His consistency is pretty amazing although not surprising. He seems pretty goal oriented and high achieving (determining how he gets there is up to you...I think he's just a freak).

One thing I thought was interesting regarding his brand recently...the largest running industry trade show took place last week in Austin, just down the road from the BPN HQ & they were not in attendance (but were at the NYC Marathon expo). Leads me to believe they really don't want to be in retail right now. My local running store does carry them though.

Lol @ that man having never done a single banned substance

Apparently? Was he tested? Would the race test one of the athletes that is their sponsor too? Reminds me of one of those Arab 70.3s where the prince had great bike split thanks to his protection entourage

I don’t think he was tested recently, but has denied steroid use in the past. Maybe it would have been better for his brand if he was tested.

https://vitalizedfuture.com/nick-bare-natty/

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

His splits were impressively consistent.

He lives pretty near me in Nashville, so I see him running hear and there.

Oh ok that’s awesome! Yeah his splits were excellent.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Very impressive - though I agree, he's very consistent (and has done an excellent job avoiding injury) so not necessarily surprising given his build-up.

Would be cool if he got back into Ironman - he was shooting for a sub-10 at Texas a few years back, but the race got canceled.

opinion sites are useless. if anythign with the popularity of him why isnt USADA/USATF testing him? they seem to be popping random age groupers in triathlon. My main irk with testing and USATF is I was a part of the organization for a bit and asked for testing of 2 former dopers (caught an served time) at a masters championship event. Nothing was done. Only the elites tested.

Does USATF ever test age group athletes like Ironman does, or is it the Wild West in the running age group ranks?

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Let food be thy medicine...

I watch his YouTube channel and predicted 2:41-2:39 in the Matt Hanson thread based on his workouts. No idea if he is clean or not but he does put in the work.

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Let food be thy medicine...

I'll never believe he's not juiced, but I also don't care if he's juiced to the gills. I can only dream of running a 2:39 and that's mega impressive with the weight he's dragging over 26.2 miles.

Muscular guys at my gym cant even straighten thier arms fully. This guy has the beach bod and can motor around the marathon course at pro ironman pace...livin the dream! How does he eat?

Stupid Q but would "anabolic gear", be of any aid for aerobic endurance like the marathon?

Huge gains besides the obvious ability to train more/recover maintain muscle mass, it pumps your muscles chock a block full of glycogen...Check out guys who get on the gear, their weight goes up dramatically in a matter of weeks-some of it is of course muscle but a lot of it is increased glycogen and water retention. Thats why when they go off they shrink quite a bit.

Only 14 minutes of Matt Hanson's pace. He should go pro. lol

Yeah he definitely seems able to break 10 in his current physique. I’m not sure what his future race plans are, but I’m eager to see his results after this. He just came out with a new gel this year too - I bet his supplement sales are going up.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Spot on. A friend of mine is a pretty big deal in combat sport, he's trained some world champions. Says you can tell right away who's on the stuff as their ability to recover from the hardest work goes through the roof. You can train a 40 year old like an 18 year old and he just comes back wanting more the next day. Stuff that would have buried him a month earlier. And because of that, they can get so much more out of a training cycle/camp.

Also, no such thing as a stupid Q in this space. No idea what this guy is doing, but if people are using, that has a huge impact on results. Folks out there trying to set expectations/goals really need to be aware.

part of me doesn't care if he dopes. My libertarian side says to each his own, if he's hurting someone it is himself.

but the point you make at the end is valid. As a fitness influencer his brand is built on the basic premise of "you can achieve what you put your mind to." He is selling inspiration. Yesterday I was thinking about how I need to change my prep for my marathon and build strength to avoid injury. Which is true, of course. But then I started thinking how much of this thought process is rooted in the fantasy of what Nick is doing?

So I think he should be honest and upfront about what he is doing. And I think anyone who watches his stuff should think that it is ENTERTAINMENT only.

Beets and Sourdough = the secret sauceeeee

Not necessarily during this cycle but I recall him doing some blood panels and releasing those results. I didn't bother to look at them because I don't have a clue what I'd be looking at. There will always be skeptics now to any impressive performance and that's just the way the world (sadly so).

Personally, I have a faster marathon PR than him (humble brag) but am far beyond those performance thanks to age & injuries but his & others dedication and determination are inspirational and give me some motivation when it's lacking internally.

Came across this thread and for the life of me, do not understand all the hoopla around some age grouper who is not even at the pointy end? Nothing against the guy, he is one of those self promoters who is trying to find a lucrative niche in sports, and selling things. But it looks to me like he is just a good athlete(maybe doped, maybe not) but well below the usual folks we start threads about on here.

I suppose if Hulk Hogan ran a 2;40 marathon I would take notice, but he aint no Hulk. Dozens of AG'ers in our sport that wipe the floor with this dude, and virtually anonymous here. Once in awhile one breaks through with a "real" top performance, and those are fun to banter in and recognize for their top achievements. But a self promoting MOP athlete, just dont get it....

no way Monty.

There aren't loads of 200 lb guys who can bench way over 300 lbs running 2:40 marathons.

I've lost 100 lbs off my bench press max since I started endurance training. I don't know how he does it (well, maybe I do).

I have a good friend who worships this guy. I think Nick is a good athlete, but I have to also wonder if he is aware of the disservice he is doing. My friend has an athletic background, is very fit, but it’s mostly gym muscle. Nick has given him a false hope, that he can also be a respectably performing endurance athlete. I’ve never seen anyone work so hard, and keep coming up short. DNF’s at Ironman (he did get one finish just under cut-off) and marathons. He doesn’t want to loose his muscle and strength. He puts in the miles and long runs etc, but it just isn’t working. I’ve preached about serving two masters, and all that crap, and have tried to convince him that he could loose 40 pounds and run like the wind… but very often his reply has been yeah but Nick …. Lalalalalala….😵‍💫. Last month I tried to pace him to a marathon PR. His training was impressive, and I thought he had a chance. But it really hurt, seeing this big guy struggling so bad at race pace, and dropping out at the half. Even after the race it was yeah but Nick….. and I was like fuck Nick, if he was there I would have punched him in the face. Well ok, maybe not, the dude could bench press my skinny ass to moon. But, my friend is clean as a whistle, and this whole Nick Bare thing has only set him up for repeated disappointment.

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Athlinks / Strava

Ok, not sure I care much how much a guy benches as related to how he runs. Did he do this bench the day before running 2;40? Because if not, then doing things like this in opposite time frames, well meh..

If I were to take an interest in someone lifting heavy and running fast(and I have) it would be to follow this guys exploits. Think 2;04 is a lot faster than 2;40, and shows the range that is possible...

https://www.mensjournal.com/...all-transformation#:~:text=Here%27s%20how%20he%20did%20it.&text=Ryan%20Hall%20is%20one%20of,Hall%20decided%20to%20add%20muscle.