Someone give Elson some dip for that chip on his shoulder. Short man syndrome in abundance and thinks he runs the sport. That being said, I enjoyed him belittling Fentonnnnnn back in the day. Remember when he said he could run a 2:10 mara one day? More chance of Prince Andrew telling the truth
I don't think it's a huge stretch for a 3:53 miler / 3:35 1500 to run sub 2:10...a 3:32 and 3:33 1500 guy both ran 2:01 for the marathon...obviously MUCH more distance oriented but still
RTJ’s psychology is logical, but flawed. His history makes him believe “this type of training is what took me from 2:45 to 2:15, screw the haters I’ll keep at it” But as others have pointed out, he’s simply pushing up against the max he can do without better speed.
If he simply did 4-6 months of a true 5k block, he’d be able to go back up in distance with room to spare. Right now he essentially wants to run 3:00/km for a marathon while he can only manage about 2:54/km for 5k. If he could get that 5k pace down to 2:48-2:50/km, his job in the marathon would get a lot easier.
The fact that he considers running 10k pace to be improving his “top end” is very telling as to where his head is at. He should be working significantly faster zones as well.
I think you’re underestimating what RTJ’s top end is though. Some of those sessions he’s done recently with the Japanese team indicate he’s in around 14:00 and 28-something shape, like 3k, 2k, 1k in 2:50-45/km off short recoveries. He’s never properly raced a 5k but that new level of speed he’s shown in training should give him more than a high enough ceiling for a sub-2:10 to be doable soon
RTJ’s psychology is logical, but flawed. His history makes him believe “this type of training is what took me from 2:45 to 2:15, screw the haters I’ll keep at it” But as others have pointed out, he’s simply pushing up against the max he can do without better speed.
If he simply did 4-6 months of a true 5k block, he’d be able to go back up in distance with room to spare. Right now he essentially wants to run 3:00/km for a marathon while he can only manage about 2:54/km for 5k. If he could get that 5k pace down to 2:48-2:50/km, his job in the marathon would get a lot easier.
The fact that he considers running 10k pace to be improving his “top end” is very telling as to where his head is at. He should be working significantly faster zones as well.
Another big reason I imagine why he won't do a speed block is that it would be a major blow to his ego. A 5k training block will hurt and will make him feel like he's falling apart, at least in the beginning. Speaking from experience here, a speed training block is a seriously humbling experience for someone focussed on the marathon.
I highly recommend going back to the RTJ run comments now, it’s getting funnier and more comment back to Matt Fox
Yikes. Callum Elson being patronising, Nick Bester catching strays and Matt Fox having yet another public meltdown. Legit more drama there than here. To make things worse, some berk is white knighting for Fox, thinking that he simply had a stance on the Israel/Palestine conflict. In reality Fox went full-on, threatening psychopath on an Israeli runner who had cancelled their coaching plan (because Fox was using chatgpt to coach). Aforementioned naïve berk is like "stay on the right side of history" as if Fox is Rosa Parks 🙈
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
UK runningtube is being propped up by the likes of Andy, MARM, FOD etc who just do it for the love of the game and haven't become absolute cringe merchants like the rest of them.
Matt fox saying “I don’t want to turn Ran to Japan’s comments into a hate zone but Nick is really shifty - doesn’t coach anyone properly - outsources to young people on £peanuts. Rips people off at every corner. I used to work with him. People can have a crack at me if they want but I know what I saw” after absolutely starting the thing with Bester is class 😂you already did you clown.
"I dont want to turn Ran to Japan's comments into a hate zone" Proceeds to turn Ran to Japan's comments into a hate zone
Also, how can Matt Fox criticize someone for outsourcing their coaching when he was using ChatGPT to send basic communication to his athletes? Dude is completely out of touch. I think he needs another round in Japanese prison.
Take a break from the drama for a bit lads and get a watch of It's On Andy's Seville video, wholesome feel good hobby jogger fun.
UK runningtube is being propped up by the likes of Andy, MARM, FOD etc who just do it for the love of the game and haven't become absolute cringe merchants like the rest of them.
Elson has medalled at a World Champs, European Champs and gone to World Indoors. He’s finished top 10 in the National Cross, run 13.40 odd and won loads of domestic things. He’s a level above Jake currently and probably always will be.
