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. 2012 Dec;3(4):247-56.
doi: 10.5812/asjsm.34547.

Does Muscle Mass Affect Running Times in Male Long-distance Master Runners?

Beat Knechtle  1 , Christoph Alexander Rüst, Patrizia Knechtle, Thomas Rosemann
Affiliations

Does Muscle Mass Affect Running Times in Male Long-distance Master Runners?

Beat Knechtle et al. Asian J Sports Med. 2012 Dec.

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to investigate associations between skeletal muscle mass, body fat and training characteristics with running times in master athletes (age > 35 years) in half-marathon, marathon and ultra-marathon.

Methods: We compared skeletal muscle mass, body fat and training characteristics in master half-marathoners (n=103), master marathoners (n=91) and master ultra-marathoners (n=155) and investigated associations between body composition and training characteristics with race times using bi- and multi-variate analyses.

Results: After multi-variate analysis, body fat was related to half-marathon (β=0.9, P=0.0003), marathon (β=2.2, P<0.0001), and ultra-marathon (β=10.5, P<0.0001) race times. In master half-marathoners (β=-4.3, P<0.0001) and master marathoners (β=-11.9, P<0.0001), speed during training was related to race times. In master ultra-marathoners, however, weekly running kilometers (β=-1.6, P<0.0001) were related to running times.

Conclusions: To summarize, body fat and training characteristics, not skeletal muscle mass, were associated with running times in master half-marathoners, master marathoners, and master ultra-marathoners. Master half-marathoners and master marathoners rather rely on a high running speed during training whereas master ultra-marathoners rely on a high running volume during training. The common opinion that skeletal muscle mass affects running performance in master runners needs to be questioned.

Keywords: Anthropometry; Body Fat; Running; Skinfold Thickness; Sports.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The association of skeletal muscle mass with age for master half-marathoners (r= -0.31) (Panel A), for master marathoners (r= -0.38) (Panel B) and 100-km master ultra-marathoners (r= -0.53) (Panel C). With increasing length of the running performance, the coefficient of correlation became more negative. For percentage of body fat, the association with age for master half-marathoners (r=0.22) (Panel D), master marathoners (r=0.24) (Panel E) and 100-km master ultra-marathoners (r=0.23) (Panel F) showed the same coefficient of correlation
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