The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

Now you say it, there are quite is a lot of cross over between Steve Way's and Jake's stories.

I think this is more realistic for Jake to think in terms of a national record first - it's easy to become overly invested with Jake. I reckon he wants to prove himself as a "legit" marathon runner first. I am sure it's a bit of a copout to to leave mainstream elite running so quickly.

I think a less competitive distance with legit records he could chase would tell an excellent story and fit in well with his brand. I could see big name sponsors taking an interest (e.g., RedBull).

I think Jake could and should aim higher. He is a unique talent. No other human in the world can run the mileage he does. I'd like to see him shoot for the 200K World record in time - maybe aim at 2:20 marathon pace (ish). Would also like to see him get an invite to the Barkley marathons. Sure a course record is well within his reach there.

I like Jake and hope he gets to the bottom of his health issues and comes back strong.

I don't agree with any of your points but thought it worthwhile picking up on the Barkley bits.
there isnt a course record. Laz changes the course. Despite the navigation skills needed does Jake really want to carry his body over that elevation. Let him stick to road marathons for now.

theres no chance Jake gets close to Steve Ways performances over 100km. Steve was running in sh1t basic trainers and his marathon time is only a few seconds slower than Jakes.

Jake also has an underlying serious health issue and Steve trained specifically for the distance - often doing back-to-back Sat & Sun long runs of 40 + 40 miles over the Purbecks

more respect should be paid to Steves record. he was a top runner and his time will stay at the top for many decades. Jake has done nothing to suggest he would get near such a performance

There is a course record - the quickest time somebody has taken to complete 5 laps of whatever the course is.

Is Jake the man to set that record? Quite possibly but I wouldn’t bank on it. We don’t know quite enough about his ultra running yet and the course is getting tougher again after so many completed it a couple years ago. Sure Jake is eyeing up being the first to complete 6 laps in the allotted time though.

Got a feeling this post will age really poorly.

I think the point is that the 'course record' for 5 laps at Barkley will never be beaten due to the nature of the course being changed (to make it harder) each time there is a finisher. There has been a number of climbs added since the course record was set in 2012. 3 time finisher John Kelly has said on a podcast that no one will ever get within a few hours of that time ever again.

Also, Jake will be obviously be looking at road ultras (he has an entry for Comrades), the comment about Barkley was clearly a joke - Americans ability to miss sarcasm is mind blowing...

I really don't understand the RTJ love in on this thread.

Yes, he is running high mileage but it is causing him long term health issues and he clearly isn't absorbing the training as his improvements are not in line with the mileage he's running.

He's a decent guy but I'd love someone to explain why people seem to adore him when he is mismanaging his training just as much as the Feltons and Besters of this world.

the real concern must be for Cole - he is clearly trying to copy and emulate Jakes training by jumping straight into huge mileage after his latest flop in Valencia. he is the classic case of someone who has there great 6 months then breaks themselves.

he seems to think his only route to improve is to hit these 150 mile weeks, but at 24yr old and with an already fragile and injury prone body he is inevitably in an injury cycle, probably added to by his troubles with food and likely RED-S. these type of characters are uncontrollable and dont listen to advise, they just do the opposite of what everyone tells them until they cant run which is the likely outcome for both of these within the next 3 years

Fenton is just one of lifes losers. Cole should steer clear of the king shiller and his dog that follows him around like a rotten eggy skidmark

I think we are going to see a lot of ShoeTubers that have seen RTJs success both in following and pace wise and try to emulate his high volume approach only to injure themselves within a few month and/or just give up because its actually quite hard.

My predictions: Callum Goddard gets injured training for his first marathon by trying to do 150k weeks straight from 40k weeks then runs another 3:30 later in the year and makes 20 posts talking about how you have to respect the marathon.

Bester goes high milage for a month then gives up and says its because he needs to support his family, he then flies to Kenya for 2 weeks by himself.

Ben Parkes tries to go long and burns out, maybe even a DNF at a major

Philly Bowden decides that she can do 4 sessions a week and 2 long runs and then mysteriously gets injured by stepping of a pavement (nothing to do with her overtraining) and gets 10 independent reviews from separate doctors to make sure she isn't being scammed out of her LA28 dreams like the american doctors tried to do.

Donato continues to log into letsrun twice a week despite nobody even knowing what a Donato is or does.

Sirpoc world tour starts with a bang, 2:22:XX followed by another sub 2:25 later in the year. Cementing himself as the king of the HobbyJogger

Because in this day and age, these statements give you social capital in certain circles.

I think he addressed this in one of his earlier videos, as I recall he doesn't think the ultra running world is anywhere near as competitive and the marathon is where the true glory is. Especially in Japan, sure they love ekiden more than anything else but after that it's all about the marathon. Of course he can change his mind and do any distance he wants to, but I think that's how he set his stall out a while back.

I'd love to see him take up his place at Comrades. When Steve Way did his second Comrades he was 11th around 60km, and stormed through the field to finish 3rd. That was a year they ran the course downhill, wonder if Jake would factor up/down year into his calculations - next event will be an up run.

LRC can be harsh on runfluencers but nothing like reddit. They are ripping fitbitmakayala and caitlynmillerfit and others on a weekly basis over there.

It's more competitive than you'd think. If it was easy to break ultra records as a 2:10-12 marathoner, then you'd see people try. Sorokin (2:25 marathoner) has dominated over 100km, 100 mile, 24 hour distances over last 5 years and he's a full-time professional athlete. There's plenty around 2:10-12 marathon who struggle to make any money from the sport.

On Jake, just because he runs high mileage, it doesn't mean he will automatically be good at ultras, although most successful ultra runners do run higher end mileage of what most elites do (but not all). Ultimately, we've seen to date that he has generally had weak finishes or DNFs in his marathon goal races....this isn't indicative of someone that would thrive in ultras....BUT I would say he would have a decent shot (maybe 50/50) at Steve Way's record if he paced it correctly and did some specific training.

Think you mean Fenton's fella

14:39 5K PB for Benjamin Felton/Fenton/Fentanyl, sending this thread home devastated

Hugo Fry with a 14:42, Joe Skipper with a 15:02, and Gabriel Smith with a 15:09. Not a bad day out for the UK YouTube crew.

Never heard of the latter two

Despite some ongoing injury issues, LR can't deny that Ben is seeing some results nonetheless.