Award Date

5-1-2013

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences

First Committee Member

Antonio Santo

Second Committee Member

John Mercer

Third Committee Member

Janet Dufek

Fourth Committee Member

Lawrence Golding

Fifth Committee Member

Merrill Landers

Number of Pages

74

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether running economy differs in racing flats versus standard running shoes in high school cross-country runners. In order to measure running economy the oxygen cost of running (mL O2∙kg-1∙min-1) was measured in 20 male adolescent runners (mean age = 16.25 ± 0.97 years, 5 km best time = 17.52 ± 0.78 min) when running two separate trials at a controlled speed. The speed was determined by estimating treadmill running speed at 85% of each runner's VO2max. Each trial required the participants to run while wearing the Mizuno Wave Elixir 6TM standard running shoe and the Mizuno Wave Universe 4TM racing flat. The results indicated that after running both trials at the same speed, the high school runners demonstrated a significant 2% reduction (P < .001) in the oxygen cost of running when comparing the racing flat (60.94 ± 5.83 mL∙kg-1∙min-1) to the standard running shoe (62.14 ± 5.87 mL∙kg-1∙min-1). The results of the current study suggest that the use of the Mizuno Wave Universe 4TM racing flat significantly improved running economy, most likely due to differences in shoe mass between the racing flat and standard running shoe.

Keywords

Adolescents; Cross-country running; Footwear; High schools; High school athletes; Runners (Sports); Running; Running economy; Running shoes; Shoes

Disciplines

Biomechanics | Exercise Science | Kinesiology | Medical Physiology | Physiology

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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