Masterstrack.com unveils handy-dandy pace/split calculator
Chris Dellinger, the brains behind our Trainlog online diary, provides a cool new tool — a split/pace calculator. Of course, this isn’t a first. (Lots of sites offer pace calculators). But ours is the best! Type in a desired time for any given distance and hit CALCULATE to see splits and other info on this pace. It works great. Chris has been working on this for a while, and he writes: “I did make some changes based upon your feedback as well as from several other sites that use our functionality. . . . The biggest change you’ll see . . . is that we put two tabs on the page to let you either calculate your pace for your splits or predict a time for one run based upon a time from another run.” Here’s what a 6:30 mile yields:
masterstrack.com blog turns 6; site going on 13 years
In February 1996, I started a site on AOL called the Masters Track & Field Home Page. I had no idea of its reach until that summer, when I was waiting in line to use a pay phone (young’ns, you can Google the term) at the Atlanta Olympic stadium. I got into a chat with the guy behind me. I told him about my site, and he nonchalantly replied: “Oh yeah, I’ve been there.” And the guy was from England! Wow! That was only the first of many OMG moments. Another came tonight, when I was checking my traffic. My hit counter says 101,000 unique users returned to this site in 2008. Heck, that’s like the L.A. Coliseum with people overflowing the upper rows! Enough throat-clearing. I’m here to thank y’all for visiting this site as it nears teenager status, and this blog, launched Jan. 5, 2003, on a whim. Dave Clingan, my webmaster partner, made a huge contribution by merging his rankings site with mine in late 1999 and urging me to register the domain name masterstrack.com. The rest is history.
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Masterstrack.com greets mastersathletics.net
Today in the IAAF Lounge I discovered a European-based stats site that has the potential to advance the masters movement as much as, uh, us. It’s called mastersathletics.net and it features records and seasonal rankings not seen anywhere since, uh, us. But enough snarkiness. This page is a player, with sharp design and serious content. The cool part is site founder Martin Gasselsberger of Austria appears not to give a fig for WMA niceties. He’s updating world age-group records on the fly, not waiting for Sandy Pashkin or other WMA muckymucks to deliver their royal blessings. In other words, Martin is trying to offer a genuine set of world masters records as they happen — not years after the fact.
10 Responses
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Thomas Fahey - September 10, 2006
This site is typical. They call it an athletics page but made no mention of any of the field events.
The runners obviously don’t give a damn about the field event athletes but they should. Track and field is not exactly a thriving sport. I know of many masters throwers who gave up on the sport because of our second class status. Dwindling numbers mean fewer meets for everyone.
Ken, instead of applauding their efforts you should make them accountable for their omission. -
Larry Barnum - September 10, 2006
Hey, give this guy a friggin’ break. This is a great site. Thanks Ken for the heads up. It’s still a work in progress but it has birthdates, location, ranking, etc. Seems like the intention is there to become thorough.
It’s an imperfect world but anyone wanting to take this task on should be applauded and supported for all that he’s attempting to do. It’s quite impressive, long overdue and in no way typical.
Sure Tom,I can understand your frustration of feeling left out, being treated like track’s ugly step child rather than partner; it’s generally true throwers and jumpers and runners often don’t understand each other’s marks and struggles.
But how in the world(and why?)do ya make some one “accountable” who’s volunteering to provide a needed service to the best of his ability? Hey, so much for motivation.
I’ve seen your frequent posts, so I know you do a lot for throwers, but I’d be silly to complain that you rarely say anything nice about runners.
Let’s see if we can get others (maybe some throwers) to add on to what he’s started and get some recognition for both Track and Field. -
Larry: I’ve never said anything negative about runners. The point is, the new web site is not about athletics, it’s about running. I don’t have a problem calling it a running site, but don’t call it an athletics web site because it has missed half the sport. Why not start with the field events? It’s the same old crap: “We’ll start with the running events and get to the field events eventually (which they never do).
You’re a 400 meter guy. At meets, people in your event get the best officials and never have abreviated competitions. At the Nationals this year, while you were having semis, and finals, some of the field events were decided by the results of the trials alone.
it’s easy for you to tell us to stop complaining. Runners are not the people who get the short end of the stick. This website is just another example. -
Mary Harada - September 10, 2006
It is a pretty impressive site so far. Hopefully it will be expanded to include the world indoor track records and the indoor and outdoor field events also. It is a tremendous amount of work to collect and enter all this data and personally I applaud the effort however limited it may be.
I sympathize with Mr. Fahey in that the field events are not part of the website so far. Hopefully this will be added. The sport of Athletics includes field as well as track events. If I were a field event athlete I would feel very frustrated I am sure.
The links to various meets throught out the world is great – now I can daydream about competing in India (whoops missed the deadline) South America – did consider that but decided that I have had enough track meets for 2006, and Australia – same thing – saving my travel money for Italy next year. -
Tom,
I can understand at Nationals all the frustrations everyone had about not getting enough throws. Ya paid your money; ya had every expectation to get to throw. But I don’t understand what aggressively “make them accountable” would even mean or would ever accomplish in this instance.
Martin seems passionate about some aspects of Athletics. He’s voluntarily taken on a tremendous task. Good for him. With all these links he’s offered, meets he’s looked through, data he’s had to enter. It’s very impressive. And saves me a lot of work and is gonna waste me a lot of time following them.
And it’s a free web site, in at least 2 languages; so however misleading, he gets to call it whatever he wants; we can fill in our own editorial asides or not visit it.
I’d guess he knows more about running, probably distances, so that’s where he’s started, pleasing more of us runners and of course, displeasing the hurdlers, steeplechasers, and field event athletes. I think hurdling and steeple may be already covered by Dave Ortman; hopefully they can combine them.
