The Effect of the Pacing Strategy of High School Male Cross Country Runners on the Finish Time and Heart Rate of the Runners

Author(s)

Mark Wild, SVHS

School Name

Spring Valley High School

Grade Level

10th Grade

Presentation Topic

Physiology and Health

Presentation Type

Non-Mentored

Written Paper Award

4th Place

Abstract

Pacing strategy is something all runners have to consider every time they race. It can be difficult to correctly pace, especially for high school runners. The purpose of this project was to analyze the pacing of the cross country runners tested to better understand necessary pacing for medium distance races. It was hypothesized that if the effect of performing with even pacing in male high school cross country runners was tested, then it would be found that even pacing proved to bring overall faster finishing times and slower increasing heart rate throughout the race compared to pacing that did not qualify as even. The participants of this experiment consisted of a group of ten boys from a high school cross country team, running three threshold runs consisting of 4 miles each. The heart rate was looked at before the workout and at each mile marker, for a total of 5 readings. The evening pacing group showed faster finish times and lower percentage heart rate increase for the means and medians. One-way ANOVAs were done at α = 0.1 to differentiate between the two groups in relation to heart rate increase and finish time. The ANOVA dealing with heart rate yielded a p-value of 0.649, meaning the difference in heart rate was not found to be significant. However, the ANOVA testing difference in finish time had a p-value of 0.000. This proved it to be significant, meaning the even pacing group was found to run faster overall finish times.

Location

Neville 121

Start Date

4-14-2018 10:45 AM

Presentation Format

Oral and Written

COinS
 
Apr 14th, 10:45 AM

The Effect of the Pacing Strategy of High School Male Cross Country Runners on the Finish Time and Heart Rate of the Runners

Neville 121

Pacing strategy is something all runners have to consider every time they race. It can be difficult to correctly pace, especially for high school runners. The purpose of this project was to analyze the pacing of the cross country runners tested to better understand necessary pacing for medium distance races. It was hypothesized that if the effect of performing with even pacing in male high school cross country runners was tested, then it would be found that even pacing proved to bring overall faster finishing times and slower increasing heart rate throughout the race compared to pacing that did not qualify as even. The participants of this experiment consisted of a group of ten boys from a high school cross country team, running three threshold runs consisting of 4 miles each. The heart rate was looked at before the workout and at each mile marker, for a total of 5 readings. The evening pacing group showed faster finish times and lower percentage heart rate increase for the means and medians. One-way ANOVAs were done at α = 0.1 to differentiate between the two groups in relation to heart rate increase and finish time. The ANOVA dealing with heart rate yielded a p-value of 0.649, meaning the difference in heart rate was not found to be significant. However, the ANOVA testing difference in finish time had a p-value of 0.000. This proved it to be significant, meaning the even pacing group was found to run faster overall finish times.