The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

I think you're being harsh. His video today showed him flat out for first half of HM and thinking he might have to drop out. Yet he blasted the second half and beat loads of Hakone ekiden runners. Taking a risk is part of pushing yourself to see how far you can go. It didn't work out today but I buy his approach and feel he's doing all he can to get the best out of himself. It doesn't feel inauthentic but I get that some people feel he could do better with a different approach. I guess I think he's very smart (just look at the way he puts a storyline together) and knows his body better than others 🤷🏼‍♂️

Sounds like you should not watch him if you're not enjoying it 😊

Running Youtuber I'm not sure but Phil Seseman popped a 2:07 today in Amsterdam.

Well he does have a YouTube channel now so I guess he is

It’s exactly because RTJ’s training is unconventional that we want to watch his videos — while you’d rather stick to the same safe, traditional workouts that 99% of YouTubers do. Maybe you could watch something else if the “Train harder, not smarter” method isn’t your thing? It’s people like you who make everyone blend into the same boring mass.

Yeah afaik he had a non-running-related injury and spent most of the Summer cycling. The result is what it is but I'd still have bet on sirpoc if he hadn't gotten injured.

Re: RTJ. It reminds me of Philly Bowden in the sense that they got a good result (2:14 at a hot Tokyo) and then significantly changed/increased their training in spite of it. He knows his speed is lacking but I guess he thinks all this volume isn't hindering his speed development? Some coaches and physiologists would argue otherwise. I get the feeling he thinks he can't develop his speed even if he tried so it's not worth the effort. If his 2:14 was good for a 2:12 on a cooler day, I think a 2:09 at Valencia would be achievable a year later with just another year of grinding. He hasn't been training at this crazy mileage for that long. I don't think he needed to push his training to even crazier levels already. At least he seems pretty smart so I think if this all blows up in his face, he'll fine tune his approach for 2026. I'll be cheering for him in the meantime.

Re: Floberg. Just checked his Strava for any updates. He says he's not racing NYC all-out and that the Chicago race video is gonna be the best one he's ever made so he's taking his time. Ok.

Thank you for the update. Considering the cinematic masterpieces already in flobergs catalogue “best ever” is a bold claim!

and floberg's followers on that strava post all sucking him dry saying he can PB in nyc and other silly positivities. man who tf are these people lol. they idolize bloberg is pathetic work. the cringiest stuff ive ever read from grown adults lol.

i understand being a fan of something, but i will never understand how people take the time to comment and write support so devotedly, especially to an average guy who runs hes not a real celebrity. yet seemingly so many random runners gravitate towards these runfluencers and treat them as their meccas. its so freakin weird

Is Seth Demoor retired? No videos for over a month despite running Pikes Peak.

Watching Philly's latest video while I can't help feel some sympathy for her and although she says the fall probably caused the injury I really can't help but feel she has running addiction issues which contributed.

She mentions a lot of mental issues and how she uses running to keep them under control.Good that she recognises this and hopefully she can now focus on getting them sorted rather than just running more more to keep them at bay.

I hope she recovers soon but its obviously going to take some time, she has been very lucky not to have serious injury issues before but as she says in the video once they start it can be hard to get as strong as she was before.

In future hopefully injury prevention will be a bigger priority for her and her coach.

Not at all intended to be harsh- i'm not ripping the dude for the performance today, just curious as to how it fits into the bigger picture as he clearly has some significant goals beyond that race.

Barraclough's entire platform is built around an unconventional approach, which he does hype to some degree to get people talking. It appears to be working quite well for him, so we are naturally interested in his reasoning. Not sure we need to get too defensive on his behalf.

I guess I disagree with the notion of it being defensive to disagree with you. It would be like saying you are offensive, no? 😂 Sure, the train harder, not smarter is part of the brand...I think most people like it. I find it a bit strange when folks on here clearly loathe someone (and I'm not saying this about you at all with RTJ!) and yet they clearly watch all the videos. It doesn't feel healthy to fill yourself with hate imo. I'd rather watch things I enjoy 😬

Is this really Jake's PRs and progression (sorry I don't know his full history or running progression besides the more recent marathon stats)?

I'm just surprised to not see any faster 5km/10km performances...and yet he popped a 1:03 half?

Just going by that I think he's got a Marathon PR in him. 2:13-2:12 on a cool day seems a lot more reasonable than a 2:09-2:10.

Has he really not run faster at 1500m-10km though?...the times on this profile don't really add up at all:

worldathletics.org

Jake BARRACLOUGH | Profile | World Athletics

Jake BARRACLOUGH, Great Britain & N.I. - Marathon, 30 Kilometres Road, Half Marathon, 10,000 Metres, 3000 Metres, 3000 Metres Short Track, 1500 Metres

Link:worldathletics.org/athletes/great-brit...

like Jake was running 4:06-4:07 for 1500m and 32-min for 10km and 15:50s for 5km in college only a few years ago?! That would be a heck of a progression

savannah.scadathletics.com

De Santiago, Barraclough Named Bees of the Week - Savannah College of Art and Design Athletics

@SCAD_SavSports

SAVANNAH, Ga. – De Santiago, Barraclough, have been named SCAD Bees of the Week for the week ending May 1st.

Link:savannah.scadathletics.com/news/2022/5...

Big muscular guy that used to post videos of him benching/weightlifting, weighing ~220 lbs I believe, and trying to go for sub 3 and failing a bunch of times (while coming close-ish). Now, about a year has passed, and he's dropped 40-50 lbs and just today ran 35:44 in the 10k and has done 18:30-ish in the 5k.

A lot of his older videos (older than a year ago it seems) have been deleted at this point, but his transformation has been interesting to watch. All that said, I think he's on PEDs or something. He's become insanely lean and his time progressions are crazy. He went from doing 8:30-9:00 on his easy runs at 150 hr, to mid/low 7s at 130-140 hr.

In the past month or so alone he's gone from ~38 to <36 mins in the 10k alone which seems like a fast/quick leap. I generally like him and his videos but the rate of his progression is interesting

Overly dramtic slowmos to terrible autotune music will get dialled up to eleven. May the Lord have mercy on our souls. Gonna go do a quick church clap. Maybe my prayers will be heard.

He seems ok -- I would not be surprised if he's on a low does of steroids; however, will fool himself it's therapeutic (TRT). I don't think his progression is crazy, as he previously may have not been focused on running.

My critique is he comes one of those people that run everything too fast. I imagine he wakes up to listens to Rogan and Goggings motivational speeches. Also, I appreciate he's lean; however, does every thumbnail and social media post need to have him with his top off -- it's just a bit creepy!

I used to be a big fan of him as he seemed a real "everyman" runner, father and hard worker.

I am also of the opinion he is on PEDs. He runs stupidly fast every day it seems. His "easy" pace, warm ups and floats now appear to be sub 3 pace and he never runs anything that looks truly easy. He has 3 super hard workouts a week as well. Will this translate to a fast marathon? I have my doubts, even with the potential PEDs