise, you just become…At least I have a tendency to get a lot of pain. So Henrik says that, he said it so well the other day, that we'd probably quite a few other athletes who have tried to drag themselves after us. [Meaning, I think, runners who “tag along” in the Ingebrigtsen’s workouts and try to hang on, even though the pace is well above their abilities].

LL: And that's a bit more painful, to put it lightly.

KI: Yes, then you can start to dread hard sessions if you don't like it.

LL: But now it seems you train quite a lot. I follow you on Strava. I've spoken a bit with Henrik, as we heard earlier in the episode. He praises you a lot. You are very diligent and do what you're supposed to, etc. What are your training volumes at now?

KI: I try to stay between 90-100 km/wk, even though I can never manage to break 100 km/wk. So it's like 90-95 km/wk that I'm aiming for. But it doesn't take more than one day of training being missed for some reason. Then I lose a lot of kilometers because it suddenly becomes Sunday training. So if I have 75  km one time, it's like one session is gone. I try to say no, now I have to train, but it's like…yeah, do you really have to if there's something important you should have done?

LL: Let me think that you're not trying to win an Olympic gold either, so there are important things. But you've clearly managed to maintain continuity. What does a week consist of, then? A sort of standard week?

A typical training week for Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen ⬆️

[See also the section below which lays out a Monday to Sunday week]

KI: The standard now is that I run 12 km on the easy sessions. So 12 km on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

And then I do a fartlek on Tuesday, usually. And I've started to run that on the treadmill, to be sure that I'm running at the right speed. But I've been wanting to try to extend that a bit for a long time. But you can't really extend by running faster and adding distance.

So now I've come to the point where I'd rather add 2000 meter repeats. But I've just started with that.

We see that I warm up for 2 km, and then I run 1000 meters at a given speed: 3:50, for example. And then I jog for 500 meters, and then I do that again eight times. A bit slower on the float, every other kilometer.

LL: Yes. You really like that session. It gives good volume, and it's also very time-efficient.

KI: Very. And that's a difference. I don't do any drills like I used to. Because they [his brothers] get a few kilometers just from the drills and strides and like, back and forth. So I don't get those kilometers. It's just straight into it.

But Henrik probably wants me to run a bit longer in the future, I think. Last week I had 2000-meter repeats instead of 1000-meter repeats. Because on the 1000s, I run a bit too fast.

LL: You get a bit eager?

KI: Yes, because it's a bit easier when you have a minute's rest [walking or standing, presumably]. Yes. Compared to just jogging in between. You don't get punished as hard.

LL: [Four or] five times 2000 meters, with eight to ten kilometers in volume for the session?

KI: Yes. And that was on Sunday [presumably he meant Thursday; Sunday is his long run day].

LL: Yeah, you skipped Saturday?

KI: Yes, I skipped it then, yes. I've had three times ten minutes at Sandnes stadium there. But last time I had three times 3000 meters. Yes. That's a bit longer than I've had previously.

LL: Yes, you do that at the stadium. Run seven and a half laps then.

KI: Yes. It's very convenient, and then the kids can come along, and they sit there and do something. Or ride their bike. Yes. But that one is good.

LL: And the long run. I was curious about how long that was.

KI: Yes, everything has had a development, so it started at 12 km. Then Henrik came into the picture and said I had to do 14 km. And then he said next week you'll increase to 15 km. Then he increased it to 16 km. And then I think I've increased it myself to sometimes run 18 km.

LL: That's the longest run of the week?

KI: Yes. The longest. This program was what I followed leading up to the Stavanger half-marathon. That was just a few weeks ago.

Kristoffer’s next half marathon PR of 1:20:53 ⬆️

LL: Those of us who follow your famous brothers on social media saw that they were very proud of you. And they were out cheering, and they were managing things, and you came in at 1:20:53. You beat your personal best by nine minutes! That's almost half a minute per kilometer compared to April. What do you say to that?

KI: Yeah. No, I was very happy then. It was just enormous. I didn't know what to say, you know. Because I had set a goal for myself there, and I crushed that goal by several minutes.

