RaceRank™ and SufferLevel™
Presented by Endurance Nation

Just How Hard Will Your Race Be?

Difficulty Level Chart - LowEndurance Nation Teaches Triathletes How to Race Better.

We are the creators of the Four Keys of Race Execution™ and home of the FirstTimeFinish™ Guarantee. Since 2007 we have helped more than 20,000 triathletes reach their finish line of choice…most of them at the Ironman® distance. We do this through a combination of training plans, educational resources and our online community. In our quest to create the smartest triathletes possible, we have created two new resources: RaceRank™ and SufferLevel™.

View/Download RaceRank™    |   View/Download SufferLevel™

What if You Could Compare Ironman® Races to One Another?

It all started with that simple question. While you can read race reports and listen to race podcasts, it’s hard to get a sense of how different courses stack up to one another. As coaches, we have travelled to and trained or competed on almost every course…so we decided to create a ranking system: Endurance Nation RaceRank™.

RaceRank™ gives each race a score that allows comparison across venues. More than “just” elevation, this ranking would allow folks to know where there race falls in the grand scheme of things on six sets of criteria:

  • Swim Venue / Course — River, lake or ocean? One or two loops? Lots of factors!
  • Total Bike Elevation — How does the bike compare?
  • Total Run Elevation — How challenging is the run course?
  • Overall Elevation of the Race Venue — The addition of Boulder makes this relevant.
  • Average Weather Over the Past Five Years — The more diverse or challenging the weather, the harder the race.
  • % of DNFs Across (Ideally) Last Five Years — The more DNFs, the harder the race.

Each of the six criteria receives a score from 1 to 5:

          1 = Easy          2 = Normal          3 = Challenging          4 = Hard          5 = Super Hard

The overall venue score is determined by adding up all of the criteria. This way no one single factor or anecdotal element outweighs all of the others. Click on the name of any race to download the race rank file; races are presented in chronological order. Please note — not all races are currently ranked, so check back soon!

Difficulty Level Chart - Low

Official RaceRank™ Data

 Ironman® Texas Ironman® Coeur D`Alene Ironman® Los Cabos
 Ironman® Canada Ironman® Wisconsin Ironman® Florida
 Ironman® Lake Placid Ironman® Chattanooga Ironman® Arizona
 Ironman® Vineman Ironman® Maryland Ironman® Cozumel
 Ironman® Boulder Ironman® Hawaii Ironman® Tulsa 
 Ironman® Mont Tremblant Ironman® Louisville

SufferLevel™ — Know Your Race! [top]

What is SufferLevel™ by Endurance Nation?

SufferLevel™ is a metric based on the current weather, terrain, etc., a comprehensive score that allows participants to modify their approach to racing the event. Regardless of how you train, your race performance is predicated on how you execute. And your execution plan has to work within the constraints of the day you are racing — aka The Weather. 

Why SufferLevel™?

Athletes constantly check the weather in the days leading up to their event, but they don’t necessarily have the experience or racing strategy options available to make appropriate decisions about execution based on the evolving conditions. Example — The temperature will be 65 in the AM, but 82 in the PM…is or is that not hot?

SufferLevel™ is Updated 48 Hours Before Every Race

The file you download below was our best guess at conditions for that race at that time. Downloading an old guide for this year won’t really work! Bookmark this page or follow Endurance Nation on Twitter or Facebook for pre-race updates!

SufferLevel_VeryHigh

Official SufferLevel™ Data

 Ironman® Texas Ironman® Coeur D`Alene Ironman® Los Cabos
 Ironman® Canada Ironman® Wisconsin Ironman® Florida
 Ironman® Lake Placid Ironman® Chattanooga Ironman® Arizona
  Ironman® Vineman Ironman® Maryland Ironman® Cozumel
  Ironman® Boulder Ironman® Hawaii Ironman® Tulsa 
 Ironman® Mont Tremblant Ironman® Louisville