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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [MattRussellTri] [ In reply to ]
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MattRussellTri wrote:
50 Ironmans in 50 days = over 7 weeks. Avg Ironman of maybe 13-16?
That's 91 to 112 hours per week for over 7 weeks!!!

How many 100hr weeks do you think you could do before you pop?

Not even sure I would make it through a 70 hour week, let alone consecutive 100s
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [Dan Funk] [ In reply to ]
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We had some of the same thoughts yesterday. Here's how the day went, outside of the posts on progress that I made. Now take this from an outsiders perspective because I am sure that this crew is working really hard and over 50 days I can't imagine that he will be able to maintain the same crew unless they are all on vacation or not gainfully employed!

He arrived in the Subaru in Santa Cruz at the beach about 6:45 with 4 bikes on a rear rack and a kayak on top. A photo crew arrived in a separate car.

They get in and swim and when James gets out he's literally shivering from head to toe. Plus he has some blisters and we have a discussion with one of the crew about somebody going to get him some moleskin but our problem is we don't have anyplace in our town that is open that early in the am that is easy to get to that wouldn't result in a big delay.

Finally get him warmed up and dressed and he gets on a bike he has never ridden before (yes...evidently true) and then the call goes out for some tools to fix the seat because it's too high. Luckily we have enough people there with wrenches to fix that problem. Next problem...tubular tires with no spares. But off he goes hoping that it will be okay and luckily it was but he had nothing on that bike.

His crew gives us his food and water bag because if we are going to be out there supporting the club/local riders who are coming along then we can take his stuff too. That's okay, not an issue there but here was the strange thing...no RV yet because it couldn't get there from Portland in time, no other cars in their caravan and we didn't see any of his crew on the course at all until the very end coming back into town and they were parked at a deli getting lunch about 12 miles out of town. Also okay because they have to eat too and we had been texting back and forth so we knew they had at least arrived in town. His wife and kids parked the RV and went off to the National Marine Sanctuary Center (I can't even imagine what it would be like to try and do this with 5 kids in tow!).

We also have to have a discussion about the bike course because there were a couple of spots where his posted course wasn't going to work because you can't see concrete barriers and no places to turn around on a map my run course! So the whole course is a kind of on the fly thing and we turned around before getting to HMB because of the hills and he wanted a flatter course. So we head back into town and then back out of town to Davenport again but the wind has come up something fierce and back we go into town to finish the ride on some flat loops around town. I think he was pretty tired back in town and it took him quite awhile to eat, change, get his feet looked after and get back on the course. By this time we count about 7 or 8 crew people (including the cameras) and I have to give him this...he was incredibly focused and patient with all the fussing and rearranging going on. One of our crew set up a "picnic" and a towel for him in the parking lot with tons of food, nuts, drinks, chips, etc plus he had a paper bag with some food set in the lot so he just sat down and started to eat and recover a bit.

So when we get back into town and parked while waiting for the riders to finish their last little bit and there are probably 5 people from his crew milling around. One is wondering who the local organizer is who set up their 5K for them. We all look at each other like "What?" He says "who is the race ambassador for Santa Cruz?" One of the runners who drove almost three hours to come and run with him says there isn't anyone listed on the website. So this guys goes into a bit of a tailspin about how they are going to figure out a 5K course and where it starts and ends and how are they going to know where it is, etc. We all stand around looking at each other like WTF???

So I go onto our website and pull out a 5K from one of our races give it to them. He asks if we can stick around and handle this and we have to say no because I have to go coach my swim workouts. So two people from our tri club are there with mtn bikes to help lead him and out I tell them where the turnaround point is because they have the local knowledge.

We wrap up the day by cleaning everyone's gear out of our truck that we had been using for course support and I give the crew guys the bag of food that James had used on the ride, wish him well before he starts off on the run and we take off.

