Review of 2013 Triathlon Results - Comparison to Previous Years (Charts and Graphs, Oh My!)

My triathlon season is over.  It has been over for over a month now.  Time to take a look back on this year and do a little comparison to years past.
My best race of the year, in terms of feeling good and going fast was Graniteman-Big Lake.  I did not go that fast, and it did not feel like my best race, but Lake Marion Sprint is the race I placed at, and that felt pretty good.
My worst race, was probably Graniteman-St. Cloud.  I didn't feel too great going into it that morning.  Kind of tired and blah.  The weather was crappy, windy, a little cool, drizzly.  I just could not and did not muster it that day.
Fastest bike was at Graniteman-Big Lake.  It felt good too.
My two fastest runs were at Graniteman-Big Lake and Lake Waconia.  Waconia was the most rewarding because the run is 4 miles and it is a challenging run.
All my results for 2013 triathlons are below.  Click on table to enlarge.

2013 Triathlon Results

 

2013 Average Swim Distance and Average Pace = 914 yards and 1:44/100 yards

2013 Average T1 Time = 3:02

2013 Average Bike Distance and Average Bike Speed = 20.73 miles and 21.36MPH

2013 Average T2 Time = 1:14

2013 Average Run Distance and Average Pace = 4.46 miles and 8:14/mi

2013 Average Triathlon Distance and Average Pace (=Total Dist/Total Time) = 25.58 miles and 4:27/mi 

2013 Average Overall Place and Average AG Place = 142 of 535 for overall and 19 of 47 for AG

 

Below are charts that compare my average speed/pace/time for each area of triathlon by year.  Below the charts is a table that contains all the data.  The times are averages of my sprint and Olympic distance races, no half-im distances are included.
Basically, I got faster after 2007, then I missed 2009 with injury, improved a bit in 2010, then kind of leveled off, and in some cases got slower, like the run. 
My increase in performance from 2007 to 2008 was probably due to the large increase in training time and to coaching.

 

Comparison of Average Swim Pace from Year-to-Year (Lower is better)

 

Average Transition Time, T1 and T2 (Lower is better) 

 

Average Bike Speed (Higher is better)

 

Average Run Pace (Lower is better)

 

Average Triathlon Total Pace (Total Race Distance/Total Race Time, Lower is better)

 

I have basically been flat year, over year, since my injury in 2009.  This makes sense, because my training has basically been flat.  By flat I mean, I am putting nearly the same amount of time and effort.  My average pace dropped from last year, and is the lowest it has been, partially due to more shorter sprint triathlons than usual, and last year the horrible race at St. Croix Valley killed my average.  Even though I am swimming as much as ever, and I am faster in the pool, my swim pace in races is basically flat.  I think this is a combination of variations in the actual distances at races, and my level of aggressiveness in races.  I am not a very aggressive swimmer in a race environment.  I should be more aggressive, because I think I am a faster than average swimmer at most triathlons.  My run was better this year than last year, because I spent more time on it.

I will have another post that looks at all of my run and bike data compared to my training data.  Also, a post with my duathlon data.  Below is the chart that corresponds to the above data.  Everything is expressed the same as the charts above.  Swim is in fractions of a minute per 100 yards, T1 and T2 is fractions of a minute, bike is MPH, run is fractions of minutes per mile, and average pace is fractions of a minute per mile.  Table includes averages and standard deviation.

 

 

Below is the time spent swimming, biking, running, in hours, each year up from January through September of that year.  Parenthesis is order of time spent swim, bike, run.
Total Time 2007 = 95 hours (27, 31, 37)
Total Time 2008 = 253.5 hours (80, 89.5, 84 )
Total Time 2009 = 201 hours (93, 83, 25)
Total Time 2010 = 236.5 hours (89.5, 106, 41)
Total Time 2011 = 228.5 hours (78, 102.5, 48)

Total Time 2012 = 189 hours (77, 69, 43)
Total Time 2013 = 188.5 hours (77, 68, 43.5)

Interestingly, my time spent this year and last year are almost identical, but last year I thought I had a much worse year running, and racing overall.  I definitely put in more running effort, harder run workouts, this year than last year.  My time spent on the bike has dropped dramatically in the last two years.  I really, really need to fix that.  Bike time in 2010 was so high because I did two half-IMs.  I think my total time, swimming, biking, running, and strength will be greater for 2013 than in 2012.  I am swimming more in Oct-Dec than I did last year and doing more strength.  I don't know if I will ever get back to the levels of 2008. 

I will have another post at the beginning of 2014 that compares total training time each year to my performance for those years.