Threshold sessions for runners
Your threshold is the pace beyond which fatigue runs away with you: roughly what you could hold for an hour in a race. Training it lifts your 10K and half-marathon pace and makes marathon pace feel more comfortable. The 5 sessions on this page range from 83% of your vVO₂max, just below threshold, to 96%, the pace of a 10K. What sets them apart is how they build that time: continuously, with the tempo run; in blocks with very short breaks, with cruise intervals or Norwegian sub-threshold work; or at race pace, with 10K-pace intervals and Yasso 800s.
Every pace is a % of your vVO₂max: without a recent measurement, start with a fitness test. Each page gives the exact structure, the paces for a vVO₂max of 14, 16 or 18 km/h, how to run it and what the sources say.
4Z4 · Threshold
How to choose
You're new to threshold work
cruise intervals 6 × 5 min, suitable for newer runners: 30 minutes at threshold, broken up by a minute's walk.
You can already hold 20 minutes straight
the tempo run, the core session, to extend in steps if you're training for a marathon.
You train a lot and want volume without frying yourself
Norwegian sub-threshold 5 × 6 min, deliberately run just below threshold.
You're training for a 10K
10K-pace intervals, to learn your race rhythm.
You're training for a marathon
Yasso 800s, a long, even session, better treated as training than as a forecast.
The sessions
20-minute tempo run
Twenty continuous minutes at threshold pace, 'comfortably hard': the core session for raising the pace you can hold for a long time, from 10K to marathon.
10K pace intervals (5 × 5 min)
Five 5-minute reps at your 10K race pace with 2 minutes' jog between: the session for getting to race day with the rhythm already in your legs.
Norwegian sub-threshold 5 × 6 min
Five 6-minute reps deliberately run below threshold, with a minute's walk between: the 'morning' session of the Norwegian method, where restraint is everything.
Cruise intervals 6 × 5 min (split threshold)
Six 5-minute blocks at threshold pace with a minute's walk between: 30 minutes at threshold, easier to hold than a continuous tempo run. Suitable for newer runners.
Yasso 800s (10 × 800 m)
Ten 800s run in as many minutes as your marathon goal in hours, with equal jog recoveries. A popular marathon session whose predictive value is unproven.
Frequently asked questions
What pace should threshold sessions be run at?
Around 87–91% of your vVO₂max for the tempo run and cruise intervals, the pace you could hold for about an hour in a race. Norwegian sub-threshold work is run a little below, at 83–88%. Sources don't all agree: some French coaches put threshold between 80 and 90% of vVO₂max.
How many threshold sessions a week?
One in general, alternating formats from week to week, with an easy day before and after. Highly trained runners sometimes do more, staying just below threshold to limit fatigue. These are common training guidelines, not rules drawn from studies.
Continuous or broken-up threshold work?
Broken up to begin with: 5-minute blocks with a short break let you build more time at threshold, with less mental strain. Continuous running, as in a tempo run, teaches you to hold the pace without a break, as in a race. The two work well together over a training block.
What is Norwegian threshold training?
A way of training threshold popularised by elite Norwegian runners: lots of volume, deliberately run a little below threshold, so the sessions can be repeated often. Their elite version sometimes puts two on the same day; for an amateur, a single 5 × 6 minute session is a sensible adaptation.
Other types of running sessions
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