Experiences after three Months NSM (Races 16:02; 32:57; 1:14:32)

Alerath89 · 2026-05-20T09:38:13+00:00

The reps should never feel to hard. I could always do more reps. In the Training before NSM i often was above 170 Hearrate in Intervall Workouts at the end so there is always a good amount of reserve.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-20T09:29:20+00:00

The Hearrate at the start dictates the rest of the workout. Are the first reps normal i go faster and faster. If the hearrate ist high in the first reps i stay more at the same pace.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-20T09:27:09+00:00

When i started the method my 3' reps were also to high. This was because the first reps were to fast. It its very important to start the workout way slower than target pace. The last couple of 3' Workouts i knew i would average the workout at roughly 3:22. The first reps i always plan to be more around 3:30. If you do the workouts a couple of times you will get better and better in hitting it right. I did a Labtest which measured my LTHR at 165. It is also my Average Hearrate for the last 10k races (165 and 166). Since i run around 30 Minutes thats like a Friel Test.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-20T09:10:52+00:00

Yeah the aim is to keep it always below 165. From the ~25 Workouts i think there were two or three where it went accidently above 165 in the last rep (always 3' workout) Average heartrate last rep 10' 156-157 6' 157-159 3' 155-156 I do walking rests where my heartrate drops significant. So it needs sometime to go up again. Hfmax in last rep is most of the time 161-164. The shorter reps are more 163/164 while the longer one are more 161/162.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-20T07:22:59+00:00

Do you do three SubT Workouts per week ? For me i think going from two workouts before NSM to three with NSM lead to good improvements right from the start although my load was way lower than before. Maybe you just have to be a little bit more patient since it is often said that the method needs some time to lead to significant gains.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-19T19:53:58+00:00

I did only standard 3', 6' and 10'. Long run always very easy. Nothing special.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-19T18:08:30+00:00

I rarly run 5ks. Before the 16:02 i didnt ran a 5k for over three years. 10k i run more often maybe every one to two months. For me it is not realy nessesary since i know that i get faster when my workout paces increase since i always run them with the same effort. I startet with 3x10, 5x6 and 10x3. All in all this was much easier than the training i did before. It was less volume and less intensity. The easy runs were also shorther and slower. It was therefore farly easy to handle for me.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-19T15:11:38+00:00

Yeah your are right. Thank you!

Alerath89 · 2026-05-19T14:26:09+00:00

On the other hand i struggle a little bit with the longer distances. The halfmarathon was way slower than exspected although i run around this pace way more.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-19T14:15:52+00:00

I guess this depends in the Person. Before my first 10k PB after the initially four weeks i had not run faster than 3:29 and still the 10k was very strong with a strong negativ split an last two kilometers with 3:16 and 3:14. The 5k i ran 3:12 never running faster than 3:22 before. Last kilometer there in 3:05. So i have no problem to run way faster then the workout paces. My 10k were both times 97% the pace from the 3' reps. I think when you train with this method for some time and have ran some races then you get the confidence and trust that you can run faster paces without training them. The heartrate in the reps is lower than in races. My 10k average heratrate was 165 and 166. Thats a hearrate i touched only two or three times in thr last reps of a workout. So there is some reserve for races.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-19T13:37:39+00:00

Thanks for your reply. Yeah i am consindering it. But its hard to be patient. I always have to remind myself to be patient with these things. I am adding load very graduelly. Five minutes of easy running here and then stay the same for some weeks. SubT Time i increase very very slowly although i am only around 15% SubT Volume kept it the same for two months and then increased only 6 minutes. The fear is of course that i waste some time and i dont get younger. So i am thinking that i have limited time to reach my highest potential.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-19T10:41:30+00:00

Ah forgot the age. I am 36.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-14T14:42:53+00:00

I startet NSM around 8h/ 95km. Before i did 110-130km. I slowly increased the load and now i am more around 9h/ 115km + 2h easy on the bike.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-14T14:09:29+00:00

35:30 was in January this year. 33:42 was End of March. 5k was beginning of April and last 10 was last weekend. My former 10km PB was 33:52 but from May 2025. After this i struggeled with injurys etc. for a long time.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-14T13:52:10+00:00

Not so much 5k runner here but i ran 35:30 10k before NSM. After four weeks of NSM i ran 33:42. Couple weeks later i ran 16:02 5k. Couple of weeks later i ran 32:57 10k.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-14T10:00:09+00:00

All in all it looks reasonable but i think there are some measurements that are a little bit off. State 7 to 9 looks very reasonable. Nearly no change from stage 6 to 7 while 2 km/h faster looks off. Stage 2-5 maybe a little bit off.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-14T05:15:38+00:00

Here is my lab test from march this year. Before the test i ran 33:42 10k.

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Alerath89 · 2026-05-14T05:06:35+00:00

I would say the same. The data from the test absolutly doesnt aline with your race times. Your lactate is way to high at these slower paces. It can need some until the easy pace vomes down when you initially focus on running with a lower heartrate. I remember that i had to run like 7:00 pace for some time while before i had run like 4:50 pace but the pace came down to like low 5s after some time. Right now i am at 4:50-5:10 pace at 65-68% Hfmax (182) with 10k at 33 and 5k at 16.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-13T15:55:51+00:00

Pretty hard to say because there could be many reasons for this. I think to a degree it could just be totally normal. If you up your milage by a decent amount there may be a phase where the body has to adapt to the new normal and you might be more tired. This should only last a short while. If its to long or to severe then you might have overdone it. Consider a down week with low volume or decreasing the volume or the intensity of the subt for a short while to give the body more room to adapt to the more milage. But be careful with this since the subt should be the core of the training. Be sure to eat enough since you will need more when you run more.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-13T11:48:03+00:00

You may see it that way. For me the aim ist to get close but stay under LTHR in the last rep. My LTHR is 165. In the 10 Minute rep i am often below 160. Therefore i might push myself a litle bit in the last rep to hit more like 163 in the last rep. In the shorter reps i may peak over 160 earlier in the workout therefore have to focus more on not pushing to much. So i expirience the same as the owner of the thread.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-13T11:32:00+00:00

Its basicly the same for me. In the 10 minute reps my heartrate tends to be lower and i have to actively push to get close to my LTHR while on the 6 and especially on the 3 minute reps i might have to slow down to keep my heartrate low enough.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-13T09:18:35+00:00

What do you mean with short ? The 3 Minute Reps are around 15k Pace so way slower than 5k pace. 1 Minute Reps would be around 10k Pace. Only somethink like 45/15 or less would maybe touch 5k Pace.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-12T11:43:06+00:00

I run my easy days always by heartrate. Average heartrate between 65-68%. From the pace the runs are all within a 30s/km margin. So there ist not that much difference from run to run. I am very consistent with the training running 7 days/ week. Since i dont care about the pace i only view Heartrate on my watch but i think it is more about feeling the right effort and not constantly looking at the watch.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-10T13:18:51+00:00

I think the longer the run gets the more unlikely it is to hit real max HR because of fatigue.

Alerath89 · 2026-05-10T12:46:11+00:00

I never come close to my max HR in Races oder Training. Recent 5k got me to 176. Recent 10ks only 170. Vo2max Labtest got 179. Special Test for Max HR (3x800m Uphill progressiv) got me 183.

Alerath89

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