Spencer Brown Is Leaving Brooks Beasts

I don't get runners sometimes. So many miler/1500 guys are so in love with being that specific athlete that they refuse to see the writing on the wall or perhaps just don't want to train more/figure out why their body can't handle more training. If you're #50something in the US with no contract you're not going to suddenly be a contender or even someone worth mentioning to make a US team. Just move up already and see what you got. Your speed got you to where you are and with all these years of training that's likely your limit or close to it. There are guys out there definitely having more success on the roads and they are not as fast as Spencer Brown in the 800/1500.

after watching the vid, his dad definitely had some honest and sound critiques about where spencer is at with his running. if he can build up his mileage and get some consistent training in i think he has a shot to at least improve on his PRs. maybe competitive in some road or indoor domestic races. after all, he is in a unique position where he probably makes enough from youtube/sponsors/etc to scrap by without a contract for another year. last year he never really strung together a consistent block. tbf his results were pretty poor regardless of his less than ideal training tho, but at this point he is literally a youtuber that is trying to run fast times. it still seems like he doesnt put in the effort required to make a jump to the next level, but im sure the beasts experience has humbled him and he has never really been able to consistently run more than 60ish miles. lots of room for improvement imo.

Big pop pop wrote:

bip bop pop wrote:

Dude has a degree from Georgetown, right?

Just get a damn job, son.

I don't think that's worth as much you think it's worth. Spencer kinda seems like the kid with bad grades.

I'm not saying he's going to be hired at Blackstone or Goldman, but if you have a degree from Georgetown you can get hired somewhere. It's not nothing.

Taliban's Team wrote:

hurrikane wrote:

It's sad that kids now, like Spencer Brown and Drew Hunter, are helpless without mommy and daddy.

We need more parents like this:

https://youtu.be/EqqC1uk8KJI?t=42

We need more lessons from the draft dodging coward John Wayne.

Totally. We need lessons from our president. His son turned out so well.

I haven't followed him as much during his Beast era as I did during his Hoya days. What ever happened to the blonde girl from back at home that used to be with him and Ari all the time? Did she go West with him?

Any proof?

ShilohDoesntCare wrote:

I don't get runners sometimes. So many miler/1500 guys are so in love with being that specific athlete that they refuse to see the writing on the wall or perhaps just don't want to train more/figure out why their body can't handle more training. If you're #50something in the US with no contract you're not going to suddenly be a contender or even someone worth mentioning to make a US team. Just move up already and see what you got. Your speed got you to where you are and with all these years of training that's likely your limit or close to it. There are guys out there definitely having more success on the roads and they are not as fast as Spencer Brown in the 800/1500.

spencer brown on 90mpw is still a worse 5k/10k guy than klecker and fisher on 50mpw.

same would go for better milers than spencer. most milers really are milers.

Win at All Costs wrote:

He's announcing his next steps on his YouTube channel at 2. I'm not surprised at all.

My guess is he'll have his dad coach him. I could be very wrong though. I don't imagine he'll get another contract. Possibly become the next Seth Demoor?

Good vid.

JO Coach wrote:

I haven't followed him as much during his Beast era as I did during his Hoya days. What ever happened to the blonde girl from back at home that used to be with him and Ari all the time? Did she go West with him?

I think he has a girlfriend, Allie, unless you're referring to someone else. (he mentions "wifing up" early on).

The dad was critical but he didn't come across as a d!ck either, low-key, honest but firm, but not mean. Good advice, and the dad was a runner himself. I got the vibe too Spencer respected his dad as well.

JO Coach wrote:

I haven't followed him as much during his Beast era as I did during his Hoya days. What ever happened to the blonde girl from back at home that used to be with him and Ari all the time? Did she go West with him?

You and me both.

I know who I would have hit, or tried to. Ari, help your boy out.

jecht wrote:

JO Coach wrote:

I haven't followed him as much during his Beast era as I did during his Hoya days. What ever happened to the blonde girl from back at home that used to be with him and Ari all the time? Did she go West with him?

I think he has a girlfriend, Allie, unless you're referring to someone else. (he mentions "wifing up" early on).

The dad was critical but he didn't come across as a d!ck either, low-key, honest but firm, but not mean. Good advice, and the dad was a runner himself. I got the vibe too Spencer respected his dad as well.

It was a different chick.

The thing with the dad's advice is that you sort of have to run for time when you are 5s slower than your competitors. It is easy to go for the wins in HS when you are as good as everyone else. Now at the end of his junior year he had progressed to the point where in things like conference/regionals he might have been in the mix.

Sort of feel like the last 18+ months have been sort of wasted time with aimless training and injuries/covid. It would be nice to see him do 9months of solid work and see what can be down. And for heaven's sake do the little things like eat right and do the gym work so you know you did give it your all.

