AUTHOR=Christou Georgios A. , Pagourelias Efstathios D. , Deligiannis Asterios P. , Kouidi Evangelia J. 

TITLE=Exploring the Anthropometric, Cardiorespiratory, and Haematological Determinants of Marathon Performance

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2021.693733

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2021.693733

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Aim</title><p>We aimed to investigate the main anthropometric, cardiorespiratory and haematological factors that can determine marathon race performance in marathon runners.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Forty-five marathon runners (36 males, age: 42 ± 10 years) were examined during the training period for a marathon race. Assessment of training characteristics, anthropometric measurements, including height, body weight (<italic>n</italic> = 45) and body fat percentage (BF%) (<italic>n</italic> = 33), echocardiographic study (<italic>n</italic> = 45), cardiopulmonary exercise testing using treadmill ergometer (<italic>n</italic> = 33) and blood test (<italic>n</italic> = 24) were performed. We evaluated the relationships of these measurements with the personal best marathon race time (MRT) within a time frame of one year before or after the evaluation of each athlete.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The training age regarding long-distance running was 9 ± 7 years. Training volume was 70 (50–175) km/week. MRT was 4:02:53 ± 00:50:20 h. The MRT was positively associated with BF% (<italic>r</italic> = 0.587, <italic>p</italic> = 0.001). Among echocardiographic parameters, MRT correlated negatively with right ventricular end-diastolic area (RVEDA) (<italic>r</italic> = −0.716, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). RVEDA was the only independent echocardiographic predictor of MRT. With regard to respiratory parameters, MRT correlated negatively with maximum minute ventilation indexed to body surface area (VEmax/BSA) (<italic>r</italic> = −0.509, <italic>p</italic> = 0.003). Among parameters of blood test, MRT correlated negatively with haemoglobin concentration (<italic>r</italic> = −0.471, <italic>p</italic> = 0.027) and estimated haemoglobin mass (Hbmass) (<italic>r</italic> = −0.680, <italic>p</italic> = 0.002). After performing multivariate linear regression analysis with MRT as dependent variable and BF% (standardised β = 0.501, <italic>p</italic> = 0.021), RVEDA (standardised β = −0.633, <italic>p</italic> = 0.003), VEmax/BSA (standardised β = 0.266, <italic>p</italic> = 0.303) and Hbmass (standardised β = −0.308, <italic>p</italic> = 0.066) as independent variables, only BF% and RVEDA were significant independent predictors of MRT (adjusted R<sup>2</sup> = 0.796, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001 for the model).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>The main physiological determinants of better marathon performance appear to be low BF% and RV enlargement. Upregulation of both maximum minute ventilation during exercise and haemoglobin mass may have a weaker effect to enhance marathon performance.</p></sec><sec><title>Clinical Trial Registration</title><p><ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://www.clinicaltrials.gov" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">www.ClinicalTrials.gov</ext-link>, identifier NCT04738877.</p></sec>