Some Beta Issues

The new features on RaceTracker have been undergoing some beta-testing over the past couple of months. The biggest new feature is the Training Calendar, with athletes from select tri clubs putting it to the test. Here are a few issues that were uncovered during the test:

Q. On May 1 and 5 I did a "brick" session-the "brick" is a lot longer on May 1 than May 5 but I went farther on the 5th. What determines the brick length?

A. The height of the bar in the monthly graph is determined by the distance of your workout. For 'brick' workouts (2 or more workouts back to back) the bar height is currently determined by whatever distance you entered first. So, if on the 3rd you did a 5 mile run followed by a 60 mile bike the bar height would show 5 miles. Then if you did a 30 mile bike followed by a 10 mile run, the bar would show 30 miles, more than the first brick even though the total for that workout was actually lower.

Monthly summaries and workout-specific summaries are not affected by this. I'm trying to adjust the queries that set the bar height in the graph so brick workouts will reflect the total mileage, but for now it's the first distance entered that shows.

Q. Problem: In the summary for each month, the number of sessions for each type of workout is not coming up correctly (i.e., reading zero for runs, when I have done several runs).

A. This bug has been fixed. All runs will now show correctly in the monthly summary.

Q. Could you add a way to enter a race other than a "traditional" triathlon? Winter triathlons (run/bike/ski or some variation thereof) are becoming more and more popular.

A. Nothing is impossible. If I can get some idea of how big the demand for this might be then it can be done. If anyone else wants to see this feature added please let me know. You can reach me either at jeff at racetracker do ca or by using the contact form on the main site. Or leave a comment here on the blog.

Q. You should add a link to our training calendar (currently only available from the "Teams" page) from the first page you come to when you log in. A majority of people's use on the site will be entering workouts with only the occasional race (since workouts happen much more frequently). This link should be readily available when entering the site.

A. Done! The login page now leads more easily to the training calendar, as well as to race features, team reports and member profile pages.

Q. The race tracker website seems to be "spazzing" out a bit. I went into the page to enter new workouts and the graph at the top is all screwed up. Things are overlapping each other, dates are not lined up, etc... I was able to enter new workouts without any problem, just can't modify anything since the links are not lined up with the days.

A. Fixed. There were some issues with Microsoft's Internet Explorer but these have been addressed. For the technically minded, the training calendar is all done with CSS kung fu, and IE has some well-known quirks that caused the graph to blow up. My bad - 99% of the work on the RaceTracker site is done on a Mac but it should still have been tested more frequently using IE. If any other layout issues arise, please contact me immediately. You can also try using Firefox or Safari, those browsers should work perfectly.

That's all for now. The beta test is nearly complete, as almost all features for this release are up and running. For details about all the new stuff please look for a later post.

Thanks to all for the feedback,

- Jeff

First (Past the) Post

Testing... one two three... This will be the place to go for help, updates, and discussions about RaceTracker, the bestest online application for triathletes, duathletes and runners to keep track of their race results.

Trying to respond to each and every email from users is starting to get time-consuming, plus this will be a good spot to post news about Beta products, upgrades and the like.

Happy training and racing!