SPEED-O-METER: Gauge your training by playing the percentage game.

Most of us are faced with such varied paddling and racing conditions, that using only past race-times on fixed courses will not yield very useable data. That is, if you look at Finish Times Only. Hell, some of the races we do even have variable courses, let alone conditions! You've been there. The race organizer simply says, "follow the chase boat and whenever it stops make a counter-clockwise turn around it and then head for home"! I don't call this very consistent data! You need more than that.
So, we need to figure out some other method to judge whether or not our training is paying off. Here's what I do: I play The Percentage Game. I simply pick two or three of my competitors who I can count on being at most of the races, and take my percentage off of them after each race.

Let's get into more detail here. I think it's important to pick the # 1 fastest person in your race-class as one of these subjects. Next I'd pick at least 2 more so you are covered when one or more don't make a race. Maybe the next one is someone who is usually biting at the heels of #1. Maybe the next one after that is someone you really want to beat! Regardless, you need to pick them at the beginning of the season and then track the results from there. If you want, you can even go back to past-posted race results and start compiling data from races you've all attended before. So once we pick the Racers we are going to compare with, we need to do the calculations.

How to Calculate the Percentage:

The first thing you need to do is break all times down to SECONDS ONLY.
For example 1:20:25 would look like this:
1 hour= 60 mins. x 60 = 3600 secs 20 mins x 60 = 1200 secs. 3600 + 1200 + 25 = 4825 SECONDS
Once you have converted all times to seconds, you can then calculate the percentages.

Option 1: Benchmarking off of 1st Place or a particular INDIVIDUAL'S finish time:

Take the First Place or Individual finishers time (the smaller number) and enter it into the calculator first. Then divide it by your time (the larger number). You will get a percentage less than one. Subtract that number from one, then multiply it by 100 and you'll get your percentage behind First Place. You can repeat the process with second and third place times.

For Hypothetical Example:
1st= 4415 seconds
2nd= 4628 seconds
3rd= 4679 seconds
you= 4825 seconds

4415/4825=.9150 1 - .9150 = .085 .085 x 100= 8.5%
4628/4825=.9591 1 - .9591 = .0409 .041 x 100= 4.1%
4679/4825=.9697 1 - .9697 = .0303 .030 x 100= 3.0%

*From this you can see that you are 8.5% slower than Racer 1, 4% slower than Racer 2, and 3% slower than Racer 3.
Option 2: Benchmarking off of the Top 3 (Group) Places:

Add 1st + 2nd + 3rd place finish times together. Divide by 3 to get an AVERAGE Top 3 Finish Time. Then place that into the calculator. It will be the smaller number. Divide it by your time, the larger number (given your not in the Top 3). You will get a number less than one. Subtract that number from one, then multiply it by 100, and you'll get your percentage off of the Average of the Top 3 Places.

This method may provide more "stable" data, as your sample group is larger, as well as, that you are not relying on a single individual's performance to benchmark yours.

Using the same race results the average of all the competitors is: 4577 seconds.

4577/4825=.9486 1-.9486= .0514 .514 x 100= 5.14%
*From this you can see that your collective competition is 5.21% faster than you.

Granted, there are some shortcomings with this process, but overall I have used this method to great benefit for many, many years. Sure, if your #1 fastest model, decides he likes to play music more than paddle and starts staying out late every night and blows off every other workout just to go jam…your data will become skewed. He'll be getting slower, not you getting faster. SO WHAT! You'll end up beating him, and life will be good! Besides, you still have the other 2 subjects to gather data from to use as a control group. Probably just as important of a rabbit as #1, is the person(s) you are hoping to catch. Likewise, there may be someone chomping at YOUR heels that you want to keep an eye on too!

You can have a lot of fun with this, and after you get some data pulled together, you'll find this a useful tool in judging improvement. Remember, a 100% effort will be your true barometer, and there's no better place for that than at the races! See ya there.