I think Ben Parkes will be a good test. He seems to be physically drained and how long he can keep going will be interesting.
BP definitely seems to be drained. But don't worry, he has already entered five marathons (Mumbai, Seville, Boston, London and Chicago) for 2026.
He's probably semi broken at the moment based on weekly mileage in the build for Valencia:
Oct 27 - Nov 2 = 76 miles (good)
Nov 3 - 9 = 41 miles (massive drop)
Nov 10 - 16 = 55 miles (OK, but less than his October weeks & not ideal for build towards Valencia)
His "big Valencia session" on Friday Nov. 14 was four sets of 8 minutes, so 32 minutes / 5½ miles of work. Bro should be doing that in one go at the end of a long run in preparation for Valencia marathon. And this was followed by one run over the weekend that was just over 9 miles.
Yeah RIP.
16 Nov (Big Valencia Session): 4x 8 minutes.. always a toughie, glad that's banked, onto the weekend long runs!!
I'm not sure what the gotcha here is supposed to be with Ben Parkes, he's clearly struggling with injury/consistency? He's been pretty open with that and has said he finds it frustrating too. I hope he can put together some consistent runs but if the body or mind don't allow it there's not much you can do.
I saw sirpoc at a Tesco in London yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen pints in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each cam and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
Then Bester came along and everybody was in a awe what a humble person they are.
I really hope he tapers and isn’t caught up on seeing Strava mileage bars and blowing his race, I’d like to see what he really could run with proper guidance. The work he has done is great and built a serious engine but reining it in could help performance now.
Did anyone else enjoy seeing Bester getting outkicked in Brighton? Crazy given he's effectively training like a full time / pro athlete how he can get done by a hobbyjogger probably doing half his mileage and working full time. I recon most people who spend their days training and recovering like Bester does could get his times.
I'm not sure what the gotcha here is supposed to be with Ben Parkes, he's clearly struggling with injury/consistency? He's been pretty open with that and has said he finds it frustrating too. I hope he can put together some consistent runs but if the body or mind don't allow it there's not much you can do.
BP comes across as a genuinely nice guy and no shilling of products which is refreshing. Hope he gets back to his best as you can definitely still perform well into 40s, so it's not an age thing...
Sean Tobins videos are really good, probably a little too serious but good production quality and no BS influencer crap. He did a video for the Irish National indoor champs 3km a few months ago, that was a heater. He also ran a decent time at Dublin Marathon following a few setbacks. Definitely on the right side of the running/influencing narrative which is refreshing.
I think one pitfall of Runtubers is that they preach you should be doing this to get quicker, do these things and you to can run faster etc. So these channels featuring actual athletes just recording process without trying to force feed you content all the time is refreshing and much easier to watch.
This post was edited 26 seconds after it was posted.
I saw sirpoc at a Tesco in London yesterday. I told him how cool it was to meet him in person, but I didn’t want to be a douche and bother him and ask him for photos or anything. He said, “Oh, like you’re doing now?” I was taken aback, and all I could say was “Huh?” but he kept cutting me off and going “huh? huh? huh?” and closing his hand shut in front of my face. I walked away and continued with my shopping, and I heard him chuckle as I walked off. When I came to pay for my stuff up front I saw him trying to walk out the doors with like fifteen pints in his hands without paying.
The girl at the counter was very nice about it and professional, and was like “Sir, you need to pay for those first.” At first he kept pretending to be tired and not hear her, but eventually turned back around and brought them to the counter.
When she took one of the bars and started scanning it multiple times, he stopped her and told her to scan them each individually “to prevent any electrical infetterence,” and then turned around and winked at me. I don’t even think that’s a word. After she scanned each cam and put them in a bag and started to say the price, he kept interrupting her by yawning really loudly.
Then Bester came along and everybody was in a awe what a humble person they are.
“I Saw Flying Lotus at a Grocery Store…” refers to a popular copypasta in which the poster tells a story of a famous person acting like a jerk in a grocery
BP comes across as a genuinely nice guy and no shilling of products which is refreshing. Hope he gets back to his best as you can definitely still perform well into 40s, so it's not an age thing...
Feel bad for the guy tbh. In 2018, a lot of the running community saw him as one of the big up and coming sub-elite stars, especially here in the UK. His times were looking promising - fully believe he would have gone sub 2:20 if not for the ankle break / various mental health struggles.
