Another run across America underway - is it legit? Boots currently on the ground

actually, sad act that i am, i'm really enjoying this and pretty riveted. every possible outcome from here seems pretty funny, can't wait to see how it unfolds.

a) No, I'm not affiliated with him in any way. I am inspired by him. I am inspired by everyone who pushes themselves beyond what is thought possible. You obviously don't think it is possible.
b) Why would it be any different to sprint at the end of a day's run - of a multiday run (this is not a race!) It is the exact same, you are done for your run at the end of the day with the next several hours to rest.
c) Umm...did you watch the Boston Marathon? Call me crazy, but it sure seemed like the top 5 were sprinting every mile!
d) You chose to ignore my question at the end: Why not build him up rather than attempt to tear him down?

What animal could exhibit those heart rates and cover those distances while wearing his Garmin? Only one I can think of is a horse. Anyone got cadence data on horses?

Is he?

Not yet. For those that have done fundraising events (even on that dangerous-dangerous GoFundMe 😉), much of the money does not come near the beginning. You get an initial raise and then a stall. It will start picking up between 75% to the end. That is when the numbers will really start jumping. So far, he is just under $10k.

After his last challenge a newspaper reported (which as

"Andrew Gould, Macmillan’s Relationship Fundraising Manager, said: “William continues to amaze and inspire us all with his commitment and desire to raise money for Macmillan. In total so far, William has raised over £80,000 for us; an incredible amount which could fund a Macmillan Nurse for over 14 months. We are so proud of him.”"

So I think it's fair to take him at his word the money is going to charity as other times he's raised money it's has gone to charity.

a). Fair enough. I don't think what he aspires to do pushes the limits of possible. Then again, I am not interested in ultrarunning beyond Comrades, which I eventually hope to race. At 46, I have about same running ability as the guy up to marathon distance, so this slugfest run-walk does not impress me, but I wish I could have ability to run 20 miles a day every day without breaking down. Maybe one day.
b) No offence, you seem to be not much of a runner if you have to ask this. you are supposed to be very tired running so much every day. sprinting is supposed to be last thing on your mind
c) Actually, yes. And trust me, noone in the top 5 was sprinting at any part of the race, even at the finish line, though some of the surges were pretty impressive, reaching maybe 5k pace at times. Maybe Obiri's mechanics at the finish line were somewhat resembling faster pace, but not sprint (400m pace or faster).
d) I thought it was a rhetorical question. The answer is pretty simple: the guy looks like an attention seeking fraud to me. I find that many people who go instafluencer way but lack ability to do well in actual races with other competitors will then try to create some events to claim some "alternative" kind of achievement. And his "fastest Englishman" claim is ridiculous.

William Goodge looks to be legitimately running this transcon based on my analysis of all his Strava uploads for the journey so far. I downloaded all the Strava uploads and in general they look clean:

Stride length:

https://imgur.com/a/4ljBMSR

Speeds:

https://imgur.com/a/tO5Wxiq

Cadence:

https://imgur.com/a/fjzI7Lt

The only oddity is in the 2023-04-06 06_00 Part 2 where it looks like he swapped from his Garmin to Coros but the Coros either didn't record cadence or there was a sync issue. But the speeds for that recording is consistent with the other activities so no real issue.

His stride lengths are reasonable, vast majority between 5-7 feet. Speeds and cadences are also reasonable and indicative of a running activity and not on wheels. There are no superhuman bursts of speed.

Heartrate data should be disregarded. I've never relied on that since heart rate data from wristwatches are highly unreliable due to movement of the sensor. Mainly just useful to tell you something is alive.

Note that Strava tends to do unknown data smoothing on their graphs displayed on their website and should not be used since it can introduce artifacts. The data should be downloaded and graphed with known settings for analysis.

Go welcome Goodge and his team, they are telling the truth and was rightly upset that some would be questioning them.

The fury looks good on camera though 😉

Wow, moultonk really found his calling, eh?

Pull yourself together, a shirtless male model with bang average running credentials is shuffling for ten hours a day and producing a load of bombastic content inviting the internet to tell him he's an amazing inspiration. And he's certainly receiving plenty of adulation - go look at Instagram and Strava. It's absolutely fine for them to be questioned.

Can't people keep a bit of perspective for heaven's sake? (And the same goes for his most ardent detractors: does this really matter in the grand scheme of things?)

I would choose Goodge over a woke runner like Kara Goucher.

We need boots on the ground to check the soles of his shoes. I suspect I may know the answer. He is wearing heelies. He starts the race running normally but then slips into heelies mode to coast, lowering his HR. Strava then smooths out the data, and you end up with this thread.

