Centre for Exercise & Nutrition Science MSc, Diploma, Certificate In Exercise & Nutrition Science Does a particular sporting background provide an advantage to an athlete entering the sport of triathlon? Dissertation Supervisor: Dr. Stephen Fallows Student Name 2006 Year of Intake Tuesday September 30 th 2008 Date submitted
Acknowledgements I d like to acknowledge the help and support of my supervisor Dr. Stephen Fallows. My thanks go to all of the team in the Centre for Exercise and Nutrition Science at the University of Chester department, particularly Mike Morris for his sound advice and help on statistics. As a distance learning student, we depend heavily on the support of the library services and I would like to especially mention Andrew Milton of Seaborne Library at the University of Chester who very kindly emailed or photocopied and posted articles I was unable to find through the online learning resources. My grateful thanks go to the committees of Cork and Limerick triathlon clubs, particularly their chairpersons, Eidín Christie and Elizabeth Gabbett for advertising the survey on their club websites and providing letters pledging the support of their club for my submission to the ethics committee. My thanks also go to the committee of Triathlon Ireland who advertised they survey in their weekly online bulletin. I m obliged to the staff of 220Triathlon Magazine, particularly the editor James Witts for advertising the survey in their magazine. I m extremely grateful to the family, friends and colleagues who reviewed and offered excellent suggestions for improvement on the early versions of my survey. I m indebted to the huge group of over seven hundred triathletes who took the time to review this survey and I m especially grateful to the four hundred athletes who completed the entire survey. My thanks to my family and friends and particularly Maeve Fitzpatrick who understood my woes on thesis writing and always provided a sympathetic year. Thank you to my classmates on the MSc Exercise and Nutrition Science course them for the constant words of encouragement and support over the last two years. I have kept the best for last. Words can not express my thanks to my husband Derrick for his help, support and endless patience while completing this course, but particularly while writing this dissertation. If it were not for you sharing your expertise in Excel, I would still be in tears over the sheer size and unwieldiness of the original database drawn down from Survey Monkey. Thank you with all my heart. i
Abstract The goal of this dissertation is to establish what sporting background do age group triathletes come to the sport of triathlon from and if a particular sporting background results in faster finishing times. It will also examine the impact of training hours, periodisation and strength training on finishing times. The research in this study is questionnaire based and 401 completed surveys from triathletes of both sexes across 26 countries and ranging in age from 16-19 years to 70-74 years. In all statistical comparison tests, a significant value indicates p<0.05 unless a Bonferroni adjustment was required. For the purposes of data analysis, the data was been broken up into four categories, i.e. Male and Female Sprint distance triathletes and Male and Female Olympic Distance triathletes and these were subdivided into High Performer and Regular triathletes. Athletes from a swimming background had the lowest mean finishing time in three data groups, and statistically significant differences in two data groups but in no case was there a statistically significant difference between athletes from a swimming background and those from a running background. Training hours proved to be very significant with High Performers having a significantly higher volume of weekly training than their Regular counterparts. Triathletes had a very high awareness of the concept of periodisation with statistical differences in finishing times between those who employed periodisation, those who did not and those who were unaware of the concept, in three of the four groups. There was some evidence that early learning was advantageous but only to the extent of becoming involved in sport; specialization at a young age did not appear to be a criterion for success at age group level in the sprint and Olympic distance triathlons. ii
Declaration This work is original and has not been submitted previously in support of a degree qualification or other course. Signed: Date: / / iii
