tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21026099620464483112011-07-07T21:52:43.268-04:00Companion blog to Racetracker.ca and Race-Tracker.net.CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-92072689856849143182009-12-12T20:53:00.002-05:002009-12-12T20:55:44.763-05:00

The Racetracker blog has moved to a new location! Find us now at www.racetracker.ca/blog or www.race-tracker.net/blog

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-3232994941090599222009-12-09T20:51:00.003-05:002009-12-10T11:24:10.674-05:00

Before I get to the New Stuff, have you seen the number of clubs signed up this year? 87! That's the most we've had in the four years the NCC has been around, and the miles are piling up to prove it. So that's pretty exciting all in itself.Benchmarks This year the prizes are being given out a little bit differently. The benchmarks are still in place but instead of rewarding the team who reaches

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-35616687632740955902009-12-01T22:09:00.005-05:002009-12-01T22:42:56.008-05:00

Hello! And welcome to the 4th annual USA Triathlon National Challenge Competition. As I write this blog entry we now have a record 80 teams competing in the competition this year, and athletes have already started to put in the miles on Day One. First, yet another reminder of how this all works. Each month in the competition is dedicated to one triathlon discipline: December is Swim month,

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-42701437023811860622009-11-03T20:58:00.002-05:002009-11-03T21:00:51.744-05:00

Registration for the 2009-2010 edition of the USA Triathlon National Challenge Competition is now open. There are already several teams signed up - check the Teams page for a map to see who's in this year!

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-10332647733301531562009-07-23T21:44:00.000-04:002009-07-23T21:47:34.670-04:00

Up until now, some of the more advanced and cool features of Racetracker have been available only to members of official tri clubs or teams. Not any more.The training calendar, team reports and race result comparisons are now all available to everyone. Anyone joining as an individual is now automatically placed on Team No Team, while anyone who had previously joined as an individual has been put

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-90620299774120917942009-05-18T21:14:00.000-04:002009-05-18T21:22:36.551-04:00

Well, ok maybe not total world domination. But we now have a definite international flavour to our membership. Racetracker now includes members from (in no particular order):United StatesCanadaAustraliaSpainIrelandthe NetherlandsGreat BritainChinaItalySouth AfricaNot bad for a little site with no advertising budget. We depend on your recommendations for membership, people. If you like the site

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-76736348620044665112009-03-06T21:39:00.000-05:002009-03-06T21:57:42.406-05:00

You know spring is around the corner when the National Challenge Competition wraps. For some teams spring might be around the corner, down the street and straight out of town a few miles (Alaska, Buffalo) while for others spring never left (San Diego, Guam, Florida).  But for calendar watchers, the end of the NCC means the end of winter can't be far off. Some quick and unofficial numbers while

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-18575679196891112782009-02-26T20:07:00.001-05:002009-02-26T20:18:57.813-05:00

For all Club Reps entering mileage for their clubs, the cutoff date for getting the February mileage entered will be March 2 at midnight, your local time. This is to give these hard-working folks time to get all their miles entered without being under too much pressure. This doesn't mean that miles run in March can be counted - all miles entered for the Run Session must have been actually run in

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-90063797973669504472009-02-15T21:18:00.001-05:002009-02-15T21:27:40.734-05:00

The Three-peat has been thwarted! Odds-on favourites to win their third straight session, the Alaska Tri Club Red Biting Bunnies have been sent packing by their opponents from the exact opposite end of the country, the Hammerhead Tri Club!Hailing from sunny Florida, the HH crew were the first to cross the 3,000 mile mark on sunday February 15. The Hammers finished ahead of second place Tri Club

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-52882083805185374452009-02-07T14:51:00.000-05:002009-02-07T16:02:35.423-05:00

The report for the Bike Session is now being compiled and will be released officially by USAT next week, but in the meantime you may be interested in a few stats. Total Bike Mileage for the Bike Session: 235,774 miles.Average Bike Mileage per Club: 4,065 milesAverage Bike Mileage per Athlete: 212 miles. Highest average mileage: Tribe, San Jose CA: 330.78 miles per athleteVery impressive.The total

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-1151059984140918802009-02-03T20:53:00.000-05:002009-02-03T21:02:35.605-05:00