Over the course of the next few hours people were texting and posting on facebook about where to start the 5K and what time to show up, etc. Somebody finally sent out a message on Jame's blog about it. Then his crew sent me another text wondering if I still had his bag of food.

Now in all fairness we realize it takes a village to pull something like this off but we all walked away with the perspective that nobody is really in charge (except James) and it was pretty disorganized. Nobody really seemed to be in charge of the overall logistics and schedule. Now maybe that's not the case and we just didn't see it but if this is going to be successful they are going to have to tighten up their logistics pretty substantially. I think that distances on a map look a lot shorter when you're plotting out your routes but two back to back days that require 10 - 12 hour drives between does not bode well for his well being. He told me he hadn't been able to get much rest and that is going to really take a toll as this goes on.

Just my 2 cents.
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [Aust1227] [ In reply to ]
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Wonder what happens if logistics gets the best of him and he can't pull off one day. Cut the run short to get back on schedule for the next day? Take a day off and continue? Or, pull the plug and go home. Is this all or nothing, or does he recoup and move on should plans need to be altered?
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [pennib] [ In reply to ]
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if he makes it to july 13 let me know and i'll see if i can find a group and pull him thru the bike



---------------------------------------
Fruit snacks are for winners
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [Trirunner] [ In reply to ]
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Trirunner wrote:
Day 5 is in the bag. A big group ran the last 5k with him.

Here's what I think will happen... At some point, a group of people will join him, all in good will. And one of those nice people will accidentally take him out of the journey. It won't be on purpose. It might be a trip and fall. Although, I'd bet on some sort of virus. His immune system will be running on low and some nice bloke will pass on their virus. The more people that come out, the more likely this will happen.






Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [kny] [ In reply to ]
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kny wrote:
Wonder what happens if logistics gets the best of him and he can't pull off one day. Cut the run short to get back on schedule for the next day? Take a day off and continue? Or, pull the plug and go home. Is this all or nothing, or does he recoup and move on should plans need to be altered?

Good questions.

The web site certainly seems to have the all or nothing tone to it. Expectations for this thing are set way to high. I know 50/50/50 sounds nice.. But Memorial day to Labor day, all 50 states and someone MIGHT be able to pull it off.

He doesn't have a chance logistically to make this happen. Too bad.

Austin Hardy -

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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [Aust1227] [ In reply to ]
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Aust1227 wrote:
kny wrote:
Wonder what happens if logistics gets the best of him and he can't pull off one day. Cut the run short to get back on schedule for the next day? Take a day off and continue? Or, pull the plug and go home. Is this all or nothing, or does he recoup and move on should plans need to be altered?


Good questions.

The web site certainly seems to have the all or nothing tone to it. Expectations for this thing are set way to high. I know 50/50/50 sounds nice.. But Memorial day to Labor day, all 50 states and someone MIGHT be able to pull it off.

He doesn't have a chance logistically to make this happen. Too bad.

I had no idea you felt this way, only 3 posts in the past hour
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [pennib] [ In reply to ]
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Yikes - I thought this guy had a shot at doing this, but if this is how disorganized his planning and logistical support is, then I would have to say probably not. He should have recruited an ex-armed forces logistics manager to plan and run things, and probably just had his family meet him at a few locations. So my prediction is he gets to about 20, and then comes back in a year or two for a second go at it with a more organized and better planned effort.
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [Trirunner] [ In reply to ]
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Trirunner wrote:
There is not an once of quitting in this guy. I hope he holds together and his whole crew is spared any major logistical complication.

He might not want to quit, but his body cannot sustain this.

It's going to be blazing hot today in Vegas. He's done.
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [Kay Serrar] [ In reply to ]
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I have to agree with you. We were discussing yesterday what a bunch of totally Type A triathletes and project mangers would do with something like this...a professional project manager and a serious operations plan and regimented schedule would definitely be in the mix. I mean really...having the guy sleep in the back seat of a Subaru all night while driving to Las Vegas is not the way to do this. I never got to see the RV so I have no idea if it's new, how big, etc. but it takes a car about 10 - 12 hours to drive to Vegas from Santa Cruz. It takes an hour to get to a major highway that would get him headed in the right direction!

