The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

Performer? No pro is running so many marathons in a year.

Yeah absolutely. I know plenty of women with full-time day jobs running a lot faster than that. I wonder if her audience cares at all about her actual times, though.

I've got no strong feelings really about Anya, I don't think I'm her target market but I think she gets a weirdly hard time online.

I think the result is a bit disappointing though, she's actually trained quite well but it didn't play out on the day. I felt she almost jinxed it by posting on the day before about how all her devices were telling her she'd overcome the jet lag. I thought that's asking for trouble!

Yea, she seemed to be doing tones of heroic long run sessions. Odd the paces she runs on training and she ends up not far ahead of Mary running 40 to 50 miles a week.

I feel like she's just not taken her running very seriously since she got famous and really leaned in into the influencing and sponsorships/endorsements side, running wherever her sponsors will take her. Compare her to someone like Phily who, no matter what you think of her personality, takes her running seriously.

Spencer Matthews sub 3 at Tokyo but apparently wearing illegal shoes (Prime X) which Alistair brownlee told him about and specifically warned him that they are illegal to race in.

Great to see it "verified" my omtiu. Officially seals that page as a complete fraud/ PR program set up by the shillers to make themselves feel better

He’s an hour off the top guys, no one gives a f*ck what shoes he was wearing

I do find it odd how many people are writing RTJ off now. London was always the target and Tokyo a bonus. He's got a hard run in and that's great. The reason he races a lot is that, although he is starting to train with a team, he does lots of running alone and races are often hard training runs where he can push himself.

I don't get the 'what a fail, he's cooked narrative' at all. But it's classic human nature I guess ..build em up so you can knock em down. Doesn't matter if it's a tabloid or a discussion forum, pack mentality takes over: gotta go for the kill and if anyone disagrees, they must be a fanboy.

I'm reserving judgement and wish him well.

Corniest page on instagram now. I cringe everytime I see them comment "verified" on the post of some influencer that they have deemed as "worthy".

Technical you are not allowed to run with these shoes at Tokyo M.

At what point does it become acceptable to break the rules then? If you're an hour off you can wear illegal shoes. So what if you're 3 hours off you can get a lift by a car? Cheating is cheating

Congrats Mary on a 3:00. ThisMessyHappy are some of the running YouTubers I can actually tolerate

Mate.. Them shoes are considered "illegal" for elite/pro and perhaps sub elite runners.. If you wear rollerblades and still finish above 3 hours you are clearly not a threat

arguably there not faster than the pro 4s as heavier re watch the podcast brownlee talks about training in them not racing i know British athletics specifically say in its faqs that dqing mass participation runners is not in the spirit of the sport

If you're trying to get anything back from the sport, then it matters - the time you're actually running doesn't matter.

If you're a 5 hour marathoner looking to make money from content... follow the f****** rules.

If you're a 2:19 marathoner (and middle eastern age group winning legend) looking to make money from content and coaching... follow the f****** rules.

This is the same debate as with that Globaltwat a few weeks ago repeatedly wearing headphones. It's the expectation of a normal functioning adult that engages their brain to be aware of rules and laws in life. Whether that's laws related to driving on the road or rules in a sport event you're taking part in. "Oh sorry I didn't realise I cant do a flying kick in a soccer match". A lot of the frustration with influencers in here is their complete lack of regard for basic rules that the rest of us follow. They're not above the rules, doesn't matter what time they run.

No they aren't they're considered illegal for anyone taking part. There's not some magic ruleset that only applies to 'sub-elites' (which is impossible to define anyway)

That Spencer bloke is an utter melt and should be called out for using shoes that he has been specifically told TWICE that they aren't legal to race in. As should anyone else that knowingly breaks the rules when competing.

Sub 3 tends to be around the mark where good for age comes in, and many people do work their balls off to try to get in that way. So it does matter from that perspective if someone is knowingly wearing illegal shoes.

There's no doubt he knew they were banned for the race, for everyone:

tiktok.com

Spencer’s moral dilemma 😂👟 Should Spencer run the Tokyo Marathon in BANNED race shoes? What do you think? 👇 #marathon #running #fitness #cheat #funny @Spencer Matthews @Lucy Charles-Barclay

UNTAPPED

Open link

Lots of session long runs, but I don't think she got particular close to a 20(+) mile run in this block? Imo that was a failure in the training - and the breakdown she had in the race might be linked to finding it hard when her lack of distance specificity was tested.

The lack of true long runs was kind of interesting to me because runna seems to love them - even if someone is doing like 30 miles total volume a week runna will try and program 20 miles in a few times.

But agree with the posters that I find it grating that she's pushing this 'elite' narrative still when she's clearly a (still half decent) hobby jogger. Like telling Instagram running 15 minutes slower than her pb made her cry and her boyfriend has to force her to continue? Super weird imo. Not her target market so I don't think she cares particularly - she's still earning more than me and living a better life so who's the sucker? If she took it even slightly more seriously she could get a semi self funded gb vest for something I'm sure like Becky Briggs and the Battersea crowd would go wild.

I know he doesn’t see a point of it’s not a PB but maybe he needs to consider can he pb, was he doing something better last year for 2:14? I’d be going back to the drawing board. Or Maybe he should just aim for 2:13 not 2:10 and can always pick it up but would at least get decent run on the board.