This thread has really brought out the people who are insecure about their own achievements.

I think everyone should consult ST before they do anything.

A couple of random tech thoughts, looking at the links (main GC file: https://connect.garmin.com/...ivity/2927390822/3):

A) Swim: It is what it is. Whether or not they measured wrong/right/whatever, I don't see anything technically concerning in the file itself. The Garmin will do whatever pool size you tell it. It just uses acclerometers to determine turns, so if you tell it each length is 33 1/3rd versus 25m, it'll calculate based on that.

B) Bike:

Bike Power: As noted she's using a Fenix 5 (which is a notable change from the previous Wahoo BOLT links of last week). According to Garmin Connect it's paired to a Vector 3 pedal with good battery strength. However, interestingly, the Garmin Connect files online are missing all of the Vector Cycling Dynamics information (only showing power/cadence). Why? Well, my bet is that she paired it via Bluetooth Smart and not ANT+, so you wouldn't get that. But Garmin is still smart enough to at least register it as a Vector pedal and battery stat (for comparison, here's my GC file from today showing a Fenix 5 with Vector 3 and the full Cycling Dynamics data: https://connect.garmin.com/.../activity/2927076367

As for the loss of power, that doesn't exactly surprise me. Vector 3 is known for issues with connectivity, and in particular using BLE for power meter connectivity is playing with fire especially in a loss of signal. Usually it works out, but in running 2-4 head units daily, I know well enough to say it's always going to work out. Not only that, if you dig into the exact moment it drops, there's nothing odd about it. She's cruising along - slightly after a bit of intensity, and it just zaps out almost mid-'sprint' (for her). I suppose she could have depaired the device and paired it onto something else. But my bet is some random mechanical issue because her speed actually drops from about 21MPH to about 13MPH within a few seconds of that sprint. That could indicate a rougher section of roadway/gravel/etc. And in fact at the exact point where it drops out there's a section off 'off-road' next to the road there, almost like a breakdown lane she might have rode into to get out of the main road.

My point being, I wouldn't really overthink Vector 3 dropping out on crappy roads while using BLE (and maybe someone can tell her/her coach to re-pair it as ANT+, which will also minimize issues). :)

Bike HR: Lots of discussion on this slowly descending. There's no technical reason optical HR would do this (we don't know, she could be using a chest strap). However, I'm surprised there's so many folks here that haven't seen this before. Descending HR while tired/fatigued and maintaining pace/speed is incredibly common. The number of times I've had descending HR's after longhaul red-eye flights while killin' the paces is numerous.

C) Run: From a HR/Pace/Elevation plot - everything looks fairly legit here. Faking that kinda data would take a lot of effort. It's too imperfect to be a machine. Her run/walk bits are consistent (in a good way). The only minor oddity is a very slight increase in cadence towards the last few miles. Most people tend to decrease cadence with fatigue (substantially). Her HR obviously drops substantially (again, indicating she's fatigued), though her pace remains relatively consistent. She could simply be making a concerted effort to increase cadence. I wouldn't overthink it too much. As I said, the run data is too imperfect to easily (or even with a lot of effort), fake.

I guess overall while folks can quibble about the pool length situation (rightfully so), I don't see a ton of other stuff in her swim/bike/run data that's really all that concerning. And I think her posting the GC links is definitely a good thing for validation. Hopefully she'll continue to do so.

20 mile loops is the easy explanation here.

Ray Maker laid it down. Data is good, now the only thing the 99% of the jerks in this thread have to go on is how long she lasts. We'll see. It is important to note that she has called this a challenge.

In regards to donations, donations have doubled over the weekend. https://www.mightycause.com/story/Vovzcg

Jerks? I find that offensive!

Unfortunately in your haste to dismiss any criticism of her first SBR day you forgot about the short swim, the 21+ hour first "day", and the time overlap between the bike and run.

My post was purely on the technical side, not whether or not they measured the pool wrong. Also, I covered the swim aspect in the details. Go read it again.

