Please read the abstract (Synopsis) in the section 00front of this document / Dissertation (MA (Human Movement Sciences))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciences / MA / unrestricted

Much research has looked into how aerobic exericse is important to physical and psychological well-being. However, research is less sure of the how exercise produces psychological benefits. To explore this, running is a form of exercise that deserves particular attention given its possible usefulness to public policy discussions. Running is one of the most accessible and inexpensive forms of exercise, and its popularity is demonstrated by the trend of more and more people participating in local annual marathons. This study performed a longitudinal test to better define the conditions under which average people might enjoy psychological benefits from exercise like running. From self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), motivation is fueled by three basic psychological needs: perceived competence, perceived relatedness and perceived autonomy. In this study, key factors influencing psychological outcomes included runners’ degree of motivation, perceived relatedness and the intensity of their training program. The present study had 59 average runners fill in questionnaires before and after a 12 week marathon training program. The results showed that stress and depression levels were significantly reduced, and perceived relatedness among runners increased. Runners’ degree of motivation, which refers to the degree to which runners felt intrinsically motivated, predicts depression and stress levels after training. It suggested that a higher degree of motivation maximizing stress and depression reduction. In addition, higher levels of perceived relatedness among runners also positively predicts stress reduction. The depression reduction of runners who joined only training was significantly higher than those who joined marathon competition after finishing training. The present study found that this competition effect was fully mediated by the number of long runs runners attended during their training. This finding is tied to the question of how much exercise people need in order to optimally reduce depression. Overall, the present study highlights that a threshold of exercise intensity exists beyond which depression reduction becomes insignificant. In the context of the marathon training under study, four or fewer long runs were the recommended threshold. The present study provided a good overview of the psychological benefits of running for a non-clinical population, and also identified how people might maximize such gains. Application of the findings to the promotion of marathon culture for the betterment of public mental health is discussed. / published_or_final_version / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

abstract: From Marathon to Athens was inspired by the legend of Pheidippides, a Greek messenger who ran approximately twenty-six miles between the cities of Marathon and Athens in ancient Greece to deliver an important wartime message. According to the legend, he died shortly after completing the journey. The marathon races of today were inspired by his story, though it may be more myth than reality. There is a great deal of inherent drama in the undertaking of such a feat, whether it be a marathon or any other test of strength and endurance. There is the rush of adrenaline when it begins, followed by the excitement and exhilaration of the first few miles. Then, there is a period of settling in and finding a groove - when the runner realizes that there is a long way to go, but is determined to pace him or herself and stay strong. All too often, there is the "wall" that appears about three-quarters of the way through, when it seems that there is no strength left to finish the race. Finally, there is the final push to the finish line - where the runner decides that they are going to make it, in spite of fatigue, pain, or any other obstacle. In this piece, I used a simple melody that was very loosely modeled after a melody from ancient Greece (the tune inscribed on the Epitaph of Seikilos). I used both Phrygian and Dorian modes, which, according to Plato, were most appropriate for soldiers. Throughout the piece, I used different instruments, mostly percussion, to represent the heartbeat of the runner. In the legend, the runner dies - in the piece, the heartbeat becomes very fast and then rather erratic. It then slows and, finally, stops. Though I find the story of Pheidippides inspiring, I wish all marathon runners and athletes of every kind (myself included) a safer and happier outcome! / Dissertation/Thesis / D.M.A. Music 2010

This thesis explores the intersection of indigeneity and modernity in early-twentieth-century North America by examining Native Americans in competitive running arenas in both domestic and international settings. Historians have analyzed sports to understand central facets of this intersection, including race, gender, nationalism, assimilation, and resistance. But running, specifically, embodies what was both indigenous and modern, a symbol of both racial and national worth at a time when those categories coexisted uneasily. The narrative follows one main case study: the “Redwood Highway Indian Marathon,” a 480-mile footrace from San Francisco, California, to Grants Pass, Oregon, contested between Native Americans from Northern California and New Mexico in 1927 and 1928. That race and others reveal how indigenous runners asserted both Native and modern American/Canadian/Mexican identities through sport, how mainstream societies understood modern indigenous people, and to what extent those societies embraced images of “Indianness” in regional and national identities, economies, and cultures.

