Skin Temperature in Master Long-Distance Runners—Results From a Field Study at the 2018 World Master Athletics Championships

Abstract

Older people and athletes show impairments in thermoregulation, but this has not yet been studied during a running competition. The aim of the study was to assess (1) whether there are age-related differences in skin temperature during the last stage of a race in well-trained master athletes and (2) to what extent such differences are related to running speed and sex. To investigate this, we used thermography to measure maximum skin temperatures of the head, legs and hands of participants of the 2018 World Master Athletics (WMA) Championships when they were approximately 9,600 m into a 10,000-m road race. Of the 813 runners, 404 were analyzed (142 women, 262 men) including athletes of age groups 35 to 85. All ≥70-year-old athletes completed the race; all 16 non-finishers were younger. The hand temperature was lower than that of the head and legs (p < 0.001). Stepwise regression revealed that head (R 2 adj = 0.143; p < 0.001) and hand temperature decreased with increasing speed (R 2 adj = 0.092; p < 0.001). Sex was the most important determinant of leg skin temperature (R 2 adj = 0.054; p < 0.001), men having higher leg temperatures than women, with a small negative contribution of speed (R 2 adj increased to 0.069). In conclusion, higher running speed is associated with lower skin temperatures, and leg skin temperature is lower in women than men. The absence of an age effect on skin temperature suggests that there is no impairment in heat dissipation in well-trained older athletes.

Current Insights in the Age-related Decline in Sports Performance of the Older Athlete

“…Impairments in WBHL are attenuated by regular aerobic exercise [117,118]. In line with this, it has been found that the skin temperature in master athletes participating in the 10 km race of the 2018 World Master Athletics Championships showed no age-related differences, suggesting that master athletes have no impairment in heat dissipation [119].…”

The use of infrared thermography for the dynamic measurement of skin temperature of moving athletes during competition; methodological issues

“…The environmental conditions are consistently noted as needing to be stable and controlled, as variability can impact results (Bach, Stewart, Minett, et al, 2015). Participants should be static, as otherwise unacceptable blurring can occur, as seen previously in the work of Ganse and Degens (2020). Furthermore, they display the requirement for good temperature contrast between the person and the background to avoid loss of distinction, in the colour palette selected (Tanda, 2018).…”

“…The appropriate application of IR to moving participants has been mixed, with some producing quality images and results in the laboratory (Merla et al, 2010;Tanda, 2018), and others producing questionable data in the field (Ganse and Degens, 2020). Many other studies provide minimal detail and example images to sufficiently judge the use of IRT during exercise (Buono et al, 2007; importance of camera selection but the need to analyse the physical constraints of the camera used for research to inform the appropriate application of IRT.…”

Thermoregulatory responses during road races in hot-humid conditions at the 2019 Athletics World Championships

“…Laboratory testing is also commonly undertaken with recreational or mid level rather than internationally competing athletes and without real-world factors such as radiation loads from the road surface or environmental or direct solar load, nor the impacts of competition on psychological state and performance. However, the development of non-contact, non-invasive measures, such as ingestible telemetry pills for core temperature (T c ) and wireless iButtons, both with data-logging capabilities, or infra-red thermography (IRT) for mean skin temperature (T sk ) has increased the ability to measure thermoregulatory responses in elite athletes during competition (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8).…”

“…Recent research investigating thermoregulatory responses to competitive sport includes cycling championships (4,9) and Tokyo 2020 test events (10); with Racinais et al (4) recording T c up to 41.5°C during competition in elite cyclists. Two recent papers have also sought to characterise T c (7) and T sk (6) during racewalking and running, respectively.…”