If this was me (and that's not ever going to happen - LOL) I'd probably have an advance crew at the next day's location doing some major route scouting and route verification, fly into the area instead of even trying to drive so that a hot shower and a good bed was waiting at the hotel, etc. on some of these days. If you look at a schedule on a very good day assuming a finish at 8 - 9 pm you have at most 9 - 10 hours before the next day's swim start. Somewhere in there is food, massage, planning and sleep. I am sure the thinking was to get in the RV and get on the road almost immediately but that just isn't happening. Maybe possible if you only have a 4 or 5 hour drive between places and that's still not optimal for rest (and you've got 5 kids in the RV?).

I hope he does it but my gut tells me that at some point there is going to be either a physical or mechanical issue that derails the plan because there are just no contingencies possible in this whole operation.
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [pennib] [ In reply to ]
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pennib wrote:

Now in all fairness we realize it takes a village to pull something like this off but we all walked away with the perspective that nobody is really in charge (except James) and it was pretty disorganized. Nobody really seemed to be in charge of the overall logistics and schedule. Now maybe that's not the case and we just didn't see it but if this is going to be successful they are going to have to tighten up their logistics pretty substantially..


Thanks for the wonderful recap.

From someone with a even further outside perspective on this, the above certainly seems to be the case.

On one of his earlier run, he was given a pair of sneakers that was a size too small. He has misplaced his HR or GPS. Simple stuff that should not be occurring

On his one and only podcast, he stated "we probably need to come up with a checklist or something". Really?!?!?!? (He is also appears to be the his own Social Media Director)

Its quite disappointing honestly that something that should have been a "no brainer" easy solution months ago and not a discussion point "today" could be his end game.

He does not have to be Captain and Crew for this entire thing. Though hopefully it is not too late for someone to step-up as the Logistics Capitan, or have someone with experience to come along that is willing to jump on this trek and take over.
Last edited by: SayHey Kid: Jun 11, 15 10:16
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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NordicSkier wrote:
Trirunner wrote:
There is not an once of quitting in this guy. I hope he holds together and his whole crew is spared any major logistical complication.


He might not want to quit, but his body cannot sustain this.

It's going to be blazing hot today in Vegas. He's done.

This is my guess too. He reported that he slept in the back of a car to get there so started late and it's going to be super hot. Earlier in the week he reported that he was falling asleep on the bike while riding. If he makes it to the start tomorrow I'll personally be surprised. But my original guess was that he'd make it 5 days so I was wrong before and I could be wrong now too.

The logistics of this are just insane.
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [Thomas Gerlach] [ In reply to ]
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Facebook page says he had to swim 3000 yards with 1 arm because he hurt his other shoulder. Got through it, but definately could be in trouble going forward.
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [mplamour] [ In reply to ]
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mplamour wrote:
Facebook page says he had to swim 3000 yards with 1 arm because he hurt his other shoulder. Got through it, but definately could be in trouble going forward.

Keep in mind this is the guy who was hyping this thing by saying doctors said it could kill him. There may be a bit of P.T. Barnum involved here.
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [pennib] [ In reply to ]
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He does seem to be remarkably adaptable, to make up for some lack of organization.
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [Kay Serrar] [ In reply to ]
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Kay Serrar wrote:
Yikes - I thought this guy had a shot at doing this, but if this is how disorganized his planning and logistical support is, then I would have to say probably not. He should have recruited an ex-armed forces logistics manager to plan and run things, and probably just had his family meet him at a few locations. So my prediction is he gets to about 20, and then comes back in a year or two for a second go at it with a more organized and better planned effort.

