The pacing differences in performance levels of marathon and half-marathon runners

Abstract

Introduction: Many studies indicate a considerable impact of optimal pacing on long-distance running performance. Given that the amount of carbohydrates in metabolic processes increases supralinearly with the running intensity, we may observe differences between the pacing strategies of two long-distance races and different performance levels of runners. Accordingly, the present study aimed to examine the differences in pacing strategies between marathon and half-marathon races regarding the performance levels of runners. Methods: The official results and split times from a total of 208,760 (marathon, N = 75,492; half-marathon, N = 133,268) finishers in the “Vienna City Marathon” between 2006 and 2018 were analyzed. The percentage of the average change of speed for each of the five segments (CS 1–5), as well as the absolute change of speed (ACS) were calculated. The CS 1–5 for the marathon are as follows: up to the 10th km, 10th – 20th km, 20th – 30th km, 30th – 40th km, and from the 40th km to the 42.195 km. For the half-marathon, the CS 1–5 are half of the marathon values. Four performance groups were created as quartiles of placement separately for sexes and races: high-level (HL), moderate to high-level (MHL), moderate to low-level (MLL), and low-level (LL). Results: Positive pacing strategies (i.e., decrease of speed) were observed in all performance groups of both sex and race. Across CS 1–5, significant main effects (p < 0.001) were observed for the segment, performance level, and their interaction in both sex and race groups. All LL groups demonstrated higher ACS (men 7.9 and 6.05%, as well as women 5.83 and 5.49%, in marathon and half-marathon, respectively), while the HL performance group showed significantly lower ACS (men 4.14 and 2.97%, as well as women 3.16 and 2.77%, in marathon and half-marathon, respectively). Significant main effects (p < 0.001) for the race were observed but with a low effect size in women (ŋ2 = 0.001). Discussion: Better runners showed more even pacing than slower runners. The half-marathoners showed more even pacing than the marathoners across all performance groups but with a trivial practical significance in women.