JackRabbit Indoor Triahtlon at the McBurney YMCA

http://www.jackrabbitsports.com/indoor-tri

Indoor Triathlon Details

Ever wonder what it feels like to do a triathlon? Hope to one day do an Ironman and wondering where to begin? Get started with JackRabbit's Indoor Triathlon: swim for 10 minutes, bike for 30 minutes, and run for 20 minutes. Scoring is based on how much distance you cover in each event.

INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS: The top finishers in each race will qualify to enter the Indoor Tri Championships at Asphalt Green on March 22. Each participant will get a special Indoor Tri race shirt available only to participants in the championships, and winners will receive JackRabbit gift certificates (valued at $100–300).

CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS: The club with the most total points will receive a discount club night at JackRabbit in April 2015. All club members can save some money while gearing up for the season. So race fast, race often, and get your teammates great deals!

How does an Indoor Triathlon Work?

Each participant signs up for an approximate start time during registration. We start six people every 15 minutes throughout the event. Please arrive at least 45 minutes before your start time to allow time to change and check in.

The race is broken into three segments, totaling 60 minutes of racing: 10 minutes in the pool, 30 minutes on a spin bike, and 20 minutes on a treadmill. Transition times are fixed between events and do not count toward participants’ scores. Racers should bring their own towels for use during and after the race.

Racers are graded on a curve: The furthest distance in each category gets 100 points, the shortest gets 1, and the “score” for the race is the total number of points. All three events count equally toward the final score. (Racers will also see the raw data used to compute each score.)

In the pool: We will have no more than two racers in any lane in the pool at any time. Each group of racers will start at the same time, and the head referee for the pool will use a whistle to mark the start and stop time. No diving starts allowed. When the stop whistle blows, all racers must stop in place. Racers who have made it more than halfway down a lane will be given credit for ½ a lap. Racers who move after they have come to a stop and before they have been given permission by the head ref will lose credit for one lap. Racers must wear a swim cap, and cannot wear wetsuits. Hands and feet must be uncovered. (No paddles, gloves, fins, boots, etc). No snorkels permitted.

Transition 1: Racers will be given 10–15 minutes to go to the locker room, change into clothing for cycling and running, get to the cycling room, and adjust the seat, handlebar height, and resistance of the spin bike. We do not want people getting injured by slipping and falling in their rush to get to the bikes, so we allow ample transition time.

On the bike: Racers can set the resistance on the spin bikes to whatever they want. Since this is a spin bike, the implication is that the person with the highest sustained RPM will record the highest score. Racers can adjust their bikes mid-ride if they desire. Racers cannot bring their own pedals—we will provide pedals with toeclips. Each bike will be outfitted with a computer that will measure distance by counting the number of times the flywheel goes around. All computers will have the same circumference programmed in to measure distance. This is not meant to correspond exactly to the actual distance cycled. Bike computers will not show cadence. The head ref for the bike area will ensure that the trip counter on each bike computer is set to zero before each group starts, and that nobody false-starts. Racers will be allowed to bring two water bottles with them for the bike, each of which must fit in the water bottle cages provided.

Transition 2: There will not be a formal transition area for T2, however racers may choose to bring a change of shoes, a second water bottle, and any nutritional products they would like to consume. Racers will be allowed a relatively short time to transition from the bike room to the run; exact time will depend on the facility.

On the run: Runs will be done on the treadmills that are provided by the facility. We will make an effort to ensure that all treadmills are of the same brand and are calibrated accurately, but cannot guarantee that all treadmills are exactly calibrated. Each participant will have 20 minutes on the treadmill to run as far as possible.

Scoring

Volunteers will record the distances for each racer in each event. Distances are: number of laps swum accurate to 0.5 laps (could be a 20- or 25-yard pool depending on the facility); “miles” cycled as reported by the trip computer accurate to 1/100 of a mile; distance run on the treadmill accurate to 1/100 mile. The run will be the adjusted distance computed using the formula above and rounded to the nearest 0.001. Each of these scores will be reported to the racer after they are done with the segment, and will be validated by the head ref of that area. Any protests will be noted at the time they are recorded, but the judgment of the head ref of each area is final; no adjustments will be performed to the racer's score after the fact.

After all participants have completed the race, a score will be computed for each event. If “s” is the shortest distance recorded in that event, “f” is the longest distance recorded in that event, and “a” is that racer’s actual distance, then each person will be given a score of 100.0-((f-a)/(f-s))*99.0, rounded to the nearest 0.1, for that event. The furthest distance will receive 100.0, the shortest distance will receive 1.0, and anything in between will be linearly interpolated between the two. The racer’s total score will be computed by adding the scores for all three events.