The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

Summed up perfectly.

Yeah, we all know about that. It’s what he used to help launch his channel.

The Believe in the Run podcast this week was an epic train wreck.

Thomas: Robbe has sleep apnea.

Meg: What, how often do you sleep with Robbe?

Robbe: More often than you know.

And from their it went downhill into how they were going to make gear of borat mankinis.

I mean Thomas and Robbe have had a gay couple vibes for years so I guess it's great for them to come out of the closet.

Removing everything personal from it The Welsh Runner just comes across as someone, a bit like Floberg, who doesn't want to show you training because they want to help you, it's because they want you to watch them show off. They're narcissists.

FOD Runner, to name one, explains his plan, his sessions, why he's doing what he's doing, what he hopes to gain and, most importantly, when it goes wrong he is open and honest.

Welsh Runner is apparently a smart man (I'm sure someone said he was a chemist by trade) but he seems to follow whichever ever fad is popular (heat training, double threshold), throw loads of money at it, all without actually understanding why he's doing what he's doing.

If you want to come across as some important running influencer, back up your training with reasoning. If you can't do that, then you're just making it up as you go along like the rest of us.

There are so many dumb parts every episode. One of my favorites from this one was Thomas saying David Roche broke the Leadville 100 course record in 15 hours, then Robbe insisting it was 16:12 (it was 15:12). Robbe also posted on his sub stack it was 16:12. This is a guy whose job is running media and gets flown around by brands to cover running.

Oh, and they announced on Strava they are going out to cover “UMTB” this week.

It's one thing for them to cover marathons but now they also think they need to comment on ultra running even though they know absolutely nothing about it. Nothing about the runners, the races..just nothing..it's so embarrassing. Some brands are absolutely stupid for shoving money up their asses (Megan didn't even know what polyps are btw. Americans are really uneducated maaaan)

Another funny bit was also Megan wondering how so many people can afford Botox.."it's like hundreds of dollars every few months"..meanwhile Thomas spends over 300$ on one meal and they promote a marathon with a 500$ registration fee. Their podcast is so bad. I always listen to it to fall asleep cos apparently they are good at doing that to me:))

BLM is basically dead but Kofuzi keeps plugging at it.

TBH I hate the Vomero Plus as in my UK 13/US 14 they are enormous - 383g and massively wide base - true clown shoes for me. If your feet are somewhat smaller like Ben is Running, Robin from Road to Trail, Sagasu Running, Meaghan from BITR, Seth (RIP as a ShoeTuber), some random everyday runner sure they will be a good for a bit of goal pace.

Same for track. And honestly, same for marathons.

Welsh Runner is actually my coach. TBF he has ran 2:25 for a marathon and well under 15 for a 5K. Times beyond nearly all runners even I suspect most who frequent these hallowed boards. He hasn't yet suggested I try double threshold, lactate testing, run all-in every day etc etc. I am 58. He is somewhat younger after all. What is helpful is for somebody to look at my training (Sue soon gets bored of any running talk!) and suggest what to do for the week ahead. Up to me if I do it of course.

why are people hate watching BITR?
we already know it’s just cringe worthy trash and product shilling.

surely there’s a more enjoyable way to spend your time.

The frustrating thing is that a lot of them could significantly improve their training if they just accepted that they're going to race more often than most and adjusted accordingly, rather than insisting on making everything some 'optimized' to-the-letter megabuild like they're an elite peaking for 2 marathons a year and inevitably running into issues because they're not executing it as designed on a macro level. Practically speaking that's kind of the state of play if you want a financially successful channel- you're going to race more frequently than you would otherwise, often with relatively short notice due to sponsor opportunities, and you're probably going to do a lot of Very Hard Workout videos, as both are generally the biggest returns in terms of views, engagement and picking up new viewers. Brands will select their representatives accordingly. And you know, fair enough. I like racing too, and if this thread is any indication most of us also seem to favour race/workout content. But you're not doing that consistently well without a realistic assessment of your situation and priorities, and IMHO that's where a lot of channels fall short.

It's not like you can't design a productive schedule around more frequent racing either- anyone here involved at a fairly competitive level can probably name a bunch of fast runners who do that quite successfully, but you'll notice they tend to keep the ego in check with the smaller stuff and keep it fairly flexible in between. Whether that's ideal is another discussion, but i'm gonna go out on a limb and say that not having an overuse injury and talking about burnout every couple of months is fairly low on the hierarchy of needs and something that should be addressed one way or another.

Ironically I think that discussion makes for more interesting videos than banging on about workout splits or why your training plan is so great, and likely more relevant to your audience. (most of us are training around lifestyle constraints or external stressors, and we also tend to like racing and occasionally running too hard chasing our buddies around because we're amateurs and that sh*t is fun.) Might make me have slightly more faith in their coaching ability as well.

Fordy Runs is working towards his "fastest marathon ever" which includes running 50 miles a week with 20 of them in his long run, plus plenty of "goal pace"

Free bib for Chicago for his PB attempt which I can imagine will be 10/15k of running too fast for his fitness before getting a call "Simon's in trouble, people Let's wait for him here and walk this one in. Friendship before PBs people. We've had a good 10k there at goal pace, now save the legs for London in 3 years. Man, I love this crowd, let's soak it in"

A lot of bigger channels have their content driven by free bibs for marathon majors and associated travel and accommodation packages.

Thus rather than varying training blocks like, say, FOD Runner does, they get on the marathon after marathon cycle with predictable overuse and burnout issues.

Very few big channels focus on how to build for an optimum 5K, 10K or Half Marathon.

In my country, at least, 20yrs ago, it was who has name brand gear. Who has brand model shoes, clothes etc, because they were prohibitively expensive. Now these things are more or less affordable to most people here (even with those prices today) and the only way you can be "special" or "cool" is if you travel a lot, because traveling is still expensive. It doesn't matter that you're not interested in the people and their culture of where you go, you go there to get pics and social points, nothing more, nothing less. Pathetic.

Kofuzi is the absolute worst for this though BITR is a very close second.

Interesting to see the different marathon training approaches for Ryan Thomson, Jake Barraclough and Cole Gibbons.

Looking at their Stravas, their average weekly KMs over the last 6 weeks are roughly as below:

Ryan - 160ish (2:15:xx PB)

Jake - 260ish (2:14:xx PB)

Cole - 220ish (2:16:xx PB)

Be interesting to see who ends up with the quickest PB over the next two years. Ryan’s mileage significantly lower than the other two so maybe has more to improve but then on the other hand he maybe just can’t handle the sort of mileage the other two do so has to be smarter with the training. Cole more of an unknown quantity as only done one previous marathon and with a negative split possibly has more in the tank. Perhaps the most natural talent speed wise of the three but also the most fragile mentally just going on what I’ve seen on their channels.

Jake perhaps the one with the least all out speed but mentally can’t be many runners stronger than him. Does seem like he’s pushing the limits right to their edges in terms of illness/injury but if everything clicks in a block and gets a day with favourable conditions could blow the other two out of the water because of that self belief and unbelievable fitness from the huge mileage.

Ryan seems the most likely to consistently knock out 1 great marathon a year with no issues and see steady but marginal improvements.

Can they all go under 2:14? Can any of them get close to 2:12 or 2:10?

Could Adam Wood also throw his name in the quickest, non elite, YouTuber mix

It's not necessarily the mileage but how effective it is. Nick Bester has probably ran 160k a week for 5 years and only just broke his marathon PB.

Is 220k with 95% super easy more effective than 160k with more quality? Who knows