Youtuber HellahGood, massive lack of talent or...?

i would imagine that he's just running for fitness and not trying to race? never watched his content

Starno wrote:

Some of you might have stumble on his content. The guy has been running everyday for more than 1000 days. Come from a soccer background, not overweight.

5k PR : 19:58

Mile PR : 5:37

Well he is vegan, so not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

He seems to be mid-20s and not overweight, possibly on the gear, training with some intensity to run times that might get you on a decent girl's high school varsity team.

Actually, his mile PR is 5:02

I was curious about that too. For someone so passionate, consistent and athletic looking, it is surprising that he isn't faster.

YMMV wrote:

Well he is vegan, so not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

That is correct:

ImKarma wrote:

Actually, his mile PR is 5:02

That was from high school years.

He doesn't do any speedwork, so he has no speed. It's not surprising.

He logs massive 100+ mile weeks. One week he ran a marathon a day to beat Casey Neistat's challenge.

If he started doing track work and ditched the vegan nonsense, he'd start throwing down good times at the shorter distances.

But as for now, his entire regimen is LSD, every day, all day.

I don't think he actually is logging 100mpw regularly. This video for a week he said 56:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkISMrucuzg

Looking at that routine though, I'm not too surprised. No speedwork, longest run 11 miles (under 90 minutes). Most seem to be probably a little fast to be truly easy, at least for someone with a 19:50s 5k

Maybe with all those gear sponsorships he can buy himself a copy of Daniel's Running Formula or Faster Road Running

This doesn't make sense, ok so he's running around 50 a week but that is still a decent amount. He looks a lot faster than 19mins, I'm just guessing he doesn't race or time trial at all?

He never does any speed work of any kind and he even admitted it in the video where he did the mile TT disaster.

He did one Marathon last year, his first one, NYC in 3:38. Other than that, no races ever, no tuneups, no TTs, etc.

Just goes to show that running lots of miles at a comfortable pace doesn’t do much to build speed...

Rhodium Nights wrote:

He never does any speed work of any kind and he even admitted it in the video where he did the mile TT disaster.

He did one Marathon last year, his first one, NYC in 3:38. Other than that, no races ever, no tuneups, no TTs, etc.

Just goes to show that running lots of miles at a comfortable pace doesn’t do much to build speed...

^^^^^^

This!

Disclosure: Previously, I have corresponded with Hellah. He seems like a decent enough human being.

He is not concentrating on running fast right now - Rather he is just doing miles, enjoying the process, and to cap it off is doing okay earning a bit of decent $ with his YouTube channel.

Yes, he is currently around 50mpw, but has in the past done some pretty crazy high mileage weeks. A solid three year streak without major injury is nothing scoff at, guys. Neither is 160,000 subscribers on YouTube.

IMO with some focus, he could likely some decent times in the mile and 5km. His overall form looks pretty smooth. Agree with you Rhodium Nights, you need to run fast to be fast.

The dude is just doing what he doing. No sense in being haters about another runner's life. We all take different paths to where we are going.

Yeah he has a great channel, love his positive energy. I think he was training to run across the country and he started raising money for it, but COVID probably kicked those plans to the curb for the foreseeable future.

Seems like it would be a good time for him to throw in some speedwork cause he's obviously durable! But like old runner said, gotta respect his choice to train his own way.

I respect him but dont understand it. I think he just ran a couple of 247 mile weeks...wtf.

Rhodium Nights wrote:

He never does any speed work of any kind and he even admitted it in the video where he did the mile TT disaster.

He did one Marathon last year, his first one, NYC in 3:38. Other than that, no races ever, no tuneups, no TTs, etc.

Just goes to show that running lots of miles at a comfortable pace doesn’t do much to build speed...

The guy does not have talent.

100% easy miles makes you a decent 5k runner even if you do 0 workout.

Sure you won't be great at 800m but not breaking 19' with 50m+ a week for years shows obvious lack of talent.

Impala31 wrote:

Rhodium Nights wrote:

He never does any speed work of any kind and he even admitted it in the video where he did the mile TT disaster.

He did one Marathon last year, his first one, NYC in 3:38. Other than that, no races ever, no tuneups, no TTs, etc.

Just goes to show that running lots of miles at a comfortable pace doesn’t do much to build speed...

The guy does not have talent.

100% easy miles makes you a decent 5k runner even if you do 0 workout.

Sure you won't be great at 800m but not breaking 19' with 50m+ a week for years shows obvious lack of talent.

I agree,

Especially coming from a soccer background, I assume he must have quite a bit of fast twitch fibers making him naturally inclined to go fast enough pretty naturally and yet...

Good to hear a positive reply. The guy is single-handedly inspiring more people to take up running than most runners at the sharp end of the sport. Needless to say he is doing great things as a positive black runner - for black communities who are underrepresented in distance events.

But another interesting idea, is, perhaps he is not the most talented guy biomechanically or whatever it may be, but he is a coach's dream because he has a tremendous base, a good outlook and he seems to be humble enough to be highly teachable. With a proper training plan, maybe a previously unseen well of talent could emerge, who knows. He'd have to want it; to fall in love with speed.

sur he could do a lot better but probably never break 15', maybe not even 16' whatever he does even if he trains like a pro for years.

But nothing wrong running a lot without being talented. Good for him if he enjoys it and make some money with it.

Who cares what his PR's are???

I admit I actually enjoy his channel. It is entertaining. This answer is quite simple to me. Even pro's don't run every single day month after month year after year with no plan or specific goals. That's not how you improve. It isn't lack of talent as much as it is lack of a specific goal.

He runs for youtube content. With that kind of approach there's no wonder why his 5k is subpar and his marathon is subpar while still putting in more miles than most on this forum. He needs a coach if he wants respectable PRs but it is quite obvious that isn't what he is going for...and that's okay.

He has a talent for consistency.

He has a talent for not getting injured.

He has a talent for inspiring others.

He has a talent for creating popular YouTube content.

I guess those things matter to him more than running PBs.

Cool guy and cool channel!