I think the distinction between the two is that Elson/ Hoka have documented their training through YouTube but it looks like RTJ like other influencers is having his training and racing dictated by his personal and need to create content - otherwise he’d have taken actual recovery time and stop with the clickbait when he should be resting
I agree Elson tops RTJ on the performance side, but they aren’t worlds apart and Makou almost definitely see themselves as leagues above in terms of being a more “professional”
Compare that to the “gimmick” (aka marketing) of both; across the 97 videos Makou have produced covering their 6 person team (at an exceptionally high quality - bravo to Charlie McCarthy, when is he going to ditch them?!), they have racked up a pathetic 6,630 subscribers. Compare that to Jake’s 1 man band with 120k subs for 90 videos, I’m sure there’s some envy on their part there!
Culling takes over Tokyo, how is she still relevant? Looking forward to seeing her run 2:50 and then telling us she only ran for fun.
Liked the photoshoot she did to announce her arrival - especially the photo where she's stood an I entire body length away from the vending machine she's leaning on. Obviously trying to look cool and edgy, but it's just done so badly she just looks awkward.
The whole Runna "Tokyo team launch announcement" thing is so cringey too. It's a load of undertrained influencers about to drop a load of bang average performances in the latest update of job for the boys but for incestuous London/US run groups. Like just pay the costs for three people who've used the app to train for a race, you know who they are and I'm sure that'd get less criticism. Instead you're asking how much of my fees are taken up sending Savannah Sanchdev and Lucy Georgia to Tokyo on holiday.
I get what it makes sense for their target markets to have lots of presence at London and New York and wherever, but surely there's no cost benefit to this type of trip for them?
Someone give Elson some dip for that chip on his shoulder. Short man syndrome in abundance and thinks he runs the sport. That being said, I enjoyed him belittling Fentonnnnnn back in the day. Remember when he said he could run a 2:10 mara one day? More chance of Prince Andrew telling the truth
I don't think it's a huge stretch for a 3:53 miler / 3:35 1500 to run sub 2:10...a 3:32 and 3:33 1500 guy both ran 2:01 for the marathon...obviously MUCH more distance oriented but still
Think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick here lad, Fenton was claiming the 2:10 marathon potential, not Elson
(Unless I’ve missed Fenton dropping a 3:53 mile recently?!)
Elson has medalled at a World Champs, European Champs and gone to World Indoors. He’s finished top 10 in the National Cross, run 13.40 odd and won loads of domestic things. He’s a level above Jake currently and probably always will be.
I think the distinction between the two is that Elson/ Hoka have documented their training through YouTube but it looks like RTJ like other influencers is having his training and racing dictated by his personal and need to create content - otherwise he’d have taken actual recovery time and stop with the clickbait when he should be resting
I agree Elson tops RTJ on the performance side, but they aren’t worlds apart and Makou almost definitely see themselves as leagues above in terms of being a more “professional”
Compare that to the “gimmick” (aka marketing) of both; across the 97 videos Makou have produced covering their 6 person team (at an exceptionally high quality - bravo to Charlie McCarthy, when is he going to ditch them?!), they have racked up a pathetic 6,630 subscribers. Compare that to Jake’s 1 man band with 120k subs for 90 videos, I’m sure there’s some envy on their part there!
I think their respective running performance levels and achievements are probably as far apart as their respective social media following.
as I say it seems for Makou that SM is a means to an end whereas increasingly for RTJ it looks like YouTube is the end in of itself.
Personally, I really like all of them - I don’t have a personal preference
Elson has medalled at a World Champs, European Champs and gone to World Indoors. He’s finished top 10 in the National Cross, run 13.40 odd and won loads of domestic things. He’s a level above Jake currently and probably always will be.
I think the distinction between the two is that Elson/ Hoka have documented their training through YouTube but it looks like RTJ like other influencers is having his training and racing dictated by his personal and need to create content - otherwise he’d have taken actual recovery time and stop with the clickbait when he should be resting
I agree Elson tops RTJ on the performance side, but they aren’t worlds apart and Makou almost definitely see themselves as leagues above in terms of being a more “professional”
Compare that to the “gimmick” (aka marketing) of both; across the 97 videos Makou have produced covering their 6 person team (at an exceptionally high quality - bravo to Charlie McCarthy, when is he going to ditch them?!), they have racked up a pathetic 6,630 subscribers. Compare that to Jake’s 1 man band with 120k subs for 90 videos, I’m sure there’s some envy on their part there!
