ArticleSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2025
The Training Intensity Distribution of Marathon Runners Across Performance Levels.
Article in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Machine learning-based personalized training models for optimizing marathon performance through pyramidal and polarized training intensity distributions.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Longitudinal performance development in PRO and ELITE HYROX competitions across the first seven competitive seasons.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Training characteristics of male and female WorldTour professional road cyclists before the competitive phase.Biology of sport · 2026Article
- Why low-intensity endurance training for athletes?European journal of applied physiology · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundThe training characteristics and training intensity distribution (TID) of elite athletes have been extensively studied, but a comprehensive analysis of the TID across runners from different performance levels is lacking.
methodsTraining sessions from the 16 weeks preceding 151,813 marathons completed by 119,452 runners were analysed. The TID was quantified using a three-zone approach (Z1, Z2 and Z3), where critical speed defined the boundary between Z2 and Z3, and the transition between Z1 and Z2 was assumed to occur at 82.3% of critical speed. Training characteristics and TID were reported based on marathon finish time.
resultsTraining volume across all runners was 45.1 ± 26.4 km·week
conclusionThe fastest runners in this dataset featured large training volumes, achieved primarily by increasing training volume in Z1. Marathon runners adopted a pyramidal TID approach, and the prevalence of pyramidal TID increased in the fastest runners.
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