New York City Marathon: Impact of Weather Conditions on Finish Times

We've closely studied the relationship between weather conditions and finish results over a multi-year period for some of the world's top endurance events, including the Boston Marathon, Chicago Marathon and Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.

We've also analyzed New York City Marathon results vs weather conditions over a 10-year period, and here are the results. While not definitive, it appears faster marathons in New York City are run when temperatures are between 48 and 52 degrees. Naturally, hotter days lead to much slower times.

For comparison, take a look at our analysis of Weather Condition Impact on Race Performance at the Chicago Marathon and Boston Marathon.

For more, see our complete New York City Marathon Coverage, and for even more, see our comprehensive analytics archive, including more than 200 posts, in our Stats/Results/Analysis tab.

Marine Corps Marathon: Pace Charts by Age Group

We analyzed results of all 20,000+ finishers in the 2009 Marine Corps Marathon to identify the actual  splits at major checkpoints, and pace per mile of each age group, by section of the course. If you're looking to run at about the average pace for your age group, these are your targets. If not, use these as approximate guides to calibrate your own pace chart. For more, see our Complete Marine Corps Marathon Coverage.

Ironman SwimSmart Initiative = 3% to 4% Faster Average Swim Splits

As anyone who's been through it will tell you, starting the swim simultaneously with 2500 splashing, thrashing and smashing triathletes is unpleasant at the least. In response to the increasing challenges of mass swim starts, Ironman has introduced the SwimSmart Initiative in North America to eliminate many of the hassles and even the dangers of starting all athletes at once. The initiative has many very sensible elements, the most important being a self-seeded gradual swim start. Details here.

The Big Question: Will the SwimSmart Initiative Lead to Faster Swim Splits?

The answer, based on the initiative's debut at Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2013 is: a 3% to 4% faster swim, or 2.5 minutes faster, on average, compared to IM CDA's 2010 to 2012 swim splits; 5% or more if you just compare 2012 and 2013. More important is the improvement in results by age; many of the younger, and typically faster, age groups saw improvements in the 5% to 6% range. That's a 4 or 5 minute swim split improvement.

Safer swim starts and faster swim splits. Can't beat that. Here's our analysis comparing swim splits by age group at Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2012 and 2013.

For more, see our complete IM CDA 2013 Results Analysis, our Stats/Results/Analysis Archive or Home Page/Index.

For more on SwimSmart results, see the Triathete Magazine article featuring our analysis.