The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

As for training insights, Michael really appeals to me, as despite grandmas, which I gather wasnt ideal conditions, he’s a guy fitting it all in around a busy life… which is I think what a lot of us resonate with

If you’d of asked me about Nick 6 months ago I would of said no as it was very similar block after block, but he’s got a coach now and his coach also coaches a very exciting prospect Jack Kavanagh. He started running during lockdown and he’s already run 13:34, which is quite staggering… so I’m curious to see what he can do with Nick…. Time will tell I guess, let’s see what happens in his next marathon build up and how similar / different it is from his previous builds!

He gave up a lot of time for me this week and is very humble… he doesn’t want the attention at all but on the flip side he’s prepared to give up his time to help anyone that asks. He’s also very active in the strava group answering questions… he fully believes in this method and the results show…. he’s definitely one of the good guys out there trying to help others

Good to know, think a lot of eyes have been on that thread and hoped he is as top a guy as he sounds. The thing really that struck me about the video is how little he actually ran on paper for the marathon. First time I had seen the whole thing laid out. The fact he probably barely averaged 100km a week over that period , is 41 and was his first marathon makes 2:24 even more nuts. It was a rough day out in London as well.

Please do not ever consider anything with fordyruns though and honestly keep Bester off your channel. You are one of the guys I don't think carries much heat, keep it that way lol

another bad weekend for Team Makou, at least they didnt DNF this time...

Elson - way off pace, long odds against on making the UK final. done over by TM pacemaker James McMurray which will be hard for the ego to handle

Astin - again, well down the field. how is she a pro runner??? same time as an u17 ran at the english schools champs without pacemakers in the heat of the afternoon

Rory - 2 PBs, good job

Beattie - the real bright prospect of the group. 7:45 in Marseille. poor run. proving his 13:04 run in Boston was a fluke, done nothing approaching that performance since. the GB selectors will not take him to Tokyo unless he does something fast soon

This interesting thing about SirPoc is that he started at or below a level where many of us are currently. Then, he cuts out all the BS and follows a simple, no-thrills training plan and ends up beating most of the influencer shills running double the distance each week. Overall, he's so relatable.

Insights into Michael would be mildly interesting. I love his content; however, he's such a talented runner; from a training perspective, I don't think the hobby jogging community can gain much.

Regardless of a new coach, I would completely disengage with any Bester content. I'm just not interested in a guy who: does all his runs in super shoes, trains more miles than most pros, and keeps pumping out the cringe, full-send park run videos. Just nothing relatable or likeable about this guy.

>Cole doing Berlin (and also still planning on doing Valencia).

Big fan of his, he has heaps of talent, puts the work in and comes across as a really sound fella but given his injury history + given the fact that London was his first marathon, 3 in a year just seems too much.

Cole - on the off chance you are reading this please, for your own sake, think twice. Just pick one or the other - don't fall into the trap many youtubers do where they feel obliged to say yes to every opportunity to get put through a race with a brand. Not worth it.

appears hes sold his soul to adidas for berlin. not sure who's paying for his valencia trip but can see both of those going very badly as he will be doing short build-ups so will panic and up his mileage to silly amount (140mpw+) to quickly , then the inevitable injuries will take hold.

he needs a coach who he will listen to. sticking with valencia would have been sensible but looks like the lure of a couple of quid and free shorts has got him

London + Valencia is probably fine IMO but honestly I think even that is maybe pushing it a little given London was his debut marathon and given that he's had his fair share of injuries over the years.

London, Berlin & Valencia is just asking to get hurt. That's the only reason I'm posting this, on the off chance that he lurks here and reads the thread. If he just sat on his arse and did nothing for the rest of the year 2025 would still be a roaring success given his outstanding run at London. Why risk ruining everything by doing 3 marathons in just over 7 months?

Take the W Cole and be happy!

What a great thing this thread exists. What would pro runners do otherwise? Have no internet randos caution them on their decisions? What a sad world full of avoidable injuries this would be.

On behalf of Cole (for the off-chance that he doesn't follow this important thread), and from the bottom of my heart. Thank you!

The latest Believe in the Run podcast shows that Thomas and Robbe definitely do read this thread.

And what did they say about it?

Upset people are taking the piss of him running 9min miles in the Pro Evo 2?

It would be interesting to run into those clowns at a race

And the award for Julys post of the month goes to…

You'd only see Robbe and Thomas if you were in the charity wave at Boston, or finishing 5+ hours at NYCM

Yeah I love the overly earnest “please don’t overdo it you might get injured” posts. Almost every pro / competitive runner gets injured once in a while. I don’t doubt these internet experts believe they have excellently predicted the future when such a thing happens. What about the people who train really “sensibly” but still get injured, the stupid bastards? If only they took that extra vitamin supplement or did a triple eccentric backwards heel drop, they woulda been fine.

You'd need to be in the last wave at Boston (sponsor bibs) or at the 5 hour finish time for the marathon for that to happen

If you stuck around the finish line long enough you could see them getting content. Then out of nowhere you hear someone yelling "Yo what going on!". Kofuzi appears from just behind the wall of shoetubers with their selfie sticks.

Kind of cool to see the crossover. Sirpoc is much beloved , he's almost like a cult hero. I'm almost glad he doesn't get involved in the nonsense of this thread and YouTube , social media etc. Having said that I do not mind FODs content for the most part.

Absolutely you are right he's relatable. I actually spoke to him at the Eastleigh 10k to congratulate him on what was a pretty big win, it's certainly not a tiny race.

Very humble, didn't really want to talk about himself, just a real normal 41 year old and like you say, we were all probably somewhere around his level, at some point. Is really mad when you see FOD lay out his marathon block that he could just rock up to London in his first marathon and run 2:24.

+1 on the Bester stuff. Give that a wide berth. Absolutely not the kind of crossover you want to be associated with.

Just caught up on a couple of new videos I’ve watched and really enjoyed. My thoughts below:

Aubrey - biggerthanrunning - London10k video

This guy is a joy to watch. Yes it’s fun to watch ultra fast tubers like Nick B & Ben F but sometimes it’s also nice to see someone who is running for the pure love of it. So cool to see him not go all out in a race but soak up the atmosphere and chat with the community. I challenge anyone to find a reason to dislike Aubrey. Seems such a good dude and cracks me up too. The beginning part where he pretends to live in Buckingham palace had me crying with laughter

Philly Bowden - change to training plan video

What makes Philly so good is she can be hilarious & quirky but also incredibly honest and earnest. And this video was one of those where you see both sides. Makes a very mature decision to pull out of a track 5k race and gives reasons for her replacement session where she ends up running a ridiculous 5k pace anyway.

Next videos up to watch and review - runningmaninblue (video on his surgery) & the latest crownmyrun (win a switch 2). Very different types of video. Will keep you updated