Physiological parameters related to distance running performance in female athletes

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between running pace for the 5 km, the 10 km, and the 16.09 km (10 mile) distances and the following variables: oxygen uptake and treadmill speed at predetermined lactate accumulation points (2.0 and 4.0 mmol.l-1), oxygen uptake (running economy) at three submaximal standardized treadmill speeds (196, 215, and 241 m.min-1), and maximal oxygen uptake. Thirteen moderately to highly conditioned (VO2max = 59.7 +/- 5.3 ml.kg-1.min-1; VO2 at 2.0 mmol.l-1 of plasma lactate = 46.6 +/- 4.1 ml.kg-1.min-1) female runners between the ages of 18 and 33 yr volunteered to participate. All subjects performed the laboratory tests and the 5 km, 10 km, and 16.09 km competitive time trials on an outdoor 5 km course. The correlation coefficients (r) between each race pace and maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), speed (s) at 2.0 mmol.l-1 plasma lactate accumulation (PLA2s), and speed at 4.0 mmol.l-1 plasma lactate accumulation (PLA4s) ranged between 0.84 and 0.94. The oxygen costs of running at each of the three submaximal paces were correlated moderately with each race pace (r = -0.40 to -0.63). Hierarchal stepwise multiple regression analyses produced equations with two independent variables which explained 94 to 97% of the variability in race performance.