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Road Running Ramblings - May 2016
by Road Running Manager - 21:47 on 27 May 2016
Having just celebrated another birthday I thought I would explore the concept of age-graded scores for runners and perhaps explain a little bit more about how the percentage scores are calculated.
As runners we are interested in performances and times and to see how much we can improve these as we get stronger, fitter and a bit more experienced in terms of knowing how to pace races and dig deep at the end. However there is also the issue that as we get older the body does have a tendency to rust up a little. There are exceptions to the rule but eventually we all have to accept that there comes an age when that Olympic gold medal is no longer within reach!
This is where the age-grade system comes into play to bring about a levelling of the playing field. It can be found on various internet sites referred to as either WAVA Rating (World Association of Veteran Athletes) or WMA ratings (World Masters Athletics which is what they are now called). In short, it's a way to measure your performances that takes your age into account.
WAVA works by plotting the curve of the fastest recorded times at various race distance for all ages from 16 to 100. It doesn't use the absolute fastest times in the world but with a bit of clever statistical deep breathing, it's possible to generate a nice smooth curve that shows the current limits of what's possible at every age and distance. This curve can then be used to determine how close to top performance times the general running public have reached.
We may never reach the stratospheric levels of the high 80%+ (although some of us are closer than others Rory!!) but we can strive to climb as high as possible, safe in the knowledge that when our next birthday comes the target gets that little bit closer - all we have to do is hold on!
This might all seem pretty complicated, but the good news is that there are web pages out there with the calculator available for use, the one I use for the scores of our races is www.momentumsports.co.uk/TtWMATable.asp This site uses 2006 factors but is useful as it has the capacity to set unusual race distances which other sites don’t always have.
This system paves the way for people to have fun competing with each other irrespective of age difference. It also enables you to compare races of different distances, and is a good way to work out what time to aim for when you move from one distance to another (although comparing a mile race to a marathon is always a bit of a stretch). It offers a small amount of compensation and a bit of fun to those of us that look back on PB's, rather than look forward to them.
Training Tip
Loosen Up!! It's important at the end of races that we can put all of our effort into running. A lot of effort can be wasted by clenching shoulders and the like. On a training run it is a good idea to self monitor our bodies - am I clenching my fists, leaning my head to one side, grinding teeth or other unecessary things. If these can be controlled or stopped altogether it will possibly give you that little bit extra to finish off your next race in style!
Motivation Tip
This one comes from friend of the club Keith Ainslie of Dumfries Harriers (apologies if I have misquoted it slightly). When asked why he was always so happy and smiley in race photos he simply replied "It's my hobby - I have to enjoy it!"
Cheers,
Andy
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