But it's such a good feeling, at least if you start at the pace you planned to start at, so you know you can hold it for at least 10 km without any trouble. And If you then have a lot left…I took back 10-15 seconds on the last 5k. Simply put. Ran a bit progressively and had a lot of energy at the end.

LL: And saw that you were going to crush your goal. There was a lot working in your favor at the end.

KI: Yes, there was. But the last five kilometers were quite tough, though. I pushed it on Henrik's advice. 'Hold back! Hold back until three!' And then I just thought 'OK, increase it a tiny bit'. And then I increased more and more. He was driving around the course there, giving me Maurten gels. It was absolutely packed with those products, you know.

LL: So the backing was good?

KI: Yes, it almost became a bit excessive... It's starting to get good.

Going for training runs with Jakob Ingebrigtsen ⬆️

LL: Have your siblings started to have more advice and follow more closely as you've gotten faster and faster here, or is it that now they all want to get involved?

KI: Yeah, they're following along, but it doesn't feel like it has completely taken off in the family. But we had a confirmation for Ingrid this weekend, and Filip was home. And on Sunday I said we could run together. He said he wanted to run 4:40s [per km]. And that was fine, he joined.

And then we had a plan there, and suddenly Jakob was standing out in the street there with Filip and said no, not him. Not that Jakob. He's known for not wanting to run slow. And then I had to go in and say to Henrik, “Now Jakob is here, can I run a bit faster?”

Yes, that was fine, I can run a bit faster. And then we set off, you know, and I see four-flat [4:00/km] down the street, and I'm just thinking…This is never going to end well. But then it went surprisingly well, and we came back at a pace of 15 km at a 4:12/km average. I felt completely wiped out, but still not too bad.

LL: That's a big step. You can train with a European champion, a World Championship medalist, and an Olympic champion without being crushed?

KI: Yes. And what happened the day after, on Monday, was that Jakob called me and…or rather, he sent a message about when I was going to run. “Yeah, it'll be later then?” Yes, he was going to join, because he's on a break and only runs once a day, so that's why he hadn't run with anyone. You say you don't run at 4:12 pace. You don't. I could run at whatever pace I wanted. We end up running at 4:22/km. Yes. And then I wrote on Strava that this is not sustainable. Because it's not.

LL: It might be that if you had done that for a month, on all your easy runs, you would have started to feel it a bit, yes?

KI: Yes, I'm feeling it a bit now already. It's like as soon as I feel it in my calf, I start to feel it when I run too fast.

LL: Yes, I've tried a morning run with two of your brothers a couple of times. It was good threshold training, I found out.

KI: Well, that's what I thought, because usually Jakob runs at 3:40-3:50/km on his easy runs. And that's fine for me to have as threshold training. So that's a good combination.

Yes, and yesterday he started again. No, I said. I don't have time for you. And then he sent a screenshot of his watch after he had run. And it was... He ran an average of 3:10/km. Probably just to show that he can run fast.

LL: That could be tough?

KI: That could be tough. But he probably just wanted to have a bit of fun. He ran a 10k differently, that one. We've seen that throughout this season and many other seasons.

Losing weight, getting healthy, and overall mentality ⬆️

LL: But you, how many kilos [of weight] have you lost, what has the training done for your head?

KI: It's kind of good to get out a bit and think your own thoughts and get that adrenaline out. And then everything is easier, you know. But I do have a bit too much large clothing. That's a problem. It affects my finances. Yes. But actually, it's a bit funny that I haven't thrown away the old things I had from before. So I suddenly fit into old clothes now.

LL: Yes, that's smart. You slide right into the clothes you had five to ten years ago. I recognized the problem a few years ago. That stuff is a bit fun too.

But what are your thoughts on running going forward now? You've really got momentum now.

KI: Yes, now I'm really pushing it. So now I'm trying to increase to what... So I'm running what I told you. That's a small increase from before. So that I at least run 95-97 km per week. And then I have a big goal out in October…which I wasn't quite sure if I should say publicly.

Kristoffer’s future racing plans ⬆️

LL: Tresjøers, is that it, or is it something else?