Just a gentle reminder to everyone (but club reps in particular) that all run mileage for the February Run Session must have been run in February. No carrying over miles from January, or December, or last August. February. 2009.The phone has been ringing off the hook here at Racetracker World Headquarters, deep in our blast-proof underground bunker in a secret location somewhere in the northern

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-4768216039236782612009-02-01T21:48:00.000-05:002009-02-01T21:52:38.731-05:00

Now that the official Swim Session results have been officially announced by USAT officials, you can get your very own official PDF version of the Complete Swim Session Results. It's official.The report is available on the Swim Standings page. A similar report will be available for the BIke Session as soon as the results have been tallied up, though of course you can still see the latest numbers

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-91581840310793978722009-01-26T21:34:00.000-05:002009-01-26T22:05:10.529-05:00

Heading into the final week of the bike session, the Top 10 club list is dominated by some familiar faces and some newcomers. The battle for top spot continues, with the Alaska and San Diego teams trading places numerous times this month. As of this writing (blogging?) the Red Biting Bunnies are nearly at 16,000 miles and the San Diego crew are at just under 15,000. Don't these people have day

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-37630661963163882982009-01-18T10:34:00.000-05:002009-01-18T10:53:33.076-05:00

Building on their success in the Swim Session, the Alaska Tri Club Red Biting Bunnies pulled off another win in January's Bike Session. Again besting arch-rivals the Tri Club of San Diego, the Bunnies broke the tape literally just ahead of their southern California opponents. Alaska TC RBB's hit the 10,000 mile mark on January 13 at 7:15 AM Alaska Time. Tri Club of San Diego were right behind,

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-65814552432056730172009-01-15T22:27:00.000-05:002009-01-15T22:40:48.502-05:00

Hey sports fans, so there's this new thing called Facebook that all the kids are on now, apparently you can post photos and updates and - what? You've heard of it? Well have you heard about the newest Facebook group, NCC Athletes? No? That's probably because I just created it an hour ago.Go, join, post, chat, trash-talk. See who you're competing against. Make new frenemies.First discussion thread

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-13698495616265616402009-01-07T20:00:00.000-05:002009-01-07T20:12:36.047-05:00

Just to prove their Swim session triumph was no fluke, the Alaska Tri Club decided to hit the ground riding in January. Their massive warehouse-based indoor ride-a-thon got them off to a great start, and the warm weather clubs are still playing catch-up. Even though their plan to webcast the event was foiled by technology, they still captured a few photos to prove their all around hard-core-ness.

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-45420761611519222632009-01-01T09:13:00.000-05:002009-01-01T19:41:20.030-05:00

With the swim session officially over (but open to mileage entry until Jan 2) now would be a good time to look back and reflect on all that we have learned since December 1, 2008. It seems like barely a month ago, doesn't it?Here are a few facts and figures from the opening session, as well as a few factoids containing various degrees of truthiness.Total Mileage for December: roughly 187,000

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-56992154497175196712008-12-30T21:50:00.000-05:002008-12-30T21:52:34.646-05:00

For any club reps who haven't seen the message on the admin screens yet, the deadline for entering mileage for the Swim Session will be midnight on January 2. This gives everyone enough time to enter all the December miles without worrying about spilling your drink.Happy New Year, all.

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-28153056385952538342008-12-26T16:38:00.000-05:002008-12-26T16:46:29.199-05:00

Congratulations to the Alaska Tri Club Red Biting Bunnies, the first team to hit the Swim Session benchmark of 750 miles. The Bunnies edged out their intra-club rivals the White Wabid Wabbits and perennial nemesis the Tri Club of San Diego to take the prize in the first session, and on Christmas Day no less. Santa was definitely good to the Bunnies this year! There are still prizes up for grabs,

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-9296200123038890722008-12-20T12:14:00.000-05:002008-12-20T12:18:16.319-05:00

Just a quick note to all NCC participants in the northeast - shoveling snow does not count as a 4th event for the National Challenge Competition, so please take it easy this weekend and let's not have any snow-related back injuries that might affect your performance for the rest of the competition.

