Force–velocity characteristics and maximal anaerobic power in male recreational marathon runners

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship of force–velocity (F-v) characteristics with age and race time in marathon runners. One hundred thirty-five male marathon runners (age 44.2 ± 8.8 years, height 176 ± 6 cm, body mass 24.7 ± 2.6 kg.m⁻² and personal record 4:02 ± 0:45 h:min), separated into eight age groups (<30, 30–35, ., 55–60, >60 years), performed an F-v test on a cycle ergometer consisted of four 7s sprints. The older age groups had the lowest scores in maximal pedalling velocity (v₀; p < 0.001, η_p² = 0.244), relative (rPmax; p = 0.001, η_p² = 0.176) and absolute maximal power (Pmax; p = 0.009, η_p² = 0.135), whereas no difference in maximal force (F₀; p = 0.558, η_p² = 0.044) was shown. Race time correlated moderately with F₀ (r = 0.31, p < 0.001) and Pmax (r = 0.30, p = 0.001). The small magnitude of age-related differences in anaerobic power among most age groups indicated that humans without muscle strength/power training might maintain anaerobic power indices till their sixties.

KEYWORDS:

• Aging
• anthropometry
• cycle ergometer
• muscle strength
• speed

Acknowledgments

The voluntary participation of all marathon runners in the present study is greatly appreciated.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contribution

PN and BK contributed equally to this work. PN performed the experiments and drafted the paper. BK helped in drafting the paper and edited the final version.