Abstract
Abstract Aims: to identify and describe the clustering of characteristics related to running amongst Brazilian runners using latent class analysis and to verify if there is a profile associated with better performance. Material and Methods: a sample of 1149 Brazilian runners answered an online questionnaire, that provided information about biological (sex, age, height, weight), training (running pace, frequency and volume/week, motivation), and socioeconomic factors, as well as a multidimensional questionnaire of fear of failure. Latent Class Analysis was used to identify subgroups of Brazilian runners, based on BMI, training volume and frequency/week, motivation, socioeconomic factors, and the fear of failure. Further, a χ2 test was computed to verify statistical differences in the frequency of the descriptive variables between classes. Finally, binary logistic regression analysis estimated factors associated with running performance, with running pace as the dependent variable. Results: It was possible to identify two different classes among Brazilian runners, which were called “amateur runners” and “recreational runners”. Variables that highlighted classes’ differences were: volume and frequency training/week, motivation for the practice, and BMI. Regarding the running performance, logistic regression analysis showed that men (OR=5.39; 95%CI=4.00-7.25), young runners (OR=0.38; 95%CI=0.28-0.51), and “amateur runners” (OR=4.19; 95%CI=2.95-5.94) were more prone to have higher performance. Conclusion: Two distinct classes were found among Brazilian runners that were linked to their performance, highlighting that even among non-professional runners, differences can be observed regarding their classification. Hence, future studies should consider using these classes to properly stratify or identify non-professional runners.
Highlights
In recent years, the number of road runners has considerably increased around the world[1], but this scenario has not been followed by an improvement in performance, given that the meantime to complete these races has not decreased amongst non-professional “runners” group[2]
Given the motivation for running and the variables related to training that could be associated with the Body mass index (BMI), class 1 was labeled as “recreational runners”, while class 2 was labeled as “amateur runners”
The main purpose of this study was to identify the profiles of Brazilian runners and to verify if these profiles were associated with better performance
Summary
The number of road runners has considerably increased around the world[1], but this scenario has not been followed by an improvement in performance, given that the meantime to complete these races has not decreased amongst non-professional “runners” group[2]. It is possible to observe, in each running race, participants that run under the motto “complete and not compete”, and those motivated by the idea of “health and quality of life”, as well as runners who take part in these events focused of improving performance/results[6]. These differences may reflect in their involvement in the modality, which can be seen by the number of weekly training sessions, time spent in training/week, and distance covered weekly mileage[7,8], which can be related to their commitment to the practice and, with the performance
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