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BACKGROUND The influence of environmental conditions on marathon running performance and pacing has been widely investigated among professional runners. However, environmental conditions' influence on recreational marathoners' pacing is less known. OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to investigate whether environmental conditions such as temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, precipitation, sunshine, cloud cover, wind speed and dew point are associated with the pacing of recreational marathoners for men and women. METHODS A total of 668,509 (520,521 men and 147,988 women) runners' records from ‘Berlin Marathon’ races between 1999 and 2019 were considered for analysis. Correlations and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions between time-adjusted averages for temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, precipitation, sunshine, cloud cover, wind speed and dew point, and race times and paces were investigated for performance groups in intervals of 00:30 h:min for race times between 02:30 h:min to 06:00 h:min and longer. RESULTS Both increasing temperature and decreasing humidity during the day were negatively related to running speed in recreational marathoners competing in the ‘Berlin Marathon’ where men were more affected than women. OLS showed, however, that the model can only predict 10% of the race pace with weather factors as predicting variables. CONCLUSIONS The susceptibility to temperature and humidity grew as the race progressed. Although weather affected running speeds and results, it was not a significant predictor of pacing. These findings can be used by coaches and athletes to better plan and control their hydration and running pace considering weather conditions. CLINICALTRIAL |