KI: No, it's in warmer climates.

LL: Well, you've said it, so you might as well say it now.

KI: Yes, I have... I put myself on the waiting list in July for the Valencia Half Marathon.

LL: I can promise you that. You'll shave off a number of seconds just on the course. Because they are... I know where you ran in the Stavanger marathon. And have been around the area a bit. I know that it's not super fast. So if you had the same fitness in Valencia, with good conditions, you would have been well under 1:20.

KI: Yes. So, when I first got a spot, I had to estimate what I thought I would run. Or what my personal best was. And then the website range went from 1:12 to 1:19. And then it was 1:19 to 1:25, or something. Then Henrik called and said what he wrote here. He said he didn't pick the one from 1:19 to 1:25, but from 1:12 to 1:19. But I had to attach a results list.

LL: Yes. But you're about there now. 1:20:53. I think that's around 1:19 on that course.

KI: I hope so.

LL: And then there are many others doing the exact same thing, so you'll end up in a group that runs at about the same speed as you. If you're a bit smart at the start again and keep an eye on your watch, I think it can be a great experience.

KI: Yes, I think so too. And I... Yes, I'm quite serious about my training now. I don't slack off much in training. It costs a bit of money too. You can't just pretend it doesn't mean anything.

[Kristoffer did indeed run a new personal best of 1:15:50 at Valencia in October of 2021]

LL: But do you feel a bit of pressure when you show up in Stavanger, and you have the most famous brothers in the whole area cheering, and you have the last name you have. Do you feel anything about that?

KI: No... Not right there and then, because then I knew my personal best was 1:29, you know. And I hadn't lied too much about the time there, so I ended up in heat 2. Yes. But I ran away from my heat after 500 meters, I think. Yes.

Kristoffer’s advice to recreational runners ⬆️

LL: But we all compete with ourselves, and I think you should stick with that. But you, if you were to give some advice to other recreational runners who want to train a bit more seriously to improve, or who want to change their lifestyle a bit, what is your best advice?

KI: It's tough to do everything at once. But it's best to change your diet and training at the same time. But if you're a complete beginner, it's really about starting slowly.

Start slowly, jog so you don't get hurt. Jog until you feel it's okay to run eight to ten kilometers, and then you can possibly start with some interval training. Or like I did, slightly longer intervals.

LL: It seems like you established a fixed training pattern, or training rhythm, before you got into the intervals and the more serious training, in a way. And then the rhythm was already set?

KI: Yes, that's what I thought, since I've hit some walls before. If you start as an untrained person straight into intervals and full throttle, I can promise you it will hurt in your legs. Even if you get a lot of treatment, it's risky.

LL: And then there was this advice that I think is very good, which you talked about regarding interval training, fartleks, etc., that you hold back a bit. That works well for you.

KI: Yes, I think so, but yes... There's no point, in my opinion, in running too hard. Better to run a few more, then. More repetitions, and rather run a few more. More repetitions. And instead of running hard, hold back a bit on the pace.

LL: I've said it a few times, which I used in my start-up phase. I'm about where you are now, what I was 8-10 years ago. Then I said that I started not many days in the beginning, the first half-year.

It's tough to go out in four degrees and rain straight in your face and pain and so on. Better to run a bit slower, a bit shorter then. For example, I had 1000 meter repeats on the treadmill when I was a bit worn down, and then I just lowered the speed. So I ran at 3:50 or 4:00/km. It's much more comfortable, so you know you're getting some training, but you don't have to wear yourself out completely.

KI: No, and then you show up next time. It's a similar session too, without having that fear inside you, I was about to say, that it's going to be so awful.

LL: Yes, but what I see in hindsight is a bit that I have held back the other way, as we have talked about, that you run too fast and still don't know what half marathon pace is.

Closing: joining the family team ⬆️

KI: Yes, that was Jakob. He stood and said it at the stadium. Kristoffer, you're on the team. You're on as number—

LL: Is it the three best results that count for the team? Right? [For team scoring]

KI: Yes, I think so. That means that if there are five of you running, no matter what the last one came in at, he's part of a gold medal if it becomes gold. And if I had been, it would have been a bit rude to those who are a bit more serious. Yes, they were keen on the idea of setting that as a requirement for them to even compete there.

