threshold - Running Writings

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.

Most serious runners do workouts at threshold pace, CV pace, and VO2max pace. But how can you know if you're running the right pace for your threshold, CV ("critical velocity," a.k.a. critical speed), or VO2max sessions? There are plenty of conversion charts online, but it's not always clear whether they're making predictions that are accurate for most runners.

This article introduces a simple framework for determining threshold, CV, and VO2max pace based off your current 5k fitness, using percentages of 5k pace to set workout paces. Below, I'll show how these three training paces can be derived from the critical speed model, and present an analysis on thousands of race performances that result in the following training guidelines:

Pace	Estimate	Meaning	Also known as
Threshold	90% 5k	Fastest pace that produces a metabolic steady-state	SSmax, LT2, CS-, T pace
CV pace	96% 5k	Boundary separating metabolically sustainable and unsustainable paces	CS, critical speed
VO2max pace	100% 5k	Slowest speed that produces metabolic instability and drives oxygen consumption to VO2max	CS+

Don’t forget that I have a handy pace percentage calculator for quickly calculating pace percentages!

These predictions are accurate for >90% of runners ("accurate" here meaning "producing the intended physiological effects") and come from data on hundreds of runners with 5k PRs from 14:00 to 25:00. They'll probably work pretty well outside that range too.

Naturally, these predictions work great for full-spectrum percentage-based training, but they work just as well in other systems too.

Want to know where these calculations come from? Read on!

Kristoffer Ingebrigtsen’s Norwegian Single Threshold training approach

Predicting threshold pace, CV pace, and VO2max pace from 5k times

When threshold training isn't threshold training