Open AccessDifferent race pacing strategies among runners covering the 2017 Berlin Marathon under 3 hours and 30 minutes
Author(s) -
Iker Muñoz Pérez,
Marcos Mecías-Calvo,
Jorge Crespo-Álvarez,
María Luisa Sámano-Celorio,
Pablo Agudo-Toyos,
Carlos Lago-Fuentes
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0236658
Subject(s) - elite , demography , medicine , zoology , biology , political science , sociology , politics , law
The purposes of this study were 1) to analyse the different pacing behaviours based on athlete's performance and 2) to determine whether significant differences in each race split and the runner's performance implied different race profiles. A total of 2295 runners, which took part in Berlin’s marathon (2017), met the inclusion criteria. 4 different groups were created based on sex and performance. Men: Elite (<02:19:00 h), Top 1 (<02:30:00 h), Top 2 (<02:45:00 h) and Top 3 (<03:00:00 h); women: Elite (02:45:00 h), Top 1 (<03:00:00 h), Top 2 (<03:15:00 h), Top 3 (<03:30:00 h). With the aim of comparing the pacing between sex and performance the average speed was normalized. In men, no statistically significant changes were found between performance group and splits. A large number of significant differences between splits and groups were found amongst women: 5–10 km Top 2 vs Top 3 (P = 0.0178), 10–15 km Top1 vs Top 2 (P = 0.0211), 15–20 km Top1 vs Top 2 (P = 0.0382), 20–21.1 km Elite vs Top 2 (P = 0.0129); Elite vs Top 3 (P = 0.0020); Top1 vs Top 2 (P = 0.0233); Top 1 vs Top 3 (P = 0.0007), 25–30 km Elite vs Top 2 (P = 0.0273); Elite vs Top 3 (P = 0.0156), 30–35 km Elite vs Top 2 (P = 0.0096); Top 1 vs Top 2 (P = 0.0198); Top2 vs Top3 (P = 0.0069). In men there were little significant differences based on athletes’ performance which implied a similar pacing behaviour. Women presented numerous differences based on their performance which suggested different pacing behaviours.