RTJ has now made a full documentary about himself, to be released on the 28th.
I'm certain this is gonna divide a lot of opinions around here haha
the letsrun RTJ crashout is going to be EPIC
So many comments here saying RtJ training method is ridiculous and doesn’t work…
By his own admission he’s not the most talented runner in terms of speed or natural gift.
Saw a recent podcast where he readily admits that he’s probably on the same level or worse than someone like Ben Fenton. Yet his marathon time is like 10 whole minutes quicker than him.
That shows his training method is squeezing every drop of talent out of him.
The guy didn’t start seriously running until a few years ago and he’s run a 2:14 marathon where he was iron deficient and close to unconscious for the last 5k… that’s less than 10 minutes slower than someone like Connor Mantz who has run since he could walk and is supposedly the most natuarally talented American runner in generations….
RTJ could quit running now and he’s proven all the doubters on this thread wrong… That 2:14 marathon is in the record books guys
Funny that it seems to be the Floberg and Donato worshippers like OAClover who seem to make the constant digs at Jake
I don't think the tide of fandom is going to turn against Jake. The recent frustration some are rallying for against him is due to a poor result, but I think he will come back stronger. And if he doesn't, it won't make me like him any less.
What do we think about Nick's latest video. Despite saying he didn't want to talk about the airbnb incident, he's milking it for everything he can. Also the usual other excuses for his performance including illness and an unbalanced HRV.
What do we think about Nick's latest video. Despite saying he didn't want to talk about the airbnb incident, he's milking it for everything he can. Also the usual other excuses for his performance including illness and an unbalanced HRV.
Sounds like you don't like his videos. Why continue watching them? Do people just hate watch youtubers? I've only ever watched 2 Nick Bester videos, and it was before I found this thread. They weren't for me, so I stopped.
We're not saying that his unorthodox training method didn't get him to where he is now, but it's still most likely a case of him succeeding in spite of his training than because of it. He says that this is the only way to draw out his mediocre talent, but in the days before the suicidal 250+ km weeks, he was seeing success on 200 -220km a week before bizarrely deciding he somehow needed to up his mileage. I genuinely don't understand what's stopping him from dropping down to 200ish km a week and then hammering a ton of cross training; he clearly has the time and the mental strength to do so.
I don't like armchair psychology but I think this might be a mental health issue, someone that is willing to put their body through 280km weeks and race to the point they almost die, by his own admission, clearly has some self harm tendencies. He really needs someone he respects like Ryan Hall or Cam Levins who fvcked up their hormones training like this to tell him this isn't the way and we're not out to get him
We just don't know his true talent, the carthorse comparisons are just part of his youtube narrative and it clearly works...hint: his 5k and 10k pace could drop a lot under a good coach and with a solid periodisation. And comparing him to Ben doesnt make sense as RTF did run as a teenager and even went to US to run in college and could easily be more talented. His training and iron deficiency are more related than you think and there are more reasons than direct running injuries to keep your volume and intensity within limits. This is something most posters know but RTJ fanboys ignore all common sense on here.
We're not saying that his unorthodox training method didn't get him to where he is now, but it's still most likely a case of him succeeding in spite of his training than because of it. He says that this is the only way to draw out his mediocre talent, but in the days before the suicidal 250+ km weeks, he was seeing success on 200 -220km a week before bizarrely deciding he somehow needed to up his mileage. I genuinely don't understand what's stopping him from dropping down to 200ish km a week and then hammering a ton of cross training; he clearly has the time and the mental strength to do so.
I don't like armchair psychology but I think this might be a mental health issue, someone that is willing to put their body through 280km weeks and race to the point they almost die, by his own admission, clearly has some self harm tendencies. He really needs someone he respects like Ryan Hall or Cam Levins who fvcked up their hormones training like this to tell him this isn't the way and we're not out to get him
He's immersed himself in Japanese running culture where running 250+km weeks isn't that "bizarre".
What's stopping him from following your advice is:
1) who the f**k are you?
2) That's not what the Japanese greats whose training he's following did.
If you're going to commit to a system that worked - then you actually have to commit to the system, not pick and choose based on what random numpties on the internet think.
PS. Cam Levins has been running for more than 20 years and is still banging out monster mileage. He has a 2:05 marathon next to his name as a result.
