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Interactions between monthly training volume, frequency and running distance per workout on marathon time

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Abstract

Purpose

This study attempted to clarify the relationships between marathon time and monthly training volume, training frequency and the longest (LRD) or average running distance per workout (ARD), as well as their interactions.

Methods

Male recreational runners (n = 587) participating in the Hokkaido Marathon 2017 completed a questionnaire before the race; of these, 494 finished the race. We assessed age, running career, body height, body weight, body mass index (BMI), monthly training volume, training frequency, the LRD and the ARD. These indicators were each divided into 4 or 5 homogeneous subgroups to determine whether the other indicators in each subgroup predicted marathon time.

Results

In the training frequency subgroups, there were significant correlations between monthly training volume, the LRD or the ARD and marathon time, except for the subgroup that trained 2 times per week or less; in this subgroup, the relationship between the ARD and marathon time was not significant. In all monthly training volume subgroups, there were no significant relationships between training frequency, the LRD or the ARD and marathon time. In the ≥ 21 km LRD and ≥ 10 km ARD subgroups, there were significant correlations between monthly training volume and marathon time (all P < 0.01); these correlations were not significant in the 1–20 km LRD and < 10 km ARD subgroups.

Conclusion

These results indicate that monthly training volume is the most important factor in predicting marathon time and that the influence of monthly training volume is only significant if the running distance per workout exceeded a certain level.

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Abbreviations

ARD:

Average running distance per workout

BMI:

Body mass index

IQR:

Interquartile range

LRD:

Longest running distance per workout

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the volunteers of NPO Runners Support Hokkaido for their cooperation.

Funding

No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Kanazawa, Ishikari-Tobetsu, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 061-0293, Japan

    Akihiko Yamaguchi & Koshiro Inoue

  2. Department of Rehabilitation, Seiseikai Sapporo Hospital, Kawazoe 14-jo 1-chome, Minamiku, Sapporo, Japan

    Miku Shouji

  3. Department of Early Childhood Education, Takushoku University Hokkaido Junior College, Memu, Fukagawa, Hokkaido, Japan

    Akane Akizuki

  4. School of Nursing and Social Services, Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Ishikari-Tobetsu, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

    Takemune Fukuie

  5. Institute for Liberal Arts, Environment and Society, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Kunihiro Sakuma

  6. School of Humanities, Hokusei Gakuen University, Ohyachi-Nishi, Atsubetsu-ku, Sapporo, Japan

    Isao Morita

Authors
  1. Akihiko Yamaguchi
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  2. Miku Shouji
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  3. Akane Akizuki
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  4. Koshiro Inoue
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  5. Takemune Fukuie
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  6. Kunihiro Sakuma
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  7. Isao Morita
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. AY contributed to the interpretation of the results and the manuscript drafting. MS, AA and KI significantly contributed to data aggregation and analysis. TF developed the statistical analysis plan and interpretation. KS and IM substantially contributed to the manuscript drafting. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Akihiko Yamaguchi.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Ethics approval

The questionnaire and methodology for this study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Health Sciences University of Hokkaido (approval number 16R036033).

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Communicated by Philip D. Chilibeck.

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Yamaguchi, A., Shouji, M., Akizuki, A. et al. Interactions between monthly training volume, frequency and running distance per workout on marathon time. Eur J Appl Physiol 123, 135–141 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-05062-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-05062-7

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