The effect of sex, age and performance level on pacing of Ironman triathletes

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of sex, age and performance level on pacing of Ironman triathletes. Split times (i.e. swimming, cycling, and running) and overall race times of 343,345 athletes competing between 2002 and 2015 in 253 different Ironman triathlon races were analyzed. Participants were classified into nine performance groups according to their overall race time. Times in swimming, cycling, running and transition were expressed as percentage of the overall race time. Women spent relatively less time (%) in swimming, running and transition time, and more time (%) in cycling than men (p < 0.001). The fastest performance group was relatively faster in running (34.8 ± 1.4 versus 40.3 ± 3.0%, = 0.098) and transition time (0.9 ± 0.3 versus 2.2 ± 0.6%, = 0.178), and relatively slower in swimming (10.2 ± 0.8 versus 9.8 ± 1.5%, = 0.018) and cycling (54.1 ± 1.4 versus 47.8 ± 2.8%, = 0.138) than the slowest performance group (p < 0.001). The younger age groups were relatively faster in swimming, running and transition time, but relatively slower in cycling. In summary, the fastest Ironman triathletes were the relatively fastest in running and transition times. Thus, race tactics in an Ironman triathlon should focus on saving energy during swimming and cycling for the running split.

Ultra‐triathlon—Pacing, performance trends, the role of nationality, and sex differences in finishers and non‐finishers

“…The performance trends results were opposite from what has been observed in open‐water swimming, marathons, or Ironman triathlon showing an improvement in performance over the years. A previous analysis from ultra‐triathlons also showed a positive slope for race winners from 1985 to 2009 .…”

“…Thus, body composition may be a limiting factor for the discrepant performance and the ability to finish such a race. On the other hand, it is noteworthy that women have being closing the performance gap with men in several endurance sports including Ironman triathlon, but the sex difference does not seem to reduce over time in ultra‐triathlons.…”

“…Much has changed in exercise training in the past decades due to the advances in sports sciences, which could help coaches and athletes to achieve better performances than 10 or 15 years ago. For instance, the number of women participants has been increased in several sports decreasing the men‐to‐women ratio . Moreover, women seemed to close the performance gap with men in several endurance sports, such as open‐water swimming, running or even Ironman triathlon .…”

“…For instance, the number of women participants has been increased in several sports decreasing the men‐to‐women ratio . Moreover, women seemed to close the performance gap with men in several endurance sports, such as open‐water swimming, running or even Ironman triathlon . But there were no such records in ultra‐triathlons; instead, it was shown that the best women were actually increasing the gap to the best men .…”

“…[4][5][6] Moreover, women seemed to close the performance gap with men in several endurance sports, such as open-water swimming, 4 running 5 or even Ironman triathlon. 6 But there were no such records in ultra-triathlons; instead, it was shown that the best women were actually increasing the gap to the best men. 2 In addition, pacing has been recognized as an important aspect of performance in ultra-endurance 7,8 ; however, no study has compared the relative contribution of each discipline to the overall race time in ultra-triathlons of different distances.…”