Competitive AGs

Women are  in the OA category, while they are not in your AG.

^^^^^ That's probably your answer.

But yes, some AGs tend to be more competitive, at least in the races I've done.  Often the 34-39 and 40-44 groups are quite competitive, on average, overall, although the absolute speed demons (overall winners) often come from the younger groups 24-29 and 30-34 mostly, I think).

I always finish better overall than in the AG. If you're male and not at the extremes (old or young), that will likely be the case.

I'm always a higher percentile overall than in my AG (M35-39).  Considering that there are a bunch of obscenely fast guys in my AG, it makes sense.

Thanks for the feedback.
I guess it all makes sense, and I'll have a better idea of what standards to aim for.

That could be the case.  Just did my first triathlon and my AG had the most people in it... 35-39.  Lots of people in the "older guy" categories placed well... in fact had I been in the 20-34 range my time would have been first in any of the AG's instead of 5th.  My first impression of triathlons is that it isn't really a youthful sport.  Which is why my race has a youth race immediately following the adult race, they were very specific in hopes of drawing more interest to the sport, it maybe becoming a collegiate sport, etc.    

In smaller races it's not unusual that my finishing time would my place me higher if I were in a younger AG.  Just depends on who shows up!  Not so much in larger races, though.

Brian

You'll find that M35-39 will be the largest and most competitive AG in just about every race you do. When I did IMLP in 2006, 418 out of 2160 athletes were in that AG and IMAZ in 2007 it was 426 out of 2066. That's 20% of the field in a single AG.

Makes sense, too, given the general state of affairs for guys that age: kids are old enough that they can take some time to train, belly has probably been gradually expanding since college and it's time to do something about it, income has risen to the point they can afford participating, mid-life crises are beginning and it's time to take on a challenge, still young enough to handle the training without too many aches and pains.

As a women in the 45-49 AG, I do better in my AG by usually by a lot compared to overall. All us women and especially us older women make men's overall place higher. I like races that do gender splits and you can see how you do compared to all men and all women as it is more realistic.

So you get the opposite effect I do, placing overall higher as us women make you look better then you do in your AG.