Version 1
: Received: 26 July 2024 / Approved: 27 July 2024 / Online: 30 July 2024 (09:06:40 CEST)
How to cite:
Nikolaidis, P. T.; Knechtle, B. Physiology of Marathon: A Narrative Review of Runners’ Profile and Predictors of Performance. Preprints2024, 2024072249. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.2249.v1
Nikolaidis, P. T.; Knechtle, B. Physiology of Marathon: A Narrative Review of Runners’ Profile and Predictors of Performance. Preprints 2024, 2024072249. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.2249.v1
Nikolaidis, P. T.; Knechtle, B. Physiology of Marathon: A Narrative Review of Runners’ Profile and Predictors of Performance. Preprints2024, 2024072249. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.2249.v1
APA Style
Nikolaidis, P. T., & Knechtle, B. (2024). Physiology of Marathon: A Narrative Review of Runners’ Profile and Predictors of Performance. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.2249.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Nikolaidis, P. T. and Beat Knechtle. 2024 "Physiology of Marathon: A Narrative Review of Runners’ Profile and Predictors of Performance" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202407.2249.v1
Abstract
The marathon sport events and those who participate in these have grown over the last years reflecting notably an augmentation of women and master runners participation. The aim of the present narrative review was to briefly present the results of studies on anthropometric, physiological and training characteristics, as well as predictors of performance, in marathon runners. It was observed that performance was better in runners with small body weight, body mass index, body fat percentage, and rate of endomorphy. With regards to physiology, an increased maximal oxygen uptake, anaerobic threshold, and improved running economy could result in faster race time. The training variables that could predict performance involved weekly training volume (distance) and intensity (running speed), as well as history of training (years). A combination of these three broad categories of characteristics may offer an approximate estimation of the race speed considering that other aspects (e.g., nutrition, biomechanic and motivation) influence race performance, too. In summary, the findings of the present study provided an overview of anthropometric, physiological and training characteristics associated with marathon race time; thus, an optimization of any of these characteristics would be expected to improve race time.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
