Are experienced and high-level race walking athletes able to match pre-programmed with executed pacing?

Abstract

The objective of this study was to verify the agreement between pre-programmed and executed pacing during race walking and whether level of the athletes experience and performance influenced this relationship. Twenty-nine national and international race walkers participated in this study (14 males, 24.0±7.1 years old, and 15 females, 23.3±7.3 years old). Pre-programmed pacing for 10- and 20-km official walking races was self-selected via demonstrative pacing charts prior to races, while executed pacing was analyzed by a specialist investigator via an individual plot of current velocity versus distance. There was no agreement between pre-programmed and executed pacing (P=0.674). There was no association between the ability to match the pre-programmed pace with the executed pace and race walking experience or level of performance. Low- and high-performance athletes pre-programmed a similar pacing profile (P=0.635); however, high-performance athletes generally executed an even pacing strategy, while low-performance athletes generally adopted a positive pacing strategy (P=0.013). Race walkers did not faithfully match their pre-programmed with their executed pacing, and this seemed to be independent of previous experience and level of performance. High-performance athletes, however, tended to execute an even pacing strategy, even though this had not been pre-programmed.

A macro to micro analysis to understand performance in 100-mile ultra-marathons worldwide

“…Men from Brazil in the top three are untypical considering previous studies 16,20,41 . Notwithstanding, regarding the increase in runner's participants and race events across the country 42,43 , few studies were developed to understand the participation and performance in ultra-running events 44,45 . The country characteristics, which include variations in weather, altimetry, nutritional habits, cultural aspects, and lifestyle among the regions, should be investigated in future studies to understand the association with performance in ultramarathon events.…”