Training decisions
Double Threshold Training for Middle Distance Runners
TR Performance · Coach Travis Mahoney
Double threshold is a way of organizing demanding aerobic work, not a requirement for running a good 1500m. Before asking whether to add it, ask whether you are absorbing the training already on your schedule.
What the name describes
Double threshold generally refers to two controlled threshold-oriented sessions in one day, separated by recovery. In the approach described by Marius Bakken, intensity control and lactate measurement are important parts of the method. The name does not mean two all-out sessions.
Threshold is not a single universal pace or blood-lactate number for every runner. Training prescriptions depend on how an athlete responds and what the session is intended to achieve. A pace copied from another athlete does not establish that you are training at the same relative intensity.
Elite practice is not a personal prescription
Accounts of elite training describe what selected athletes did within a broader program. They do not show that a developing runner should use the same volume, or that doubling is superior to a well-managed single session for that runner.
The rest of the schedule matters: total running, other demanding sessions, fueling, sleep and the ability to recover between sessions. School or work can make the hours between a morning and evening workout very different from an elite athlete’s recovery window.
Intensity control is the central problem
A workout that feels controlled early can become too demanding as it continues. Doing that twice in one day compounds the problem. Lactate testing can inform a coach’s decisions, but the availability of a meter does not make a program appropriate or remove the need to interpret the readings.
Avoid treating a particular reading as a target to chase without context. Pace, repetition duration, recovery and accumulated fatigue all affect how a session is experienced. The practical question is whether the intended load is being delivered and recovered from.
Use a decision checklist before adding a second session
Can you complete your current week consistently? Are easy days genuinely easy? Do you recover well enough to execute the next important session? Is there a coach overseeing the entire workload rather than just the two threshold sessions?
If those answers are uncertain, establish them first. Double threshold is not the appropriate first response to a plateau, nor should it be added on top of an unchanged team program. Experienced runners considering it need an individual assessment of the tradeoffs.
Keep the event in view
Middle-distance preparation also needs attention to faster movement, race rhythm and readiness to compete. A method that dominates the calendar can crowd out those needs. The goal remains race performance, not completing a fashionable training format.
The TR Performance 1500m and mile PDF is an adjustable 54-workout, 3-phase season framework. This guide does not claim the PDF contains double threshold sessions. For decisions about that method and your own workload, use the coaching inquiry form rather than adapting an elite schedule alone.
Written by Coach Travis Mahoney
Sub 4 miler (3:57) as an athlete and as a coach · 4x US Olympic Trials qualifier
More about TravisReferences and further reading
General training guidance, not an individual prescription. Coordinate changes with your coach, particularly when combining training with a team program.
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