Year: 2017
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: There is yet to be a resolution of the determinants of mountain ultra marathon (MUM) performance.The aim of this thesis was to contribute to resolving these determinants by measuring aerobic, anaerobic and anthropometric metrics and assessing their association to performance in a 50 km MUM race.It was hypothesized for MUM runners with high aerobic power that greater anaerobic capacity, greater lower limb girths, greater surface-area-to-mass, lower endomorphy and lower body fat percentage (BF%) would give better MUM performance.Thirty-four healthy participants volunteered for this study and were measured for their aerobic power, critical velocity (CV), anaerobic running capacity (D'), Wingate Anaerobic test (WAnT) power, and anthropometric variables.For these MUM runners with an aerobic capacity of 57.8±6.2 ml•min -1 •kg -1 a greater CV predicted a faster finishing time in the MUM race (R 2 =0.75, p<0.001, n=12), while WAnT (r=-0.59,p<0.01, n=29) and mass-adjusted surface area (r=-0.35,p<0.05, n=34) was correlated to finishing time.Predictors of hill climb times included CV, body fat percentage and endomorphy (0.15<R 2 <0.90, p<0.05, n=12-27).A combination of physiological and anthropometric variables improved the explanation of variance in MUM finishing time by 7-13%.In conclusion, these results that a greater CV, anaerobic capacity, endomorphy, BF% and mass-adjusted surface area, but not a greater lowerlimb girth, may contribute to success in a MUM race.
Source: Summit (Simon Fraser University)
Author: M. Rogers
Language: English
Subfield: Orthopedics and Sports Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2807335745