So maybe “they” start with the running events because that’s their passion; instead of trying to make him accountable, why not persuade some throwers to step up and do some heavy lifting?
Now,if you think runners never get short changed or abbreviated events, then clearly ya don’t know what you’re talkin about. You’re right most of the time but at Indoor Nationals in most of the running events, to save time, they don’t have semi’s, they only have finals. And it doesn’t make sense, but they run the supposedly faster heat first, so someone could sneak in for a medal by running a faster time in the slower seeded second heat. And I’ve been at meets where I’ve had to run with 25 people in the 400M, no lanes, breaking at the gun; or once at the Huntsman Games when at the last minute they arbitrarily combined all age groups of the 800m in one heat, and I had to start behind slower and older runners in front. Yeah, it’s not fair, wasn’t what we agreed upon or paid for, but it does happen. But obviously not as often as with throwers.
So like I said, it’s an imperfect world. So how can we appreciate what we do have, particularly sites like Mastertrack(andfield) and Masterathletics(missingthefield), and work together, encouraging and inspiring each other, to round off more of the rough, uneven spots, that are inevitably out there? -
martin - September 11, 2006
hello ken hello to all!
about track and field:
at first i have to say it is my hobby and so i put first the running records online. BUT i work hard on it that 2007 most of the field records are online. unfortunatley i have not as much time as i need.
it is my passion (thank you to my girlfriend (design and technic) and in a foreseeable time a complete website (track and field) should be online. i am grateful for each suggestion.
thank you
with best regards
martin gasselsberger
(i speek english not very well so i hope you understand what i wrote) -
ps: about the question “Is this website commercially”
this site is not commercially only over the google advertisement i hope that i can finance at least the server place.
im just interested in sport (generally mastersathletics) and thats the only reason why i made this website.
martin gasselsberger -
all competitors can find something to complain about, runners as well as field event folks, if you have ever run a 3k, 5k, or 10k, or the race walks, you have experienced horrible lap counting. Sometimes it is so bad that results are nullified or world records tossed out with the patronizing comment of “oh well she can do it again” for world records nullified for 80 year old women at the WMA meet in San Sebastian for example. No world records were allowed for the 3k women age 65 and up in Linz. And the lap counting for the 1500m was just as pathetic, good grief it is just 3 3/4 laps and they could not manage that. So you field event folks who feel put upon for being done out of throws, just imagine beating your self nearly to death in a 10k on the track and the lap counters have no clue what lap you are on – expecting you to drop a rock on each lap? then they tell you to stop and you do, only to be told to start again as you are one lap shy – etc. It is not a perfect world anywhere including at track and field meets. Instead of moaning about being left off a website – offer to help collect the data, instead of complaining about lap counting, offer to help count and if you are in a distance race on the track – always have a friend at hand to write down your splits and keep count for you. As for being shortchanged in the throws – yell like hell- might help, can’t hurt.
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Milton Girouard - September 11, 2006
I think the Masterstrack.com website has done the best job in keeping everyone happy as a whole in track and field! Dave has compiled #’s for runnners, jumpers and throwers and I have never seen him favor any specific group as far as getting stats up or when he posts results. I’m sure all the runners out there are about to wet their shorts over mastersathletics.net, but It is, what it is… a runners site and by how it’s getting started, will always be prefferencial to runners. Theres nothing wrong with that either, just don’t call it mastersathletics giving an impression of overall coverage. Call it trackmasters.net or onlytalentedenoughtoputonefootinfrontoftheother.net …LOL… JUST KIDDING, but you get my drift. Dave at masterstrack.com is still the King, at least to me, at getting that kind of site up and running and treating the track and FIELD community equal and happy at the same time. The day Dave decides to stop what he’s doing will be sad day for all masters track and field athletes. I hope at sometime , you all get a chance to tell or write Dave, and let him know how much you appreciate his work. MASTERSTRACK.COM will always be the leader in Masters track and field results, news and info in the USA and the World. I know you people across the pond get on here and read with envy all about us Stud yanks!! LOL… Take care, train hard and be healthy..Milton Girouard
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David E. Ortman - September 11, 2006
FR: David E. Ortman (M53) Seattle, WA
Just to clarify that the thanks for compiling the U.S. masters rankings lists (for ALL events) goes to Dave Clingan and Larry Patz. I just fiddle with the World Rankings for High Hurdles and Steeplechase. In past years, I was a U.S. masters ranker for a few field events but found it to be overwhelming when so many meet results were sent to NMN in feet and inches and not metric. That doesn’t happen in the track events. And it is less of a problem these days, but I know that the State Senior Games folks still don’t understand metric measurments.
In the past, I’ve put out pleas for those intrested in world rankings to compile an event and post it. Many complain (including me) about lack of world masters rankings, but few are willing to compile. I think Martin’s Austrian website is a GREAT start and would also encourage the throwing, jumping community to get to work to compile an event or two while we wait for WMA to get off its butt.
3 Responses
Hope everyone likes it. Definitely let me know if you have any ideas how to improve it or any ideas for other types of calculators that would be helpful.
Chris
There used to be a calculator somewhere online that allowed you to input a current race time, percent of improvement you’d like to make, and then calculate what the projected finishing time would be based on those numbers. Has anyone seen it? Or is this a job for Chris the Calculator Guy? 🙂
Hey Donna, just saw your comment. On the “Pace Split” screen I’ve added the ability for you to increase/decrease your time by 1% increments. Take a look and let me know if this is doing what you were asking for.
Chris
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