Table of Contents Acknowledgements... i Abstract... ii Declaration... iii Table of Contents... iv List of Figures... vi List of Tables... vii Chapter 1... 1 Introduction... 1 1.1 A Brief History of Triathlon... 1 1.2 The Great Debate... 2 1.3 Literature Review... 3 1.4 Focus and Goal of this Dissertation... 6 Chapter 2... 8 Method... 8 2.1 Subjects... 8 2.2 Design... 12 2.3 Materials... 14 2.4 Procedures... 15 2.5 Statistics... 17 2.5.1 Data Characterisation... 17 2.5.2 Statistics Package and Analysis... 20 Chapter 3... 23 Results... 23 3.1 Descriptive Analysis... 23 3.1.1 All Athletes... 23 3.1.2 High Performance Athletes... 26 3.2 Statistical Analysis... 30 3.2.1 Comparison of High Performance versus Regular Finishing Times... 30 3.2.2 Comparison of Sporting Background Finishing Times... 31 3.2.3 Periodisation... 33 3.2.3 Strength Work as a Performance Enhancer... 37 3.2.4 Training Hours and Finishing Times Tests... 38 3.2.5 Sporting Background Hours, Age and Years... 39 iv
3.3 Triathlete Perception... 42 Chapter 4... 47 Discussion... 47 4.1 Results Appraisal... 47 4.2 Critical Analysis of the Dissertation... 51 4.3 Suggested Areas of Further Study... 54 4.4 Conclusion... 56 References... 58 Appendix 1... 60 Appendix 2... 61 v
List of Figures Figure No. Title Page Figure 2.1 Survey Participants by Nationality 8 Figure 2.2a Triathlon Ireland Age Demographics for Females Vs Survey Age Demographics 10 Figure 2.2b Triathlon Ireland Age Demographics for Males Vs Survey Age Demographics 11 Figure 3.1a Sporting Background of All Male Sprint Distance Triathletes 24 Figure 3.1b Sporting Background of All Female Sprint Distance Triathletes 24 Figure 3.1c Sporting Background of All Male Olympic Distance Triathletes 25 Figure 3.1d Sporting Background of All Female Sprint Distance Triathletes 25 Figure 3.2a Sporting Background of High Performance Male Sprint Distance Triathletes 27 Figure 3.2b Sporting Background of High Performance Female Sprint Distance Triathletes 27 Figure 3.2c Sporting Background of High Performance Male Olympic Distance Triathletes 28 Figure 3.2d Sporting Background of High Performance Female Olympic Distance Triathletes 28 Figure 3.3a Percentage of Male Sprint Distance Triathletes Employing Periodisation 34 Figure 3.3b Percentage of Female Sprint Distance Triathletes Employing Periodisation 34 Figure 3.3c Percentage of Male Olympic Distance Triathletes Employing Periodisation 35 Figure 3.3d Percentage of Female Olympic Distance Triathletes Employing Periodisation 36 Figure 3.4a Survey Participants Perception of their Greatest Strength in Triathlon 42 Figure 3.4b Survey Participants Perception of their Greatest Weakness in Triathlon 43 Figure 3.5 Survey Participants Perception of the Sport that Gives the Best Advantage 44 Figure 3.6a Survey Participants Perception Why Swimming Gives the Best Advantage 45 Figure 3.6b Survey Participants Perception Why Cycling Gives the Best Advantage 45 Figure 3.6c Survey Participants Perception Why Running Gives the Best Advantage 46 vi
List of Tables Table No. Title Page Table 1.1 Standard Triathlon Distances 2 Table 2.1 Breakdown of 2007 annual membership per age group from USA Triathlon 9 Table 2.2 Education Range of Multisport Athletes 12 Table 2.3a National Olympic Distance Championship Winners from 2006-2008 18 Table 2.3b National Sprint Distance Championship Winners from 2006-2008 19 Table 3.1a Sporting Background Breakdown for Male Sprint Distance Athletes 31 Table 3.1b Sporting Background Breakdown for Female Sprint Distance Athletes 31 Table 3.1c Sporting Background Breakdown for Male Olympic Distance Athletes 31 Table 3.1d Sporting Background Breakdown for Female Olympic Distance Athletes 32 Table 3.2a Sporting Background Comparison Tests for Male Sprint Distance Athletes 32 Table 3.2b Sporting Background Comparison Tests for Female Sprint Distance Athletes 33 Table 3.3a Periodisation Comparison Tests for Male Sprint Distance Athletes 36 Table 3.3b Periodisation Comparison Tests for Male Olympic Distance Athletes 36 Table 3.4a Employment of Periodisation Statistics for Male Sprint Distance Athletes 36 Table 3.4b Employment of Periodisation Statistics for Male Olympic Distance Athletes 36 Table 3.4c Employment of Periodisation Statistics for Female Sprint Distance Athletes 37 Table 3.5 Periodisation Comparison Tests for Female Sprint Distance Athletes 37 Table 3.6a Comparison tests on Sporting Background Particulars between High Performance and Regular Athletes for Male Sprint Distance Athletes 40 Table 3.6b Table 3.6c Table 3.6d Table 3.7a Table 3.7b Table 3.7c Table 3.7d Comparison tests on Sporting Background Particulars between High Performance and Regular Athletes for Female Sprint Distance Athletes Comparison tests on Sporting Background Particulars between High Performance and Regular Athletes for Male Olympic Distance Athletes Comparison tests on Sporting Background Particulars between High Performance and Regular Athletes for Female Olympic Distance Athletes Male Sprint Data Correlation tests on Sporting Background Particulars versus Finishing Times Female Sprint Data Correlation tests on Sporting Background Particulars versus Finishing Times Male Olympic Data Correlation tests on Sporting Background Particulars versus Finishing Times Female Olympic Data Correlation tests on Sporting Background Particulars versus Finishing Times 40 40 40 41 41 41 41 vii