Comments\Thoughts Before USAT Age Group Nationals

On Saturday I will "compete" in the USAT Age Group Nationals, the Olympic distance event that you have to qualify for by finishing in the top third of your age group in a USAT sanctioned qualifying event.  I qualified at St. Anthony's earlier this year, it was a huge surprise.

For some people, qualifying might not be a big deal.  They basically qualify every race they do.  I swam for three years, ran cross country for three years, and ran track for one year in high school and never qualified for anything.  This is the first time, in an athletic setting, that I performed well enough at one level, to qualify for something bigger.  So, for me, it is kind of big deal.

I have been doing triathlons since 2007 and duathlons since 2006, and have finished over a hundred events since 2006, and I would call this the biggest race, in some respects, that I have done.  I don't expect to finish in the top 25 in my AG and make Team USA, the competition is too good.  The competition is amazing.  I would like to accomplish one of my goals for the year, complete an Olympic distance triathlon in less than two and a half hours.  I think that is a possibility, I have been racing really strong this year, and the Olympic distance races I have done this year indicate I could possibly, finally, realize this goal.  A goal I have been trying to accomplish for a number of years now.  At 40, I might actually do it.

One of my other goals for the year was to be faster at 40, then I was in my 30s.  So far, this year, I have accomplished that goal, and I have a few more race to make it really stick.  I would like this race to be one of the races that really drives home me being faster at 40.

In the end, if I don't go under two and a half hours, or have the best race, it will still be good because I am out there and doing the best I can.

Race Totals Since 2006 (154 Races) and More Statistics

Below is a table with my race totals since 2006.  All races, running, TTs, triathlons, duathlons, and a little cyclecross.





Since 2006, I have raced a combined total of 154 times pretty decent amount considering my injury in 2009.

26 Duathlons

58 Triathlons (Since 2007)

38 Time Trials (32 of them Tuesday Night Time Trials)

28 Running Races (15 of them are 5K)

and 4 Cyclecross races

2008 was the most with 29 races total and 2012 was the least, non-injured, with 20.

 

I put together a table with hours and miles spent racing.  This combines all the race data I have, except cyclecross because I did not keep track of time or distance.

I also included my average pace, just divided the distance by the time.  Actually looks pretty good.

Just for fun, I used the average paces and applied them to an Ironman distance race to see what my time could be, it would be about 10.5 hours.  I have no desire to do an IM, and that calculation is not applicable, but I was just curious.

 

In my spreadsheet, I keep racing and training data together.  With the data above I can see the percentage of time spent racing compared total time, total training and racing.

Percent time Swimming = 3.7%, so I spend 96.4% of my time training to race the swim.

Percent time Biking = 18.4%, so I spend 81.6% of my time training to race the bike.

Percent time Running = 23.5%, so I spend 76.5% of my time to race the run.

Percent total time = 14.2%, so I spend 85.8% of my time training to race.

The running and biking is not entirely accurate since I did not keep track in 2006, but probably close enough.  I would like to increase my percentages for biking and running over the next few years, and decrease swimming.

 

Interesting to see how much total time spent swimming, compared to the amount of time is spent in a race swimming.  I have spent close to 575 hours swimming since 2007, but a total of 19.5 hours of race time swimming.  The bike and run make sense, compared to how much time is spend racing those two.

 

It is really interesting, and kind of fun, to break this data down and look at it.  There is a certain amount of satisfaction in looking at what has been accomplished and how it breaks down.  Data is fun.  Right?