What the **** did you just ****ing say about me, you little *****? I’ll have you know I’ve trained under running legends like Nick Bester, Eliud Kipchoge, and Eric Floberg, and I’ve logged more miles than your Garmin has battery issues. I’m basically the final boss of the mid-pack runners, the chosen one of Sunday long runs, the guardian of the gel stash. You are nothing to me but someone who calls a 9-minute mile an easy warm-up. I will drop you so hard on a group run with pacing precision humanity has never witnessed, mark my ****ing words. You think you can say that **** about my cadence on the Internet? Think again, ****er. As we speak, my secret network of Strava detectives is scrolling through your feed, and your suspiciously perfect race splits are being analyzed. Prepare yourself for the greatest punishment known to runners: zero kudos. The kind of silence that hits harder than bonking at mile 20. The kind of judgment usually reserved for people who heel-strike in Alphaflys. You’re not ****ing ready, kid. I can show up anywhere, anytime, and outpace you in seven hundred different ways, and that’s just with my old crusty trainers I keep saying I’ll retire. I’m extensively trained in tempo warfare, fartlek strategy, and the ancient art of pretending my run was easy when it definitely wasn’t. I have access to more shoes than any reasonable human being should own, and I will use this power to push you right off that local legend segment, you little ****. If you knew the unholy retribution your little clever comment was about to bring, like being tagged in motivational quotes you didn’t ask for, maybe you would have held your ****ing tongue. But you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you ****** idiot. I’m about to unleash fury like a runner who forgot to start their watch until mile two, and you will drown in the chaos. You’re ****ing finished, kiddo. Finished like a pair of Vaporflys at mile 51 of a hundred-mile week.
Who remembers Alex Vero and/or his documentary Running to the Limits (2009).
It'd make a cracking YT channel in 2025
I still have the DVD, think it was available in glitchy chunks on Youtube at one point.
Pretty sure he references some letsrun threads where people seem offended at the time targets he is aiming for. Sure he wasn't everyone's cup of tea (bit too public school for my liking) but I did feel inspired by how far he got and how hard he was pushing himself to get there, and seeing a bit of how Ben Moreau was training.
Although there is a lot of new YT content appearing every week, the quality isn't up there with Running To The Limits. But today's content creators are trying to put out 10-30mins of footage every week so that's inevitable.
What the **** did you just ****ing say about me, you little *****? I’ll have you know I’ve trained under running legends like Nick Bester, Eliud Kipchoge, and Eric Floberg, and I’ve logged more miles than your Garmin has battery issues. I’m basically the final boss of the mid-pack runners, the chosen one of Sunday long runs, the guardian of the gel stash. You are nothing to me but someone who calls a 9-minute mile an easy warm-up. I will drop you so hard on a group run with pacing precision humanity has never witnessed, mark my ****ing words. You think you can say that **** about my cadence on the Internet? Think again, ****er. As we speak, my secret network of Strava detectives is scrolling through your feed, and your suspiciously perfect race splits are being analyzed. Prepare yourself for the greatest punishment known to runners: zero kudos. The kind of silence that hits harder than bonking at mile 20. The kind of judgment usually reserved for people who heel-strike in Alphaflys. You’re not ****ing ready, kid. I can show up anywhere, anytime, and outpace you in seven hundred different ways, and that’s just with my old crusty trainers I keep saying I’ll retire. I’m extensively trained in tempo warfare, fartlek strategy, and the ancient art of pretending my run was easy when it definitely wasn’t. I have access to more shoes than any reasonable human being should own, and I will use this power to push you right off that local legend segment, you little ****. If you knew the unholy retribution your little clever comment was about to bring, like being tagged in motivational quotes you didn’t ask for, maybe you would have held your ****ing tongue. But you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price, you ****** idiot. I’m about to unleash fury like a runner who forgot to start their watch until mile two, and you will drown in the chaos. You’re ****ing finished, kiddo. Finished like a pair of Vaporflys at mile 51 of a hundred-mile week.
Thank you. You could have uses insults like "hobbyjogger" and "Gallowalker" in place of the swear words, but this was an entertaining read.
Feel like BenIsRunning takes the piss a bit too much now.
Everything he does is some sort of promotion or ad. His latest video was basically a full on insta360 sponsored video. tied in to him talking about how he has a spot secured for Valencia with accommodation but hes not sure if hes going. Poor taste, is a shame because his older videos were quite good
Feel like BenIsRunning takes the piss a bit too much now.
Everything he does is some sort of promotion or ad. His latest video was basically a full on insta360 sponsored video. tied in to him talking about how he has a spot secured for Valencia with accommodation but hes not sure if hes going. Poor taste, is a shame because his older videos were quite good
Man would offer one night with his rank missis with 10% off of you typed BIR I to adultwork dot biz.
In 20 years what does he do
His entire career has been championing being average. I'd rather clean my dog's teeth with my todger than be him
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