Are You a Rabbit or a Turtle? A Comparative Analysis of the Pacing Profiles of the Turkish Origin and Non-Turkish Origin Elite Half-Marathon Athletes

Abstract

The aim of this research was to designate and compare the pacing profiles of the Turkish and Non-Turkish female and male athletes completed and ranked in the first tenth (n = 79) in the determined half-marathon road races held in Turkey. The pacings of the athletes were divided into 5 separate segments (0-5, 5-10, 10-15, 15-21.1 km) and calculated on the basis of their average transition speed (min:sec/km). The differences both between the pacing profiles of the Turkish and Non-Turkish athlete groups and between the successive segments within the groups were examined separately for women and men with the variance analysis for mixed patterns. According to the results, there was no statistical differences between the pacing profiles of both female and male Turkish and Non-Turkish athletes (p > 0.05). In addition, there was also no difference between the successive segments within the groups (p > 0.05). According to these results, it can be said that the pacing profiles of the Turkish and Non-Turkish elite athletes were similar and close to even pacing profile without a last sprint. Although it was not statistically significant, all the athletes had small decreases in their pacings in the first 15 km of the race. In the last 6.1 km segment, while small increases in the pacings of the Non-Turkish female athletes were observed, the pacings of the Turkish women athletes were more even with small decreases. Considering the whole race, it was seen that the athletes showed pacing profiles close to positive and reverse J-shaped pacing profile.