Is The RunningLane Course 5K? Or Is It Short?

I measured it at 75m short. I measured the tangents. Not claiming to be the supreme be all/end all of course measuring. But just sharing what I came up with. That's within the margin of error of what most of the coaches I know are willing to count as a 5k.

The same happens in horses racing (these figures are based on various speedfigures found in horse racing). Often you get a wet-track and one horse handles it particularly well, and runs off the charts....

I think he did well in this race, especially given the limited data. SRs work best when you have a clear course par and reproducible results. Both of those are missing with the Trotter mark, but whatever. Generally it is a very useful tool.

high school xc coach wrote:

I am a huge believer in speed ratings. I am a new york guy, so every race my kids run goes in the database. I look at the ratings every week, and after awhile you can pretty much guess a speed rating before he posts them just by looking at the times of all the kids in the race. This is if you are familiar with what those kids typically run. Kids will always have up and down days, but you find that the majority finish where they should compared to their competitors.

The trotter situation is a one of a kind outlier over a 20 year period.

I will add, they generally seem very good from an outsiders perspective. Some apparent discrepancies here and there but mostly very accurate

coachach wrote:

I measured it at 75m short. I measured the tangents. Not claiming to be the supreme be all/end all of course measuring. But just sharing what I came up with. That's within the margin of error of what most of the coaches I know are willing to count as a 5k.

I measured it at 75m long

coachach wrote:

I measured it at 75m short. I measured the tangents. Not claiming to be the supreme be all/end all of course measuring. But just sharing what I came up with. That's within the margin of error of what most of the coaches I know are willing to count as a 5k.

Show your work. Was there anyone with you?

What is the net uphill or downhill of this course compared to the one Ritz ran? Do you have that data?

I did it last year. Had it about 20 feet short or about 6 meters.

coachach wrote:

I measured it at 75m short. I measured the tangents. Not claiming to be the supreme be all/end all of course measuring. But just sharing what I came up with. That's within the margin of error of what most of the coaches I know are willing to count as a 5k.

50 feet or less in Michigan. Not 75m. I have no idea if you're being honest or not on measuring it, but 75m is too short if it turns out to be true.

nprunner74 wrote:

The timer was set up at 1 mile, 2.1 and finish. But thanks for belittling Alabama. Well done.

IT sounds like the timer himself belittled Alabama. He didn't know the 2 mile mark needs to go to 2.0 not 2.1?

chips ahoy timing company wrote:

The average of 10 gps readings I have seen is 3.12 that is very close to the average you would see on a wheeled course without major turns. I believe it is as legit a 5k as any other course out there.

Ritz was good, but not infinitely so. He may have won this race today but he would not have dropped any of these three guys. It would have been close.

These guys may be as fast as ritz but not nearly as good relative to the competition.

Get back to me when these guys can come close to medal at World XC.

Remember when Jakob I went there a few years ago - he was 12th. Ritz was 3rd.

You think these guys are as good as Jakob I?

coachach wrote:

I measured it at 75m short. I measured the tangents. Not claiming to be the supreme be all/end all of course measuring. But just sharing what I came up with. That's within the margin of error of what most of the coaches I know are willing to count as a 5k.

Please email me to prove you aren't a troll

Everything I have heard is the course is 5k measured in the middle of the boundaries. But is short of 5k if measured on the tangents.

coachach wrote:

I measured it at 75m short. I measured the tangents. Not claiming to be the supreme be all/end all of course measuring. But just sharing what I came up with. That's within the margin of error of what most of the coaches I know are willing to count as a 5k.

Is this another 'bama theory kinda of like the 5 finger discount and no cops no stops?

Where I come from 5000m is 3.11 miles or there about. Most coaches have this thing called integrity that guides them. This includes measuring courses and not accepting 75m short.

coachach wrote:

I measured it at 75m short. I measured the tangents. Not claiming to be the supreme be all/end all of course measuring. But just sharing what I came up with. That's within the margin of error of what most of the coaches I know are willing to count as a 5k.

I would bet a significant portion of my life's savings that you never even went to Huntsville.

how do speed ratings work wrote:

high school xc coach wrote:

Ritz also has the highest speed rating ever recorded. 214. Sahlman was only a 203 today.

and on the girls side of things, the highest ever is a 16:24 at the Disney world footlocker?? Is that to suggest that course is as hard as holmdel (Tuohy 16:21--177) or significantly harder than ocean state (Tuohy 16:06--176)

I don't even care to learn about speed ratings. Ocean State is a more difficult course. The horse trails are not hard packed. There are a lot of soft sand like trails that are difficult to run on when it is dry and it was dry that day. There is also a very steep hill about 800 meters from the finish.

That said, I believe this course is an accurate length base on how my athletes did today. But, I don't know that for sure.

coachkritter wrote:

Everything I have heard is the course is 5k measured in the middle of the boundaries. But is short of 5k if measured on the tangents.

How do you know this? That's an improper way of measuring. Please show proof?

coachbach wrote:

coachach wrote:

I measured it at 75m short. I measured the tangents. Not claiming to be the supreme be all/end all of course measuring. But just sharing what I came up with. That's within the margin of error of what most of the coaches I know are willing to count as a 5k.

I measured it at 75m long

It would be great if that were the case and that we had such an immensely talented group of kids that all peaked perfectly weeks after their state meets. However, I'm siding with the 75m short report and even if that were correct , the times still are impressive!

coachkritter wrote:

Everything I have heard is the course is 5k measured in the middle of the boundaries. But is short of 5k if measured on the tangents.

Which is technically how courses were supposed to be measured in the past...and why it is silly to compare what happened today, to what Ritz did years back. I think there is plenty skepticism with the Florida FL course and the Running Lane Course sponsored by, and probably measured by a Garmin, as to the legitimacy in overall length of each.