Another run across America underway - is it legit? Boots currently on the ground

Livory wrote:

lurker... wrote:

So in the last month or so RR has gone from interviewing the likes of Arnie and Sir Patrick Stewart,...to Goodge. Whose pearl of wisdom for anyone struggling for motivation is "book a race". 🙄 Whose lowest point on the transcon was hitting a 47 mile day instead of his 52 target because his nutrition was a bit off. FFS I've had darker moments than that on a training run 🤣 it just doesn't ring true.

This is another key point about how easy the run allegedly was for Goodge. Rich Roll repeatedly banged on about how effortless and easy he made it look.

But if it was still so easy for him when running 55+ miles a day towards the end, the question should be asked: why didn't you try and fulfil your potential by running 10 miles per day more.

You then have the fact that Kostelnick's record is 72 miles per day. So if Goodge can easily run 55 per day whilst bragging about how little training he done, with serious training he should be well capable of challenging the overall record in a couple of years.

Goodge is still in his 20s, young and inexperienced at multiday running, and nowhere near his peak years. If this run was genuine then he should absolutely be looking to train hard over the next couple of years, get more multiday running experience in 6 and 10 day races, then come back and smash the US Transcon record in 2-3 years.

The longer he goes without establishing a credible track record in multi day races, the more clear the fraud will become.

Rolling with the Riches wrote:

Livory wrote:

Good point. Despite reading just about every book on ultramarathons that I came across I was never slightly tempted to read RR's book, despite the brilliant reviews.

I don't doubt that the book is very good, but I saw nothing that great in the athletic achievements, and the old 'ex addict finds salvation in endurance running' story is very common.

But he seems to have been brilliant at PR and getting great aclaim for limited achievements, so perhaps did play a pioneering role in the development of modern influencers.

Rich Roll's book was well written but it was all BS of course. His main story was about a made up event for his buddies and himself. A very long triathlon in Hawaii. I forgot the details. He presented himself as a former top athlete but he was nothing close to that. Almost no verifiable races at all.
He tried to start a health / juice business which must have failed and then he discovered podcasting which he is actually quite good at it.
But he never was the athlete he pretends to be.

Rolling with the Riches wrote:

Livory wrote:

Good point. Despite reading just about every book on ultramarathons that I came across I was never slightly tempted to read RR's book, despite the brilliant reviews.

I don't doubt that the book is very good, but I saw nothing that great in the athletic achievements, and the old 'ex addict finds salvation in endurance running' story is very common.

But he seems to have been brilliant at PR and getting great aclaim for limited achievements, so perhaps did play a pioneering role in the development of modern influencers.

Rich Roll's book was well written but it was all BS of course. His main story was about a made up event for his buddies and himself. A very long triathlon in Hawaii. I forgot the details. He presented himself as a former top athlete but he was nothing close to that. Almost no verifiable races at all.
He tried to start a health / juice business which must have failed and then he discovered podcasting which he is actually quite good at it.
But he never was the athlete he pretends to be.

cheater watcher.... wrote:

I generally enjoy Rich Roll's podcast. I enjoyed his book. I understand who he is. He is a mediocre LD runner with a great story. And yes, he is always selling stuff to make a living. He is a great interviewer. I like him. The first time I listened to this segment on WG, he swayed me a bit. Rich Roll was convinced it was totally legit because he "knows Robby and the video guy". " no effin way"! But then I went out on a run and thought about the exact words that were said in that short segment. Essentially what proof was given in that interview that WG was telling the truth.? There was absolutely nothing! Here are some of the odd things I saw:

1. If you watch the portion where he talks about the watch and woop his answers are short and defensive. You also see him fidgeting and spinning in the chair like he is uncomfortable. It would be interesting to have a body language expert interpret that segment.