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-596274276775907232008-12-15T21:45:00.000-05:002008-12-15T22:03:38.595-05:00

At the halfway mark of the Swim session, some of the usual suspects are once again in the thick of things at the top of the standings. Perennial 800 pound gorilla the Tri Club of San Diego is in the lead as of tonight with 356 swim miles, the Ford Athletic Swim & Tri Club is next with 323 miles, and the Alaska Tri Club Wabid Wabbits are in 3rd place with 295 miles. Newcomers the Buffalo Triathlon

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-52606655105720512572008-12-08T21:31:00.000-05:002008-12-08T21:36:22.863-05:00

And you thought Guam was exotic. Have a look at the following email we received this week:Sir/Ma'am,I saw the homepage for the NCC today...Unwilling to be undone by the Air Force, I am writing to say that I am competing in the NCC from a combat zone. :-) To be more specific, I am competing in the National Challenge as an individual from just outside of Sadr City in Baghdad, Iraq. Can anyone beat

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-32980924898022387892008-12-07T09:58:00.001-05:002008-12-07T10:28:53.227-05:00

Visitors to the NCC site will by now have seen the mileage roundup thingy on the home page. It tracks mileage for each discipline (that would be your swim, your bike, and your run) plus total mileage for everyone. It also tracks the number of clubs in the competition as well as the total number of athletes, both club and non-club. Sort of (ok, exactly) like this:If you or your club have a website

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-30985098722373054482008-12-07T09:55:00.000-05:002008-12-07T09:57:52.207-05:00

USA Triathlon, Race-Tracker and the rest of the National Challenge Competition athletes would like to welcome the Tri-Andersen team from Andersen Air Force base in Guam. The Tri-Anderson club now holds the record for the team located farthest from the Lower 48, ousting previous record-holders the Alaska Tri Club. To see just how far away they really are, check the Teams page and click the

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-69439445477741863182008-12-02T22:47:00.000-05:002008-12-02T22:54:56.991-05:00

Just a quick note about entering miles for your athletes (this applies to Club Reps, who are doing all the heavy lifting for their clubmates). If you make a mistake in your mileage entry, please correct it by entering a negative mileage amount to balance out the incorrect one. This way we have a full 'paper trail' for all entries. Each mileage entry is date & time-stamped. Mistakes happen, and

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-86421558110774384782008-11-22T09:00:00.001-05:002008-11-22T09:11:23.545-05:00

The USAT National Challenge Competition is now over the 30 club mark for 2008-2009. Included in that list are perennial contenders the Alaska Tri Club (Wabbits, Bunnies and Hares divisions), DC Tri Club, and the Tri Club of San Diego. This year we have some new clubs from Buffalo, Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Jose (among others) so it's looking like another heated contest. Welcome aboard

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-58806810702259418102008-11-05T21:16:00.000-05:002008-11-05T21:27:08.167-05:00

Although the competition does not get under way until December 1, club reps can login and start adding athletes to their rosters now. Results cannot yet be added, of course, but adding athletes in advance will save club reps some time. Don't forget, this year all participating athletes must be USAT members in good standing, so have those membership numbers ready when you are adding athletes to

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-91133095572336211302008-11-01T08:24:00.000-04:002008-11-01T08:32:50.443-04:00

The 2008-2009 edition of USA Triathlon's National Challenge Competition is officially underway. Registration is now open (as of November 1) for clubs who want to take part in this year's event. Last year saw over 2,000 athletes chalk up more than 1 million miles (yes) over the 3 months of the NCC, and this year we are expecting even higher numbers. Traffic on the NCC website has been high in

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-38247618559833832742008-07-20T20:17:00.000-04:002008-07-20T20:22:03.398-04:00

1. Brick Fix. At least one Racetracker-er noticed a small bug in the training calendar - brick workouts (more than one workout on the same day) showed only the distance of the first workout entered, not the correct total distance. This is in the monthly bar chart display only, not in the detailed breakdown of each workout. That has now been fixed.2. Calendar Upgrade. Calendar users now have a way

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-78201473290069840912008-03-24T09:53:00.001-04:002008-03-24T09:54:56.109-04:00

Comparing triathlon results just got easier. In the My Results / View / Compare Races section, all charts and tables are now viewable using a new 'tab' feature. This makes it much easier to toggle between swim/bike/run and percentile/pace/pf results. No more scrolling down the page to see all the charts.Layout issues with some parts of the site have been fixed, but if you do see something that

