Moderate association of anthropometry, but not training volume, with race performance in male ultraendurance cyclists
Twenty-eight nonprofessional male ultracyclists in the 600 km Swiss Cycling Marathon 2007 had their anthropometry measured before the race and recorded their training hours and kilometres for the 3 months before it. In a multiple linear regression, anthropometry showed a moderate association with race speed, while training volume showed none. The authors conclude anthropometry had a greater influence on race performance than training volume in these recreational riders.
Participants
n=28 male Caucasian nonprofessional ultracyclists at the 600 km Swiss Cycling Marathon 2007. Age, body size and training values are not given in the abstract.
Protocol
Before the race: age, body mass, body height and skinfold thicknesses, used to calculate body mass index and percent body fat.
Training diary: training volume in hours and kilometres over the 3 months before the race.
Multiple linear regression with race speed as the dependent variable.
Key Results
Anthropometry: moderate association with race speed (r2 = .178, p < .05).
Training volume (hours and kilometres, 3 months before the race): no association (r2 = .000, p > .05).
The abstract does not say which anthropometric variable carried the association.
Practical Application
In 28 recreational men riding the 600 km Swiss Cycling Marathon, anthropometry (body mass, height, skinfolds, from which BMI and percent body fat) explained a moderate share of race speed (r2 = .178), while the hours and kilometres logged over the 3 months before the race explained none (r2 = .000). To "will more training volume make me faster in a 600 km?": in this field, total logged volume over the last 3 months did not track race speed.
Inference, not tested here: a narrow, self-selected field of riders who all trained for a 600 km race has little spread in volume, and diaries are imprecise, so a null here is not proof that volume is irrelevant. The same group's 2012 study of this race found that longer training sessions, not total volume, went with a faster time.
The association with anthropometry is moderate and correlational; it does not show that losing body fat would make a given rider faster.
Limitations
n=28 men, one race; correlational.
Training volume is self-reported and covers only the 3 months before the race; intensity was not analysed.
Race speed includes stopped time (inference), which training volume would not be expected to predict.
Written from the abstract and record metadata only (full text not read).
How this entry was checked and changed
Why this level
correlational, n=28, one race