Second Edition of the Marathon: Environmental and Public Health Aspects

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue revealed the pacing pattern of Eliud Kipchoge, who recently ran a marathon in less than 2 hours. The best marathon times are run at a pace distribution that is statistically inconstant and has negative asymmetry. Marathon performance depends on pacing oscillations between extreme values, allowing recovery and optimisation of the complementary aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms. These findings suggest new ways to approach pacing to optimise endurance performance, even in non-elite runners who must learn how to be connected with their rate of perception of exertion (RPE) to manage their pace without the necessity of running at the constant speed or heart rate. Indeed, although the marathon race has been democratised, it remains complex due to the famous “hitting the wall” phenomenon after the 25th km. To characterise this “wall” from a physiological and Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) perspective in recreational marathon runners, one reports the first continuous breath-by-breath gas-exchange measurements during an actual marathon race. This article showed that RPE could be a candidate for controlling marathon pace.

Beyond optimisation for health and performance, training for a marathon is also good for the planet. This Special Issue will estimate the CO₂ footprint of a person training and competing in a marathon; we will also propose methods to minimise the CO₂ footprint of transportation.

Dr. Veronique Billat
Guest Editor

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• performance
• CO₂ footprint
• health and well-being
• self-pace
• physiological strain
• VO₂max
• endurance
• running
• high-intensity interval training
• hitting the wall in marathon

• The Marathon: Environmental and Public Health Aspects in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (9 articles)