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CASE REPORT article

Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Elite Sports and Performance Enhancement
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2024.1155844

Differences in self-selected pacing in 20, 40, and 60 Ironman-distance triathlons: A case study

Provisionally accepted
Beat Knechtle Beat Knechtle 1*Ivan Cuk Ivan Cuk 2Marilia S. Andrade Marilia S. Andrade 3Pantelis T. Nikolaidis Pantelis T. Nikolaidis 4Katja Weiss Katja Weiss 5Pedro Forte Pedro Forte 6Mabliny Thuany Mabliny Thuany 7
  • 1 Mebase St. Gallen Am Vadianplatz, St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland
  • 2 Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia
  • 3 Departamento de Fisiologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil., São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
  • 4 School of Health and Caring Sciences, University of West Attica, Athens, Greece, Athens, Greece
  • 5 Institute of Primary Care, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 6 Higher Institute of Educational Sciences of the Douro, Penafiel, Porto, Portugal
  • 7 Center of Research, Training, Innovation and Intervention in Sport, Faculty of Sports, University of Porto, Porto, Porto, Portugal

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Triathletes are pushing their limits in multi-stage Ironman-distance triathlons. In the present case study, we investigated the pacing during 20, 40, and 60 Ironman-distance triathlons in 20, 40, and 60 days, respectively, of one professional IRONMAN ® triathlete. Case study: Event 1 (20 Ironman-distance triathlons in 20 days), Event 2 (40 Ironman-distance triathlons in 40 days), and Event 3 (60 Ironman-distance triathlons in 60 days) were analyzed by discipline (swimming, cycling, running, and overall event time), by Deca intervals (10 days of consecutive Ironman-distance triathlons) and additional data (sleep duration, body mass, heart rate in cycling and running). To test differences between Events and Deca intervals within the same discipline, T-tests (2 groups) or one-way ANOVAs (3 or more groups) were used.Results: Swimming splits were fastest in Event 1, (ii) cycling and running splits were fastest in both Event 2 and 3, (iii) overall speed was fastest in Event 3, (iv) sleep duration increased during Event 2 but decreased in Event 3, (v) body mass decreased in Event 2, but increased in Event 3 and (vi) heart rate during cycling was similar in both Event 2 and 3. In contrast, heart rate during running was greater in Event 3.In a professional IRONMAN ® triathlete finishing 20, 40, and 60 Ironman-distance triathlons in 20, 40, and 60 days, respectively, split performances and both anthropometrical and physiological changes such as body mass and heart rate differed depending upon the duration of the events.

    Keywords: Swimming, Cycling, Running, multi-stage triathlon, pacing

    Received: 31 Jan 2023; Accepted: 03 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Knechtle, Cuk, Andrade, Nikolaidis, Weiss, Forte and Thuany. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Beat Knechtle, Mebase St. Gallen Am Vadianplatz, St. Gallen, 9001, St. Gallen, Switzerland

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.