IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i17p6196-d404422.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using Accelerometry for Evaluating Energy Consumption and Running Intensity Distribution Throughout a Marathon According to Sex

Author

Listed:
  • Carlos Hernando

    (Sport Service, Jaume I University, 12071 Castellon, Spain
    Department of Education and Specific Didactics, Jaume I University, 12071 Castellon, Spain)

  • Carla Hernando

    (Department of Mathematics, Carlos III University of Madrid, 28911 Leganés, Madrid, Spain)

  • Ignacio Martinez-Navarro

    (Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain
    Sports Health Unit, Vithas-Nisa 9 de Octubre Hospital, 46015 Valencia, Spain)

  • Eladio Collado-Boira

    (Faculty of Health Sciences, Jaume I University, 12071 Castellon, Spain)

  • Nayara Panizo

    (Faculty of Health Sciences, Jaume I University, 12071 Castellon, Spain)

  • Barbara Hernando

    (Department of Medicine, Jaume I University, 12071 Castellon, Spain)

Abstract

The proportion of females participating in long-distance races has been increasing in the last years. Although it is well-known that there are differences in how females and males face a marathon, higher research may be done to fully understand the intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting sex differences in endurance performance. In this work, we used triaxial accelerometer devices to monitor 74 males and 14 females, aged 30 to 45 years, who finished the Valencia Marathon in 2016. Moreover, marathon split times were provided by organizers. Several physiological traits and training habits were collected from each participant. Then, we evaluated several accelerometry- and pace-estimated parameters (pacing, average change of speed, energy consumption, oxygen uptake, running intensity distribution and running economy) in female and male amateur runners. In general, our results showed that females maintained a more stable pacing and ran at less demanding intensity throughout the marathon, limiting the decay of running pace in the last part of the race. In fact, females ran at 4.5% faster pace than males in the last kilometers. Besides, their running economy was higher than males (consumed nearly 19% less relative energy per distance) in the last section of the marathon. Our results may reflect well-known sex differences in physiology (i.e., muscle strength, fat metabolism, VO 2max ), and in running strategy approach (i.e., females run at a more conservative intensity level in the first part of the marathon compared to males). The use of accelerometer devices allows coaches and scientific community to constantly monitor a runner throughout the marathon, as well as during training sessions.

Suggested Citation

  • Carlos Hernando & Carla Hernando & Ignacio Martinez-Navarro & Eladio Collado-Boira & Nayara Panizo & Barbara Hernando, 2020. "Using Accelerometry for Evaluating Energy Consumption and Running Intensity Distribution Throughout a Marathon According to Sex," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-14, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:17:p:6196-:d:404422
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6196/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/17/6196/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daijiro Abe & Yoshiyuki Fukuoka & Masahiro Horiuchi, 2015. "Economical Speed and Energetically Optimal Transition Speed Evaluated by Gross and Net Oxygen Cost of Transport at Different Gradients," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(9), pages 1-14, September.
    2. Pantelis Theodoros Nikolaidis & Ivan Cuk & Thomas Rosemann & Beat Knechtle, 2019. "Performance and Pacing of Age Groups in Half-Marathon and Marathon," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-10, May.
    3. Gerald S Zavorsky & Kelly A Tomko & James M Smoliga, 2017. "Declines in marathon performance: Sex differences in elite and recreational athletes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(2), pages 1-17, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daniel Suter & Caio Victor Sousa & Lee Hill & Volker Scheer & Pantelis Theo Nikolaidis & Beat Knechtle, 2020. "Even Pacing Is Associated with Faster Finishing Times in Ultramarathon Distance Trail Running—The “Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc” 2008–2019," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-11, September.
    2. San-Jun Yang & Fan Yang & Yuan Gao & Yan-Feng Su & Wei Sun & Sheng-Wei Jia & Yu Wang & Wing-Kai Lam, 2022. "Gender and Age Differences in Performance of Over 70,000 Chinese Finishers in the Half- and Full-Marathon Events," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-9, June.
    3. Pantelis Theodoros Nikolaidis & Ivan Cuk & Thomas Rosemann & Beat Knechtle, 2019. "Performance and Pacing of Age Groups in Half-Marathon and Marathon," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-10, May.
    4. Karin J. Waldvogel & Pantelis T. Nikolaidis & Stefania Di Gangi & Thomas Rosemann & Beat Knechtle, 2019. "Women Reduce the Performance Difference to Men with Increasing Age in Ultra-Marathon Running," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-16, July.
    5. Pantelis T. Nikolaidis & José Ramón Alvero-Cruz & Elias Villiger & Thomas Rosemann & Beat Knechtle, 2019. "The Age-Related Performance Decline in Marathon Running: The Paradigm of the Berlin Marathon," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-12, June.
    6. Mengmeng Guo & Shihe Fu, 2019. "Running With a Mask? The Effect of Air Pollution on Marathon Runners’ Performance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(7), pages 903-928, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:17:p:6196-:d:404422. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.