LL: I take it as a sign that they think what you're doing is really fun. They are cheering you on a lot. I take it as a sign of that.

KI: Yes, I do too. And I know they do now. In the beginning, they just laughed and probably thought this wasn't going to work out. But now I can actually run quite fast, so they think it's fun.

LL: Yes, I also think the journey you've had is fantastically fun. You do it with two small children, you're renovating a house, you have a full-time job, and then you've managed to change your diet and start training so much and so well, achieving those results in a fairly short time.

You've done a lot, a lot right. So there is much to learn for everyone, and great inspiration. I hope you keep the joy of running, and that you have good experiences ahead as well.

KI: Yes, I can hope so.

LL: Thank you so much for being here on I det lange løp.

I det lange løp host commentary after the interview ⬆️

LL: Yes, if people aren't impressed by Jakob, or motivated by Jakob, and for that matter Filip and Henrik, then there is a fourth man in this family that it's possible to be impressed by.

He's a bit more like us, it takes quite a bit for us to get up into Jakob's shoes. You have to train hard up on that raw talent level for that. But we should be able to keep up with Kristoffer, and if not keep him behind us, we should be able to be near him.

I am so impressed that he has managed it in this phase of life. He has just turned 33. Has two children and a house he has been renovating for four years. A serious full-time job. It's not easy to take that step, get rid of 25 kg, and have your fitness skyrocket. That deserves respect. They are built of something special, these guys, when they make up their minds.

Yes, and I liked the way he talks. Started with the diet. It was just a matter of tightening the screws on all fronts. Banged his head against the wall, gave up a little along the way. Got a little sore, had to stop a bit. Tried again. Realized then that no, I can't do this on my own. Got a little help from Henrik. It's a fine Henrik. It's a fine journey that many can relate to.

I think unfortunately it will continue to go quite fast forward, those 25 kilos. They are, after all, gone now. I hope he is motivated, but I like the approach here, how they build up the training.

It's high volume at threshold, it's not a huge amount of speed. There are no hell-sessions, it's just the steady grind of showing up and staying at the right intensity.

And the sessions aren't so bad that you don't show up again in a couple of days. Everything doesn't have to be terrible. The job just has to be done. I really identify with that approach.

It's about getting into a training rhythm, and then eventually introducing some hard sessions, and they shouldn't be too hard, and then thinking that that's enough. And it goes a long way, you know, at the super-recreational level.

Postscript: John’s commentary ⬆️

My biggest takeaway from this podcast is that his progress as a runner is all about building momentum and maintaining control. Kristoffer’s early forays into returning to training were very frustrating because he got overeager with training and ended up injured. But, with a deliberate and gradual approach, he was able to return first to running, and then to real training.

Sometimes it’s hard to see progress day to day or even week to week, but this podcast did a great “zoom out” comparison of jogging a little bit every day versus his current training, which would look quite imposing to someone just starting out.

The way Kristoffer was able to make that gradual progress was with careful control over his training: notice his meticulous use of the treadmill and the pace display on his GPS watch to counteract his natural tendency of running too fast too soon—the source of many of his early injury woes.

A typical training week for Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen (circa 2021)

Based on the podcast, here’s a sketch of what a typical week of Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen’s looked like around the time of the interview:

Mon: 12 km easy
Tue: 2 km warmup + fartlek on treadmill (e.g. 8 x 1000 m sub-threshold with 500 m float/jog recovery)^[5]
Wed: 12 km easy
Thu: 2 km warmup + 4–5 x 2000 m at sub-threshold
Fri:  12 km easy
Sat: 2 km warmup + 3 x 3000 m or 3 x 10 min at sub-threshold
Sun: Long run of 16–18 km
Total weekly volume: ~95 km

If you want specific examples of workouts, paces, and recovery intervals, you can peruse his Strava log from the summer of 2021 to get a good idea.

