The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

Running sore wrote:

HakunaMakouka wrote:

Jake is cooked

He’s just a Fenton who runs 50% more so has better times but his approach and execution is that of a YouTuber, not a serious performer

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.

S. Canaday wrote:

I think part of the appeal is "the storyline"....people want to see if he'll "crash and burn" or "make this big goal". He's entertaining and has a unique story/angle and films his own stuff so I respect that.

It's maybe kinda parallel to the rise in popularity and "clickbait" that a guy like Truett Hanes has (although Hanes was already a nepo baby). The audience is intrigued and curious because of his big goal (sub 2:16:00) and want to believe in the journey so that they can dream of making the same kinds of improvements themselves. Now the Hanes audience is a bunch of hyrox and "hybrid athlete" types that don't realize how big a chasm it is to go from 2:29 to 2:16 is....but RTJ still has a pretty audacious goal of going 2:14 to sub 2:10 (it's way more possible though...and us more serious runners know that!). Maybe it's like the Allie O goal of making the Olympics in the steeple, or placing well in the Golden Trail series (and now Half Marathon PRs)?

If there's anything I've learned with social media (esp running Youtube) it's that the storyline is key. I'm just trying to stay relevant and "adapt with the times" (I'm old and slow now so that's not going well), but some of the best traction in content I got was my OTQ series: (I missed the 2016 trials by 12 seconds and the 2020 trials by 52 seconds). But you have to keep in mind this was way after I'd already started Youtube and already run 2:16:52 and run in a couple Olympic Trials (also keep in mind this was before "supershoes"!). And there were certainly way less Americans running 2:16 or faster back then.

That Hugo guy made some very massive gains very quickly. I was shocked. It's interesting.... (side note imo SIS beta fuel is waaay better than Precision gels)....

I wouldn't compare RJT to him, but I do respect the "smart training" for "progression optimization". I first hand saw guys like Brian Sell run 160-miles a week. The thing with "high mileage, moderately hard training" is that if will either: 1. Hurt you, 2. Over-train you and/or 3. Make you super strong and fast....but only for a very limited time. Personally I ran way better off of 120-mile weeks than I did off of 140-mile weeks. The other thing of course is to mix in 5k-10km races and season focus (or at least a half marathon PR training focus) between marathons within the year imo.

I'd do a training consultation with RJT!

ShoeTubersHaveNoEthics wrote:

S. Canaday wrote:

My predictions:

RTJ: Dnf...probably can come through the half in 1:06-1:07 at least though. I'm all for his strong work ethic and super high mileage (and documenting it!). But the whole "train Harder and Not Smarter" does seem to yield some injuries and inconsistencies imo. He's got a full race schedule this Spring also...so thinking about the future (London etc) has got be in the back of his mind....

Bester: 2:23 (positive split)

Culling: 2:48

What I find really interesting on here is the cohesiveness of the UK run influencers (and their fans). They seem to be what is talked about most on this whole thread. Like are most of you posters all British?

It's interesting to me....as I see the "US Run Influencer" space to be a lot more divided and not followed as closely (the US is quite divided as a whole and it's a big country). Of course most "English speaking countries" will overlap with content and who watches what (for example, around 50% of my followers on any given social media platform not American), but there does seem to be a high concentration and influence all from just the UK?

It's because there really isn't that much overlap between the Queen of US runfluencing, Track Club Babe, or the Kings of US runfluencing, Kofuzi and Matt Choi, and the Let's Run demographic. Few here are that interested in 3:20 and 4:20 marathons. The Brit runflucers are all a bit faster, which I think has a lot to do with their club system, which keeps structured training past higher education. So to me it makes sense that people here are more interested in Ben Felton, who is trying to break 2:20 than whether Kofuzi will run a 3:20 at 49 and qualify for Boston. Or whether Thomas from Believe in the Run will crack 4.

Aside from Adam/Mika Wood, you, Allie O/Spencer Brown and Michael Ottesen, there aren't many super fast runfluencers in the US. And the Woods and Ottesen are all a specific type of runfluencer, LDS members from Utah, that not everyone can relate to (I think their videos are awesome). It's pretty niche really. I guess Meaghan Murray from Believe in the Run is pretty fast too. But her runfluencing isn't quite what the Brits do.

bet wrote:

ShoeTubersHaveNoEthics wrote:

It's because there really isn't that much overlap between the Queen of US runfluencing, Track Club Babe, or the Kings of US runfluencing, Kofuzi and Matt Choi, and the Let's Run demographic. Few here are that interested in 3:20 and 4:20 marathons. The Brit runflucers are all a bit faster, which I think has a lot to do with their club system, which keeps structured training past higher education. So to me it makes sense that people here are more interested in Ben Felton, who is trying to break 2:20 than whether Kofuzi will run a 3:20 at 49 and qualify for Boston. Or whether Thomas from Believe in the Run will crack 4.

Aside from Adam/Mika Wood, you, Allie O/Spencer Brown and Michael Ottesen, there aren't many super fast runfluencers in the US. And the Woods and Ottesen are all a specific type of runfluencer, LDS members from Utah, that not everyone can relate to (I think their videos are awesome). It's pretty niche really. I guess Meaghan Murray from Believe in the Run is pretty fast too. But her runfluencing isn't quite what the Brits do.

There's a woman who runs 12 marathons a year on the US side and is in the 2:45-2:50 zone, plus she raises 3 kids. Also a Canadian woman who is super-fast as well, low-2:40s.

Both Meaghan Murray and Meghan Featherstunn are also in that bracket!

S. Canaday wrote:

I think part of the appeal is "the storyline"....people want to see if he'll "crash and burn" or "make this big goal". He's entertaining and has a unique story/angle and films his own stuff so I respect that.

It's maybe kinda parallel to the rise in popularity and "clickbait" that a guy like Truett Hanes has (although Hanes was already a nepo baby). The audience is intrigued and curious because of his big goal (sub 2:16:00) and want to believe in the journey so that they can dream of making the same kinds of improvements themselves. Now the Hanes audience is a bunch of hyrox and "hybrid athlete" types that don't realize how big a chasm it is to go from 2:29 to 2:16 is....but RTJ still has a pretty audacious goal of going 2:14 to sub 2:10 (it's way more possible though...and us more serious runners know that!). Maybe it's like the Allie O goal of making the Olympics in the steeple, or placing well in the Golden Trail series (and now Half Marathon PRs)?

If there's anything I've learned with social media (esp running Youtube) it's that the storyline is key. I'm just trying to stay relevant and "adapt with the times" (I'm old and slow now so that's not going well), but some of the best traction in content I got was my OTQ series: (I missed the 2016 trials by 12 seconds and the 2020 trials by 52 seconds). But you have to keep in mind this was way after I'd already started Youtube and already run 2:16:52 and run in a couple Olympic Trials (also keep in mind this was before "supershoes"!). And there were certainly way less Americans running 2:16 or faster back then.

That Hugo guy made some very massive gains very quickly. I was shocked. It's interesting.... (side note imo SIS beta fuel is waaay better than Precision gels)....

I wouldn't compare RJT to him, but I do respect the "smart training" for "progression optimization". I first hand saw guys like Brian Sell run 160-miles a week. The thing with "high mileage, moderately hard training" is that if will either: 1. Hurt you, 2. Over-train you and/or 3. Make you super strong and fast....but only for a very limited time. Personally I ran way better off of 120-mile weeks than I did off of 140-mile weeks. The other thing of course is to mix in 5k-10km races and season focus (or at least a half marathon PR training focus) between marathons within the year imo.

I'd do a training consultation with RJT!