Metabolic and Ventilatory Responses during Race Pace at Marathon

Abstract

We examined the metabolic and ventilatory responses of 7 less experienced marathon runners to a 2-hr run at the race pace simulated from an actually completed marathon performance. Maximal oxygen uptake (VO₂max) and lactate threshold (VO₂@LT) measured on a treadmill 1 wk prior to the marathon competition, averaged 61.7±4.7 ml · kg^-1·min^-1 and 44.9±3.0 ml · kg^-1· min^-1, respectively. The running at the marathon race pace elicited an average VO₂ of 2.65±0.48 l · min^-1 or 44.1±:5.6 ml · kg^-1·min^-1 during the first 10 min immediately after starting the running, which corresponded to approximately 71.0±4.7% of VO₂max, and increased by only 0.05 to 0.10 l · min^-1(<4%) throughout the remainder of the running. The periodically observed blood lactate concentration remained virtually unchanged, indicating the rate of lactate removal did not differ from its appearance. It is concluded that, even in less experienced runners, almost steady state VO₂ and lactate responses do occur during prolonged running at the marathon race pace or the race pace relative to LT.