You've hit the nail on the head. He has some serious psychological issues. The over the top way he presents himself is a clear indication of issues. The need to constantly run, and run hard, as if he is trying to prove something to someone as well.
He is running more than most professionals, with all the advantages as well such as free gear etc yet hasn't really progressed in 2 or 3 years but somehow keeps the same mileage and same workouts year after year hoping that he'll improve somehow magically
Do you know what sort of pace his 'easy' runs are at? And his 'steady' runs? And what sort of mileage he averages?
Whilst I find him an irredeemably ghastly person from all I have seen and read (not going to meet him in person unless he relocates about 400km), I am broadly of the view, from various training bits and pieces that I've seen, that his best running performances are probably very close to his maximum potential. I get the point that he may carry on trying to run through niggles and injuries when rest or x train may be a better short term option.
His "easy" miles range from like 6:20 to just under 7:00. He won't touch a mile over 7:00 unless it's with one of his coaching groups from what I can see. My take is it's cumulative toll of a lot of mindless miles being run too fast as he ages slightly, but he feels this big need to run through it to keep creating content and couldn't admit or face not being able to run through injury - hence calling something that's 6/10 pain and stopping him being able to run downhill a "niggle". Shags come on that's just an injury at this point... Despite all that he's still running to the gym and back on his days off running.
Also find it sad that he kept presenting this binary choice of I'm either going to sulk around with this injury (niggle), or do intense cross training and squats with some kind of upper leg injury. When really I reckon option three - just take a few days fully off and enjoy Christmas with your family - is probably the best option for his physical, and also mental, health
I wonder if there's a dark side of dysfunctional personality/mental health meltdown that some may be curious to observe. After all, for people who inhabit the world of quicker running, USA, Australia, Canada, UK wherever, how interesting is the training and racing data of a guy in or around 2.20/2.25, when there are dozens of these all over the place? Back in the day people went on trips to 'insane asylums' - now we can watch marathoners on YT.
I really liked the beginnings of both this episode and Robbe’s from last week. They both come from interesting backgrounds, and I appreciated thomas being open about the tough parts of his childhood. However, both episodes, like many of the drop episodes from this past year or so, inevitably devolve into a circle jerk of how great they and their organization are. Literally the last twenty or so minutes of each episode are them bragging and basking in their influencer glory. I’ll be interested to hear Meg’s interview next week. Something tells me it will be much more humble and down to earth all the way through. They need another Meg to fully balance out both Thomas and Robbe’s egos
He's sick with the flu. Went to the ER. Overtraining, or just bad luck?
Dude gets sick a LOT.
Floberg and a few other "influencers" get sick a similar amount of time to the rest of us except we just have a few days off running. We don't have an irrational desire to share with the world our every thought and move.
I really liked the beginnings of both this episode and Robbe’s from last week. They both come from interesting backgrounds, and I appreciated thomas being open about the tough parts of his childhood. However, both episodes, like many of the drop episodes from this past year or so, inevitably devolve into a circle jerk of how great they and their organization are. Literally the last twenty or so minutes of each episode are them bragging and basking in their influencer glory. I’ll be interested to hear Meg’s interview next week. Something tells me it will be much more humble and down to earth all the way through. They need another Meg to fully balance out both Thomas and Robbe’s egos
Believe In The Run has 100,000 subscribers. How "Influential" are these guys?
Aubrey Runs has 13,000 subscribers yet is being handed free shoes and trips to marathons world wide.
Is it worth the money for companies like Adidas to pay off these shills?
This is what happens when your children are homeschooled and don’t get exposed to viruses in the usual way at school or daycare. While the family may avoid colds in the short term, homeschooling backfires in the long run. When the children go on visits, they end up getting sick because they lack any resistance.
This is what happens when your children are homeschooled and don’t get exposed to viruses in the usual way at school or daycare. While the family may avoid colds in the short term, homeschooling backfires in the long run. When the children go on visits, they end up getting sick because they lack any resistance.
