RELATIONSHIP OF CRITICAL VELOCITY TO MARATHON RUNNING PERFORMANCE

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the critical velocit y (CV) test for prediction of marathon running performance. Twelve sub jects [mean age (SD) = 29 (4) years; mean body mass = 63 (13) kg] were tested for CV and completed the 1994 New York City Marathon. The CV ( m . s(-1)) was determined from times to exhaustion at four treadmill r unning velocities. In addition, peak oxygen consumption (over dotVO(2p eak); ml . kg(-1). min(-1)) and ventilatory threshold (Th-vent) were d etermined from an incremental treadmill test. The Th-vent was calculat ed using bi-segmental linear regression and was expressed as the veloc ity (m . s(-1)) at Th-vent. Separate simple linear regression analyses showed that marathon time [MT; mean (SD) = 231.9 (27.4) min] correlat ed more highly with CV [MT 445.3 - 50.3 (CV); r(2) = 0.76, SEE = 14.1 min] than either over dotVO(2peak) [MT = 390.7 - 2.7 (over dotVO(2peak )); r(2) = 0.51, SEE = 20.1 min] or Th-vent [MT = 353.5 - 30.1 (Th-ven t) r(2) = 0.28, SEE = 27.4 min]. A stepwise regression analysis result ed in CV (entered first) and Th-vent being included in the prediction equation [MT = 443.5 - 78.9 (CV) + 34.3 (Th-vent), R(2) = 0.88, SEE = 10.7 min], while over dotVO(2peak) was not included. These preliminary data indicate that the CV test may be an attractive field test for as sessing marathon performance capabilities.