Double Threshold Training for Middle Distance Runners

I get this question more times than I can count. So here's my honest answer: double threshold works. But it might not work for you.

I have never prescribed double threshold to an athlete who isn't post collegiate or a pro. Don't blindly apply any training philosophy without understanding the background behind it.

What people forget about the athletes who made it popular

I see many young runners and new athletes blindly apply the heavy threshold model, and it does work! But a missing key is what the athletes and coaches who made it popular bring into the system.

Andreas Almgren was a 2014 World Junior 800m bronze medalist. Jakob Ingebrigtsen has been training and racing intensely since a young age. Both developed and nearly maximized their anaerobic and VO2 ability before the threshold volume. And what people forget: the heavy specific phase of training they do on top of the threshold work.

What I see at the high school level

A program that's very threshold focused with little anaerobic work. The athletes compete well over the distance events and run extremely well in XC, but struggle in championship racing, or in college once the athletes with more balanced development layer on threshold while keeping their under distance work. Later in running, it's much harder to play catch up on anaerobic development.

So if you're a young or new athlete, absolutely apply controlled aerobic work. But if you want to be competitive, you need to be developing your under distance work to MAXIMIZE the benefits of the threshold training. That balance is how my 1500m and mile training plan and 5000m training plan are built.

If you're going to try it anyway

1. Establishing routine and being able to fuel and execute 2 runs in a day is the most important thing.
2. Once you intro the AM session, it has to be extremely controlled for a very long stretch of time. We're talking months, not weeks, before any progression.
3. Make sure the AM session does not take away from the PM. If it does, you need to remove it, slow it down or drop the volume.

Slow your threshold down

Most of my athletes build their threshold volume at 80 to 90 seconds per mile slower than their mile PR. A 4:30 miler runs threshold around 5:50 to 6:00 per mile. It builds in a buffer for weather and fatigue, leaves room for hills and light specific work, and teaches athletes how threshold should actually feel.

So many ways to approach this. If you have a hypothetical or a question on it, or you want it built around you, look at 1:1 coaching or send me a message.

Written by Coach Travis Mahoney

3:57 miler · coach of 2 sub 4 milers · 4x US Olympic Trials qualifier

More about Travis