Note that this interview was published in September of 2021, and as Henrik Ingebrigtsen says, training must evolve over time. Indeed, Kristoffer’s current training does look more advanced today, including novel elements like longer long runs and continuous tempo workouts.

I, of course, cannot resist mentioning one of my favorite Renato Canova quotes— “Training is not to REPLACE, but to ADD”—and the evolution of Kristoffer’s training over time could be an entire article on its own. But, even within this podcast, you can hear Kristoffer discuss how his training evolved gradually over time from jogging on the treadmill every other day to the schedule you see above.

Applying principles versus copying training verbatim

In my recent article on sub-70 half marathon training, one big reason I wanted to present the schedules of multiple athletes simultaneously was to show that training that works for one athlete is not necessarily the best solution for another athlete—even one with similar abilities! You should instead be looking for principles of training that work across different athletes.

Henrik’s strategy of adopting the classic double threshold approach for Kristoffer is a perfect example of applying this concept. Unlike his brothers, Kristoffer doesn’t run twice per day, he doesn’t do an “X-factor” workout like short hill repeats, and doesn’t do traditional hard track sessions in the competitive phase like Marius Bakken and the younger Ingebrigtsen brothers do.

These modifications are likely designed to work around some of Kristoffer’s limitations: he doesn’t have as much time to train, he has a history of injury, and he has a tendency to overdo it in faster workouts.

The mental side of training

I particularly enjoyed the discussion of the mental aspects of training—how Kristoffer design his training so that he does not dread going to the track, how he handles the pressure of racing as an Ingebrigtsen, and how he started building momentum once he was able to get healthy and start running consistently.

For Kristoffer, well-structured training is something of a release: knowing that his workouts will always be a consistent, low-stress effort makes training more enjoyable for him, and lets him stack up additional weeks of consistent training.

This consistency, in turn, lets him build over time on his training—again, the progression from jogging 20 or 30 minutes every other day, up to the schedule you saw above, is astounding, but each step of the way was a very gradual change that did not require a huge adjustment (mental or physical).

The same level of structure probably isn’t right for everyone: some runners find that tightly regulated training (especially on the track or on the treadmill) can get monotonous and saps their motivation if used too often. For Kristoffer, though, the advantages are clear: careful control over his schedule allows him to build up momentum and helps avert his tendency to run too fast or too far.

Learn more about modern training approaches

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen interview as much as I did. If you want to find out when I have new content coming out, sign up for my email list! You’ll be the first to know when I have new blog posts, web apps, or other content coming out.

If you want to leverage your "Norwegian-style" fitness to run a fast marathon, be sure to check out my new book, Marathon Excellence for Everyone. Put simply, it is your comprehensive guide to modern marathon training and racing. If you have a strong base of aerobic fitness from Norwegian-style training, you'll find the transition to Marathon Excellence-style marathon training very straightforward.

If you are interested in learning more about the science of threshold training, I also have a book: Modern Training and Physiology, which takes a simple but aerobically-oriented approach to training for the 800m to 10k. My book came out before double threshold burst onto the scene, but it will still give you a strong background on the physiology and practical use of threshold training.

Footnotes

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^[1] I really wanted to title this article something like “Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen in his own words: Norwegian ‘single threshold’ training” but Google Search has been doing this extremely annoying thing lately where it lops off the “pre-colon” part of my article titles, so the title in search results would have just ended up being “Norwegian single threshold training,” which would be misleading because it would sound like this whole post is just a summary written by me.

^[2] Claude 4 Opus, my usual go-to AI model these days, seemed to collapse from exhaustion after attempting to output such a long response. Sounds like it needs some more sub-threshold training!

^[3] The original podcast episode includes some other material, including news on Norwegian pro running and interviews with a few other guests. I’ve omitted those parts here.

^[4]  Bjørn Dæhlie was one of the greatest cross-country skiers of all time, and boasted one of the highest VO2max values ever recorded.

^[5] I’m not sure whether he means “float” in the sense of “a fairly quick running pace for the recovery interval” or in a more general sense of “whatever jog recovery you do between repeats.” Even in English we have these sorts of terminology conundrums: how fast and how far is a “tempo run”?

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