Yes, but I think that’s his point right? They’re lower on the subscriber count because they’re taking their running more seriously/professionally and as such have had a higher level of performance (NR, world/Olympic Q times, world medals) If RTJ really wanted to represent GB he’d sit down with a coach/physio and work out what’s wrong and what the best way forward is in the next 6-12 months. Not just deciding the day before a race how he attacks it based on pacing groups as to whether he shoots for a PB, or just jogs it, paces Bester etc. That shouldn’t be a last minute decision for a professional/international athlete. That’s something you have planned out well in advance to make sure it aligns with your long term goals. He’s got his content in a place now where it allows him to train full time, he can financially afford to miss a few posts/videos for the sake of his fitness and he’ll be fine. The sentiment of what Elson was saying was bang on, he perhaps just worded it clumsily. The RTJ army will no doubt disapprove of this statement
Comparing Team Makou with RTJ is silly in this context though. TM stuff is not filmed, produced or edited by the athletes themselves and the stories in the videos are only around the races and training that they would be doing anyway, led by an actual certified running coach (no, not Nick Bester). I don't think RTJ changes his training for YouTube too much but I'm sure it's a consideration for him when he's considering whether or not to run Tokyo - he will no doubt make a lot more money from his content at Tokyo Marathon than he would from not running it.
I personally think he'd be stupid to run Tokyo and don't really disagree with anything Callum said, although the tone was a bit condescending. Some strange comments in on that post though, people trying to advise Jake to aim for a 2:13 marathon when he says himself he's in 2:20 shape at best. Are they hoping to watch him die on the live stream or something?
Do you really go from 2:10 goal to 2:20 in a few days off. Is Jake prepping excessive excuses for a bad performance? The I could run 2:10 only for X is getting very like the guys who claim they “coulda gone pro in soccer only for their dodgy knee”. You’re only as good as your race performances not your kaizen/coros/garmin/workout predictions.
I agree Elson tops RTJ on the performance side, but they aren’t worlds apart and Makou almost definitely see themselves as leagues above in terms of being a more “professional”
Compare that to the “gimmick” (aka marketing) of both; across the 97 videos Makou have produced covering their 6 person team (at an exceptionally high quality - bravo to Charlie McCarthy, when is he going to ditch them?!), they have racked up a pathetic 6,630 subscribers. Compare that to Jake’s 1 man band with 120k subs for 90 videos, I’m sure there’s some envy on their part there!
Yes, but I think that’s his point right? They’re lower on the subscriber count because they’re taking their running more seriously/professionally and as such have had a higher level of performance (NR, world/Olympic Q times, world medals) If RTJ really wanted to represent GB he’d sit down with a coach/physio and work out what’s wrong and what the best way forward is in the next 6-12 months. Not just deciding the day before a race how he attacks it based on pacing groups as to whether he shoots for a PB, or just jogs it, paces Bester etc. That shouldn’t be a last minute decision for a professional/international athlete. That’s something you have planned out well in advance to make sure it aligns with your long term goals. He’s got his content in a place now where it allows him to train full time, he can financially afford to miss a few posts/videos for the sake of his fitness and he’ll be fine. The sentiment of what Elson was saying was bang on, he perhaps just worded it clumsily. The RTJ army will no doubt disapprove of this statement
Fair comment, and agreed on all of the above re Jake taking a leaf out of their book and having more structure and long term plan
My observation was more that they are both trying hard at this content game, whether they like to admit it or not - yes the Makou athletes are locked into performance, but they have 6 personalities and professional athlete stories to share, along with a full time dedicated videographer and editor to do so, yet still numbers wise are failing quite miserably. That’s got to sting a bit?
Yes, but I think that’s his point right? They’re lower on the subscriber count because they’re taking their running more seriously/professionally and as such have had a higher level of performance (NR, world/Olympic Q times, world medals) If RTJ really wanted to represent GB he’d sit down with a coach/physio and work out what’s wrong and what the best way forward is in the next 6-12 months. Not just deciding the day before a race how he attacks it based on pacing groups as to whether he shoots for a PB, or just jogs it, paces Bester etc. That shouldn’t be a last minute decision for a professional/international athlete. That’s something you have planned out well in advance to make sure it aligns with your long term goals. He’s got his content in a place now where it allows him to train full time, he can financially afford to miss a few posts/videos for the sake of his fitness and he’ll be fine. The sentiment of what Elson was saying was bang on, he perhaps just worded it clumsily. The RTJ army will no doubt disapprove of this statement
I like Jake, he seems to be a good guy but I think it's hard to work on his speed when he's trying to put in as many miles as he can. He's also entered in the Comrades 88k this year. That makes it tough to work on 5k speed.