I really liked the beginnings of both this episode and Robbe’s from last week. They both come from interesting backgrounds, and I appreciated thomas being open about the tough parts of his childhood. However, both episodes, like many of the drop episodes from this past year or so, inevitably devolve into a circle jerk of how great they and their organization are. Literally the last twenty or so minutes of each episode are them bragging and basking in their influencer glory. I’ll be interested to hear Meg’s interview next week. Something tells me it will be much more humble and down to earth all the way through. They need another Meg to fully balance out both Thomas and Robbe’s egos
Meg is faster than either of them and far more relatable. I'm not sure why she still sticks with these dudes on the podcast.
I really liked the beginnings of both this episode and Robbe’s from last week. They both come from interesting backgrounds, and I appreciated thomas being open about the tough parts of his childhood. However, both episodes, like many of the drop episodes from this past year or so, inevitably devolve into a circle jerk of how great they and their organization are. Literally the last twenty or so minutes of each episode are them bragging and basking in their influencer glory. I’ll be interested to hear Meg’s interview next week. Something tells me it will be much more humble and down to earth all the way through. They need another Meg to fully balance out both Thomas and Robbe’s egos
Speaking of egos, it's time to catch up with our running influencers friends!
It's the end of the year. So Kofuzi released the how much he makes on AdSense video. $59k, but that's not the most interesting thing. One of his highest performing videos was the Boston Marathon video. He tried to claim that the cost of the travel (since when has he paid for his own travel?) meant that he lost money on the video, but then thought better of it and said "But I charge appearance fees and other things that make the math work out, I'd have to check with my agent on it but I'm pretty sure I came out positive for Boston." Let's say he's charging $5k per appearance (and that's low in that world), did four appearances and got his travel comped, he may well have made $25k for the weekend. More than the Top Americans probably made! Why should people strive to be fast runners when they can make more money by not even running the race and just walking around with a camera screaming, "Let's Go!!!" Kofuzi is also sad that his channel is 91% male, and can't figure it out. Stop screaming "Let's Go," and definitely stop featuring Matt Choi and your women's viewership might increase! He also released his shoe of the year videos. He seems to have dumped Asics for Puma. I guess the free trip to Jamaica was that good! Of course the free Caribbean vacation is not disclosed in his shoe of the year videos. Bias works in obvious ways and that isn't that hard to understand.
The Believe in the Run crew isn't releasing their AdSense figures, probably because it isn't a significant source of revenue for them. They probably do as well, if not slightly better than Kofuzi, on the appearance fee junkets but don't hold a candle to him on AdSense. Thomas also hasn't come down from his high of the fact (at least in his mind) that the video he made ripping Brooks led to them making a Hyperion Elite 4 with PEBA foam. We may hear about that in every podcast for a year.
In content about actual running, not appearance fees and shoes, Spencer Brown AKA the Athlete Special stole a 5k while dressed as the Grinch, and impressively stayed in character for the entire video. Then he ripped an all out almost 1200 for 3 minutes. His partner Allie Ostrander is recovering from surgery.
The Greatest of All Time, AKA the Original Running ShoeTuber is making a video about how he is semi-retired from the YouTube review grind. He will wear your gear and maybe put it in a video if he likes it if you send it to him for the purposes of review but he isn't making a dedicated video on it. Basically he was pleading with brands to not send him stuff.
Phily Bowden is battling anemia and celebrating 100,000 subscribers.
Ben Parkes is making a video about how he spent £10,000 on running shoes last year. I don't know he might've got where he was going faster if he had bought say a car instead.
But in proof that the arc of the algorithm universe can still bend towards justice, Matt Choi's Instagram viewership has cratered since his New York fiasco. One of the top comments on his NY apology video is from none other than Kara Goucher who was immediately chided by her fans for defending him. Seems like someone reached out to her and asked her to stand up for him. I wonder if they have the same agent? Influencers being that important to agents. Welcome to the world that was in 2024.
Onto 2025, where there will surely be more free trips, e-bikes impeding runners and course volunteers, races in costume, health challenges, and maybe a PR or two. Happy New Year to all of our running influencers friends!
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
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