I dont think you guys realize this is all within the rules. Zwift insider came out with this article where it even encourages you to find double draft events, group rides. There is nothing in the rules that say no virtual drafting so a lot of people, like me, did group rides on zwift. No rules against it, and I had to push my watts, for me 255avg, to stay with my group. My avg speed was 26 but solo would be 23. I would love Ironman to set up rules for this, which I would follow. A simple one would be to only allow a TT bike on Zwift, no draft there. Until then, most of the cycling world is on Zwift now , so they'll do Zwift group rides.

https://zwiftinsider.com/ironman-vr/

You mean an age grouper didn't really do 56 miles in 1:31 minutes??? NOOO!

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Instagram or twitter me softly @xatefrogg

for female at that. are they using zwift with speed sensor, trainer set to 0 load... aka not real power meter? IM needs to take those results out

I love that the dude said you should be a professional runner. 1:09 is hardly a "pro" runner standard. Its solid running for sure.

What is your PB?

I agree... sort of pointless for them to even publish the times/rankings since it is a total joke. If you wanted to get the best time you could have used a speed sensor on your bike and set the friction on your trainer to basically zero (like a downhill) and then just use a speed sensor (RUNN) on the treadmill and crank it up to a 5:30 pace and just stand there and watch it. I rode a flat course on Zwift (why make it harder than it needed to be!) and power numbers were right were I would expect them to be for my bike split and I decided to do both runs outside just to make it feel a little more legit (I would have certainly been "faster" on my treadmill.) Strava let me know I rode with a bunch of other people who had rode a similar route and even tagged their rides as "VR1" and I saw some wattage numbers that were a total joke... ~150W AP for a 2:15-2:20ish splits. So the VR1 results are totally useless... but I enjoyed the concept and it was fun to spend a good chunk of Saturday doing something that felt a little like racing (the original plan was Oceanside :-S)

It was their first try at tossing this together and considering they pulled it off with only a few weeks of planning i'd say it went over fine if you include the Pro race. Hopefully in the future they will have different "classifications" with the real race requiring a set Rouvy course, verified smart trainer w/ wattage and a requirement that runs are outside w/ GPS and a net zero elevation gain/loss (with a margin of error.) And then a more "open" classification where anything goes and 1:30 bike splits are the norm.

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Team Zoot

I did the same exact thing as you. Ran a 5k on an outdoor track, flat Zwift that aligns with real world results, then ran a 21k on the same track to close it out.

Un-backdoor brag I came in 9th overall and feel pretty good about it, but I can't possibly see a way to verify what I actually did even if someone accused me of cheating (because of things people pointed out in this thread, but also I'm not fast enough to be accused of cheating) or how legit those around me are.

But given the stakes, of which there were none, I have to say I enjoyed having a reason to push myself at least. I'd even call it fun.

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Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

I know, many of my friends run sub 70 and they are far from pro runners :-)

It’s several years since I ran a HM run race, but back then is was 1:12. After that I have 1:14 on a couple of 70.3 races (and 1:16 in 70.3 WC in Nice last year).
After running a lot on the treadmill this winter I’m faster on the treadmill than I would be outside now.

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Instagram and Strava: @lpstormo

You were much smarter than me... I decided to just go run from the house on my normal routes with an attempt to find 13 miles without too many intersections (and as much urban trail as possible.) When I got back from my run my wife says "why didn't you just use the high school track up the road" :-/

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Team Zoot

with the new nike bounce shoes it is probable. considering they make you 5 min faster. I am a part of USATF, and see many runners hit those numbers, even a 16 year old who ran 1:11 half this year, 50 year old woman 1:19 half...

I also completed the challenge, mainly for an accountability/motivation standpoint. I chose to do the boulder 70.3 course on Rouvy considering it's free BETA right now so made sense. Rouvy also show on the course leaderboard what smart trainer is being used so I think given the fact that IM have signed a deal with Rouvy implies that they may make this the official platform going forward. Not sure about running though, I just ran around where I live, tried to keep it as flat as possible but cheating is always a possibility for people isn't it?

They have just announced a VC2 I noticed

Well the final results are up. No scrubbing as far as I can tell.

It would appear Ironman has some work to do to make this appeal to women: 5320 male "finishers" <> 1163 female finishers. As this is pretty much a dick measuring contest at worst and some extra motivation to train hard at best, I'm not entirely surprised.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

Yes we need longer measuring sticks. A female had the fastest bike split.

has anyone made the effort to complain to ironman??

Complain about what? They sent out a reasonably thorough survey to (some?) participants last night, and I filled that out.

But other than the clunkiness of the registration process, I don't have any complaints. (Full disclosure, I think I finished 168 out of 198 in my age group, so I'm not all that worried about my ranking.)

I finished 9th amateur and to be honest I'm not at all worried about it either. I thought it was fun, and the WR bike splits ahead of me are more amusing than annoying. That said, when there are costs and stakes involved (like 70.3 slots) then I will probably judge a it more harshly..

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Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

if no one says something directly to them they will do nothing about a results. people who work in sports world may have no involvement in tri world to know anything about times.... they are just marketing people waiting to hit craft beer happy hour after work

I've connected with them and given detailed feedback.

thanks. it just remind me the time I saw my neighbors house on fire, where I ran out asking did anyone call fire dept. The response I got from everyone: no, but maybe someone else did. (yes I called)

Haha, I appreciate it as well sfjab. I did detail my hopes in the survey feedback. While most people don't believe it, I do think people read those at least as much as they do emails.

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Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

Do what ever makes you happy it's fun. Zwift gives you the choice of a TT rig, anyone who is doing IM VR has most likely been in longer tri and gets that a TT is harder.

Doing a group ride will pad out your stats nicely and its not against any rules, but have to ask why choose to draft?

Also any view on Zwift treadmill running it appears to make people I know well got about 1 minute faster over 5 k

I thought that's what everyone was doing. Looking at results, it was.....and really I just wanted to finish up quicker. The whole thing is a crap shoot until they standardize the courses, everyone has to use the Rouvy one maybe. I'm not doing it this weekend.

yes most likely, guess it makes this a fun thing and do it how you want. They could have made it easy and just done a fixed world in Zwift with everyone on the same TT, but people will still move the metrics.

Don't know rouvy that well. I did it as a TT, but I could have hacked it and done Richmond, people would say Watopia is too easy.

It's something to do in an otherwise crappy sporting and every other aspect of the year.