Coach Cox

What started as a personal project 13 years ago has almost grown into a job! Weekly data updates, ongoing maintenance, bug fixing, and new developments are part of my routine. The one constant being that progress is driven by my own interests. I thought I’d share some of my plans for the future of the site and open up to input on what you’d like to see.

I’ll also take this opportunity to mention that maintaining the stats might feel like a job but I don’t directly earn anything from it. I hope they bring people to my coaching or to seeking consultancies on race selection. And I accept donations, if you find this site useful you can help out by clicking a donate button.

Let’s take a look at what I’ve got planned.

Basic Race Stats

This one is obvious: a page summarising competitor numbers and data for each race. Gender, age group, country – just basic demographics for each event. I have a stub of code in place ready for this but – if I’m honest – it hasn’t interest me enough to finish! It should be a straight forward build though, so I’ll get this one done soon.

Race Meta Data

Beyond the results there’s a lot of event information that could be useful. Course distances, elevation, weather etc. All have potential impacts on performance. In many respects this is a trivial addition, connecting a few new data points to a race isn’t hard. There’s a bit of labour gathering and sanitising data, initially at least.

The bigger project is utilising this new information. Going beyond just displaying a few extra race details and incorporating it into tools for analysing results. There’s lots of potential. Which brings me to my next couple of ideas.

Race Comparison

Before I took the data online, articles analysing and comparing results were a regular feature. I still write some, but it’s a laborious process. I’d like to incorporate comparison into the site so as you explore results you can easily add other race data to the charts.

While examining the finisher distribution for Ironman California you’d be able to add the finishers distribution from a previous year(s) or another race entirely. This could be apply to any chart or table where comparison makes sense.

This shouldn’t be too difficult to implement in principle but I can see myself getting sidelined into some needed code-refactoring in the process. That will add time.

Race Normalisation

Perhaps the most challenging concept – a way to normalise race results for better comparison. We’re all aware races vary in course, conditions and the athletes present. This makes direct comparison a challenge. So, how do we do it?

My conclusion is there’s no perfect answer and what might be effective for front-of-pack athletes won’t apply mid-pack (or vice-versa). That’s held me back. But I’ve an idea to build a framework for multiple methods of normalisation and comparative processes so that users can chooses the approach they like best. Or, models can be weighted and grouped to form aggregate comparisons for different performance brackets.

This one’s very much in the speculative, conceived-while-walking-the-dog phase of development. The framework itself is simple. Some of the normalisations methods will be more time consuming.

Qualification Analysis

I offer a race consultancy service where I advise athletes on race selection. This uses analysis tools I’ve developed but not made available through the site as they’re intensive and it maintains an advantage to consulting with me.

But I also see benefits for consultancy clients having ongoing access to current analyses for their race choices. I’ve a plan to take the data online for those who consult with me and those interested in these more individual stats. However, my intention is this would be a paid feature. This is the only area I might charge for, everything else will remain open to all.

Race Analysis Videos

You may have read one of my post-race analysis articles. I’ve been inconsistent with them lately because they’re often dull to write! Especially when a race is just average. Also, does anyone read on the internet anymore? Is anyone reading this now?

I’m considering the move to video. Walking through an analysis on screen, perhaps covering multiple events in a single video to focus on the interesting stats. This is less a development problem then a time problem problem. I’m going to explore the idea with some video guides to using the site.

Your ideas?

If I had a development timeline these five ideas would top it. But perhaps there are other features that would be much more useful? I’m open to suggestions.

I’ve not included simple one-offs either. Individual stats that crop up along the way. A current example is my comparison of old and new qualification methods. There’s scope for many more of these. So, if you have a question about Ironman let me know too.

I’ll continue adding new data, bug fixing and error correcting on existing data and growing the features on the site. If you’d like to support this work, you can make a donation below.