Abstract
Background: The purpose of this study was to establish sex-specific percentile curves and values for the running pace of Brazilian non-professional runners. Methods: The sample comprised 1152 amateur runners aged 18–72 (61.8% males), from the five Brazilian regions. The runners answered an online questionnaire providing information about their biological (sex, age, height, weight) and training (volume and frequency/week, running pace) characteristics. Using 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile, the running pace was computed for women and men by age groups and by running distances (5 km, 10 km, 21 km, and 42 km). Sex- and age-specific percentile curves (10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th) were created through the Lambda Mu Sigma method. Results: For all ages and distance, men performed better than women, and a decrease in the performance was observed across age groups. Among male runners, the beginning of their thirties and the end of their forties seem to be the moments where they observed substantial improvements in running pace; among female runners, this improvement phase was observed to be more pronounced toward the end of their forties. Conclusions: Percentile values of running pace could help coaches during training programs and runners to better understand “how well” they are comparing against their peers.
Highlights
Sport performance can be defined in different ways, based on the modality considered, as well as specific abilities evaluated [1]
The sample was comprised for 1152 runners from both sexes, aged between 18 and 72 years, with a mean body mass index (BMI) of 24.2 ± 3.1 kg.m−2
Findings of the present study showed that (1) among male runners, the beginning of their thirties and the end of their forties seem to be the moments with substantial improvements in their running performance; (2) among female runners, this improvement phase was observed to be more pronounced toward the end of their forties; and (3) women presented slower running pace than men, in all age-groups
Summary
Sport performance can be defined in different ways, based on the modality considered, as well as specific abilities evaluated [1]. Beside the running pace as the target to be achieved during training, pacing strategy has been frequently used to control energy expenditure during running events [4] Based on this index, and taking into account the increase in the number of road runners participating in events of the modality in least years, sports events organizers tend to split athletes into different groups (based on athletes’ reported running pace or estimated time to cover the distance) before the running starts [5,6,7,8]. The purpose of this study was to establish sex-specific percentile curves and values for the running pace of Brazilian non-professional runners. Conclusions: Percentile values of running pace could help coaches during training programs and runners to better understand “how well” they are comparing against their peers
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