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2014-09-18 7:18 AM
in reply to: 3mar

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Subject: RE: Distance Accuracy in Races


2014-09-18 7:23 AM
in reply to: trijamie

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Subject: RE: Distance Accuracy in Races
Originally posted by trijamie

Originally posted by lisac957

Originally posted by trijamie

lets hope they anchor the buoys well. I did a race once where the turn buoy floated away, and we just turned whenever someone in a boat started shouting at us. How's that for accurate

That happened in one of my races as well, but the bouey didn't come un-anchored until half way through the wave starts. So the earlier waves swam a much shorter distance than the later waves. For people who preach "we all do the same distance on race day, who cares" - that line doesn't always apply.

Yep, same here. It didn't float away until half way through the swim. It was my first half IM, and my goal was just to finish so I wasn't too too pissed off about whatever the discrepancy in the swim distance was, but if I was more competitive about that race, I'm sure I would have had a different attitude about it.




I did a race where the start of the first wave had smooth water, but a storm moved through by the time my wave started half an hour later. We had high winds, rain, choppy conditions, and dropping temperatures to deal with. Things happen.
2014-09-18 7:28 AM
in reply to: dmiller5

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Subject: RE: Distance Accuracy in Races

Originally posted by dmiller5

interesting somewhat related article

 

http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/bodywork/the-fit-list/Why-American-Endurance-Athletes-Suck.html

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Yes it is. Last 3 races I've done haven't quite been standard anything, but were awesome.

2014-09-18 7:30 AM
in reply to: dmiller5

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Subject: RE: Distance Accuracy in Races
Originally posted by dmiller5

interesting somewhat related article

 

http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/bodywork/the-fit-list/Why-American-Endurance-Athletes-Suck.html

X




Good article and good points, however, for me, if I don't have numbers and specific goals, I lose interest. Every year I lead a company team on a Ragnar Relay race. For that, it's all about the experience. I have little idea what my distances will be and couldn't tell you what my times were. I dress up like an idiot and even named our team "The Turd Herders" since I work for a company that manufactures water and wastewater treatment equipment. That one is all about the fun and experience and I love it for that. However, if that's all I did, I'd be really bored. I freaking LOVE numbers and I am the typical Type-A, results driven person. If it wasn't for the incremental results, the planning, the tracking, etc, I just wouldn't be interested and would move to another hobby that would give me those type of "thrills". I'd spend more time on the piano, or learning foreign languages, or some other hobby where my analytical mind could stretch it's legs. It' just what makes me happy. Not right or wrong.
2014-09-18 7:53 AM
in reply to: 3mar

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Subject: RE: Distance Accuracy in Races

Originally posted by 3mar
Originally posted by dmiller5

interesting somewhat related article

 

http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/bodywork/the-fit-list/Why-American-Endurance-Athletes-Suck.html

X

Good article and good points, however, for me, if I don't have numbers and specific goals, I lose interest. Every year I lead a company team on a Ragnar Relay race. For that, it's all about the experience. I have little idea what my distances will be and couldn't tell you what my times were. I dress up like an idiot and even named our team "The Turd Herders" since I work for a company that manufactures water and wastewater treatment equipment. That one is all about the fun and experience and I love it for that. However, if that's all I did, I'd be really bored. I freaking LOVE numbers and I am the typical Type-A, results driven person. If it wasn't for the incremental results, the planning, the tracking, etc, I just wouldn't be interested and would move to another hobby that would give me those type of "thrills". I'd spend more time on the piano, or learning foreign languages, or some other hobby where my analytical mind could stretch it's legs. It' just what makes me happy. Not right or wrong.

Hope you've seen that you're not the only numbers person on here, or the only engineer. Courses being a few tenths off is not really going to make a noticeable difference in the effort you put out. You can readjust the challenge from being such specific preset distances into learning a more broad curve you can operate at. I still study the courses more than most (all of them) and come up with some pacing targets that seem reasonable. Then go execute. Part of the fun is that there is an art application to the sciences. I have a reasonable idea of the power I can hold for the 30-some minutes of the sprints, but I also need to figure out how to apply it best out on the course as the ones I choose tend to have more terrain involved. Meaning a number of hills & turns to negotiate. It's not just a constant output the entire time. Running doesn't have power, but there is still effort level involved, and how to best spend that effort on a more or less hilly course. There is plenty of science involved, but it's not *only* science that's going on.

2014-09-18 4:18 PM
in reply to: taylorz13

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Subject: RE: Distance Accuracy in Races

Originally posted by taylorz13 I got over it really fast in my first marathon, when at "26.2" gps distance, I still had about .8 of a mile to go. The course could be 100% certified accurate, but we don't run perfect tangents. You run further. If I ran the Boston Marathon course tomorrow I'd probably run 27 miles. Not a big deal.

 

Wait a minute.  I have a marathon in 31 days and the program I'm on talks nothing about this extra .8 miles.  What am I supposed to do?

:-)

 

 



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