2014 Triathlon Summary and Review of Years Past (Charts and Tables!)

My triathlon season is over.  It has been almost two months now.  Time to take a look back on this year and do a little comparison to years past.

This was the fastest year I have ever had.  Ever. Fastest year by far. The charts below show it graphically.

Normally, I would name my best race of the year, in terms of feeling good and going fast, but it is hard to do, because I had so many races that felt good and I went fast, fast for me.  St. Anthony's was a PR, by over 5 minutes, and qualified me for USAT AG Nationals.  It was my first time doing Buffalo Olympic and I had a much better race, especially the run, than I thought I would have.  Lake Minnetonka was a PR.  Manitou Sprint was a PR on a broken spoke and a I could not get my left foot in my pedal. Lake Waconia was not a PR, but it was my fastest time there in years and my second fastest time ever. Heart of the Lakes was a PR.  USAT AG Nationals was my first time going under two and a half hours in an Olympic distance race, it was my fastest 10k in a race, it was great day, and a great race. Maple Grove was also a PR, and a great run.  The only two races that weren't that great, but still really good were Graniteman-Clearwater, bad run, but first out of the water and very good bike, and Lake Marion, another not-so-great run.

All my results for 2014 triathlons are below.  Click on table to enlarge

2014 Triathlon Results

2014 Average Swim Distance and Average Pace = 1129.4 yards and 1:34/100 yards

2014 Average T1 Time = 2:45

2014 Average Bike Distance and Average Bike Speed = 20.01 miles and 21.99MPH

2014 Average T2 Time = 1:18

2014 Average Run Distance and Average Pace = 4.64 miles and 7:54/mi

2014 Average Triathlon Distance and Average Pace (=Total Dist/Total Time) = 25.28 miles and 4:27/mi 

2014 Average Overall Place and Average AG Place = 212 of 693 for overall and 28 of 62 for AG

All the paces\speed above are my fastest averages I have ever had.

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, and now I have gotten faster again in 2014.
My increase in performance from 2007 to 2008 was probably due to the large increase in training time, coaching, and weight loss.

I think getting better this year was due to losing about 10 pounds, after not losing weight (basically flat) for a few years, focusing on the bike earlier in the year (started increase time and intensity in December), and doing more speed interval workout, for longer time periods, for the run.

Comparison of Average Swim Pace (Lower is Better)

Comparison of Average Bike Speed (Higher is Better)

Comparison of Average Run Pace (Lower is Better)

Comparison of Average T1 and T2 (Lower is Better)

 

Comparison of Average Pace (Total Race Time Divided by Total Race Distance, 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, see below where I list the total time and time spent on each by year.  By flat I mean, I am putting nearly the same amount of time and effort, so why would I get better. 

This year, things dramatically improved.  My average swim improved by ~10 seconds per 100 yards and is my fastest average, my average bike is the more than half a mile per hour faster than last year and my fastest average, and my run average is almost 20 seconds faster than last year and my fastest average.  

The time I spend in the pool is down, but I am swimming faster, and more, at Masters.  My total bike time was 17 hours greater than either of the last two years and the most since 2011.  My run time was about the same as the last two years, but I was much more focused on speed work, rather than just getting run time in.  I think the combination of getting more bike time in and very specific speed work with the run helped greatly.  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)
Total Time 2014 = 198.5 hours (69.8, 85.3, 43.4)

My time spent (Jan - Sept) in 2013 and 2013 are almost identical, with a total of 10 more hours spent this year.  I definitely put in more running effort, harder run workouts, this year than last year.  My time spent on the bike went up dramatically this year over 2012 and 2013.  I really, really need to fix the amount of time I spent on the bike, I did that and my bike improved, along with my run.  Bike time in 2010 was so high because I did two half-IMs.  What is not seen here is the time I spent on the bike in December of 2013, which I think helped my bike a lot.

Later this year, or early next year, I will have a few posts that compare my workout time, total and each discipline, to my performance.  I have put similar posts up in previous years.  That data is for Oct-Oct, and it is usually pretty revealing. 

There are a lot of other factors besides training time, weight, nutrition, race conditions, etc. but I think this is one way, more quantifiable than some of the others, to look at performance.

I don't yet have a plan for next year.  My hope would be to increase my bike time, and intensity, and to do a little more distance running.  There is a part of me that wants to do a half-IM in 2015, to do that I am going to have to increase my bike and run time.

I don't think I can emphasize enough how happy I am with how well I did this year.  It is so fulfilling to put in a lot of work, and see improvement.  Measureable improvement.  It doesn't always happen in life.  I think it is even more rewarding because it is happening as I get older, and in my 40th year.