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-56686875005621663852008-03-03T22:05:00.000-05:002008-03-03T22:16:56.576-05:00

The USA Triathlon National Challenge Competition has just wrapped for another year, and this year the numbers are a ginormous improvement over last year. Granted last year was the inaugural year, but still.The combined mileage for everyone in the competition, including athletes not affiliated with a local club?1,012,163 Miles!I think a 'holy cow' is in order here. 77 clubs (though some clubs did

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-43496002122670529992008-02-26T22:15:00.000-05:002008-02-26T22:22:34.732-05:00

This post may be more for web nerds than tri geeks, but whatever.A friend just pointed out to me that the USAT National Challenge Competition site does not render the left menu properly in Internet Explorer 7. Hear that sound? That's the sound of me hitting my head against my desk. I do all my work on a Mac these days, having given up on PC a couple of years ago. The sites (Racetracker and USAT)

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-91435191454291235072008-02-11T21:08:00.000-05:002008-02-11T21:23:08.827-05:00

With all the focus lately on the USA Triathlon National Challenge Competition, it's been easy to forget about all those runners out there still putting in the miles and still racing throughout the winter. My apologies to all. Blame the triathletes and their infernal competition.But I haven't really forgotten, no I haven't. To prove it, some New Stuff has just been added to the Running Races

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-24357797154735567852008-02-08T13:59:00.000-05:002008-02-08T14:04:12.274-05:00

I've just added a Total Mileage counter to the NCC site. I thought everyone would like to know just how many total miles everyone in the competition had put in so far. Much to my amazement, and probably yours, we are over 700,000 miles! Thats enough mileage to get to the moon and back and most of the way there again. Are triathletes a bit nuts, or what?

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-67176761200077029612008-02-04T16:54:00.000-05:002008-02-04T16:58:30.713-05:00

The Run Session has begun, and already it seems that some clubs have unleashed their awesomest triathletes for the home stretch. Run 200 miles in 2 days? No problem. Bike 300+ in the same 2 days? Hardly broke a sweat.Actually these were entry errors, and the offending parties have been notified. They have graciously agreed to remove these miles, as they were intended for January. And of course

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-192962597883214452008-02-03T10:49:00.001-05:002008-02-04T16:54:07.216-05:00

A sharp-eyed Racetracker-er noticed today that the grand totals on the Team Training Report, Total Mileage were not adding up correctly. This error has been fixed. Thanks to JW in Michigan for pointing that out.On a related note, when you are entering swim mileage please take care with the distance units. An entry of 500 miles when you really meant yards will blow up your calendar real good. A

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-10133874104932348062008-02-02T11:04:00.000-05:002008-02-02T11:05:48.870-05:00

For everyone who was asking for a map feature to go with the training calendar, we now have one. Sort of.If you use the excellent mapping capabilities of Google Maps, MapMyRun or MapMyRide you'll be pleased to know that you can now embed your maps right into your Racetracker Training Calendar. This is not just a link, you can use the code provided by these sites to embed your cycling and running

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-6686981567559362252008-01-30T21:20:00.000-05:002008-01-30T21:26:01.186-05:00

Even though 9/10 of the known universe is now on the metric system, some diehards refuse to let go of ye olde imperial system of measurements. A request to allow swim workouts to be recorded in any units, not just kilometers or miles, has been been fulfilled. Swimmers can now enter their workouts in yards, meters, miles or kilometers. We're still working on rods, furlongs, and Egyptian Royal

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-45182703449249459742008-01-29T10:31:00.000-05:002008-01-29T13:25:07.936-05:00

First of all, a big welcome to the DC Tri Club, the latest club to sign on to Race-Tracker.net. I think that might be called a 'shout out' in some circles but then again that might be so yesterday. In any case, welcome aboard.Some very cool new features have been added to Racetracker this month, for the exclusive use of team/club members. What kind of features? These kind:Team Reports have been

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-86191279901426792652007-05-18T20:38:00.000-04:002007-05-18T21:08:27.419-04:00

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

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2102609962046448311.post-82041362413942402582007-05-15T16:15:00.000-04:002007-05-15T16:19:48.502-04:00

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

CarbonManhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02517177841516004780noreply@blogger.com0