Physiological and Race Pace Characteristics of Medium and Low-Level Athens Marathon Runners
1
School of Physical Education and Sport Science, Democritus University of Thrace, 69100 Komotini, Greece
2
Ergoscan Physical Performance Evaluation Center, Ionias 110, 17456 Alimos, Greece
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sports 2020, 8(9), 116; https://doi.org/10.3390/sports8090116
Received: 6 July 2020
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Revised: 17 August 2020
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Accepted: 19 August 2020
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Published: 21 August 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 9th Greek Conference of Biochemistry and Physiology of Exercise)
This study examined physiological and race pace characteristics of medium- (finish time < 240 min) and low-level (finish time > 240 min) recreational runners who participated in a challenging marathon route with rolling hills, the Athens Authentic Marathon. Fifteen athletes (age: 42 ± 7 years) performed an incremental test, three to nine days before the 2018 Athens Marathon, to determine maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max), maximal aerobic velocity (MAV), energy cost of running (ECr) and lactate threshold velocity (vLTh), and were analyzed for their pacing during the race. Moderate- (n = 8) compared with low-level (n = 7) runners had higher (p < 0.05) VO2 max (55.6 ± 3.6 vs. 48.9 ± 4.8 mL·kg−1·min−1), MAV (16.5 ± 0.7 vs. 14.4 ± 1.2 km·h−1) and vLTh (11.6 ± 0.8 vs. 9.2 ± 0.7 km·h−1) and lower ECr at 10 km/h (1.137 ± 0.096 vs. 1.232 ± 0.068 kcal·kg−1·km−1). Medium-level runners ran the marathon at a higher percentage of vLTh (105.1 ± 4.7 vs. 93.8 ± 6.2%) and VO2 max (79.7 ± 7.7 vs. 68.8 ± 5.7%). Low-level runners ran at a lower percentage (p < 0.05) of their vLTh in the 21.1–30 km (total ascent/decent: 122 m/5 m) and the 30–42.195 km (total ascent/decent: 32 m/155 m) splits. Moderate-level runners are less affected in their pacing than low-level runners during a marathon route with rolling hills. This could be due to superior physiological characteristics such as VO2 max, ECr, vLTh and fractional utilization of VO2 max. A marathon race pace strategy should be selected individually according to each athlete’s level.
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Keywords:
endurance; aerobic performance; lactate threshold; running economy; maximal oxygen consumption; oxygen fractional utilization; running
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MDPI and ACS Style
Myrkos, A.; Smilios, I.; Kokkinou, E.M.; Rousopoulos, E.; Douda, H. Physiological and Race Pace Characteristics of Medium and Low-Level Athens Marathon Runners. Sports 2020, 8, 116. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports8090116
AMA Style
Myrkos A, Smilios I, Kokkinou EM, Rousopoulos E, Douda H. Physiological and Race Pace Characteristics of Medium and Low-Level Athens Marathon Runners. Sports. 2020; 8(9):116. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports8090116
Chicago/Turabian StyleMyrkos, Aristides, Ilias Smilios, Eleni M. Kokkinou, Evangelos Rousopoulos, and Helen Douda. 2020. "Physiological and Race Pace Characteristics of Medium and Low-Level Athens Marathon Runners" Sports 8, no. 9: 116. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports8090116
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