Thursday, November 14, 2013

AGE-GRADED CALCULATOR: TAKE THAT YOU YOUNG STUDS!

Don't you just hate those young whippersnappers who win all the local 5Ks? All right, maybe hate is too strong of word. Envy? Resent? Covet? I guess none of those words quite hit the mark.Anyway, don't you wish there was a way to once again compete with these young studs and studdettes who bask in the glory of their multitudinous victories? But time and decreasing testosterone has taken its toll.

A few years back I coached a high school kid by the name of . . . let's just call him Robert Cedricson. I enjoyed taking Cedric, I mean, Robert, out on a ten-mile run and leaving him in my dust. By his junior year, though, he could keep up with me. By his senior year, not only could he beat me, but he reveled in beating me. When I finished the run, he let me know just how much time had elapsed between us--two, three, four minutes. Now in his early twenties, he has developed into one of the area's top distance runners, winning most of the races in the Upper Ohio Valley.

Don't get me wrong. I'm happy for Robert Cedricson and his success, and I try to take credit for it whenever anyone will listen. I'm glad that his experience as a high school runner has carried over into his adult life, and his passion for running hasn't diminished. I just wish I could go head to head with him again and not finish three or four minutes behind him in a 5K.

Wait a minute! There is a way for the aged to compete with youth again. It's called the age-graded calculator. It can be found online at the Runner's World website: http://www.runnersworld.com/tools/age-graded-calculator

All you do is enter the information from your race into the calculator--distance, age, sex, time, etc, and the calculator will spit out your time as if you were 22 again. According to Runner's World, "Your age-graded score is the ratio of the approximate world-record time for your age and gender divided by your actual time."

Let me give you an actual example. Robert Cedricson and I ran head to head in a race this past summer called the Debbie Green 5K . The race is quite an extravaganza drawing great runners from the east central region of the country. Robert ran 16:19. Because he is 22 years old, he does not gain any time with the age-graded calculator. I ran 19:39. Entering my information--sex: male, age: 57, distance: 5K, time: 19:39, my calculated time is:  16:13. Yes!!!. Allright!!! Fistpump!!! I win!!!

Funny, it just doesn't feel the same as when you actually cross the finish line ahead of the person you want to beat. Runner's World needs to come up with and age-graded accelerator.

Questions or comments can be posted below or sent to joecellis@comcast.net .
If you enjoyed this post, please post it on Facebook or Twitter by clicking the button below.

 



Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)