Hey DGR Stan’s! Why is your boy not already in Rotterdam? If he is serious about that OTQ, shouldn’t he already be in the city doing course recon, getting adjusted to the time difference, making sure the local food works for him or finding grocery items that don’t upset his sensitive tummy?
Or do these questions make me a hater?
SJD is in Rotterdam with a fresh haircut and toe nails clipped at least one week ago.
I agree with you for the most part but as basically the hobbyjogger you described (3:18 in first marathon last fall) I'd way rather have a 2:40 guy with solid knowledge of physiology and training be my coach than someone like Seth, who is talented and hardworking but doesn't seem to be able to put together a reasonable training block. Like the guy from strength running channel/podcast, I think his pb is around 2:40, but he consistently gives good advice and cites it from other coaches unlike Seth who takes the idea of aerobic base way too far and doesn't even seem to understand what a threshold run is lmao.
Even his weekly mileage makes no sense, there's rarely cutback weeks and the tapers basically last like 5 weeks, it's insane. He's mentioned reading JD in a few videos I think so I just don't understand how he doesn't get it yet. There is some level of self awareness there, after NYC in addition to the pasta (lol) he said 130mpw was too much and he was going to do less volume and more speed work. But it doesn't seem like he really made that happen.
About the prediction, I'm thinking back to Sage Canadays last otq attempt - he ran like 2:22 or something, after way better training than Seth, and having already ran 2:16 in the past. I think his worst road marathon was like 2:23. Wish Seth the best but there's no way Seth breaks 2:20. If he paces it smart maybe 2:25 but he's going to go out too fast and run 2:30+ for sure
I'm going to jump in correct a #FactCheck:
I actually ran 2:19:52 as a best in the last (2020) OTQ cycle [actually see LetsRun interview video below]. So I missed by 52 seconds. For 2016 my best was 2:19:12 (at Boston) in that cycle and I missed by 12 seconds.
Now I did run a dismal 2:23 at Rotterdam as well as a couple 2:21-2:24 (Copenhagen, etc). However, I've run under 2:20 five times in my career. Mind you this was all also before the HOKA Rocket X even came out (I never even ran a marathon in that carbon plated shoe!).
I think the advantage Seth has (besides carbon fiber shoes...which everyone has now) is that he doesn't really do any long ultramarathons. I was trying to balance Comrades and UTMB 100 and 50-milers in there during those years and that was a big mistake.
I have no excuses though. I failed to meet this OTQ goal the last cycles (although I am proud of coaching myself to getting 16th at Boston and 8th at the USATF Champs in LA!). I was too personally biased and caught up in the #AnySurfaceAnyDistance motto and that hurt some of my "flat road marathon speed" I think. But I'm also sponsored to be a MUT Runner and not a road marathon runner. Seth can make the same mistake by trying to switch gears to "mountain running" races and training in too short of a time period. He's also only really done a few marathons in his life that I've seen....so there's not very much experience there.
Again, I think he has the ability to run 2:17 (only because of carbon fiber shoes now though), but I also think he has to nail road marathon specific training in order to do it. I didn't do it again (OTQ in '16 and '20) in part because I was too biased with the mountains/trails and lost focus about what it takes to do formalized speed work on the track (esp coming down from ultras). It's easier mentally to go slog around in the mountains on technical trails and get in "vert" than to go realize you have to run low 5-min mile and sbp 5-min mile pace high intensity workouts on the pavement and track in a lot of quality workouts. When I ran 1:04/2:16 at Hansons we were constantly hitting low 5-min miles (and 4:50 pace) in all workouts basically....and I was running 100-120mpw for months at a time.
Whether or not I'm a "good coach" or having the knowledge of what it takes....well I'lll you guys decide based on my YouTube videos 🤣!
More of LetsRun.com's complete coverage from the 2018 Chevron Houston and Aramco Half Marathon here :http://www.letsrun.com/events/2018-houston-marathon-half...