21hr first day: I don't really care about that from a technical standpoint. That's someone else's deal to decide whether it 'counts'.

Overlap: This looks to simply be a Strava parsing issue probably due to it splicing across days as part of the multi-sport file, there's no overlap in the actual Garmin file. If you think Strava is perfect at parsing SBR files, then you need to utilize the search function here on the forums.

Faking data files: Seriously folks. The fact that a multi-sport .FIT file was posted to GC is about as strong as you can get to proving it was real. Those of you unfamiliar with .FIT files may not realize just how incredibly difficult they are for most companies to parse correctly when it comes to multisport ones. Not even Strava can do it (as they just split it up), and hell, even Garmin has screwed it up on their own devices at times.

If you were to try and fake building a file, I'd never start with a multisport file. That's like deciding to build an airplane and starting with an A380 when you haven't even made a paper airplane. There's so much in there to try and get perfectly right and aligned (which is done here), that it's be near impossible to do once, let alone for 50 days in a row. For example, the temperature shifts. It's shown correctly throughout the file, including the decrease at night and the increase at sunrise. Faking that's easy, right? Sure, but they'd have to account ahead of time for aligning to exactly sunrise and how long each event would take.

Not to mention you're not just faking distance. Because again, they included actual sensor data - power, cadence (bike), cadence (run), and heart rate . Plus speed and pace to match elevation. So you'd have to incredibly carefully go through re-creating each of those half a dozen channels and re-aligning them to the road...without matching the previous sections. Technically possible? Sure. But probable: No. The difficulty scale would be massive, and frankly there are only a few people on the planet that could recreate a file like this properly at this quality level.

[Anybody with the technical know-how to fake files with never agree to having sensor data in them, as that dramatically increases the ways you'll get caught. Also, they'd never agree to a Garmin device, because there's too much hidden device details in the .FIT file there like battery status, backlight settings, and such that all have to be gotten right. They'd also never do a multisport file. Instead, they'd be practical and likely use a Polar device and do all the exports using .TCX as it doesn't support .FIT. They'd use a V800 that doesn't have optical HR.]

The point of my original post wasn't to wade into whether or not it should or shouldn't count, whether or not she drafted a moto, or whether or not they measured a pool wrong. Or any of the other 58 pages of 'whether' questions. It was simply to look at the files posted and whether they have any abnormalities that are cause for concern.

Hi Ray, my post had nothing to do with you analysis of the technical side of the data so I don't know why you are being defensive. I have a lot of respect for your technical knowledge.

My post was in relation to StoBro's white knighting.

Clear enough DCRainmaker!
Her first one is legit (apart from it not being done on one day and the swim likely short, but she mentioned that herself).
I'm looking forward to see how she's recovered. Her heart rate seems to indicate she was getting exhausted towards the end of the run. Not surprising when running for over 3 hours in zone 4/5.
Today she's travelling right?

No, not legit at all so she has failed on day 1. She didn't make the distance, end of story

Overlap: This looks to simply be a Strava parsing issue probably due to it splicing across days as part of the multi-sport file, there's no overlap in the actual Garmin file. If you think Strava is perfect at parsing SBR files, then you need to utilize the search function here on the forums.

Well that’s pretty much like a true Ironman these days

I always find it a bit creepy to go from discussing somebody in this situation in a forum to taking the next step and contacting/commenting on their IG page when you don’t even know them. But I guess that’s what happens when a person is looking for social media exposure

As a general observation. It's clear she's never going to do 50 IM distance in 50 days consecutive or otherwise, so surely this thread should peter-out now, and everyone can go back to training 6h a week whilst obsessing about saving 0.5w on chain lube.

Uhm - woa. Hackles down. I train 7h and I don't even lube my chain. So there. Hater

Which chain lube is that? I have Tremblant on Sunday, want to pick some up...

So everyone who said 0/50 due to not completing proper distance wins. On top of the short swim, this first SBR day has taken her well over 21 hours to complete. What a trainwreck.