Muebele wrote:

I wonder what will happen to Ally O now?

She is the most immature person that I've ever seen. Nothing good happens if Spencer continues to hang around with her.

fkkfkfkfkf wrote:

jecht wrote:

I think he has a girlfriend, Allie, unless you're referring to someone else. (he mentions "wifing up" early on).

The dad was critical but he didn't come across as a d!ck either, low-key, honest but firm, but not mean. Good advice, and the dad was a runner himself. I got the vibe too Spencer respected his dad as well.

It was a different chick.

It was Mackay who lived with Spencer, Ari and Will in Boulder.

I'm of the opinion that if Spencer wants to have a serious pro running career outside of just being a running influencer, he needs to move up to the 5000m. I think his ceiling at that range is far higher, as evidenced by his 30:11 cross country 10k. Spencer has always had some decent speed, but in my opinion he's never had anything unique or special at the 800-1500 range. He's very aerobically strong when he trains for longer stuff, and as a 5k/10k guy he'd have a much better kick than most others in those events. He's got the potential to run comfortably under 13:20 within a year if he were to switch training now, and if he doubled down I could see him contending for a spot on the 10k team in 2024.

This isn't going to be popular, but I blame people like Sage. It isn't just running, of course, but these social media "influencers" make it seem like you can have a nice life living it on youtube with a modest (in some cases very modest) amount of success in the real world. People like Spence see this and think it is a model that will work for them. The problem is that it's a saturated market and Sage's videos have much more wide appeal due to their focus on training and helping people become better runners. Only high school kids and college kids get a kick out of memes and watching Spence eating Chipotle or whatever. There's just not a huge market for that. But here's the thing: even Sage is struggling. Even someone who does it very well finds it hard to make ends meet. The job requires constant pimping of products and searching for sponsors. So even the success stories are marginal.

I watched Spencer's vlogs from Boulder and Seattle some, and the imagery burned into my mind was his complete lack of form toward the end of the first "Mags" run the group did.

Sorry, Spencer, but freeking LIFT. Put in some MILES. If your mileage ceiling is indeed 45 or 50 miles, and your name is not Doug Padilla, we need to think this over some more. Meanwhile, try and get strong for once, would you?

Wrong event maybe? wrote:

I'm of the opinion that if Spencer wants to have a serious pro running career outside of just being a running influencer, he needs to move up to the 5000m. I think his ceiling at that range is far higher, as evidenced by his 30:11 cross country 10k. Spencer has always had some decent speed, but in my opinion he's never had anything unique or special at the 800-1500 range. He's very aerobically strong when he trains for longer stuff, and as a 5k/10k guy he'd have a much better kick than most others in those events. He's got the potential to run comfortably under 13:20 within a year if he were to switch training now, and if he doubled down I could see him contending for a spot on the 10k team in 2024.

WRONG. He gets DESTROYED in the 1500m by 5k/10k guys running down in distance. Just to name a few ~

Cooper Teare - 3:35

Fisher - 3:36

Klecker - 3:37

Mantz - 3:37

Brandt - 3:38

Wrong event maybe? wrote:

I'm of the opinion that if Spencer wants to have a serious pro running career outside of just being a running influencer, he needs to move up to the 5000m. I think his ceiling at that range is far higher, as evidenced by his 30:11 cross country 10k. Spencer has always had some decent speed, but in my opinion he's never had anything unique or special at the 800-1500 range. He's very aerobically strong when he trains for longer stuff, and as a 5k/10k guy he'd have a much better kick than most others in those events. He's got the potential to run comfortably under 13:20 within a year if he were to switch training now, and if he doubled down I could see him contending for a spot on the 10k team in 2024.

If he could run 13:20, with his speed he would be running 335. Career wise he is sort of stuck in that really good but not topshelf level. He has shown the talent to be a like 3:38/1340/29 min guy. Those type of marks might get you to nationals but you are not contending.

Every distance guy thinks middle distance guys just need more miles and they will do well at distance. For a lot, it doesn't workout. And he was dying doing the aerobic work the beasts did. Ideally after he ran that 339, he would have progressed the training (10% more volume, workouts faster, doing the little stuff like eating right and lifting). But that didn't happen. At this point, it seems like he needs a 3-6 month base (mileage, tempos, sprints) to try and get some basic conditioning. Go aim to run like a 1430 5k and assess where you are.

There are countless people out there trying to make a living by not having a real job. Good for them. They are the pioneers. Pioneers in all sorts of fields and interests push society forward.

That said, reality has a vote. I suspect the reality (as you said) is that very very few people can make a living doing this sort of thing, filming yourself doing a hobby and eating burritos. God bless America if you can make it work!