We're all running too fast, with James Copeland
"It's the tortoise versus the hare, and we are very much the tortoise."
If I told you there’s a training philosophy that helps you get faster and crush PBs at everything from 5k to the marathon, by training at slower paces, with lower risk of injury — and in just a few hours a week — you’d probably think I was making it up.
But this isn’t snake oil. This is a road-tested approach that is helping people around the world run consistently, stay healthy, and hit the kind of times they’d previously only dreamed of.
It has a few names: Norwegian singles, sub-threshold, sweet spot running. Whatever you want to call it, it might be the buzziest training method for amateur runners, hobby joggers and dads on the internet right now.
From Strava to Reddit, sub-threshold training is gaining a cult following for its highly accessible approach.
Almost exactly 2 years ago, a thread was posted on the running forum letsrun.com titled “Modifying the Norwegian approach to lower mileage.”
(The Norwegian Method, as pioneered by Marius Bakken and the Ingebrigtsens, is famed for its double threshold approach i.e. running twice a day at high intensity.)
A user named “spoc” was among the early replies to the post.
“I've basically been doing the Norwegian model on singles,” he said, meaning only running once a day.
He went onto explain that his 5k time had been stagnating at “18:5x for quite a while,” but using the new method he’d developed he’d cut that time down to 17:27.
“Because there is very little vo2 max stuff,” he said, “I pretty much am ready to go for the next session no problem.”
The replies poured in.
Today, that thread runs over 300 pages. It has spawned Strava groups, subreddits, and websites dedicated to highlighting the most important bits of the original thread.
Many of those drawn to the method are like me: older, time-poor hobbyists with demanding schedules — jobs, kids — and a catalogue of past injuries.
For me, at least, the promise of lower injury is too good to pass up. That’s why I’m using the approach to train for Valencia Marathon in December.
I spent five weeks of my London Marathon training block with various niggles and injuries. With all the interruptions it took nearly 4 months to get up to 80km a week.
For Valencia I’m starting at 80km a week, and staying there or therabouts. I’m 7 weeks in to sub-threshold training and have already run my fastest 5k in 20 years.
It’s so long since I tried to run a fast 5k that I don’t know how much I can ascribe to this method versus the fitness I’m carrying from London Marathon, but the aerobic gains can’t have hurt.
Here’s how it works. Beginner or sub-elite runner, everyone runs the same basic plan.
Three easy runs a week, three runs with sub-threshold intervals, and a long run. Easy and sub-threshold days alternate during the week, with the long run at the weekend.
What varies are the paces.
It requires some knowledge of basic running terminology and personal running data, but it allows each runner to tailor the program to their exact fitness levels.
Easy runs go by heart rate — no more than 70% of your max HR.
Sub-threshold intervals go by pace. You might do an 8x1k for example, with 60s rest between each. Sub-threshold should be 20-30% of your total running for the week.
As the name suggests, you run under your first lactate threshold, or the point at which your anaerobic system kicks in, lactate levels increase, and running starts to feel hard.
In other words, this is a pace you can repeat without burning out or throwing up.
This takes some trial and error, but in simple terms if your 5k PB was run at 4:20/km pace, you’ll want to do 1k reps in the 4:45/km–5:00/km range. Here’s a calculator.
Crucially, both these paces should feel slow — much slower than you can manage, and much slower than those prescribed by many popular training methodologies.
Each week asks for the same time on feet, usually 5-8 hours, with the same (or similar) workouts each week. Sub-threshold should total roughly 25% of your weekly volume.
The final component is a time trial.
Every 4-6 weeks you run a 5k flat out – this could be your local Parkrun — the point is to go hell for leather. You use this race to track your progress and adjust your training paces for the next 4-6 week period.
You repeat this schedule week in, month out, ad infinitum. No traditional training blocks. No de-load weeks. No hill sprints or strides.
Just slow, consistent mileage, and steady, consistent gains.
James Copeland, 41, is a runner and former time trial cyclist based in Hampshire, UK.
Like the training method he’s associated with, James has a few names. Depending on the forum he’s “spoc,” “sirpoc,” or “spoc84.” To some Redditors, he’s “the Godfather.”
Since that original thread he’s becoming something of a guru — a hallowed name invoked in hundreds of posts by runners hoping to achieve similar results.
Despite this he’s stayed humble. He’s an active member of the community, popping in to answer questions about paces, or adapting the method for marathon training.
He’s still following the sub-threshold approach, and he’s still progressing.
Since 2023 he’s dropped his 5k time down to 15:01. And in April he ran his debut marathon in London, finishing in 2 hours, 24 minutes. That’s sub elite territory.
James isn’t sure what to make of the attention. He doesn’t really check social media. He would rather avoid the spotlight, he says, but agrees to an interview.
What follows is a transcript of our conversation, lightly edited for spelling and clarity.
TANGENTS: For people who haven’t heard of this training method before, what’s the simplest way to explain your approach?
JAMES: A very progressively slow framework, that lets you build up volume over time whilst controlling intensity. This minimises risk, but long term maximises aerobic gains, which ultimately is what amateurs are going to get best value for money from.
It's thinking outside of normal or traditional training blocks. It's the tortoise versus the hare, and we are very much the tortoise.
I’ve heard it called a few things: Norwegian Singles, Sub-Threshold training, is there a name you prefer?
Haha I don't really care. The reason it's called Norwegian Singles is mainly because of the original thread I posted in. I was originally just a contributor, not the author or OP. The name just stuck. I don't massively like or hate it.