2. They chuckle and WG even brags a bit about how he had no watch and had to borrow someones else's. How does that statement not have a follow up question from Rich like WTF? You have all this money dumped into this project, sponsors all lined up and you forgot to have a rock solid GPS watch of your own on your wrist (and 2 or 3 back ups)? That is total BS. These guys are totally into tech and social media yet they play this game that they are salt of the earth, natural runners that can't be bothered with watch technology. They revert to this story that they are infants in understanding of GPS watches because they are just pure runners. Robbie even turns off his Heart rate monitor and even maps feature on some of his feats for money. They know how to work technology.

2 Then we have the defense that "did the other guy have heart rate data"? Well of course not! The point is that your HR data shows something dishonest. Not whether you have data or not. That is pure gaslighting.

3. Rich very quickly jumps in and rescues Wil with his line "HR data is BS". HR data is not BS! Heart rate data can be wonky. Heart rate data can at times pick up cadence. But there are no instances of Heart rate data dropping out of the sky and sitting at 105 BPM for enormous stretches of 60 mile runs when the runner is supposed to be running through mountains in a transcon.

The more I think back about this entire interview, the more I realize it was two guys (buddies) selling stuff. A big commerical. There was no goal of diving in for truth in an investigative manner. So nothing learned here.

lurker... wrote:

To be fair, I don't think RR has ever really held himself out to be an amazing endurance athlete. I think he was pretty clear about his background in college swimming and the fact that the 5 in 5 was an epic adventure rather than any sort of race (although it was many years ago that I read his book). The main theme of his writing was (as somebody else pointed out) the ex-alcoholic to endurance athlete mid-life health crisis scenario. Much of his work and podcasting relates to wellness and self improvement, and normally he appears to research his guests well and present quality, balanced conversations. I haven't listened to the full Goodge podcast - the social media soundbites and the few minutes I did listen to were so dull, I'm not sure I want to commit 2 hours of my life to it! I know Balenger is considered a 'friend of the podcast' and Goodge likely got on as a favour to a mate. There have been other RR podcasts featuring relative unknowns who've completed endurance tests of various sorts - but the ones I've listened to had all trained hard to get there, struggled with imposter syndrome, and were seriously (and sincerely) challenged by whatever they had done. Perhaps we should all dig out the Balenger 'running across America on plants' episode for a listen too. It's there in the back catalogue...

JasperHurworth wrote:

Just went through some of the thread after catching up on the RR podcast. I really don't understand your obsession with his HR readings. I've personally been running marathons for the last couple of years and have had issues with some of the best chest straps available on the market (polar H7 H9 and H10). And yes, I've taken really good care of them (cleaning them after each run and changing the batteries often). Some days they simply don't work... Some days they are absolutely precise. Your accusations based on paces make more sense.. check Jonathan Walton on strava. One of the best British marathon runners above 50 at the moment. HIS chest strap HR is often all over the place despite correct use and he's extensively talked about their limitations.

Having done extensive testing and comparing hr wrist data with strap HR myself I can assure your that wrist HR is all over the place. And am wondering whether any of you have actually used any of these technologies?

lurker... wrote:

To be fair, I don't think RR has ever really held himself out to be an amazing endurance athlete. I think he was pretty clear about his background in college swimming and the fact that the 5 in 5 was an epic adventure rather than any sort of race (although it was many years ago that I read his book). The main theme of his writing was (as somebody else pointed out) the ex-alcoholic to endurance athlete mid-life health crisis scenario. Much of his work and podcasting relates to wellness and self improvement, and normally he appears to research his guests well and present quality, balanced conversations. I haven't listened to the full Goodge podcast - the social media soundbites and the few minutes I did listen to were so dull, I'm not sure I want to commit 2 hours of my life to it! I know Balenger is considered a 'friend of the podcast' and Goodge likely got on as a favour to a mate. There have been other RR podcasts featuring relative unknowns who've completed endurance tests of various sorts - but the ones I've listened to had all trained hard to get there, struggled with imposter syndrome, and were seriously (and sincerely) challenged by whatever they had done. Perhaps we should all dig out the Balenger 'running across America on plants' episode for a listen too. It's there in the back catalogue...