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Count a PR on a race which seemed to be measured too short? (Read 1854 times)

    I ran a 10K this morning which seemed to be a bit short (my Garmin - which usually measures courses long measured this one at 6.01).


    I PRed by A LOT - but I was expecting to  PR since I was taking advantage of my marathon training.


    What do I do?  Record this as a PR?  Extrapolate the time for 6.2 miles based on my pace?

    JimR


      Up to you.  I've run 5k's on courses I knew were short (by about 300 meters) and I don't count them as 5k events.  I mark them as 4.7 k races and leave it as a 4.7k PR.
      xor


        I wouldn't extrapolate.  Personally, I wouldn't count a course that was obviously short... but really, it's up to you.

         

         

        There's a 5k in the Seattle area (in Fremont) that I always completely demolished.  It never seemed "right". Turns out it was really a 3 miler.  Now they call it a 3 miler.  I never counted that 5k in my list of times.

         

        ymmv


          I ran a 10K this morning which seemed to be a bit short (my Garmin - which usually measures courses long measured this one at 6.01).


          I PRed by A LOT - but I was expecting to  PR since I was taking advantage of my marathon training.


          What do I do?  Record this as a PR?  Extrapolate the time for 6.2 miles based on my pace?

          Hey, I PRed in the same race.

           

          troublemaker! Smile

          zoom-zoom


          rectumdamnnearkilledem

            Up to you.  I've run 5k's on courses I knew were short (by about 300 meters) and I don't count them as 5k events.  I mark them as 4.7 k races and leave it as a 4.7k PR.

             

            Yep, I would do that.  I've run a couple of races that were mis-marked.  One was off by over a half-mile when an out-and-back section had us turn around WAY too early.  I counted that race as a 5.45 instead of a 6, since nearly everyone with Garmins had 5.45 show up as the elapsed distance.

            Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

            remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                 ~ Sarah Kay

              PR's are what you want them to be. *I* would call it a PR for that course, but not for the announced distance.

               

              I've only done trail races, and each course is considered separately. Many races might be "5k" - meaning they're somewhere between 4.5 and 5.5k, but likely  not 10miles.Wink While they are all different, I do try to compare similar courses sometimes, but use by garmin distance, if I had it with me. (some of my courses are surprises and just marked before start time, so those are obviously guesses when they announce the course and its distance at start line. That's why I started using my garmin for distances - for MY purposes)

              "So many people get stuck in the routine of life that their dreams waste away. This is about living the dream." - Cave Dog
              ymmv


                my garmin map for that race is visible in my log. on it, i see lots of corners cut off. i may manually plot out the course to see what i get. i believe that the striders have run this race on the same course for many years, but that doesn't mean its right. i can never compare one race to another anyway, so the idea of a 10K PR is a little meaningless if, for example,  one is hilly in the summer and the other is flat in winter. i have to say that this particular race had some of the best post-race food i've seen in a long time.


                Imminent Catastrophe

                  Is the race certified? GPS is pretty good but not as accurate as a wheel-measured course. If it's not wheeled or certified then it's probably not right and I wouldn't count it.

                  "Able to function despite imminent catastrophe"

                   "To obtain the air that angels breathe you must come to Tahoe"--Mark Twain

                  "The most common question from potential entrants is 'I do not know if I can do this' to which I usually answer, 'that's the whole point'.--Paul Charteris, Tarawera Ultramarathon RD.

                   

                  √ Javelina Jundred Jalloween 2015

                  Cruel Jewel 50 mile May 2016

                  Western States 100 June 2016

                    my garmin map for that race is visible in my log. on it, i see lots of corners cut off. i may manually plot out the course to see what i get. i believe that the striders have run this race on the same course for many years, but that doesn't mean its right. i can never compare one race to another anyway, so the idea of a 10K PR is a little meaningless if, for example,  one is hilly in the summer and the other is flat in winter. i have to say that this particular race had some of the best post-race food i've seen in a long time.

                     

                    It seemed that everyone with a Garmin measured the course short - and mostly in the first mile.  They probably forgot to do some "bump-out" around the school to make the first mile and then the rest of the course ended up short.

                    I will likely call this a 6 mile race and live with the PR in a 6 miler.  I'll just have to get another 10K to race soon.

                    BTW - I agree with you with the post-race food.  Robeeks smoothies?  Ample bagels with cream cheese or PB?  Lots of "bake sale" style sweets!  It was unbelievable!!  I was also surprised that the race t-shirt was moisture wicking and not a cotton t-shirt.  This race was a tremendous value at $18...I've run races more than twice the cost with half the amenities.

                    joeltransit


                      Yeah, you can count it as a course PR but certainly not a PR for the road distance ( especially if you KNOW that it was short ). I ran a 10K in October which was USATF Certified and clearly had misplaced mile markers but I ran like a 40s PR and it just seemed too easy.

                      So I looked at the USATF map of the course and they totally skipped a loop based on the course description that would have added potentially 20 -35s or so ( at least ). So i knew, even with the course certification and chip timing that based on effort it wasn't a PR. 

                      This issue comes up even more with HS cross country where almost none of the courses are exactly 5K anyway. 

                      ymmv


                        I heard that the lead bike missed a turn and left out part of the course for this race. I compared my garmin map from yesterday with the 2007 race map i found on mapmyrun, and it looks like they cut off about  0.16 miles of the race. I wonder if they will adjust it. Its still a PR for me even if they do, plus its the first time i've ever won an AG award (3rd in the 55-59 group). Lucky for me, they did not do 50-59, as there are some seriously fast guys in the 50-54 range.

                         

                         

                        MTA: yet again, bikes really annoy me sometimes. Smile

                        spinach


                          I have two  PRs for  the shorter races, like 5ks or 5 miles, that often don't have certified courses, a certified PR and an other PR for the other uncertified courses.  The short courses are always fun because they make us feel faster but they are usually short  and so I don't want to count them as a real PR.

                          Around here the two short courses are on the last two 5ks I do each year.  One was on Saturday and the other is the first weekend in December.  It is a nice way to end the year feeling fast as my time Saturday was the best 5k time of the year.  We just won't worry if it was about 80 yards short.  The one in a week and a half is on a course that I have my other PR on and so maybe I'll get a chance to PR again on it.


                          Carl A


                            After deep consideration, I've come up with a three-step solution to this dilemma:

                            1. Train some more.

                            2. Beat that time on a course that you trust.

                            3. Have fun!

                            Speed my steps along your path, according to your will.

                              I heard that the lead bike missed a turn and left out part of the course for this race. I compared my garmin map from yesterday with the 2007 race map i found on mapmyrun, and it looks like they cut off about  0.16 miles of the race. I wonder if they will adjust it. Its still a PR for me even if they do, plus its the first time i've ever won an AG award (3rd in the 55-59 group). Lucky for me, they did not do 50-59, as there are some seriously fast guys in the 50-54 range.

                               

                               

                              MTA: yet again, bikes really annoy me sometimes. Smile

                               

                              Thanks for doing the research on that.  This story makes total sense and is completely consistent with what I was seeing.

                              It looks like I have a new 6 mile PR!!!

                              ymmv



                                It looks like I have a new 6 mile PR!!!

                                 I like Carl A's idea more. If I keep this as my 10K PR, well, nobody cares about that but me, it will be harder for me to beat it, and it will feel very good to beat it, especially because I can stop saying "...but the course was short" when I talk about it to people with their glazed over eyes (yawn). Wink

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