We're not saying that his unorthodox training method didn't get him to where he is now, but it's still most likely a case of him succeeding in spite of his training than because of it. He says that this is the only way to draw out his mediocre talent, but in the days before the suicidal 250+ km weeks, he was seeing success on 200 -220km a week before bizarrely deciding he somehow needed to up his mileage. I genuinely don't understand what's stopping him from dropping down to 200ish km a week and then hammering a ton of cross training; he clearly has the time and the mental strength to do so.
I don't like armchair psychology but I think this might be a mental health issue, someone that is willing to put their body through 280km weeks and race to the point they almost die, by his own admission, clearly has some self harm tendencies. He really needs someone he respects like Ryan Hall or Cam Levins who fvcked up their hormones training like this to tell him this isn't the way and we're not out to get him
That would be my concern for Jake - damage to the hormonal/endocrinal systems. I did it to myself about 40 years ago, a combination of training too hard (intensity, not distance in my case) and a demanding career. Fortunately, in my case I recovered sufficiently to run well well on into my masters stage. I do, however, still get a kind of "psuedo cold/flu" if I don't get enough sleep. Nothing in the way of a virus that is detectable, but hot and cold spells, sore throat and weakness, although oddly enough at points, I've raced well in that stage, probably due to huge amounts of adrenaline because the system won't turn off.
With Jake a a warning sign was the half marathon where he decided to stop at 10k.
With luck, all Jake has done is just gone past his peak and picked up a virus through traveling, and will make it back.
He clearly can run 2:12 given that he's run a 63:xx but he can probably retain all the benefits he's built off his huge mileage, by dialing it back a bit, adopting periodization, and better calculating his peak.
I stopped watching floberg about a month and a half ago now and it feels good man. I was a devoted hate watcher and think the guy is a pathetic narcissist. But I couldn’t bring myself to stop watching the dumbness of his YouTube and find something to get annoyed at by his Strava. But I’m proud to say I unfollowed and unsubbed the guy and it truly feels good! I missed the hate watch at first but stayed strong and can honestly say it’s more enjoyable just forgetting the man exist. He’s not gonna lose his stupid cult follower which is part of the reason I am annoyed by him anyways, so I’ve become the bigger hater and have removed him from my headspace!
Screw you floberg and stop being such a cringey fake dramatic artsy wanna be running family man! Stop posting your family on social media bucko you don’t have to use them to show your followers how core memory your life is on running media. Congrats on your continued coaching scamming business btw. Hope you feel pride in taking money from suckers when you know your services aren’t worth charging $100+/month for. Stupid grifter. Oh that felt good to get out I missed it!
I like Jake, I just think he maybe has a bit too much confidence he knows what he's doing for a guy who ended his last two goal marathons in a medical tent. He's flirting with territory where you do harm that sticks with you. At the very least he needs to commit to shutting himself down the next time he feels like that in a race.
I stopped watching floberg about a month and a half ago now and it feels good man. I was a devoted hate watcher and think the guy is a pathetic narcissist. But I couldn’t bring myself to stop watching the dumbness of his YouTube and find something to get annoyed at by his Strava. But I’m proud to say I unfollowed and unsubbed the guy and it truly feels good! I missed the hate watch at first but stayed strong and can honestly say it’s more enjoyable just forgetting the man exist. He’s not gonna lose his stupid cult follower which is part of the reason I am annoyed by him anyways, so I’ve become the bigger hater and have removed him from my headspace!
Screw you floberg and stop being such a cringey fake dramatic artsy wanna be running family man! Stop posting your family on social media bucko you don’t have to use them to show your followers how core memory your life is on running media. Congrats on your continued coaching scamming business btw. Hope you feel pride in taking money from suckers when you know your services aren’t worth charging $100+/month for. Stupid grifter. Oh that felt good to get out I missed it!
I think this post says a lot more about you then it does about Floberg.
Just found this thread and surprised to see so much talk about RTJ. I will add one thing totally independent of his training philosophy. I met Jake at his Valencia shakeout run and he was a genuinely nice guy. We chatted about Spain, Japan, races in 2026, and he was in a joking mood the whole time, despite his blowup the day before. Even though there was a crowd of people awkwardly waiting to take a photo with him, he did not rush our interaction and was very kind to me.
We're not saying that his unorthodox training method didn't get him to where he is now, but it's still most likely a case of him succeeding in spite of his training than because of it. He says that this is the only way to draw out his mediocre talent, but in the days before the suicidal 250+ km weeks, he was seeing success on 200 -220km a week before bizarrely deciding he somehow needed to up his mileage. I genuinely don't understand what's stopping him from dropping down to 200ish km a week and then hammering a ton of cross training; he clearly has the time and the mental strength to do so.