OMG i'm SHOCKED. i ASSumed he had all the routes already planned! I can't imagine doing this AND figuring out your routes on teh fly (well actually I did an IM like that once but the organizers knew the route - they just kept it secret from the athletes...). I agree Kay. I'm a bit dumbfounded here that nothing is planned in advance...

http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katasmit


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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [pennib] [ In reply to ]
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Thanks for the first-hand insight on what is happening. For such a massive undertaking as this, the amount of pre-planning and also having contingencies in place is staggering, and something is bound to go wrong or even be out of their control regardless of how well they planned. Some of the things you've described though sound like they are winging it as they go (sleeping in a Subaru?) and could be things that would ultimately thwart the whole plan.

Still, huge props for what he has been able to do so far (remembering how I felt the day after doing IM each time I did it, could not imagine summoning the physical/mental energy to do it again the next day never mind the five he has finished already since starting this quest). I really hope he does pull it off but as I mentioned earlier in the thread a few weeks back, I think the logistics involved will ultimately be what brings this to a halt. I hope I am wrong, still planning on meeting up for the end of the run if he makes it to Boston on July 6 as planned.



"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [Brian in MA] [ In reply to ]
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I am curious as to how much it is expected to cost? Anyone know? Flights, food, etc etc.

________________
Adrian in Vancouver
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [kathy_caribe] [ In reply to ]
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kathy_caribe wrote:
Kay Serrar wrote:
Yikes - I thought this guy had a shot at doing this, but if this is how disorganized his planning and logistical support is, then I would have to say probably not. He should have recruited an ex-armed forces logistics manager to plan and run things, and probably just had his family meet him at a few locations. So my prediction is he gets to about 20, and then comes back in a year or two for a second go at it with a more organized and better planned effort.


OMG i'm SHOCKED. i ASSumed he had all the routes already planned! I can't imagine doing this AND figuring out your routes on teh fly (well actually I did an IM like that once but the organizers knew the route - they just kept it secret from the athletes...). I agree Kay. I'm a bit dumbfounded here that nothing is planned in advance...

He has them all mapped out, if you view his website you can see all the routes

He has had some issues that he has had to change his routes though
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [TylerJ] [ In reply to ]
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I looked at his list and he appears to be picking existing courses when available rather than planning this to minimize travel time. He also does not appear to be taking advantage of geographic locations where he could stay in the same place for a couple nights and knock of three or four states with minimal travel. Heck, even rock stars these days plan their tours so, whenever possible, they can stay in the same hotel for several nights and make short bus trips to multiple venues . . . .
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [STP] [ In reply to ]
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You wonder how much of his shoulder discomfort today is relating to sleeping in the back of a cramped Subaru?


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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [STP] [ In reply to ]
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For example, there are at least 3 lakes in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio that are about 5 miles from each other. Get a hotel room in Angola and you are off the road for 3 days. https://www.google.com/...f:0xd1878475af633463 [edit, I tried clipping the map but it did not work]

Instead he's driving from Cleveland, Ohio to Benton Harbor, Michigan - 313 miles. Then to Muncie, Indiana - 183 miles.
Last edited by: STP: Jun 11, 15 13:03
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [SayHey Kid] [ In reply to ]
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SayHey Kid wrote:

You wonder how much of his shoulder discomfort today is relating to sleeping in the back of a cramped Subaru?



His FB page says he hit the deck on the bike today. That's what happens when your fatigue is too high...
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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NordicSkier wrote:
SayHey Kid wrote:

You wonder how much of his shoulder discomfort today is relating to sleeping in the back of a cramped Subaru?




His FB page says he hit the deck on the bike today. That's what happens when your fatigue is too high...

You mis-read his post.

" Something happened with my shoulder today and I literally swim 3000 yards with one arm. Then out on the bike trail big John Rose took one for the team and hit the deck hard. He is okay though
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Re: IRONCowboy 50 Ironmans in 50 Consecutive Days Starting June 6, 2015 - Prediction Thread [NordicSkier] [ In reply to ]
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I think that was somebody he was riding with, right?
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