
Tom Broback
18.4K posts




For anyone wondering why I’m approaching this the way I am, a lot of it comes from what happened to me in 2023. I started running in 2020 when Covid shut the gyms down. I was a powerlifter. When gyms reopened, I kept running on the side, maybe 10-20 miles a week. In late 2021 I decided I wanted to run a marathon as a bucket-list thing. I signed up for Boston 2022 through a charity close to me, raised over $10,000, and finished in 3:30:28. I thought I’d be one and done. But that race changed something. I wanted to come back and qualify on my own. In 2023 I signed up for a marathon in May to go after a BQ. Training was going well. Four weeks out, I was on an easy morning run and had to call an Uber five minutes from my apartment because my foot hurt so bad I couldn’t walk. Grade 3 stress fracture in my left second toe. Out 13 weeks. DNS. I signed up for another marathon that October. Great training cycle. Four weeks out, pain in my hip. Went back to my doctor. Grade 1 stress fracture in my left femoral neck. Out 9 weeks. DNS. After the second one, my doctor had me get a DEXA scan. Osteoporosis. At 28 years old. So in one year I trained for two marathons and made it to the start line of zero. In May 2024 I finally made it back and ran my second marathon in 2:55:04. It was a BQ, but I knew it probably wouldn’t be enough for Boston 2025. So I signed up for another marathon that September and ran 2:51:54, which put me 1:15 under the eventual cutoff. Then I ran 2:47:27 at Boston in 2025. I’ve signed up for 7 marathons total and missed 2 start lines. This build means a lot to me. I’ve put months of work into it and I’m in the best shape of my life. But I’ve also had two races taken from me late in training because I didn’t get answers soon enough. With my bone density, I don’t get to just hope for the best when something feels off. That’s why I’m getting the MRI today.




The problem with WHOOP that nobody is fixing: It's called cadence lock. The wrist sensor picks up your arm swing rhythm instead of your actual heart rate while running. The result? My Garmin reads 124 bpm avg on an easy run. WHOOP reads zone 4 and 5 for nearly 80% of the same run. Same activity. Completely different data. And this happens every single day. What makes it worse? WHOOP doesn't let you use an external heart rate monitor to correct it. You're stuck with the bad reading. Your strain is wrong. Your recovery recommendations are based on a workout you didn't actually do. I've been a member for 3+ years. I've tried every fix. Nothing works. At what point does a "known issue" become a broken product? What am I paying for at this point @WHOOP?







