Just curious what the USAT ranking system is meant to show? If someone is ranked 31st in their state and 450th nationally, does that mean your “BCS” like ranking makes you the 31st “best” triathlete in that state and 450th nationally?
I know the distances that go into this race are all very different and so is the competiton at various races, but I’m not sure what the ranking actually means.
Any thoughts?
It’s the undisputed absolute truth to the holy grail of all questions:
Am I the baddest mutha f*cker in lycra??? Well…am I???
On a calmer more serious note:
Any a follow-up question, what are the breakpoints for poor/average/good/great/elite? 50/60/70/80/90?
Basically it just shows how you relate to your peers, it’s complicated as hell.
The USAT ranking system is trying to evaluate your (and other USAT members’) triathlon efforts on a similar scale. It doesn’t matter how good your competition was. It doesn’t matter where you placed. What matters is your time compared with the times of the other participants (weighted by their previous year’s USAT score).
100 and above, you should be pro (you hear me AG’s that frequently beat pro’s???)
90 and above are roughly “amateur elite”
80 and above, you have some work to do, but there is potential (maybe)
70, probably naturally athletic, but di some races for the fun of it
60, life change
50, to lose weight
40 and below, it was a bet or dare
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100 and above, you should be pro (you hear me AG’s that frequently beat pro’s???)
90 and above are roughly “amateur elite”
80 and above, you have some work to do, but there is potential (maybe)
70, probably naturally athletic, but di some races for the fun of it
60, life change
50, to lose weight
40 and below, it was a bet or dare
Ahem. And how old are you?
On a side note, I have noticed that the longer the distance, the better chance you have of scoring well. I guess the longer distances lead to greater variability against the pack. This variability leads to outlier scoring when you do well in an IM or 1/2 IM.
Shorter (Olympic) triathlons that have really difficult conditions can also produce outlier type results.
My score is currently 88.5. That is pretty damned good. Everyone below that sucks. What else do you want to know?
On a side note, I have noticed that the longer the distance, the better chance you have of scoring well. I guess the longer distances lead to greater variability against the pack. This variability leads to outlier scoring when you do well in an IM or 1/2 IM.
Shorter (Olympic) triathlons that have really difficult conditions can also produce outlier type results.
I noticed that. I did 1 IM, 1 HIM, 1 Olympic this year. The scores are better for my longer races.
On a side note, I have noticed that the longer the distance, the better chance you have of scoring well. I guess the longer distances lead to greater variability against the pack. This variability leads to outlier scoring when you do well in an IM or 1/2 IM.
Shorter (Olympic) triathlons that have really difficult conditions can also produce outlier type results.
Outliers, of course, include scoring poorly for the same reasons. Everyone seems to forget that, possibly because those poor scores are rarely looked for.
My score is currently 88.5. That is pretty damned good. Everyone below that sucks. What else do you want to know?
Let me see if my newly acquired USAT math works. With an 88.5 you are about a 2:15:00 Olympic, 4:40:00 HIM and 10:30:00 IM?
I’d say
40/50=back of back of pack. Like you’re in rehab from morbid obesity, cancer, etc…
60’s=back of middle of pack. Most off-the couch beginners are in this range.
70’s=front of middle of pack. Seasoned triathletes with little time for training, really old people that have been racing for a while, young people with natural athletic ability.
80-85= Back of Front of Pack. An 80-85 usually correlates to something like top-10% overall finish at local races or top 20-25% at a national-caliber race.
85-90=front of front of pack. Usually correlates to top 10 overall finish at local races, or a top 15% finish at a national caliber race.
90-95=usually translates to consistent wins at local races or top-5 if there are a bunch of 90-95 people in your area–low level elite.
95-100=a 95 almost always wins local races, 100 usually translates to competitive finish among elites–good elite
100-105=really good elite–a 105 would win against lot of elites
105+=would win just about everything. Only a few people get scores this high, and I’m not really sure how it’s even possible. I think you have to be a really successful long-course athlete.
Nah, 88.5 would only be a 2:15 at local races. At National level races an ~89 would be closer to 2:08 or 2:09. A ~2:05 at Nation’s tri last year got me like a .91 or .92.
That’s actually pretty close! Doing IMAZ in 3 weeks so I’ll let you know how that projection works out…
Closer probably 2:20 Oly, 4:50 HIM and yeah maybe 10:30 IM
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I’d say
40/50=back of back of pack. Like you’re in rehab from morbid obesity, cancer, etc…
60’s=back of middle of pack. Most off-the couch beginners are in this range.
70’s=front of middle of pack. Seasoned triathletes with little time for training, really old people that have been racing for a while, young people with natural athletic ability.
80-85= Back of Front of Pack. An 80-85 usually correlates to something like top-10% overall finish at local races or top 20-25% at a national-caliber race.
85-90=front of front of pack. Usually correlates to top 10 overall finish at local races, or a top 15% finish at a national caliber race.
90-95=usually translates to consistent wins at local races or top-5 if there are a bunch of 90-95 people in your area–low level elite.
95-100=a 95 almost always wins local races, 100 usually translates to competitive finish among elites–good elite
100-105=really good elite–a 105 would win against lot of elites
105+=would win just about everything. Only a few people get scores this high, and I’m not really sure how it’s even possible. I think you have to be a really successful long-course athlete.
That helps.
It tells me that I’m slow as hell…