Bad Influence

Social media has become not only a place for entertainment, but for many it’s a source of information. It’s where they engage with the running community to connect, learn, be inspired and grow. But unfortunately, the rise of the influencer has coincided with the rapid growth of misinformation. In their search for relevance and desire to be liked, followed and shared, many an influencer pushes training ideas or advice that’s either not backed by science, too generalised in its application or simply wrong. For the adoring masses that trusts these self-proclaimed, yet inexperienced and underqualified online experts, the outcome is often a bad one.

From advice as to what shoes to wear or how to train, to which supplements are best and what events to do, social media influencers clutter our digital feed and it’s hard to know which ones to trust and who among the masses is just spouting noise to get some attention or sell you something they’re being paid for. Some of the most admired voices in the trail running community have managed to dupe the hordes into thinking they’re kind-hearted gurus, simply out to play in the mountains and freely give their wisdom for the benefit of others. When in actual fact there’s an ulterior motive to much of what they say and do. By no means am I suggesting I’m the keeper of knowledge or somehow unburdened by the requirements of sponsors. However, I rely on science, 30 years of experience, plus university and post-grad education to form the foundation of any advice I give.

When I first came up with the idea for this article I went out to several coaches and athletes to canvas their thoughts on the subject. In the process of doing this it became apparent that there were some consistent opinions as to where social media influencers had been leading trail runners astray. So, below I’ve galvanised countless conversations, messages and emails on the subject into a list of training fads, bad advice and annoying trends made popular by digital gurus or well-known trail runners.

Let’s kick things off with the ‘what I eat in a day’ posts of runfluencers. These are the videos where they go through what they consume throughout a 24 hour period, often while also mentioning their training, recovery and other routines in between meals. What you see is very rarely the full story. Most of the time they create an image of clean eating, with whole foods, beautifully presented meals, elaborate ingredients and no mention of junk food or packaged stuff. Even a humble muesli bar doesn’t make the cut. The issue with this content is that it sets an unrealistic standard for pretty much everyone in the real world. Not only is it generally too time consuming to prepare the food, but it’s also costly, and often not high enough in calories. Plus, there’s generally a supplement or two that pops up in amongst their menu, which is a good indicator as to why they’re really sharing the content in the first place. Diet is an individualised thing and while there are some foundations we should all stick with, taking advice from an influencer will likely lead to nutrient deficiencies. 

Now we move to a current training fad: Zone 2 is the key. If you’re not on socials and somehow out of the loop on this, it’s essentially telling people they should be doing most of their training in zone 2. It’s basically a very low heart rate, around 60% of your max, that amongst other things, optimises aerobic gains while limiting fatigue and reducing injury risk. Yes, plenty of zone 2 mileage will build a foundation, but in realty you not only have to do a very high weekly volume of it, but it takes many months to get the gains. If you’re time poor or need to optimise your training while keeping the time on legs low, then to maintain progress you need to do a higher percentage of threshold and anaerobic work. So, while fitness influencers are out there labelling zone 2 as the key, there’s a lot more to it than just taking it easy most of the time. My suggestion is that if your weekly mileage is under 50km or total training time less than 6 hours, zone 2 is only for warmups, cool downs and your long run. Push things harder the rest of the week. As your total volume goes up, then increase the amount of zone 2 running on a 3:1:1 ratio, where zone 2 work is half the added mileage, then for every 3 kilometres of zone 2 add one kilometer of tempo and one kilometer of threshold work.

Another area that several people I spoke with found to be of concern is shoe reviews. When it comes to selecting the best footwear, many in the running community rely on advice. However, the sources of the guidance across social media are often not entirely transparent, nor are they experienced or qualified enough to be recommending what you put on your feet. If they’re sponsored, they’ll promote the brand supporting them. If they’re more interested in aesthetics, then the ugly shoes will never get spoken about positively. And if they simply don’t know enough about footwear or biomechanics, then they’ll be giving unqualified advice that can mean you choose a shoe that gets you injured. If you want to know what’s best for you, head to a store, try them on, talk to a podiatrist or coach and canvas your close running network for their thoughts. Once you’re armed with plenty of sound advice from a variety of trustworthy sources, you’ll be able to make a properly informed decision.

Race selection is the next cab off the rank. Elite trail runners are often supported by race directors to compete in their event. The kickback for the RD is that the runner talks positively about the experience. Sounds like a fair deal, right?  The problem here is that it often means you hear, see or read glowing references for a race about how great the course was, how amazing the volunteers were and what an incredible time they had. When in actual fact, had they paid their way and incurred all the costs the average Joe does, maybe they would have expected a little more? Or if they looked at the event free from bias, they’d see that perhaps the course markings were poor, or the route wasn’t as exciting as it could have been. Maybe even the experience as a whole wasn’t worth the $1,000 or more in entry fees, accommodation and travel costs that most people had to endure. The other concern with this, is that it’s typically the bigger events with money to throw around that get the influencers along to talk them up. The result is that the little guy, the homegrown event without the budget, gets overlooked. When in actual fact, their event may well be vastly superior to their flashy opponent.

The final area where it seems runners are being led astray, is the notion that longer is better, or should I say, further is better. I don’t want people getting the wrong idea! For many a trail lover their journey starts with events well under the marathon distance. As time goes by, fitness and confidence grow, and the events that excite them enters the realms of ultras. Now this all makes perfect sense. We’re often driven by testing ourselves and naturally, seeing how far we can run can be a great motivator. However, there’s a trend in social media and running in general, where the longer distances are celebrated as greater achievements. Or that you’re not an ultra-runner until you’ve done 100km or a miler. Events themselves often promote the shorter distances as being stepping stones and the longer ones as the main attraction. Several of the coaches and elite runners I spoke with prior to tapping this article out, all voiced their issues with this. The reasons for their concern were that not only does it mean people often go up in distance before they’re ready, but they undervalue their achievements when completing shorter races. Also, with the majority of events out there, for various reasons the longer distances are often less competitive. Another point is that race directors sometimes fuel this notion of short events being stepping stones because they derive more revenue from the longer distances. The advice from the coaches on this was resounding: stay short until you’re fit and strong enough to progressively go up in distance. There’s also nothing wrong with staying at a given distance instead of going up, and at the end of the day, completing any race is something to be admired.

• If you’re interested in the most up to date science in endurance sport, then head to Instagram and check out @mattendurancescientist
• For an educational running podcast that’s also available on YouTube for when you’re on the treadmill, have a look at KoopCast, hosted by Jason Koop.
• To see the latest in trends and running culture, follow @runneralerts on Insta