Popping my popcorn! This will get good!

I figured they might do this. I did 1-1/2 of the virtual races and then lost interest. As much as I wanted to go to the WC, I do not see a situation that I dedicate my next 4 weekends to these races.

Normally I would say this was crockery, but we are living in unusual times when regular qualification races are a major uncertainty so I'm fine with it. I'm guessing there's a pretty good chance the 70.3 WC ends up cancelled, anyway, so I don't see any reason to throw a lot of energy behind arguing either way.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

As long as this isn't a sign of things to come, then I'm fine with it. We are living in bizarre times that will require creative solutions to overcome. I'm hoping this situation never happens again though.

I would not at all be surprised if there are 70.3 World slots available in VR events going forward, period.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

You have 3 days to do it. Don’t you train everyday? You could do 1 part of the race per day.

This is kind of openly admitting that the swim in a triathlon doesn't really matter and, I think, will only exacerbate the already existing swim fitness issues that triathletes have. If you are someone hoping for rougher or more difficult swims, this is the exact opposite thing you want to see

Have they announced dates for this yet?

One point of clarity -- although this first go-round will all be duathlons, if there is a critical mass of swimming availability, IRONMAN has indicated that they will also do swim/bike/run virtual events.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Any idea of their thought process as to certifying the swim portion?

No -- didn't get mentioned much except in passing. I think they are most likely going to see how this first round of things goes, and then gauge feasibility of swim measurement, etc.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Ha! You still have to compete in a real life event to stop cheating.

They're just trying to bump their Rouvy deal.

IM VR10 through 13. So starts next week.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Two words: slippery slope

Clearly WTC is making a play to build value akin to what has been created by Peloton, Zwift and whatever other Internet based fitness platforms there are. As always, they happily will give away slots to further their commercial interests.

I like the visceral experience of attending a race. F this virtual racing crap.

Lame AF


ETA: On second thought I've been at roll downs where the M & W field were 1+ hour past the winners, rolled past 50th place in the AG and they hadn't run out of slots to give away. And that was for CHOO.

This past year at Tempe 70.3 they were struggling in some AGs to give slots away, especially on the women's side.

I see this as much as a revenue grab, if not only as a revenue grab, vs doing something that will enhance the depth of the field and the prestige in grabbing a 70.3 WC slot.


ETA..again: Messick said this: "We have no intention to disqualify........... may face real consequences, ranging from disqualification from the VR event all the way to real-life bans from participating in IRONMAN races.........This is about honesty and integrity"

I find this a bit laughable, ok a really good chuckle, as Messick invites cheating. And given how poorly some of the WTC races are policed on the bike I'm doing belly laughs and my dog is howling along with me

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Not 4 weeks of it. I have been spending the last 10 weeks doing epic runs in the city with a couple friends on roads that we would never ordinarily run. We are hitting some interesting areas, and sometimes get caught at lights and stop to take pictures. I do not want to give those up. So, I could easily enter and satisfy the VR race, but it would not be a top performance.

I did the first VR that was a HIM, and I was way down on the performance list for the above reason. I did my short run on Friday after a regular workout, but it was OK. Then, I did the semi-casual 13M run with friends on Saturday. Then, I did an outdoor ride Sunday on a mildly hilly course with an all-in attitude. To get a competitive bike split, I would have to drive almost an hour each way to get to a flatter course. (My VR1 bike split was more than 15 minutes slower than my last HIM race bike split on a flat course.)

I did the first couple segments of VR2, but then I lost interest when I realized that I was enjoying my friend exploration runs more.

I chalk this up to the tourist destination approach that WTC takes with their new 70.3 "WC" (used loosely, as they don't the full slate of pros due to not wanting to race, or commitments elsewhere) with no sense of history or mystique.

I know several that turned down spots for the 70.3 as they had no desire to spend the $ and the time to go to NZ. Same a few years back when it was in South Africa

Do you ever post anything positive? Are you ever happy with anything?

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the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

I’m with desert dude on this one - Lame AF

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

this is good. to prevent cheating, all swims and runs need to be out and back - start and finish at same location. so there is no current assist or downhill assist. but hard to tell if they did the swim in kayak or run on bike.... perhaps a photo requirement?

The revel race series has made an anytime BQ type course in UTAH, where you have to use an app to track your time and location. In addition this specific course they have hidden cameras moved daily

https://runoyo.com/info

 

The marathon investigation guy is going to have a field day with this.
Also will be fun to watch everyone on social media announce to how they "qualified" for 70.3 worlds. Will be like AWA rankings day but on steroids (no pun intended).

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What's your CdA?

I enjoy the real life racing experience...going somewhere (even across town), everyone shows up in the same place, you do the same thing, you socialize together before and after. Its real humans doing real life things together. I do enough solo training without Covid19 and perfectly capable of doing big volume and intensity all on my own (my last 6 weeks have been 18-20 hrs range with no target racing in sight). The fun of racing is not really pushing myself...I've probably raced myself once per week in my own runs, my own ride or Concept2 rowing sessions. So virtual racing does not actually fill any void I have more than the self racing I am doing.

If I am racing other people:

1. I want to be with them in person. Its the difference between having beers in the bar together or doing it over Zoom....the latter is not interesting (for me)
2. When I look at the results I want to know we did the same thing

So for these reasons, the IM VR racing the the distribution of slots is uninteresting (for me).

The other part that is worrisome is subsequently going to a real world championships race and being around people who can't swim in a pack and can't stay upright on a bike with aerobars
If condition 2 is not met, looking at any results feels meaningless.

well if you are into "racing" people , you would be doing draft legal events....