Am I a geek or a nerd?

Lonestar 70.3 and standardized testing
April 14, 2010, 2:09 pm
Filed under: Nerd | Tags: , , ,

In an attempt to keep this education related but still express some frustration with triathlon I’m going to build a tenuous link between Standardized Testing and Wave Starts at Lonestar 70.3.

As with any ‘test’, you need to know what you are measuring. In this case, Lonestar measures my ability to complete a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run. While any 70.3 courses may have different challenges (hills, wind, currents) all competitors must complete the distance. The argument is made by many that the playing field at any given race is level; all the entrants deal with the same terrain and constraints of the given course.   Most races have leveled the playing field further by using electronic timing chips so that each individual athlete’s completion time is precise–my chip timer electronically starts when my feet cross the start line, not when the first of the 1500 entrants crosses the start line. This is also a method to prevent cheating and provide data–at certain points on the course (swim finish, bike start, bike turn around, bike finish, run start, run turnaround or lap, run finish) the athlete and his chip will pass electronic markers.  In this way, the race officials can start 100 or so athletes at a time, instead of a 1500 at once, every 5 minutes, lets say and still have accurate completion statistics for each entrant.  They do their best, the race organizers, to keep us all happy, out of each other’s way (that’s why the pro athletes start before the rest of us–we would simply get run over) but sometimes the standardization methods make the playing field not so level.  Those for whom the event counts as work (sponsored athletes) get a very level field–they start first, with people who are of the same caliber. The rest of us are lumped by age with no concern for our ability or level of preparation.

Take my Lonestar 70.3 wave. My group is last. I start at 8:15AM. Sounds fine, right. Except that there are 14 or so other groups starting before me, the pros at 7AM, the young guys at 7:05 etc. Again, you ask, what’s the big deal?  There are three things here that can negatively affect my performance and that are out of my control.

1. The winds in Galveston get stronger as the day goes on. Starting 75 minutes later than others means I will probably face a windier and therefore more challenging course.

2. It’s also hot in Galveston, the later the day, the hotter it gets. Again, beginning my race 75 minutes after the official start means running in higher temps than some of my competitors.

3. I’m an above average swimmer. I always catch up to the average and below average swimmers in the previous waves and find myself either running into them or navigating around them. Certainly others in earlier waves have the same problem, but they may only have 1 or 2 or 3 groups in front of them. I have 12.

What’s the connection to standardized testing? I ask you if the playing field for the entrants is actually level. Does every ‘competitor’ face the same circumstances that are beyond his control-like quality of teacher, temperature of the building, instructional material, parental involvement, breakfast? While I can’t control my start time in these events, I am participating voluntarily. Our kids are not.

PS: you can track my progress on 4/25 by going to and following athlete number 1444!


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