This study examined physiological and race pace characteristics of medium- (finish time < 240 min) and low-level (finish time > 240 min) recreational runners who participated in a challenging marathon route with rolling hills, the Athens Authentic Marathon. Fifteen athletes (age: 42 ± 7 years) performed an incremental test, three to nine days before the 2018 Athens Marathon, to determine maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max), maximal aerobic velocity (MAV), energy cost of running (ECr) and lactate threshold velocity (vLTh), and were analyzed for their pacing during the race. Moderate- (n = 8) compared with low-level (n = 7) runners had higher (p < 0.05) VO2 max (55.6 ± 3.6 vs. 48.9 ± 4.8 mL·kg−1·min−1), MAV (16.5 ± 0.7 vs. 14.4 ± 1.2 km·h−1) and vLTh (11.6 ± 0.8 vs. 9.2 ± 0.7 km·h−1) and lower ECr at 10 km/h (1.137 ± 0.096 vs. 1.232 ± 0.068 kcal·kg−1·km−1). Medium-level runners ran the marathon at a higher percentage of vLTh (105.1 ± 4.7 vs. 93.8 ± 6.2%) and VO2 max (79.7 ± 7.7 vs. 68.8 ± 5.7%). Low-level runners ran at a lower percentage (p < 0.05) of their vLTh in the 21.1–30 km (total ascent/decent: 122 m/5 m) and the 30–42.195 km (total ascent/decent: 32 m/155 m) splits. Moderate-level runners are less affected in their pacing than low-level runners during a marathon route with rolling hills. This could be due to superior physiological characteristics such as VO2 max, ECr, vLTh and fractional utilization of VO2 max. A marathon race pace strategy should be selected individually according to each athlete’s level.

Aim: Maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max), running economy, and lactate threshold (LT) velocity are interacting factors which determine the running speed that that can be sustained in an endurance event such as Athens marathon. The aim of this study was to examine the physiological characteristics and the race pace characteristics in relation to the aforementioned parameters of moderate (finish time < 240 min) and low-level runners (finish time > 240 min) of the Athens marathon race. Material & Method: 15 athletes (age, 41 ± 7 yrs; height, 174.5 ± 6.6 cm; and body mass, 72.8 ± 6.9 kg), who participated in the 2018 Athens marathon, performed an incremental test until exhaustion, 3 to 10 days before the race to determine VO2max, maximal aerobic velocity (MAV), and the velocity at the 1 st LT. The athletes were divided into a moderate level (n = 8, finish time, 209.0 ± 10.4 min) and a low-level group (n = 7; finish time, 289.7 ± 25.1 min). Finish time was exported from the results posted on the official site of the organization. Results: For the whole sample, VO2max was 52.4 ± 5.2 mL/kg/min, MAV 15.5 ± 1.4 km/h, and velocity at the 1 st LT 10.6 ± 1.4 km/h, corresponding to 68.0 ± 5.4% of MAV and to 75.0 ± 8.8% of VO2max. The mean finish time was 246.7 ± 45.4 min, and the average running velocity 10.6 ± 1.9 km/h, which corresponded to 99.9 ± 7.5% of the velocity at the 1 st LT and 75.0 ± 8.8% of VO2max. Moderate level, compared with the low-level athletes had higher (p < 0.05) VO2max (55.5 ± 3.5 vs. 48.8 ± 4.8 mL/kg/min), MAV (16.5 ± 0.7 vs. 14.4 ± 1.2 km/h), and velocity at 1 st LT (11.6 ± 0.8 vs. 9.4 ± 1.0 km/h, corresponding to 70.5 ± 4.0 vs. 65.2 ± 5.6% of MAV). Medium-level athletes ran the marathon at a higher velocity (12.1 ± 0.6 vs. 8.8 ± 0.9 km/h), corresponding to a higher percentage of MAV (73.8 ± 2.6 vs. 61.3 ± 42%), 1 st LT (104.8 ± 4.8 vs. 94.2 ± 5.8%), and VO2max (80.0 ± 7.8 vs. 69.3 ± 6.5%). Conclusions: These findings suggest that athletes of different levels run the Athens marathon at a rate corresponding to different percentages of key parameters of aerobic performance. It is recommended that the selected pace be applied individually according to each athlete's level.