Knechtle Beat, Rüst Christoph Alexander, Knechtle Patrizia, Rosemann Thomas
Institute of General Practice and for Health Services Research, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland ; Gesundheitszentrum St. Gallen, St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Asian J Sports Med. 2012 Dec;3(4):247-56. doi: 10.5812/asjsm.34547.
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.
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.
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.
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.
本研究旨在调查中老年运动员（年龄>35岁）在半程马拉松、马拉松和超级马拉松比赛中的跑步时间与骨骼肌质量、体脂及训练特征之间的关联。
我们比较了中老年半程马拉松运动员（n=103）、中老年马拉松运动员（n=91）和中老年超级马拉松运动员（n=155）的骨骼肌质量、体脂及训练特征，并使用双变量和多变量分析研究身体成分与训练特征和比赛时间之间的关联。
多变量分析后，体脂与半程马拉松（β=0.9，P=0.0003）、马拉松（β=2.2，P<0.0001）和超级马拉松（β=10.5，P<0.0001）的比赛时间相关。在中老年半程马拉松运动员（β=-4.3，P<0.0001）和中老年马拉松运动员（β=-11.9，P<0.0001）中，训练速度与比赛时间相关。然而，在中老年超级马拉松运动员中，每周跑步公里数（β=-1.6，P<0.0001）与跑步时间相关。
总之，在中老年半程马拉松运动员、中老年马拉松运动员和中老年超级马拉松运动员中，与跑步时间相关的是体脂和训练特征，而非骨骼肌质量。中老年半程马拉松运动员和中老年马拉松运动员在训练中更依赖高跑步速度，而中老年超级马拉松运动员在训练中依赖高跑量。骨骼肌质量影响中老年跑步者跑步表现的普遍观点需要受到质疑。
