The plan
- Duration
- 8 weeks
- Runs per week
- 6
- Easy runs
- 45 minutes in Zone 2; three a week, two from week 5
- Long run
- 90 minutes in Zone 2, once a week
- Sub-threshold sessions
- Two a week in weeks 1 to 4, three from week 5; 3 × 10, 5 × 6, and 10 × 3 minutes, in Zone 4 under your threshold heart rate
- Weekly running time
- 5 hours 45 minutes in weeks 1 to 4; 6 hours from week 5
- Progression
- The third session enters at week 5 in Saturday's slot, and nothing else moves.
What running sessions does the week include?
Sub-threshold sessions, easy Zone 2 runs, and a Zone 2 long run. Six runs a week, and Monday is the rest day.
It's the Norwegian singles week: three sub-threshold sessions plus a long run, with every other run easy. The method's count is two to three sessions a week, and this plan runs two in its first month and three in its second.
The method's own example week runs seven days. This plan runs six, with Monday off after the long run. Strength, and anything else you train, goes on Monday too.
The sessions run in Zone 4, every rep ending under your threshold heart rate, and Zone 5 is the ceiling. Every other run is in Zone 2. Before week 1, run the 30-minute field test that estimates your threshold heart rate.
The three sessions are 3 × 10 minutes, 5 × 6, and 10 × 3, one shape a session. Each is about an hour with 30 minutes of work. The long reps come first in the week and the short reps last, the order of the example week in the method's community guide.
Easy runs are 45 minutes in Zone 2, three a week in weeks 1 to 4 and two from week 5. The long run is 90 minutes in Zone 2, once a week, held all eight weeks. We hold it there because this plan's load step is the third session.
What do you run in weeks 1 to 4?
Two sub-threshold sessions, Tuesday and Thursday, with three easy runs and the long run. You run the same week four times.
- Monday: rest
- Tuesday: sub-threshold session, 3 × 10 minutes
- Wednesday: easy Zone 2 run, 45 minutes
- Thursday: sub-threshold session, 5 × 6 minutes
- Friday: easy Zone 2 run, 45 minutes
- Saturday: easy Zone 2 run, 45 minutes
- Sunday: Zone 2 long run, 90 minutes
We start at two sessions because the method holds a month at one level before any increase. The third session is the one step this plan takes, and the second month holds it.
That's 5 hours 45 minutes of running a week, inside the method's five to nine hours. Sub-threshold work is 17% of it, under the method's 20 to 25%. Don't push that share up while you're adapting to two sessions.
Four of the week's six runs are held in Zone 2, and you can run them in RunBeat's Zone Training. RunBeat tells you to slow down when you drift above Zone 2, and to pick it up when you fall under it:
Zone Training in RunBeat
RunBeat tells you to speed up or slow down to stay in zone, right over your music or podcast.
What do you run in weeks 5 to 8?
Three sub-threshold sessions, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, with two easy runs and the long run. Saturday's easy run becomes the third session at week 5, and nothing else moves.
- Monday: rest
- Tuesday: sub-threshold session, 3 × 10 minutes
- Wednesday: easy Zone 2 run, 45 minutes
- Thursday: sub-threshold session, 5 × 6 minutes
- Friday: easy Zone 2 run, 45 minutes
- Saturday: sub-threshold session, 10 × 3 minutes
- Sunday: Zone 2 long run, 90 minutes
That's 6 hours of running a week, and sub-threshold work is 25% of it, the top of the method's 20 to 25%.
Saturday's session runs into Sunday's long run, as it does in the method's own week. The long run is in Zone 2, so Sunday morning tells you whether Saturday's session went over.
Each session is a set of timed reps, and you can run all three in RunBeat's Timed Intervals. RunBeat calls every rep and tells you which zone you're in:
Timed Intervals in RunBeat
RunBeat calls every work and rest phase, and your Apple Music playlists switch with it.
Does the plan need a down week?
No. There's no lighter week, because the method keeps every session under the line so the week can repeat. Its runners describe it as having no up weeks and no down weeks.
The check is the run after each session. It's in Zone 2, and it should feel easy.
On a tired day, run a shorter session, or run easy or rest in its place.
What do you do after week 8?
Keep running week 8. Eight weeks is a month at two sessions and a month at three, which puts the week in place. You run the method for months after that, and its own horizon is six months or more.
From there you progress by the method's rule, with a race or time trial every 4 to 8 weeks to reassess. Expect progress season over season rather than week over week.
Progress shows as a faster pace at the same heart rate, on the easy runs and in the reps.
Sources
- The Norwegian singles community guide, norwegiansingles.run, updated September 30, 2026, §1.4, §2.1, §2.2, §2.3, §4.4, and §4.5, read October 14, 2026. Source for the week of three quality sessions, three easy runs, and a longer easy run, and for the order of the three lengths across its example week (longer Tuesday, medium Thursday, shorter Saturday); for the six-day version, "one ordinary easy day can become rest", and "Preserve existing rest days when starting"; for "begin with two quality sessions" and "Do not force this proportion while adapting to two sessions"; for the month at a manageable level before a small increase; for "Allow several weeks to settle into the routine, and assess progress over months"; and for the tired-day fallbacks and "Hold or reduce load when recovery deteriorates". Recorded here and not stated above: its long run of about 1.7 times an ordinary easy run, which puts a 45-minute easy run at roughly 75 to 80 minutes; the plan prints 90.
- The sub-threshold archive, sites.google.com/view/sub-threshold: the home page (summary dated November 1, 2023), the other-helpful-comments page, the modifications page, and the sirpoc84 posts page, read October 14, 2026. The method's own documents, in the community register. Source for the two week shapes ("E, Q, E, Q, E, Q, LR or Rest, Q, E, Q, E, Q, LR"), for a contributor's six-day week with a day off in place of a recovery jog, and for the summary of the method as having "No up weeks or down weeks", a contributor's description attributed above to the method's runners. Recorded here and not stated above: its worked example of 28 to 35 minutes of sub-threshold work per session at seven hours a week, Copeland's own week of around 6 hours 45, his "this has to be done again in 48 hours", and his training-load fatigue score.