The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

What is it, aside from the aspect that is so important for performance that any pro uses it time and time again, you ask? Why aside from the thing that BrainCelll probably was alluding to?

Hi Matt

Felton's new PB will put him just outside UK Top 100 at the end of the year, for the year. It's fine top end club running.

Sadly (but not really) I fear this will leave him still just shy of breaking 2.20, barring a bit more improvement, though he can now doubt get some ad revenue in that fascinating quest. And if he gets there, then what - in terms of YT 'mission'? his ceiling will be very close to 2.19 and well short of anything that gets him to any 'next level'.

I actually think very few if any UK Youtuber runners dope, with one imo highly questionable exception. In general there's nothing about their running histories that gives any indication of doing so.

I was mainly referring to American-based running YouTubers and influencers. I think there's a fair amount of doping going on there.

We already established that Kofuzi had been doping, prior to being coached by well known anti-doper Sage. He went from 2:56 to 3:20 after giving up the juice.

3:20 tracks with his 35 minute 8k turkey trot.

Care to elaborate here? If this video is unwatchable, I got a feeling his videos aren’t meant for you homeslice.

Come on then, who's the questionable one...

Eric Floberg.

I haven’t looked at his Strava in a long time but Foxy’s training seems wildly inconsistent.

That plus his drive for further weight loss, really doesn’t seem like the best recipe for 12 months of marathon success.

A runner that runs 66’ off the back of Kenya can run <65 training in the UK if they had a coach and didn’t train like an idiot, unfortunately this is where Ben falls short.

If I was to have a bet, I’d assume your half marathon is 67’+ from your post 😂😂😂😂

Looking at this set up, he legit likely got paid for this feature. Incredibly stupid idea of marketing by whoever commissioned it to have a z-list power ranger on their feed. 300 views, incredible ROI 👏👏👏

Yes spot on on my Half marathon PB. I don't quite get all the smiley faces though. Are you laughing at what my PB may be? There might be reasons why I can still hold credible point of view on a mid 66 half marathon performance.(A bit like those with views on kiplimo's new PB, most of whom have probably not yet broken 57 at the distance).

Felton might find that having an external credible coach might have very little uplift on his results tho it may remain just theoretical if he sticks with his own way.

Ben Felton has had a coach for 6+ months, what are you guys on about?

Jake Barraclough is pretty similar to Ben Felton in a lot of ways, but he is doing much better without all of the altitude training camps, lactate testing, or coaching. He is just putting in the work. Ben is still young and has plenty of room to grow with or without trips to Kenya.

There's a pretty big difference between them - Jake was a relatively decent junior, especially across the cross country so there's that much bigger base and speed in his favour rather than it just being his training now is more efficient.

Ben Felton has done really well from where he started - aerobic workhorse - but it's a miracle he hasn't been more injured given his cavalier approach to injuries and decision making.

Take it from someone that does it for a living...

The bicarb video wasn't bad, but sounded like he'd paraphrased the introduction to a meta analyses and didn't really get the nuance/where we have questions/don't know what's going on.

The rest of his actions with regard to his own training and his use of lactate testing are amateur hour. There's a photo floating around of him putting more holes into someone's pinky finger than a seive to do a lactate test - first year undergraduates can run a whole test with a single hole (and know not to go into the side of the pinky finger). And if he wants to present himself as "evidence lead" (as Ben is Running is also want to do) he's certainly making a complete mess of it with both his and Kelly's training.

A good scientist can see the forest for the trees, and with a little reading can understand each individual tree and how it fits into the larger picture - that's to say that a lot of people get hung up on the absolute minutiae because they either don't have the skills to understand research in isolation, and how it fits into a wider picture, and/or they want to present themselves as smarter than the average idiot influencer to charge more money - you decide where each influencer falls on that scale.

I'm sure he's an alright guy, but as someone that's done primary research and knowing the huge amount of work that goes into it, it isn't half annoying seeing how it actually makes it out to wider audiences. Maybe that's on us as scientists - maybe we need our own influencers?

I have no idea what you’re alluding to! Kenya doesn’t have a doping problem at all - it’s not like there are near weekly busts and that you can buy EPO over the counter!

Yes it does