LetsRun goes home devastated. Nick Bare runs 2:39:20 clean at CIM

He has gotten rich by lying about taking steroids. I have a hard time believing its above him to take epo to make money

How can I be devastated if I’ve never heard of him?

Good time for most people but far from elite. Certainly nothing to be devastated by.

Whatever advantage he's getting from drugs he's supposedly taking still don't outweigh the disadvantage of the extra mass he is carrying around. If he was 140lbs clean he would have a faster time.

There's a 0% chance this man hasn't taken a banned substance before. To his market, 2:39 may as well be the World Record. Could easily see him cheating to get there so he can then sell supplements to the weekend warrior weight lifting types that are trying to run 8:00 pace in a crossfit event. No slight intended there but most of those folks probably don't have a clue how different 2:39 is from 2:29/2:19/2:09/WR pace. Most people know someone who has a 4 or 5 hour marathon. Sub-3 is usually very impressive to the people he's selling to.

Acknowledging that Nick Bare is on banned substances, his run was still impressive. I'm not sure if his physique or marathon time in more impressive - both are unachievable for the vast majority of the population, though as a runner the sub 2:40 seems way more achievable.

I think seeing Nick Bare be "successful" in both running and body building (compared to the average person in each) begs the question, does he inspire YOU in either way?

Looking at the two pursuits independently, the questions one would have to ask:

1) Would I rather have a Nick Bare physique or would I rather be able to run a sub 2:40?

2) Would I rather train to have a Nick Bare physique or would I rather train to be a marathoner?

3) Which of the goals would I be more satisfied falling short of? IE would I rather train and plateau at a 3:05 in the marathon or would I rather weight train and plateau and have half the muscle mass of Nick Bare.

My answers:

1) I'd go for the Nick Bare physique. As a former runner (though I've never run a marathon), a sub 2:40 marathon doesn't do much for me. It would be like being a 10.5 100m runner in my youth and working towards a 54 second 400m. On it's own, having that marathon PR wouldn't do much for me, nor would the actual act of running a 2:39 marathon feel special or worth it. It might be fun to look like a super hero just for a day though.

2) I'd go for the weight training. At this point in my life, it feels like its way healthier than running a lot of mileage. Having a home gym, it fits into my lifestyle a lot more than disappearing away from home for hours at a time. I'm also better able to multitask between sets. The physical benefits feel like they translate more to other activities. The training gains are more fun, as well as other training effects (feels a lot better having DOMS from a weight workout than a long run)

3) Once again, I'd much prefer to train a lot for weights and only make moderate improvements to my physique and lifting PRs than run a lot and say only run a "mediocre" (to me) marathon. If I did a marathon training block for a half year and only came away with like a 2:55 marathon (when targeting a 2:40), i would have felt it was a total waste of time. However, any gains from lifting feels like its worth the effort - feels like I'm "better" than I was previously. Marathon PRs wouldn't do that for me.

I dunno, something about setting a pr on a net downhill marathon course roided up and in supershoes kinda bugs me.

Maybe on a different level but there was a Roman emperor, I think Commodus. He fancied himself a gladiator and competed in the games several times, defeating drugged up animals and killing severely disadvantaged opponents, always victorious. I find it hard to root for such a guy, even if to some degree he is accomplished.

And that would still be awesome.

I trust weightlifters who are on roids (openly) to be more accurate in their beliefs about who is doping and they presented some pretty good evidence that Nick Bare is at least on some form of TRT.

Honestly having recreational runners who are openly taking performance enhancing drugs may make it easier to spot running cheaters as well.

Pay attention to how he describes Bare's low T results. I wonder if Bare realized he just outed himself?

Alan

That's 2:50 at 170/15% bf, not whatever weight/bf he's at now.

And you don’t think recovering faster and being able to train more doesn’t make you faster? Seriously you don’t think that is why distance guys have been doing roofs for like 50 years now?

I'm 10 years older, run faster (this year alone) on a legit non-downhill course, look better (as a skinny runner) have a hot wife, 2 kids and great income... Not bothered by this dude or any other instagramer. Didn't even know or care he ran.

I see you're very impressed by him though. Seems like he's living rent free in your head.

Because he's never going to be the biggest lifter out there. He's found his niche of the mythical "hybrid athlete" where gym bros think they can run fast because functional fitness is all you need. If we presume he's been on gear his entire career, then it's not a far leap to assume he'd take blood boosters to run a mildly impressive downhill marathon. I don't think it would be necessary to run a 2:39 at his weight, but it sure would help.

I don't understand why people would suggest he's using PED's in the first place? 2h39m is not that wildly impressive a time for a fit man under the age of 40. And hear me, I'm not suggesting it's easy, but he has the benefit of being able to set his own schedule around his training demands. If he's not clean & he's only running 2h39m, he needs to get better at cheating.

The reality is the marathon has been taken over by morbidly obese runners who run less than 30 miles per week on 3-4 days of training a week & then pray they can make it to the finish line, so yes, a 2:39 seems impressive compared to the average marathon runner. Yet, there are hundreds of thousands of fit men in America alone that could run that time, given 3-4 years of intelligent training.

Median LRC poster.

I agree. His making serious $$$ off of his fame in itself and his supplement business. But still this is amateur hour. Nobody will drug test him.

I love to finish CIM. It is my favorite! The coolness, the smooth chute, the welcoming and warm environment, you can you slide right in or get a helping hand or two. I'll ask anyone to tell me a better finish?

This is why I STILL don't believe Liver King ever used 'roids!