Men vs. women world marathon records’ pacing strategies from 1998 to 2018

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse the pacing strategies adopted by elite male and female marathon runners when setting every world record since 1998. For data analysis, the total distance of the marathon was divided into eight sections of 5 km and a final section of 2.195 km, and the relative average speed of each section was calculated individually. Female athletes maintained similar speeds in the first and second half of the marathon (ES = 0.22, small effect, p = 0.705), whereas male athletes increased their speed as the marathon progressed (ES = 1.18, moderate effect, p = 0.011). However, no differences were observed between men and women in either the first (ES = 0.56, small effect, p = 0.290), or in the second half of the marathon (ES = 0.60, moderate effect, p = 0.266). When comparing the women's world records (1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003) vs. men's records (1998-2018) by sections, we observed differences at the beginning of the race (second section, ES = 0.89, moderate effect) and at the end (last section, ES = 0.87, moderate effect). The pace variations during the race were similar between male athletes and that of women with male pacemakers (1.53% ± 0.60 vs. 1.68% ± 0.84, respectively). However, a trend towards higher pace variations during the race in the female records with female pacemakers was observed (2.28% ± 0.95). This study shows how male and female marathon records in the last 20 years have been set using different pacing strategies. While men used a negative strategy (faster finishing), women used a less uniform pacing strategy.

Stability analysis and prediction of pacing in elite 1500 m freestyle male swimmers

“…This pacing strategy is characterised by a gradual decline of the athlete's speed throughout the race distance (Abbiss & Laursen, 2008). This is a common race strategy among male long-distance athletes in other sports like running (Díaz et al, 2019), and cycling (Abbiss & Laursen, 2008). Despite it cannot be found in the literature up-to-date information about elite 1500 m race stability, it was indicated that if swimmers could change their lap profile (reducing their lap variation) their performance could be improved (Lipinska et al, 2016b).…”

The Science Behind Competition and Winning in Athletics: Using World-Level Competition Data to Explore Pacing and Tactics

“…In addition, it was notable in the marathon that men started slower than women, ran faster in the middle section, but then slowed more than women toward the finish (Figure 7). The pacing profiles in these championship marathons differed from those found in world record performances (Díaz et al, , 2019 where pacemakers help the best athletes achieve even or negative pacing and highlights the need for athletes and coaches to appreciate the differences between championship and non-championship racing.…”

Pacing and Performance in the 6 World Marathon Majors

“…One of the most important factors influencing marathon performance is the pacing adopted by athletes (Abbiss and Laursen, 2008;Díaz et al, , 2019. Athletes aim to efficiently use and distribute their energetic resources during athletic competition (Foster et al, 1994), with the aim of using all available reserves before reaching the finish, thereby avoiding premature fatigue (Skorski and Abbiss, 2017) and a significant deceleration before the end (Foster et al, 2004;Hettinga et al, 2007;Tucker and Noakes, 2009).…”

“…Recently, it has been established that the pacing strategy adopted has a major influence on the performances achieved by world record breaking athletes . In recent years, the world records have been achieved through progressively more consistent strategies than was the case in record performances of more than 25 years ago, which were typically characterized by a progressive reduction in speed (Díaz et al, , 2019.…”