Pacing of Women and Men in Half-Marathon and Marathon Races

Abstract

Background and objective: Half-marathon is the most popular endurance running race in terms of number of races and runners competing annually; however, no study has compared pacing strategies for this race distance with marathon. The aim of the present study was to profile pacing in half-marathon, compare half-marathon and marathon for pacing, and estimate sex differences in pacing. Materials and methods: A total of 9137 finishers in the half-marathon (n = 7258) and marathon race (n = 1853) in Ljubljana 2017 were considered for their pacing in five race segments (0–23.7%, 23.7–47.4%, 47.4–71.1%, 71.1–94.8%, and 94.8–100% of the race. Results: Half-marathon runners followed a positive pacing with every segment being slower than its previous one without the presence of an endspurt. Compared to marathon (where the average percent of change in speed (ACS) was 5.71%), a more even pacing was observed in half-marathon (ACS = 4.10%). Moreover, women (ACS = 4.11%) had similar pacing as men (ACS = 4.09%) in half-marathons. Conclusions: In summary, running a half-marathon followed a unique pattern that differentiated this race distance from marathon, with the former showing a more even pacing with an absence of endspurt, and sex difference compared to the latter. Consequently, runners should be advised to adopt a less variable pacing when competing in a half-marathon, regardless of their sex. To the best of our knowledge, the more even pacing in half-marathon, than in marathon, was a novel finding, as it was the first study to compare the two race distances for this characteristic.

Different race pacing strategies among runners covering the 2017 Berlin Marathon under 3 hours and 30 minutes

“…However, Top 1 group experienced a RP drop earlier in the race (20-21,1 km split) but less pronounced. These data are in accordance with previous studies which highlighted the best marathon runners were prone to display less variations in their RP [15,16,26,29]. On the other hand, as the runners' performance declined (Top 2 and 3 groups), the drop in their RP was larger, with a tendency to develop a PP.…”

“…Deaner and colleagues [ 26 ] showed a similar trend with female heterogeneous performance runners (<3 h:22 min >5 h:36 min). Even though the tendency of increasing the development of PP is linked to a low level of performance, women are more prone to develop less variations in the RP in a marathon than men [ 26 , 29 ].…”

“…performance, women are more prone to develop less variations in the RP in a marathon than men [26,29].…”

Age Differences in Pacing in Endurance Running: Comparison between Marathon and Half-Marathon Men and Women

“…In the first step of data analysis, we calculated the average speed for the entire race for each participant in both the half-marathon and the marathon. Additionally, we calculated the average running speed in five race sections, for both the marathon and the half-marathon [6,25]. The race sections were divided as follows:…”

Estimation of energy consumed by middle-aged recreational marathoners during a marathon using accelerometry-based devices

“…Note that the fastest runner was almost running at very vigorous intensity level, showing a good control of physical effort along the full marathon distance. In contrast, the effort distribution of the slowest runner was far from being well-balanced 2,38,39 . In fact, the accelerometer data revealed a considerable decay of the intensity level at which the slowest runner performed after completing 30 km (running at a moderate intensity from an extremely vigorous level).…”