Age Graded Results: Helpful Tool or Dive Down a Rabbit Hole?
Class is now in session.
Show of hands.
How many of you have heard of “Age-Graded Results?”
Me? I’d never heard of it until a friend brought it up back last spring. He told me that it would convert your current running times to an equivalent time for running that same race in your twenties. This proved useful information for this person since they got into competitive racing later in their life.
Although an intriguing concept, I didn't give it much initial thought. I knew that my best times were decades behind me. That's just part of getting older - along with gray hair, increased wisdom and less tolerance for kids walking on my lawn.
It was a conversation with Coach Ives that sparked my interest in "Age-Graded Results." Following a tough speed workout, I commented that my paces had remained rather consistent over the past several years. Tim's response was that I'd actually improved as I kept those same times despite being several years older.
That proved enough for me to open this Pandora’s Box.
Diving Down the Rabbit Hole
A quick Google search provided a couple of excellent "Age-Graded" calculators. I prefer this one from RunBundle.com. It allows a specific distance which helps with races of unusual length such as the Market2Market Relay.
Here's a glimpse of how it works.
I ran the 2019 Drake Half Marathon in a time of 1:31:27 (Hours: Minutes: Seconds). Using my age at the time, gender, actual distance and that it was on a road as opposed to a track, this site then converted my 2019 time into a time of 1:16:15. Ironically, that time isn't far off from a half marathon I ran back in 1983 when I was in my early twenties. This conversion also provided an Age-Graded Percentage of 76.44%.
What in the world does that percentage mean?
Glad you asked. That percentage shows the category (or class) of runners you would fall into based on that time. According to the chart below, 76.44% has me in the Regional Class of runners.
Percentage | Standard |
100% | World Record |
90%+ | World Class |
80%+ | National Class |
70%+ | Regional Class |
60%+ | Local Class |
You know what happened next.
That following Sunday, I sequestered myself into my home office. Armed with a killer punk rock playlist and glass of ice-cold mint tea, I developed a spreadsheet that incorporated every race time from 2018 going forward. I further broke down each race by year, distance, time and pace, adding the age-graded times and percentages. (It should be noted that Amy gave up on me after my third, “I’ll only be another five minutes.”)
And That Showed Me What?
Was my pursuit of this information simple vanity?
I asked myself that question repeatedly before launching into this exercise. Do I really need to know how a 10K I ran in 2020 compares to one I did in 1982? I found the answer to that question a surprising combination of “no” and “yes.”
If I sought to use those age-graded results to supplant my current times, then that would be a foolish endeavor. The 10K I ran this past February was not at an age-graded 33:40. My time was 42:07. To say otherwise simply isn’t true.
But that’s not what I did. Instead, I looked at that 10K and percentage as well as other 10K times and their percentages. I did likewise with the other races and their corresponding percentages. That assessment provides the following takeaways:
1. The percentages have remained surprisingly consistent. With a handful of exceptions, the percentages in nearly every race since 2019 are between 75-78%. That coincides when I started training under Coach Ives. His work has given me five years of consistent performances in races. The exceptions have been when injuries or running conditions (like steep hills) slowed the overall time.
2. The times have also remained surprisingly consistent. Although I don't remember all my times from races back in my twenties, I do have a few newspaper clippings and old ribbons. Looking at those, I'm pleasantly surprised to discover that when my current 10K or 5-mile times are put through the "Age-Graded" calculator, those revised times are similar to what I ran when I was in college. That's somehow reassuring.
3. I'm a "Regional Class" Kinda Guy. Out of over fifty races, on only two occasions have I peeked into the National Class (80%+). Both were 10k's at Gray's Lake in Des Moines. One was an early March 2022 race with less than sixty participants and the other a virtual one in April 2021.
4. The 10K is my best race. As much as I like half marathons as a test of physical and mental endurance, it would appear that 10 kilometers is the best distance for me to race. Just long enough to maintain that slightly faster pace that I can't do at thirteen miles. Ironically, that's the distance I race the least.
Conclusion
I continue to update my charts with “Age-Graded Results” following each race. In my opinion, it's a useful tool. No more. No less. If I wish to remain consistent with those percentages, then it makes sense to continue what I’m doing. If I wish to attempt to reach the National Class, then I need to explore some means of improving my performance in races - although that is likely far easier said than done. It's also an instructive means of assessing races as my times start to slow with increasing age. Overall, I see "Age-Graded Results" as another tool that goes into the fanny pack that we use as runners to reach our goals - whatever they may be.
What about you? What are your thoughts? Let me know below or on Facebook!