For argument鈥檚 sake, let鈥檚 say you鈥檙e eating too much cake, and your training volume isn鈥檛 high enough to float you across an Ironman finish line in a podium-worthy time. We don鈥檛 know why you鈥檙e slow. But Swiss researchers just that might give you some clues.
Published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, the study followed 38 amateur Ironmen (34 of whom were male) as they trained for and competed in Ironman Zurich in 2010. The athletes kept detailed training journals during the three months leading up to the race. Then, the day before the race, they all received echocardiograph exams (a sonogram鈥攖he technology used to see babies in the womb鈥攐f the heart). Finally, researchers related that training and physical data to the athletes鈥 finishing times.
What they found: the strongest predictor of finishing time is right ventricular end diastolic area, or the area of your heart鈥檚 right ventricle (the chamber that pumps blood into your lungs) when it鈥檚 full of blood. Endurance training, it鈥檚 been , can lead to an increase in right-ventricular end diastolic volume. Genetics also plays a role, as does gender: males tend to have than women.
But only expensive tests can tell if your right ventricle deserves blame for your underperformance. Lucky for you, the Swiss researchers identified one other easily measured variable that significantly correlates to total race time: percent body fat. This shouldn鈥檛 come as a surprise; have concluded that in men, percent body fat has a lot to do with how fast you鈥檒l finish an Ironman鈥攎ostly because than heavier guys. (Note: , several studies have found that training volume has more impact on race time than percent body fat鈥攖he more women train, the faster they go.)
THE BOTTOM LINE: Maybe you are eating too much cake and not training enough. If you鈥檙e hell bent on medaling, pay attention to your body fat. that Ironman champ Chris Lieto races at about 5.5 percent body fat, while the average non-pro Ironman starter involved in the study that found skinny guys that finish first had 15.1 percent body fat.聽