He already has talked for hours and hours about this race on his channel, and he still hasn't said anything.
wtf would he talk about in an interview? Would all his responses be "cmon now" and "butter my bread"?
I actually signed up for one of the slots to interview him
If you are for real and you actually get to interview him, please ask him the hard questions. Like please be respectful and don't troll him, I want to hear a serious interview about why he makes the choices he does. If he starts rambling on and spouting buzzwords, please get him back on track so he can actually answer the questions.
Why did he say he was going to do less mileage and more speedwork after NYC, only to revert back to high mileage and less speedwork? Can he explain, on a physiological level, the rationale behind his training methods. I want to know what he thinks is going on inside his body when he chooses to run more volume over quality, specifically related to an OTQ-level marathon. How does his aerobic engine style of training get him ready to sustain those paces, if he rarely ever hits those paces in training? When he does choose to do quality work over bulk volume, what are his workouts designed to do? VO2 Max, Threshold, Tempo, what do those words mean to him? If you can find a way to respectfully ask if he even knows what VO2 max is, please do. I looked up one of his "VO2 Max Workouts" and he did repeats of 20 seconds on/10 seconds off, but the on-pace was around 5:30/mile, with slow recovery jogs in between. There are better ways to ask, but I just don't think he understands exercise physiologically, at all. Given that, what qualifies him to be a coach? What in his background gives him the justification to be in charge of other runners, their training plans, and their well-being? I mean actual knowledge, not just that he himself is physically talented. Where did he learn what he knows and what he preaches? Is he just adapting his coaching from CU? Or is he just rewriting the rulebooks and reinventing the wheel based on what he "feels"? For that matter, did he take exercise science classes at CU? Human physiology? Nutrition? Anything?
With all the coach talk going on it's funny for us oldtimers because I remember back in 19 or 20 he did mention on several occasions/videos that people asked him if he could coach 'em but he explained in detail that he cannot do that because he can't do online he is the kind of guy that needs to see you in person. Needs to see your gait etc. so he will never do online coaching :)
Wow I did not expect a reply from you haha. Sorry for misrepresenting your performances, I brought you up as an example to say "if Sage couldn't do it I really doubt Seth can" because I am a bit of a fanboy if I'm being honest. Huge respect to you for all you've accomplished and for continuing to chase down your dreams.
Also this sounds dumb but your videos are really what got me into running a couple years ago, those videos and the couple higher running plans I've used a few times since then have helped me progress a lot, so yes I would say thank you for providing coaching guidance to so many people because it's made my life so much better
I actually signed up for one of the slots to interview him
If you are for real and you actually get to interview him, please ask him the hard questions. Like please be respectful and don't troll him, I want to hear a serious interview about why he makes the choices he does. If he starts rambling on and spouting buzzwords, please get him back on track so he can actually answer the questions.
Why did he say he was going to do less mileage and more speedwork after NYC, only to revert back to high mileage and less speedwork? Can he explain, on a physiological level, the rationale behind his training methods. I want to know what he thinks is going on inside his body when he chooses to run more volume over quality, specifically related to an OTQ-level marathon. How does his aerobic engine style of training get him ready to sustain those paces, if he rarely ever hits those paces in training? When he does choose to do quality work over bulk volume, what are his workouts designed to do? VO2 Max, Threshold, Tempo, what do those words mean to him? If you can find a way to respectfully ask if he even knows what VO2 max is, please do. I looked up one of his "VO2 Max Workouts" and he did repeats of 20 seconds on/10 seconds off, but the on-pace was around 5:30/mile, with slow recovery jogs in between. There are better ways to ask, but I just don't think he understands exercise physiologically, at all. Given that, what qualifies him to be a coach? What in his background gives him the justification to be in charge of other runners, their training plans, and their well-being? I mean actual knowledge, not just that he himself is physically talented. Where did he learn what he knows and what he preaches? Is he just adapting his coaching from CU? Or is he just rewriting the rulebooks and reinventing the wheel based on what he "feels"? For that matter, did he take exercise science classes at CU? Human physiology? Nutrition? Anything?