I don't like armchair psychology but I think this might be a mental health issue, someone that is willing to put their body through 280km weeks and race to the point they almost die, by his own admission, clearly has some self harm tendencies. He really needs someone he respects like Ryan Hall or Cam Levins who fvcked up their hormones training like this to tell him this isn't the way and we're not out to get him
He's immersed himself in Japanese running culture where running 250+km weeks isn't that "bizarre".
What's stopping him from following your advice is:
1) who the f**k are you?
2) That's not what the Japanese greats whose training he's following did.
If you're going to commit to a system that worked - then you actually have to commit to the system, not pick and choose based on what random numpties on the internet think.
PS. Cam Levins has been running for more than 20 years and is still banging out monster mileage. He has a 2:05 marathon next to his name as a result.
So because the system "worked" for a few people 39 years ago he should stick to it even if it is not working and having a negative effect on his health?
The "lacking natural talent" excuse is also BS. People from all walks of life with all sorts of genetic make-up run fast marathons. "Genetics" is what people who sub optimally train used to blame why they're "slow"
My 2 cents: RTJ chose the right path of high mileage.
This brought a runner with moderate talent to a 2:14, which is great.
I think he should run a lot less of B races and hard workouts though. When you run that kind of mileage, something's gotta give.
It's a hell of a price to pay. I'm just not sure it's worth it. You also don't need to batter yourself, I wish I knew this 30 years ago. I'm not totally sold on NSM for instance (that is on me! There's some bad habits I just can't shake!) but as time goes on I'm more drawn to it, even for an old school beat up vet like . A guy running the basic version of that just ran 1:06:30 half, solo TT. OK he appears to be coached by sirpoc so he clearly will be optimising everything, but still, he is probably going to run 2:14 close and at least sub 2:20 if you can run that kind of solo TT, all on about 65-70 miles a week, without putting himself in a hole he might not come out of. Obviously it's hard for compare people, but i think the general message is that you really don't necessarily have to do what he's doing for some sort of success.
This is the danger of YouTubers, they have built up the audience, so it's actually up to them, but sometimes I feel like the loudest voices should have to take some responsibility for the message they put out. Whilst it's entertainment to some, RTJ has gone too far and it's a party dangerous message he is sending out. He seems like a genuine guy, but it's probably time to pull the plug before he really hurts himself or someone else starts thinking as a hobby jogger that they can sustain and have success replicating what he's doing. Maybe that's on them, if they did. But people are stupid and I'm sure it'll happen, probably has.
I've been down the road of really big mileage and as a few others have said, once you start having health issues like this, they are hard to shake. From about 1992-98 I did have some good races, also some very bad ones, maybe it did allow me to tick off 1-2 good marathons I cannot say I would have got any other way, sometimes it DOES pay off, but it's a huge gamble. But I'm not sure it was worth it. I wasn't even really elite, even with 2:23 back then. I probably still have issues with things associated with that period. It's very hard for me to say it was fruitful and I do really love running, so it's hard for me to admit now in later life I can't enjoy it as much as times, because of the mistakes of the past catching up.
Hey, I'm just an old guy who likes to be grumpy at the modern world, what do I know. But I do feel like this is something I have been through and I just hope it doesn't end as bad as it seemingly is headed.
My 2 cents: RTJ chose the right path of high mileage.
This brought a runner with moderate talent to a 2:14, which is great.
I think he should run a lot less of B races and hard workouts though. When you run that kind of mileage, something's gotta give.
I really like RTJ but I don't get the 'Moderate Talent' thing, for some reason it seems to be a narrative Jake pushes for YouTube. He ran at a decent level as a youngster then had a while out for health reasons before moving to MMA in the US, he then ran a 2:30 something marathon with little training (something that an untalented runner certainly wouldn't be capable of doing).
So when he claims he went from a 2:30 to a 2:14 marathon "because of high milage" that is disingenuous because he would've improved massively by stopping MMA and going all in on running whatever philosophy he went with and its impossible to know what time he might've run if he was doing 180k a week with a few focused speed sessions.
He also uses relatively poor 5k/10k times as a reason for why he has less 'Talent'despite the fact he did almost no speed training for two years and even now he doesn't focus heavily enough on improving his speed whilst also barely ever racing 5/10k against other decent runners (I know that they are less popular in Japan and this is why). Its almost a self fulfilling prophecy where he doesn't train or race 5ks then claims hes a carthorse and does more endurance training because of it...