Introduction

One of the most asked about features of the Good Run Guide is the ability for members to calculate their personal age graded percentage, and our lead article this month explains how we go about this, and the science behind it.  Age grading is a great way of comparing running performance with others and can also be very motivating for those of us who are getting past the age of peak performance!  This also ties in nicely with the launch of the Good Run Guide 'Score My Run' App.    There are still plenty of weeks left before the nights start drawing in so don't forget to make the most of it and keep enjoying the best of the great British countryside.  Our route of the month is 'Durdle Door Loop' in Dorset, another spectacular off-road coastal route.

Louise at GRG
www.GoodRunGuide.co.uk

Improving with Age

It's a simple biological fact that as we get older we can’t run as fast as we could have when we were younger. But this doesn’t mean we can’t improve and become better runners for our age, or even set new PB’s if we didn’t achieve our full potential in our younger years!

With the right motivation and training, improved running performances can be achieved long after the prospect of new PB’s has faded away. But how can you tell if your performance is improving when your times are getting slower? This is where Age-Grading comes in.

Age-Grading is a simple but very effective method of measuring your performance, making allowances for your age and sex. It gives you a percentage score for each run calculated by comparing the time for your run with times set by world record runners of the same age and sex. Benchmark times are collated by World Masters Athletics, the governing body for track and field, long distance running and race walking for veteran athletes, and performance adjustment profiles are produced for various distances and ages for each sex.

The following graph shows an example of how performance levels vary by age for world record runners at the marathon distance.

You can compare performance profiles for other common race distances on Good Run Guide with the interactive tool in our main Age-Grading article.

Why is Age-Grading beneficial?

Motivation – Getting slower can be demotivating for runners who are 'past their peak' even if they are running well for their age. So, rather than focusing solely on how fast you are running, it can be more motivating to focus on your Age-Graded performance.

Comparing with other Runners - By factoring out age and sex it is possible for two different runners to compare their performance for the same run on even terms, enabling people to compete with each other regardless of age and sex.

Long-Term Performance Tracking - Factoring out age enables you to see how good your performance is at any time given expected norms for your age. Using this you can track how your performance has changed over the long-term.

Predicting Race Times - You can use you current Age-Graded percentage as a basis for predicting finish times for races of different distances.

Interpreting Age-Grading Scores

As Age-Grading scores are based on a comparison with world record times, don't be disappointed if your scores are a long way from 100%; you’ll probably get the most motivation by aiming to improve on your own scores and by comparing your scores with those of your friends. But, the following table provides a general guide to interpreting Age-Grading scores.

Age-Grading on Good Run Guide

You can keep track of your Age-Graded percentages in your Good Run Guide Log Book – scores can be calculated when logging your runs and even compensate for hills to provide fair comparisons between different types of runs. And, if you just want to calculate an Age-Graded percentage without using the Log Book, you can also use our standalone Age-Grading calculator.

Finally, if you have an iPhone or iPod Touch and would like to be able to calculate an Age-Graded score at any time, even without an internet connection, you can now do this with our new Age-Grading app called “Score My Run” - see the article below for more information.

back to top

Site News

Our big project last month was the major redevelopment of the Training Friends section of the site, along with other changes to help you share and communicate with your friends on Good Run Guide.

Part of our philosophy is that your training data is private, so we don't publish it on the site for everyone to see. However, we also recognise that many people find it motivating and fun to share their training progress with their friends.  So, we've now provided more options to do this, including a summary of recent activity on the site by your friends.  We've also introduced personal messaging, so you can now send private 'internal' messages to other GRG Members, including your registered Training Friends. 

We hope you'll find the new features useful and that they provide even more motivation to keep your training on track as the autumn weather sets in.

As always, if you have any feedback about changes to the site or have a suggestion you would like to put forward, please let us know.

League Talk

We have seen a lot more movement on the Good Run Guide league tables since changing the qualification period for races to be within the last 3 months.  However, we still have a 'best ever race performance' league so any race PB will be automatically recorded here and won't change until you better it!  We hope those of you joining in are enjoying watching the changes and seeing where you fit in! If you don't already participate and would like to, just go to update your details from the membership menu and tick the box to join in the leagues. 

Our updated Training Friends section also now shows the league postions of your friends, which can be fun to compare -  just click on the GRG Leagues tab within the Training Friends section.

back to top

Launch of Score My Run App

On 1st September, we announced the launch of our first ever native app for the iPhone/iPod Touch called Score My Run.  The app gives you access to an age-grading calculator that you can use anywhere, even without an internet connection.  You can read more about age-grading in the article above entitled "Improving with Age".

Score My Run is available in all iTunes App Stores across the world and you can find out more about it at a special new site that we have set up called www.scoremyrun.com.

back to top

Did you know that you can track your weight on Good Run Guide?

Our Weight Tracker provides a simple way for you to set targets for your weight and to track your progress on a customisable Weight Chart. 

You can log your weight as often as you like and can also record additional information like fat %, waist size and BMI.  You can also annotate your weight chart with personalised notes.

Go to the Weight Tracker page for more information.

We want to support local Running Clubs as we believe there are lots of benefits from being part of a local group of runners. We operate a UK Running Club Directory and Club Finder tool, where all Clubs can be listed for free. If your Running Club is not listed, ask your Club Secretary to contact us for a Registration Code and you can put your Club on the map!