2012/04/30 by Jessica Elliott, Elliott, J. B.
Decision Sciences · Engineering · Medicine · #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph) #Scientific Measurement and Uncertainty Evaluation #Sports Dynamics and Biomechanics #Sports Performance and Training
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1205.0057
openalex publication_date 2012/04/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
An analysis of marathon pacing and elevation change is presented. It is based on an empirical observation of how the pace of elite and non-elite marathon runners change over the course of the marathon and a simple approximation of the energy cost of ascent and decent. It was observed that the pace of the runners slowed in a regular manner that could be broken up into four regions. That observation can be used to project target paces for a desired marathon finish time. However, that estimate fails to take in to account the energetic costs of elevation changes (hills) along the marathon course. Several approximations are made to give a coarse estimate of target paces for marathon run on courses with significant elevation changes, i.e. a hilly course. The 2012 Oakland Marathon course is used as and example of a hilly course and the times of 23 finishers are examined.