How many reps? Scaling Norwegian Singles to your weekly hours
2026-08-18
The Norwegian Singles week is always the same shape — 10-minute reps on Tuesday, 6-minute reps on Thursday, 3-minute reps on Saturday, everything else easy — but the size of each session depends on how much you run. The guideline behind the method: keep the combined interval work around 20–25% of weekly time, and let the easy runs fill the rest.
Here is what that works out to at common weekly volumes:
| Hours/week | Tue (10-min reps) | Thu (6-min reps) | Sat (3-min reps) | Easy runs | Long run |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.5 | 2×10min | 3×6min | 7×3min | 3×~27min | ~55min |
| 6 | 3×10min | 5×6min | 9×3min | 3×~38min | ~75min |
| 7.5 | 3×10min | 6×6min | 12×3min | 3×~52min | ~105min |
| 9 | 4×10min | 7×6min | 14×3min | 3×~65min | ~130min |
Recoveries between reps stay short regardless of volume: roughly 105 seconds after 10-minute reps, 75 seconds after 6-minute reps, 60 seconds after 3-minute reps — standing, walking or a very easy jog. The short rest is what keeps the session sub-threshold instead of turning it into cruise intervals.
Cut reps, not pace
The most common scaling mistake is keeping the session size from a plan written for someone running more than you, and "making it fit" by squeezing recovery days. If you're short on time, drop a rep and keep the pace. A 2×10min at the right effort trains the system the method is aiming at; a 3×10min forced into a low-volume week just digs a hole that shows up as failed sessions two weeks later.
When to add a rep
Add volume before you add speed. If you've hit the same week comfortably for 3–4 weeks — every session ending with 2–3 reps in reserve — grow one session by one rep, or extend the long run. Paces only move when a race result says so.
Skip the arithmetic
The table above uses a 20:00 5K as the example anchor. To get the same breakdown for your race result and your hours — with paces attached and every session exported as a Garmin FIT file — use the free calculator. No account needed.