I am not trying to bash Emma Coburn here…but really want to hear other people’s thoughts.
Does anyone else think her copious hours of biking is a little out of hand? Seems like exercise addiction to me. Maybe it’s her way of coping with the loss of her mom, failed Tokyo Olympic medal attempt, and missed Paris Olympics redemption? What y’all think??
*again, not trying to bash her on here*
Just read the post and I think you have to consider something about Emma although most if not all of us are on the outside looking in to her life. But she appears to be a true pro with her workouts, rest/recovery/napping, strength workouts, diet and life balance socially. 15+ hours is not bad at all. Multiple pro cycling/triathlon coaches say 4-6 miles of cycling is comparable to 1 mile of running. She does not say how many watts/HR levels she is cranking at, but I'm willing to be she is receiving about 40-50 mile of running fitness on the bike per week. This is fine. Turn on the TV and cycle while you watch a movie. It's not like she has to go to work or anything like that.
Perhaps she is going to take a shot at a cycling career. If you watch the Elise Cranny YouTube video from Trials you will see Emma running throughout the video. She is quite the shell of herself, still looks injured and unable to run properly. She has a huge base maybe women’s TdF on horizon.
2) put yourself in her shoes. Don't you think it is weird that people would be discussing your training online in this manner. If it was me, I would stop posting forever anything about my training. She probably only post it because sponsors expect you to do these things. I was going to join a running team recently but when I read their policy about being expected to make X many posts - I said no way.
3) What else do you expect her to do? Biking is a great way to build fitness and strength. and like someone else said, you can bike a lot. A 20 mile bike ride is like a 5 mile jog.
4) obsession - to be a top level athlete in anything you have to be obsessed. You don't get to be the best by half hearting it. Most joggers really don't get this. It is about having a passion - a fire. And you can't teach that. It comes from within. You either got it or you don't. And if you don't - you'll never understand it.
setting aside there's no way to meaningfully critique a bike mileage or hourage we aren't even given.........
more so than valby who is "managing" something, coburn outright broke her ankle. a low-impact means of getting back fit, without pounding your ankle when you may have muscle atrophy from a cast/brace, as well as skeletal weakness, is good sense.
the precise amount she does, i run or walk an hour a day, bike (or do weight/core work) as a change of pace or when i have something like tendonitis, and to get anything out of it the bike is at least what i'd normally do with my two feet. so, an hour.
also bears noting she's a professional athlete and not doing this as a side hustle -- this is her job to prepare for at an elite level -- or at the expense of, say, being an absentee parent to a family of 5 or something.
also, while there might be some disordered or overtraining folks, she runs distance and looks fairly healthy and muscled -- at least superficially -- doesn't look skinny like valby or bony beanpole like some distance runners or cyclists. when they show a DL line of racers ready to start and she's in it, she looks like the healthy one. she's not the one you want to offer a sandwich.
side point but if you added up what some college XC runner does in preseason, presented it as hours, it would probably sound excessive to some people. i played D3 soccer too and we might during preseason 2 a days be playing 4 hours a day in distinct practices. college football teams probably practice hours a day in similar fashion. is it really necessary? but it's what's done.
Someone calls out the sh**posters of LRC and gets deleted but the mods allow speculation that Emma has an eating disorder or an unhealthy exercise addiction? The trolls truly run this place.
I am not trying to bash Emma Coburn here…but really want to hear other people’s thoughts.
Does anyone else think her copious hours of biking is a little out of hand? Seems like exercise addiction to me. Maybe it’s her way of coping with the loss of her mom, failed Tokyo Olympic medal attempt, and missed Paris Olympics redemption? What y’all think??
*again, not trying to bash her on here*
I was curious about this since I also use cross-training to augment my mileage.
But you FAILED to post a link to the thing that you considered surprising. WTH? How are we supposed to know what you are talking about? Am I supposed to google it and hope to find the same thing you were looking at?
Personally, my comparisons are a bit more time based but my easy/temp run equivalents would be 2x on a bike. I really do enjoy outdoor biking, but the aerobic equivalent takes much longer given the affects of having to move yourself against gravity are different and easier on a bike. ymmv.
2) put yourself in her shoes. Don't you think it is weird that people would be discussing your training online in this manner. If it was me, I would stop posting forever anything about my training. She probably only post it because sponsors expect you to do these things. I was going to join a running team recently but when I read their policy about being expected to make X many posts - I said no way.
3) What else do you expect her to do? Biking is a great way to build fitness and strength. and like someone else said, you can bike a lot. A 20 mile bike ride is like a 5 mile jog.
4) obsession - to be a top level athlete in anything you have to be obsessed. You don't get to be the best by half hearting it. Most joggers really don't get this. It is about having a passion - a fire. And you can't teach that. It comes from within. You either got it or you don't. And if you don't - you'll never understand it.
I was curious about this since I also use cross-training to augment my mileage.
But you FAILED to post a link to the thing that you considered surprising. WTH? How are we supposed to know what you are talking about? Am I supposed to google it and hope to find the same thing you were looking at?
This thread is useless without a link.
Emma Coburn’s latest Instagram post wrote:
We got a lot of sweat (no blood, a few tears) to get here but we are slowly gaining back some fitness. I’ve been running on the ground for about a month, this week will be 40 miles, 15+ hours on the stationary bike, & a few lifting sessions. Just carrying on trying to be my best!
I cycle 2 hours per day, 7 days per, on top of running, so I have absolutely no idea what this LetsRun thread is about.
15 hours. We’re talking about 15 hours? [Iverson voice]
Yes totally agree. This is what I was referring to… seems like a red flag in terms of Eating Disorder / Exercise Addiction behavior. She posted the other day that she ran 40 miles a week and biked 26 hours. That seems a bit excessive. Lucy Bartholomew (female iron woman athlete) doesn’t even do that much.
i just do not understand why she was so adverse to resting her body after literally breaking her foot and having surgery. That’s why it appears to be a negative coping mechanism. It is definitely not normal/healthy behavior. I wonder if it’s negatively impacting the team boss culture.
She talked about it a bit in a Citius interview during the trials. Sounds like she's regularly doing 3-5 hour rides. She mentioned that Joe was modeling her training after Nils van der Poel--the Swedish speedskater whose bike-heavy base phase training got a lot of buzz during the last winter olympics
Yes totally agree. This is what I was referring to… seems like a red flag in terms of Eating Disorder / Exercise Addiction behavior. She posted the other day that she ran 40 miles a week and biked 26 hours. That seems a bit excessive. Lucy Bartholomew (female iron woman athlete) doesn’t even do that much.
i just do not understand why she was so adverse to resting her body after literally breaking her foot and having surgery. That’s why it appears to be a negative coping mechanism. It is definitely not normal/healthy behavior. I wonder if it’s negatively impacting the team boss culture.
Team GB triathlete Alex Yee:
He certainly puts the work in, too: a typical Wednesday, for instance, starts at 6.30am for a 6.5km swim set, which takes around an hour and 45 minutes, then a four-hour bike ride followed by a 45-minute run. Oh, and a 75-minute gym session in the evening.
I am not trying to bash Emma Coburn here…but really want to hear other people’s thoughts.
Does anyone else think her copious hours of biking is a little out of hand? Seems like exercise addiction to me. Maybe it’s her way of coping with the loss of her mom, failed Tokyo Olympic medal attempt, and missed Paris Olympics redemption? What y’all think??
*again, not trying to bash her on here*
Posters who make bold claims like this without providing a link should be banned.
