Sandra Vi going for record across America

So far today wrote:

Her very high heart rate, since day one, is a warning sign to any medical professional.

I don't think we can conclude much from her HR readings. Doesn't she use a wrist-based HR meter built into her Suunto watch, with a sweatband between the watch and her skin? Frankly I'm amazed it's able to measure anything at all.

15:36 of running time in a single day - I'm no transcon expert, but is that sustainable? Allowing another hour for meals, massages, and misc, it means she's only getting 7-ish hours of sleep per night. That's not much when you're pushing yourself this hard, day after day.

Maybe Mimi should take a half day, or even a total rest day. She's still on a good overall pace, but it looks like she's starting to struggle and may be close to cracking.

So far today wrote:

- Boots on the Ground: On Strava there are several photos of runners (4-6) who joined Sandy, including Forrest Gump's twin!

I saw that guy and laughed out loud. He really nailed the Forrest Gump look, right down to the crew socks and 1970's Nike shoes.

Sandy? wrote:

15:36 of running time in a single day

oops, it was actually 15:41.

Results wrote:

So far today wrote:

She is not a machine. Her very high heart rate, since day one, is a warning sign to any medical professional. And now the erratic pacing and much long running days. If she were a machine she would be a car running with a cracked engine block. It is only a matter of time before the wheels come off.

Oh yeah, I didn't mean she was running well. Not at all. Just that she's driven. ...

I think you might be underestimating her mental strength if you're predicting a collapse. The closer she gets to the end the harder it will be for her to quit.

I compare her to Jim Walmsey. Driven. Pushes himself hard. Crashes and burns.

It is impossible to trust any of Mimi's data. Every run she spends a lot more time on the road than Strava shows. Mimi only takes a 30 minute lunch break, but the breaks during the day are over 1-1/2 hours. Are her trackers being turned off for more than an hour per day? I cannot figure out where these long extra breaks are occurring.

Sandy? wrote:

15:36 of running time in a single day - I'm no transcon expert, but is that sustainable? Allowing another hour for meals, massages, and misc, it means she's only getting 7-ish hours of sleep per night. That's not much when you're pushing yourself this hard, day after day.

Maybe Mimi should take a half day, or even a total rest day. She's still on a good overall pace, but it looks like she's starting to struggle and may be close to cracking.

Pete's Gold Standard recommends 10 hours of continuous time off your feet. Sandy has been following that recommendation, except for that midnight mountain pass attempt to escape an incoming snow storm. Mimi is determined to reach a specific mileage target every day. I would assume massages and a full night's sleep are now optional. She was doing well the first half of the race. But since the start of the second half it is like an entirely different runner has taken over her body. That seems like a major physical/fatigue issue to me. Lack of something the body needs and is not being replaced.

So far today wrote:

Results wrote:

Oh yeah, I didn't mean she was running well. Not at all. Just that she's driven. ...

I think you might be underestimating her mental strength if you're predicting a collapse. The closer she gets to the end the harder it will be for her to quit.

Every run she spends a lot more time on the road than Strava shows. Mimi only takes a 30 minute lunch break, but the breaks during the day are over 1-1/2 hours. Are her trackers being turned off for more than an hour per day? I cannot figure out where these long extra breaks are occurring.

Are you looking at the elapsed time and not just the moving time on Strava? Both are listed as you probably know. Since she breaks the run up into morning and afternoon, her lunch break isn't recorded there. It's only 20-30 minutes, but that might be part of it. She takes a ton of breaks but they're only for a couple of minutes at a time it seems. Does that add up to the one or one and a half hours you're seeing at the end of the day?

All of the videos show Mimi A mostly walks a slow place when progressing.

I don't disagree that a 55 year old woman is mentally tough to walk a slow pace.

But there's no evidence that she's walking even that slow pace consistently.

There are no extended videos. No one is allowed to verify, even at a distance.

And there's certainly no evidence that she's going at twice that speed, as reported.

Results wrote:

Are you looking at the elapsed time and not just the moving time on Strava? Both are listed as you probably know. Since she breaks the run up into morning and afternoon, her lunch break isn't recorded there. It's only 20-30 minutes, but that might be part of it. She takes a ton of breaks but they're only for a couple of minutes at a time it seems. Does that add up to the one or one and a half hours you're seeing at the end of the day?

Okay. For yesterday Mimi had a total non-moving time of just over an hour. Add in a 30 minutes lunch break and that comes close to 1-1/2 hours of breaks.

So far today wrote:

It is impossible to trust any of Mimi's data. Every run she spends a lot more time on the road than Strava shows. Mimi only takes a 30 minute lunch break, but the breaks during the day are over 1-1/2 hours. Are her trackers being turned off for more than an hour per day? I cannot figure out where these long extra breaks are occurring.