What the hell are you talking about pal? For all that WG is pretty cringe, I don't think even he'd put himself next to a world championship medallist. You've had your brain melted by the internet.

Really? I do my easy runs very slow (10:30/mi flat, 11-15/mi on hills) and my cadence is 170-180. This isn't uncommon, especially in minimalist circles.

170-180 strides per minute while going at 15 minutes per mile?! A ~60cm stride while running?!

Day 19 is up, erroneously titled 13. Although they continue to show a human [not bionic] pulse after my intervention a week ago, this day's data is hideously corrupt and risible. If anyone could explain what follows for me, I'd be delighted. Miles 2-16 all at 138-164bpm, and over 150 eight times and over 140 12/14 times.

Miles 17-52 he never goes over 150 again, and only goes over 140 twice with a 142 peak.

It was a day a very extreme climbing in the second half and fairly little slow down.

How do you explain comparing kms in the first half of the day, and their equivalent counterpart. ie 1 vs 27; 10 vs 36; 26 vs 52 etc. To becalm the people who say I don't consider the topography, I'll use GAP [grade adjusted pace]:

4: 6:52 at 146

30: 6:28 at 133. Does this not strike you odd that later in the day he is speeding up by 24 seconds, yet reducing his heart-rate by 13?

5: 6:33 at 145

31: 7:02 at 119 Yes, he's slowed down a little, but the 119 is incredibly low. Compare this to a 7:16 for International Charlie Grice at 138bpm.

6: 9:07 at 144

32: 6:57 at 127 You don't need me to say anything about that. A gargantuan difference, a performance from two different galaxies.

10: 6:16 at 153

36: 6:58 at 121. It's either tech fail or a totally and utterly different calibre of athlete. Light years apart in quality. And remember, this is them all on much better behaviour. And this has been going on, precisely in this manner, for 2,400k and 4 years.

11: 6:06 at 153.

37: 7:19 at 117. That's a 43 metre climb and he's got a heart-rate 36 lower than an 8 metre climb earlier. Who really climbs 43 metres for a 7:19k at 117 bpm on mile 37 of a multiday? No-one.

12: 8:07 at 156

38 6:38 at 113. a reduction in HR by 43 an a 1:29 reduction in pace.

19: 7:23 at 129

46: 6:44 at 133. He has come down by 39 seconds, on an almost negligible difference in heart-rate having done nothing but climb in that time.

Finally, let's look at the last two of the day - remember, the last two are supposed to be the "walking beer miles". Not a bit of it, he's caning it:

25: 8:03 at 132. He's weary now... he's done nearly a marathon. But of course I have no problem with what is a perfectly clean and credible split on a lovely 41 metre descent.

41: 7:40 at 124. But I have three MASSIVE problems with this. He's reduced in pace by 23, reduced in HR by 8, and is climbing for 49 metres, for a 90metre difference in slope.

And now the coup de grace. The last mile of the day. I quote WG from his youtube instructional video: "Last of day: beer mile! Grab a mate... grab a beer. Stride it out... And that's 52 miles in a day. See ya!"

Note, this final mile is the toughest climb of the day at 57 metres. A major ascent after 1,608 metres of climbing throughout the day.

26: 7:55 at 129. Looks spot on to me. How is his tech failing him? Tell me. Clean as a whistle.

52: 8:03 at 110. A 110HR on a 57 metre climb on the 52nd mile of the day. No words.

Note, I have specifically ensured to match the equivalent Ks so haven't gone out of my way to compare, say, a bad looking K with a good one.

He then crept into his bunker, and in a long piece to camera said it was his easiest and best day.

There is not a single K here where the comparison is for an athlete of even calibre. Usually he's absolutely massacred himself in the head-to-head.

These numbers are disgusting. A crime against the noble and historic sport of multidaying. Goodge and his cronies are laughing at us and have declared war against the sport of ultrarunning. Anyone who attempts to mitigate the above is defending the indefensible.

Who knows, this could all well end up in court. And if it does, this will be one of my leading exhibits.

Rgds, Will

PS, I have an email address for a senior associate at Coros, that was picked up the London marathon expo, because no doubt many of you will simply chant: "yeah, well Coros are Sh*t."

See what he makes of all this.

I told you above, heart rate numbers are not to be used because of how unreliable the sensors are on wrist watches due to movement.

There is nothing suspicious about Goodge's data, I went through all his uploads in detail by downloading it all and analyzing it with my tools. This isn't my first transcon rodeo, I've done a lot more of this analysis stuff than you can imagine.

You need to go apologize to Goodge's team because his data, through the cadence and speeds, clearly show he is doing this all on foot.