Give the guy a break. Do you know how hard it is to self film VO2 max work as compared to easy running?
I actually signed up for one of the slots to interview him
If you are for real and you actually get to interview him, please ask him the hard questions. Like please be respectful and don't troll him, I want to hear a serious interview about why he makes the choices he does. If he starts rambling on and spouting buzzwords, please get him back on track so he can actually answer the questions.
Why did he say he was going to do less mileage and more speedwork after NYC, only to revert back to high mileage and less speedwork? Can he explain, on a physiological level, the rationale behind his training methods. I want to know what he thinks is going on inside his body when he chooses to run more volume over quality, specifically related to an OTQ-level marathon. How does his aerobic engine style of training get him ready to sustain those paces, if he rarely ever hits those paces in training? When he does choose to do quality work over bulk volume, what are his workouts designed to do? VO2 Max, Threshold, Tempo, what do those words mean to him? If you can find a way to respectfully ask if he even knows what VO2 max is, please do. I looked up one of his "VO2 Max Workouts" and he did repeats of 20 seconds on/10 seconds off, but the on-pace was around 5:30/mile, with slow recovery jogs in between. There are better ways to ask, but I just don't think he understands exercise physiologically, at all. Given that, what qualifies him to be a coach? What in his background gives him the justification to be in charge of other runners, their training plans, and their well-being? I mean actual knowledge, not just that he himself is physically talented. Where did he learn what he knows and what he preaches? Is he just adapting his coaching from CU? Or is he just rewriting the rulebooks and reinventing the wheel based on what he "feels"? For that matter, did he take exercise science classes at CU? Human physiology? Nutrition? Anything?
Yep I'm going to be interviewing him sometime in May. My plan is to ask him tough questions in the most polite and respectful way possible. I like Seth so it won't be some attempt to troll him.
There are some good questions in there and I will add them to my list. If anyone else has specific questions to ask Seth I can add those to the list as well.
If you are for real and you actually get to interview him, please ask him the hard questions. Like please be respectful and don't troll him, I want to hear a serious interview about why he makes the choices he does. If he starts rambling on and spouting buzzwords, please get him back on track so he can actually answer the questions.
Why did he say he was going to do less mileage and more speedwork after NYC, only to revert back to high mileage and less speedwork? Can he explain, on a physiological level, the rationale behind his training methods. I want to know what he thinks is going on inside his body when he chooses to run more volume over quality, specifically related to an OTQ-level marathon. How does his aerobic engine style of training get him ready to sustain those paces, if he rarely ever hits those paces in training? When he does choose to do quality work over bulk volume, what are his workouts designed to do? VO2 Max, Threshold, Tempo, what do those words mean to him? If you can find a way to respectfully ask if he even knows what VO2 max is, please do. I looked up one of his "VO2 Max Workouts" and he did repeats of 20 seconds on/10 seconds off, but the on-pace was around 5:30/mile, with slow recovery jogs in between. There are better ways to ask, but I just don't think he understands exercise physiologically, at all. Given that, what qualifies him to be a coach? What in his background gives him the justification to be in charge of other runners, their training plans, and their well-being? I mean actual knowledge, not just that he himself is physically talented. Where did he learn what he knows and what he preaches? Is he just adapting his coaching from CU? Or is he just rewriting the rulebooks and reinventing the wheel based on what he "feels"? For that matter, did he take exercise science classes at CU? Human physiology? Nutrition? Anything?
Give the guy a break. Do you know how hard it is to self film VO2 max work as compared to easy running?
You set the camera on the ground and point it at the track, and/or you set the drone to follow you, and you do your workout hands-free. On a more serious note, my point was that he didn't even do a VO2 Max workout. It was just an example of what I was getting at: he doesn't understand this stuff on a fundamental level. I know what he was going for, he obviously meant to do a HIIT style workout, but his reps didn't come close to a VO2 max pace for a runner like him. In fact, they were slower than his goal pace for his marathon. What goes through his head when he designs a workout like that? I can't give the guy a break. When he goes out in public, makes these bold claims, has lots of people following him and depending on him for advice and coaching, he needs to be able to explain himself.