Forget about Strava, and look at the Movescount data instead. Movescount doesn't do all the silly "moving time" filtering that Strava does, so you can clearly see all Mimi's stops and rest breaks.

Sandy? wrote:

So far today wrote:

It is impossible to trust any of Mimi's data. Every run she spends a lot more time on the road than Strava shows. Mimi only takes a 30 minute lunch break, but the breaks during the day are over 1-1/2 hours. Are her trackers being turned off for more than an hour per day? I cannot figure out where these long extra breaks are occurring.

Forget about Strava, and look at the Movescount data instead. Movescount doesn't do all the silly "moving time" filtering that Strava does, so you can clearly see all Mimi's stops and rest breaks.

But Movescount does do some aggressive filtering or smoothing of the data like we showed a few days ago with all those flat paces. Strava shows those correctly while Movescount looks like I did a bad spoof. You can't completely trust either Strava or Movescount since both manipulate the data to try to give you prettier graphs.

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

You can't completely trust either Strava or Movescount since both manipulate the data to try to give you prettier graphs.

Absolutely true. Strava course PRs doesn't seem to have any real value. I still prefer the way real races are done; start of race to end of race. All stops are added to the finishing time.

Scam_Watcheroo wrote:

But Movescount does do some aggressive filtering or smoothing of the data like we showed a few days ago with all those flat paces. Strava shows those correctly while Movescount looks like I did a bad spoof. You can't completely trust either Strava or Movescount since both manipulate the data to try to give you prettier graphs.

I guess you're right. 15 hour long runs probably weren't part of either company's test plans.

At 10:08 AM

Sandy 30 miles

Mimi just short of 26 miles (45 minute head start)

Sigh . . . I expect Mimi will put in another 15+ hour day to get the miles in.

26 minute mile pace, at best wrote:

All of the videos show Mimi A mostly walks a slow place when progressing.

I don't disagree that a 55 year old woman is mentally tough to walk a slow pace.

But there's no evidence that she's walking even that slow pace consistently.

There are no extended videos. No one is allowed to verify, even at a distance.

And there's certainly no evidence that she's going at twice that speed, as reported.

I've seen quite a few photos and posts of people joining her on some of the crews personal twitter and fb accounts, didn't Asher from here meet up with her a couple of days ago?

So far today wrote:

At 10:08 AM

Sandy 30 miles

Mimi just short of 26 miles (45 minute head start)

Sigh . . . I expect Mimi will put in another 15+ hour day to get the miles in.

Wow. How long can she go putting in days like that I wonder. Close to sixteen hours is not good, not at all. That cannot have been what they planned on originally.

The morning run is usually where she's stronger. Based on what you've written,this afternoon could be bad (or shortened).

Verify me wrote:

I've seen quite a few photos and posts of people joining her on some of the crews personal twitter and fb accounts, didn't Asher from here meet up with her a couple of days ago?

The few Mimi + someone photos posted have been of her with a crew member, and one person who appeared to be a random joiner but was actually a friend of hers.

There is absolutely no comparison between Mimi's spotty/iffy data and proof method and Sandy's method that record holder Pete K came up with. Mimi simply cannot fix the mess that has come before.

Results wrote:

So far today wrote:

At 10:08 AM

Sandy 30 miles

Mimi just short of 26 miles (45 minute head start)

Sigh . . . I expect Mimi will put in another 15+ hour day to get the miles in.

Wow. How long can she go putting in days like that I wonder. Close to sixteen hours is not good, not at all. That cannot have been what they planned on originally.

The morning run is usually where she's stronger. Based on what you've written,this afternoon could be bad (or shortened).

The unfolding events are worth watching to help runners who might do a long multi-day trek anywhere in the world. How to get the data to prove it right. How to planned and prepare for such an event. The importance of a skilled crew. The importance a people who has done such an event on your team. The importance of speaking with other people who have done such an event for advice, hints and their perspective (Dean K, Markus M, etc.)--do your homework. And: That rest is of the upmost importance over miles put in.

Verify me wrote:

I've seen quite a few photos and posts of people joining her on some of the crews personal twitter and fb accounts, didn't Asher from here meet up with her a couple of days ago?

Asher met with her for a photo, but did not run with her.

her crew wrote:

Verify me wrote:

I've seen quite a few photos and posts of people joining her on some of the crews personal twitter and fb accounts, didn't Asher from here meet up with her a couple of days ago?

The few Mimi + someone photos posted have been of her with a crew member, and one person who appeared to be a random joiner but was actually a friend of hers.

There is absolutely no comparison between Mimi's spotty/iffy data and proof method and Sandy's method that record holder Pete K came up with. Mimi simply cannot fix the mess that has come before.

I've seen more than that. There was one only today on Twitter from Jenny Davis.

And for all the conjecture and half truth posted here I haven't seen anyone actually post any evidence of cheating. Just allegation and innuendo. So if you believe she is then where's the actual proof?