Non-OTQ Guy (Bromka) Calls Out OTQ Guys for... Bad Training?

Even though he is correct, commentary like this should be left to retired runners.

Kvothe wrote:

He's run 2:19:40 according to one article.

and 2:19:02 this year at CIM. He's also running Houston in a couple weeks. I'm rooting for him but I doubt he gets the standard if he couldn't do it running downhill at CIM - we shall see!

I enjoy how on Twitter he is saying he wasn't criticizing people despite him critiquing people's training. Then he gets defensive when he was criticized. Typical hypocrite I don't care if you are right or not about the training you were dead wrong to say you weren't criticizing people.

Yup, and a writer like Bromka should understand context well. He framed it around others' training he was looking at and deliberately left out nuance in his pithy observation relating to that. And now he's doubling-down on denial rather than exactly elaborating. I like Bromka yet he's clearly looking like he's under the sway of Twitter hot takeism here.

reed wrote:

cmon...this isn't too bad. he's not wrong

Agree. I really don't see what all the criticism is about. If anything he seems to be reaffirming to himself that it's better to come in a little under trained than over and who can blame him? The dude is 38 and running 2:19 and change so he's doing something right.

This “do better and then talk” argument is ridiculous. Renato Canova is not a world class runner and yet I’d say he’s qualified to comment on anyone’s training. Same for a lot of other top coaches.

Agreed. How can anyone talk about the NFL? Who here has played for an NFL team?

I appreciate hearing comments about current trials qualifiers, from someone trying to qualify. Why not?

do you even research, brah? wrote:

If you’re upset about Bromka, you’re gonna sh*t your pants when you find out about Jonathan Marcus.

This may be the best post ever on Letsrun.com

DietBacon wrote:

This “do better and then talk” argument is ridiculous. Renato Canova is not a world class runner and yet I’d say he’s qualified to comment on anyone’s training. Same for a lot of other top coaches.

Renato Canova is "qualified" to comment because has a PROVEN track record of immense coaching success. His athletes have set national/world records and won god knows how many global medals and major races, which serve as demonstrations for his expertise. This comparison is ridiculous.

FFF wrote:

Agreed. How can anyone talk about the NFL? Who here has played for an NFL team?

I appreciate hearing comments about current trials qualifiers, from someone trying to qualify. Why not?

DietBacon wrote:

This “do better and then talk” argument is ridiculous. Renato Canova is not a world class runner and yet I’d say he’s qualified to comment on anyone’s training. Same for a lot of other top coaches.

The problem is that he's a fellow competitor. Any casual fan can talk about the NFL with other casual fans, sure.

The NFL playoffs are going on right now. A bunch of players aren't in the playoffs, just like Bromka isn't prepping for the trials. It wouldn't be right for one of those players sitting in their living rooms right now to tweet out criticizing guys in the playoffs.

If he wants to run competitively and also write about running simultaneously, there are simply some topics he should avoid or certain lines he shouldn't cross. Criticizing the competition is one of them.

Bromka will be running Ultra's by mid summer

Yup. If he wants to couch that tidbit with respect to his own training or his teammates' training, whatever. Get your own house in order before you go nosing into and talking about what others might be up to. Why is he even spending a minute looking at, thinking about, and commenting on anyone else's training? Kind of a frivolous thing to do if you have a race later this month.

OT qualifiers' memo to Bromka: keep our training out ya mouth.

Nothing to see here. Dude has 4000 followers and can't get even 1% engagement. Truly, JMar Superstar Lite.

Kvothe wrote:

He's run 2:19:40 according to one article.

What is his regular shoe adjusted time?

Maybe it's like an NBA D-League guy criticizing how a roster guy shoots free throws. If you had it all figured out, you'd be there too - so your criticism only speaks to your ego and not that you know how to do it right.

On the other hand - if Bromka thinks he has it all figured out with training and shoes and still can't make it - I guess that just means he's a p**** and can't tough out a marathon that he's trained perfectly for.

Damn, why does everyone care so much what this dude says? It wasn’t a particularly interesting or controversial tweet...

I also ran sub-2:19 pace for almost all of CIM then didn’t make it - did I miss out on a writing career by not publicizing on social media??

Setting aside the rather silly question of whether a certain person is allowed to express a particular opinion, I think the statement itself is just wrong. It supposes that there is a precise cliff in training, and once you take a step over, you're done. But there are actually very broad ranges of what we might call overtraining and undertraining. There are also different KINDS of overtraining and undertraining. Being a little past your peak is not necessarily a death sentence, especially for slow twitch runners who tend to have longer and less pronounced peaks. We've all seen runners run PRs at the marathon that they were disappointed in because they ran a much better half PR 4 weeks earlier. That's generally an example of someone who was better off being slightly overtrained than slightly undertrained, which would likely have left them without any PR at all.

Another poster made a good point that it also depends entirely on your priorities. For a professional runner who can be competitive and make a living even if they're only at 90%, then avoiding injury and burnout is obviously paramount. For an amateur whose athletic prime will soon be gone, who has already worked really hard for every second, maybe the objective is just to know that you left it all out there, even if there's a significant risk that you push too hard.

I think the only way the statement makes sense is if you take "overtrained" to mean something like you actually have overtraining syndrome--or whatever people are calling it these days. If that's the case, I agree, but it's also weird to talk about being slightly or a little overtrained. Overtraining syndrome is by definition not slight.

"You're either over the standard or under the standard. It's best not to be over."

As a libertarian, what is important to me is that this man is exercising his freedom of speech.