Epilog to Havasu
I didn’t race (see this post from a few days ago). I wish I had, but life sometimes gets in the way.
Runners on the London Bridge
Lit Review
I’ve done an extensive literature search of the 2019 Havasu Triathlon over multiple sources and retrieved a modest amount of data. Translation:
I Googled the race and didn’t find much.
I usually bristle at the verb, to google, but it seems much more succinct than saying, “I searched the internet”, and everyone understands it.
Usually, someone posts a shaky home vid of their sister or husband slogging through the run with their tongue hanging out. Better yet, are those videos of some random guy running through T1 wearing only a thong…
Maybe it’s too early, but I haven’t seen any videos on YouTube, any race reports on Facebook, any blog entries on the interwebs or anything else that I could use to get a feel for how the race unfolded. The only thing of value that I did find were the race results.
Numbers Don’t Lie
That’s the dumbest saying, “Numbers don’t lie.” Actually, there are dumber sayings like, “if you keep doing that, you’ll go blind.” but if you are going to say that numbers don’t lie, you might as well say that numbers don’t tell the truth either. Numbers can be just as inaccurate as words. Ask any statistician.
I’m looking at the 2019 Havasu Triathlon race results for the men’s 55-59 age group.
55-59 age group results.
It’s my understanding that the swim was 1500 meters which is approximately 1,640 yards. If the first place athlete in my age group swam 1,640 yards in 7 minutes and 16.9 seconds, that means his pace was 27 seconds per 100 yards. That’s 20 seconds faster than the U.S. record made by Caeleb Dressel in 2017 and that’s one of the slower times in the age group!
How could this be? What happened? Here are a few thoughts, but let’s not dwell on this too much:
The swim was closer to 450 yards
The swim times are actually in the 20 minute range (e.g. 27:16.9)
My math is way off
The timing official fell asleep and made up the numbers after the race.
My Sister the Spy
My sister who lives about four hours from Lake Havasu City was going to meet me at the race. She went out there even though I didn’t go and gave me a brief report.
The sky was clear and the air was chilly from a North wind. There were runners on the London Bridge.
I told you it was brief. She’s not a triathlete, so that’s OK.
Just a Memory Now
The 2019 Havasu Triathlon is in the books regardless of what the numbers say or how we interpret them. Athletes are making their way back home with heads filled with what went right, what went wrong and that overall feeling of accomplishment. I wish I were one of them this week.
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