He's the simple jack of running. Just not a really smart guy.. herculean amount of effort for little to no results. And he fuels like he's a yoga instructor. What a joke
If you are for real and you actually get to interview him, please ask him the hard questions. Like please be respectful and don't troll him, I want to hear a serious interview about why he makes the choices he does. If he starts rambling on and spouting buzzwords, please get him back on track so he can actually answer the questions.
Why did he say he was going to do less mileage and more speedwork after NYC, only to revert back to high mileage and less speedwork? Can he explain, on a physiological level, the rationale behind his training methods. I want to know what he thinks is going on inside his body when he chooses to run more volume over quality, specifically related to an OTQ-level marathon. How does his aerobic engine style of training get him ready to sustain those paces, if he rarely ever hits those paces in training? When he does choose to do quality work over bulk volume, what are his workouts designed to do? VO2 Max, Threshold, Tempo, what do those words mean to him? If you can find a way to respectfully ask if he even knows what VO2 max is, please do. I looked up one of his "VO2 Max Workouts" and he did repeats of 20 seconds on/10 seconds off, but the on-pace was around 5:30/mile, with slow recovery jogs in between. There are better ways to ask, but I just don't think he understands exercise physiologically, at all. Given that, what qualifies him to be a coach? What in his background gives him the justification to be in charge of other runners, their training plans, and their well-being? I mean actual knowledge, not just that he himself is physically talented. Where did he learn what he knows and what he preaches? Is he just adapting his coaching from CU? Or is he just rewriting the rulebooks and reinventing the wheel based on what he "feels"? For that matter, did he take exercise science classes at CU? Human physiology? Nutrition? Anything?
Yep I'm going to be interviewing him sometime in May. My plan is to ask him tough questions in the most polite and respectful way possible. I like Seth so it won't be some attempt to troll him.
There are some good questions in there and I will add them to my list. If anyone else has specific questions to ask Seth I can add those to the list as well.
I look forward to it! Where can we listen in the future?
Yep I'm going to be interviewing him sometime in May. My plan is to ask him tough questions in the most polite and respectful way possible. I like Seth so it won't be some attempt to troll him.
There are some good questions in there and I will add them to my list. If anyone else has specific questions to ask Seth I can add those to the list as well.
I look forward to it! Where can we listen in the future?
I still believe that some people started running because of him… isn’t that a good thing for our sport? I think people started consistently running because of him… isn’t that a good thing?
He is like a non personal couch to 5k cheerleader shouting generic catchphrases at the masses and people that need a push to get going feel like he's speaking directly to them. And I say non personal because he doesn't attempt to really connect or understand people, he just cherry picks things that reinforce whatever he's talking about.
at the end of the day if he didn’t reach his goals… everyone who stated he blows up can then say “ i knew it - he blow up” and then??? What is the added value?
the same as for the time predictions… no one will care if one predicted the exact time… or does the one who predicted the exact time get a reward?
Tim Grose - who does a lot of record keeping work in the UK running scene, and is/was a great runner - has analysed Seth's training (plus Matt Fox (Sweat Elite) & Nick Bester)
In this video, I examine the training, as presented on Strava, by 3 prominent YouTubers:Matt Fox @Sweat Elite - Training Sessions Nick Bester @Nick Bester Se...
This thread is cringeworthy indeed. 157 posts from people and most of them bashing the guy and predicting failure. Disparaging the guys family, his videos, his parenting, his religion, his wife. It's all there. Most posters claiming they are the keepers of superior Marathon training wisdom. And if the amount of cringe wasn't high enough, we now have another no-name youtuber that is creating a youtube video to assess and critique the guy's training. What's next? A new additional youtuber that makes a video that critiques this youtuber who is critiquing another youtube runner trying to run a marathon?
Great job as always LRC.... Another fine piece of work.