Is it possible to compare the performance in competition?

The performance in competitions does not depend only on the time we have done in a certain test, nor on the position itself 

 

Our collaborator Jose Luis Caballero, tells us in this article if it is feasible to evaluate our performance observing the results of the competitions. 

At this stage of the season, when I'm the one who has made the most triathlon debut, I'm sure that a goal has been passed through the head, at least, specifically for this season. Surely many of you repeat tests with respect to other years and want to overcome your marks but ...

Is this real? If I improve, will it mean that I am physically better than last year? And if I get worse I will be worse and every year I will go less?

 

Outing Swimming Triathlon Pinedo (Web Photo)

Then we will see that this is not completely true in almost any case except infinitely higher yields and, if we are in that margin of doubt, surely we are wrong, for better or for worse, WHY? Lets go see it.

El PERFORMANCE in competitions it does not only depend on the time we have done in a certain test, nor on the position itself (as much as we like to improve times and be closer and closer to the first one). The factors to be taken into account are many and we must be sensible since any non-objective point of view can lead to a deception. Let's break down what our times depend on by segments:

 

SWIMMING.

In the first segment that we practice in a Triathlon we must be aware that our final time depends on several conditions such as:

1. Position of the buoys, are they placed the same every year? NO.

2. State of the water if you swim in the open sea, currents if it is in the river.

3. Water temperature.

4. Use or not use of neoprene.

5. Number of participants (pressure, pushing, plugs, possibility of swimming on feet).

6. Orientation (let's look at the graphics of our GPS if we use them and we will see that the partner who surpasses us in competition but does NOT do it in the pool surely nothing straighter than us !!).

 

CYCLING

This segment, in addition to being the most variable and conditioning is the one in which more time we will win or more time we will lose since that is where most of the competition will be. It should be clear that an improvement of 1% in cycling will be greater in the total count than an improvement of the 1% in Swimming or Running on foot. Said time depends on:

1. Group in which they are able to get out of the water (the more in the lead, in theory, the faster they will ride the bike ...)

2. Materials used, especially in the case of Competitions without drafting or with unevenness.

3. Position that I occupy in the group and effort that I make (this can make me run more or less fast on foot and, also, that the group roll more or less fast by bike)

4. State of the road, here we all know that a better paved road gives us a ride that not a choppy road.

5. CLIMATOLOGY, without a doubt the great determinant. Put the Ass Wind in a competition and you will see how it rolls, put it on your face or put moisture or rain on it and you will see how the marks get worse and the athletes complain about the hardness of the test.

6. Travel companions that we take, a platoon in which we all participate will arrive with a higher average than the one in which we all hide. This is something that YOU DO NOT WANT TO UNDERSTAND !! Let's not be cowards on a bike !!

ITU Transitions (Web Photo)

 

RACE ON FOOT

Undoubtedly the "less modifiable" sector as long as the route is the same as the "drafting effect" is much less important BUT where the climatological conditions and the good or bad choice of Pacing in the segments can be decisive at the time to mark or not a good partial. It depends to a large extent on:

1. Weather conditions (humidity, wind, cold, rain, excessive heat….). Let's be aware that comparing performances requires similar, not to say identical running situations (from swimming to the finish line).

2. Effort made previously, if I have entered relays by bike, if I have been in a very easy group, if they have pulled me off on the bike and "I don't even know how I endured" or the thousand and one conditions that occur to us .

3. Pavement, a race that used to be done on land, they change it for aesthetics to the old town and pass it through cobblestones and unevenness… ..

4. TRAINING of Transitions, if last year I did not train them and this year I did, maybe I have not improved my net performance on foot BUT I have improved my performance in transition and, therefore, the TRIATHLON.

5. Nutrition, mainly on the bike that makes me arrive with better glycogen levels in the running. This condition would also occur on a bike in Medium distance tests but very hardly in Sprint distance.

 

TRANSITIONS

Those largely forgotten in the final performance of a test and that end, on many occasions, deciding the positions of honor .... All for NOT training them correctly or simply not doing it, the time lost (look at your data and compare) is BRUTAL.

That one or the one that does it monthly raise its hand !!

Real comparative transitions that decide the 10 first positions

 

For those who have come here already know that their performance does NOT depend on comparing times in a test compared to previous years, there can be no doubt after the above BUT we need to add one thing ... .TEMPO depends on the position we make in the general because Do the same ones compete every year? And if they did, do they arrive in the same way? And if they did arrive, have they had the same load of competitions this season? And if they did, have their situations been identical to those of last year?

Now we can affirm that:

• Times in competition do not necessarily indicate a physical improvement over the past.
• The positions in competition do not tell us anything other than the present, nor our performance, nor our past, nor our future, this will be determined by our training, our genetics, our psychological capacities and, why not say, our luck.

 

Next stop….. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

 

J. Luis Caballero

Triathlon Coach - FTCV

email: contact @ behealth.es