It's basically how I used to train as a British cycling time trialist. Most training has it's roots in something else. This is just a way to train, not necessarily the only way to train.
What do you think is the main advantage of sub-threshold training, versus the more traditional training blocks? Is there a particular type of runner it suits?
It would suit anyone with time constraints. You are compacting the most repeatable, manageable load into a particular amount of time.
There is nothing magical about sub-threshold, it just provides the best use of your time in a repeatable manner, week after week, month after month.
The framework I originally gave provides a balance that effectively means you don't need any time off — recovery weeks, de-loading etc.
You are effectively squeezing as much volume and impact of load as you can in a week, that you can do again the next week and so on.
This approach being adapted from your cycling days is really interesting. How long did it take you to apply that to running?
It took around 8-10 weeks of playing around to replicate the right kind of running intensities, that would equate to the same sort of workouts across the sports.
Unfortunately HR is not the best proxy to use, especially for workouts, and power unfortunately is just so far behind in terms of tech in running.
So the best plan was to work out what paces you could use as a proxy for running, to recreate workouts that sat somewhere in between and up to (but not beyond) LT 1.
But workouts that were manageable three times a week, that you could just do, not trash yourself and get on with your day.
Think about it as eating a pie — you might have two full pies a week, or you could have 85% of 3 pies.
That is a really simple way to describe what kind of intensity sweet spot is, compared to traditional training that has you wrecked potentially for days afterwards, or on your knees coughing up your guts on the track.
Is there a way to do the method reliably without access to things like lactate testing, or Vo2 Max testing in a lab?
You can use HR data, but that's hard to tell in the moment. Pace ranges seem to have had good success as a guide, depending on the length.
But obviously, if it feels too hard, it ultimately is too hard. These shouldn't be feeling like anything more than 6/10 RPE (ed. rate of perceived exertion).
Looking at HR data afterwards can provide a good retrospective guide.
If you breached lactate threshold, it was too hard, and you know you need to dial it back the next session to truly manage being repeatable.
“Think about it as eating a pie — you might have two full pies a week, or you could have 85 percent of 3 pies.”
The famed letsrun.com thread is 2 years old this week, and it feels like the popularity of the method has exploded over the past 6 months.
What has it been like seeing the reaction to your ideas in the running community – are you enjoying it?
Haha not really. The one thing I didn't intend or want really was any interest in me specifically. But it has all snowballed I guess.
Some people have said it's nice to have someone to relate to, who is normal, has a job but has achieved good results.
I guess there's something to be said for that, but it's hard to see that from the inside. I'm just a pretty normal 41-year-old who runs an hour a day for the most part.
I don't see myself as particularly interesting but I guess others feel different 😂.
People call you the Godfather, so yeah it has snowballed just a little!
One thing that seemed to bring a lot of new runners into the groups on Strava and Reddit was your London Marathon result in April.
Do you plan to do any more marathons, or do you have any other ambitions you still want to achieve in running?
Yeah it's amazing how results determine something popularity 😂!
But there's actually other runners who proportionally have carved more time off their marathons training like me, that I see as more remarkable than anything I have done.
That to me says more about the training than anything I've done. One guy had never ran under 3 hours in 10 marathons and ran 2:47 after this training for a year.
As for me, if I never run again I'm happy with what I've done. But a sub 2:20 marathon or a sub 15 5k would be nice as I'm well into my 40s now.
I noticed you logged a few rides on the bike recently, any plans for a comeback there?
Haha well I noticed by chance that despite 8 years of no cycling, 4 years of nothing and 4 years of running, my power on the bike is still 80-85% of what it was on this training!
So I plan to roll back the years and maybe try a time trial before the summer is out.
From the slow running method to the no cycling method?
Haha, yes. I think actually some people over estimate how sport specific training is. Or how much specificity for the even you need in training itself.
Have you always been quite analytical?
I've always been interested in working stuff out, whatever that will be. I've always been pretty good at skill sports and learning how to get better, the hours, the grind, the practice.
Analytics and aggregate gains of training are probably the key to us having X amount of hours to train. If that is all you have, spend it wisely.
Having a plan to maximise that is probably the flaw in the majority of training plans.
Say more on that, as in spending too much time training?
Maybe not too much time training, although that can be the case. But more so focusing on the things that ice the cake, before you have even baked the cake.
Easy runs that are too hard, or workouts that take days rather than hours to come back from.
The best way the majority of us can get better in a 5k is to focus on low hanging aerobic gains.
You get those by working up towards the point recovery becomes exponentially harder, but never going beyond it.
You control intensity and fatigue to absolutely maximise the time you can spend training in a meaningful way.
I’ve seen mention of a book — have you made any progress?
Yeah I'm about 50k words in. I have had help from a few legends of the community with the stuff I'm not good at, mainly technical stuff like the graphs, tables I want to add to explain information. Oh, and the editing!
I see it as a comprehensive explanation for someone who isn't familiar with the method, who just wants to pick up a training book and dive in and start training this way, without having to read 5000 posts or stuff that has gotten lost in translation
Or for those interested in the finer details, a real look at that. And just some general anecdotes on how I progressed, came to my conclusions.
My main motivation might be just to have my final say on it and disappear back into obscurity 😂
For more on sub-threshold training, “the FODrunner” Andy Raynor posted a great video a few weeks ago that explains the approach and the paces in detail.
This site collects the best posts from the original letsrun.com thread.
James also featured on the Bad Boy Running podcast this week.
And if you want to follow the method yourself, try the Strava or subreddit.