As the number of people participating in marathons across the United States rises to include a population of amateur and first time runners, the prevention of hypernatremia and hyponatremia during these races becomes increasingly important to prevent serious outcomes of coma and death. Both of these conditions have been responsible for collapse, hospitalizations and even deaths of runners in past marathons. Prevention of these sodium imbalances in the body begins with adequate knowledge of proper hydration methods to adhere to while running a marathon. This specific area has been neglected by researchers in the past and no proper method of fluid intake has been appropriately supported with scientific trials. However, there is evidence to support the general lack of knowledge in the running community regarding hyponatremia and hypernatremia, as well as the dangerous side effects of over or under hydration during marathon races. This thesis proposes a randomized control trial to specifically study hydration during a marathon with investigation into which fluid is superior, water or sports drink, and whether drinking to thirst is the best strategy for optimal hydration.

Pete Riegel, a well-known sport expert, proposed the formula of race time prediction in 1977. This article discusses whether it is also suitable for Taiwan marathoners. We compiled two hundred and four effective datum by questionary. Some variables possible to affect the running result are added in this work, namely: sex, age, the year of run, height, weight, the race number of marathon, the quantity and the frequency of practices each week. Next, we use multiple regression and sliced inverse regression to increase the accuracy of the running time prediction. The best model, found here has eighty percentage's player with predictive error within fifteen minuates, which is better than the original model by Riegel(1977) with only having sixty-two percentages.

A detailed structural analysis was conducted of the Warwick Hills at the northeast tip of the doubly-plunging Dagger Flat anticlinorium, Marathon Basin, west Texas. Field work delineated a folded duplex structure composed of three horses. Thrust transport was towards the northwest and resulted in a hinterland-dipping duplex. Initial thrusting In the Warwick Hills shortened the area by 2.2:1 (54%). Post-thrusting, the duplex underwent nearly isoclinal folding creating two anticlines and a syncline, second-order folds to the Dagger Flat anticlinoium. Folding combined with thrusting brought the total shortening of the rock package to 6.5:1 (85%). Earlier estimates gave a shortening for the Warwick Hills of 3:1. Finally, the folded duplex was extended by oblique tear faulting that offset the folded thrusts accommodating extension of the major folds in a northeast direction. These tear faults occurred post-plunging of the folds and were the last deformational movements that affected the Warwick Hills. The Ordovician Maravillas and Devonian Caballos Formations acted in the Warwick Hills as a structurally competent couplet. Addition or subtraction of this couplet, or units in this couplet, controlled the location of the major and minor thrusts, the style and shape of folds, and the location of the fold hinges. Bounding the couplet are incompetent shales of the Ordovician Woods Hollow and the Mississippian Tesnus Formations. Thrusts in the Warwick Hills duplex have a basal décollement in the Woods Hollow shale and ramp up through the Maravillas/Caballos couplet with an upper décollement in the Tesnus shale. The entire duplex was primarily folded by flexural slip (i.e. concentric folds) as evidenced by slickensides oriented parallel to bedding and perpendicular to fold axes, the constant thickness of the competent layers and the change in fold shape with depth. Fold wavelength, as determined from the couplet in the lowest thrust sheet, averages ~1,300 m and the average fold axis for the Warwick Hills, as determined stereographically, plunges ~54° N90°E. Shale in the Woods Hollow and Tesnus Formations bounding the couplet, flowed passively during folding into the cavities that were created by the bending of the more competent units. Lower and upper boundaries of disharmonic folding developed in the Woods Hollow and Tesnus Formations respectively. Unique to this area when compared to the rest of the anticlinorium are the presence of tightly folded thrusts and steep east-trending fold axes. The anticlinorium plunges in the Warwick Hills because it drapes off a down-to-the-northeast basement fault. Folds were "dragged" or diverted to the east during thrusting of the duplex over this transversely-oriented paleotopographic fault scarp, or were diverted subsequent to thrusting of the duplex by strike-slip movements at depth along the basement fault. / text

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Seven highly trained male collegiate distance runners were studied throughout a competitive cross-country season. Common laboratory and field measures were used to assess physiological adaptation and performance capacity. The subjects were tested pre-, mid-, and post-season for maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max), running economy (RE), heart rate at 268 m-min…1 (HR268), fractional utilization of the aerobic capacity (%VO2max), fraction utilization of the maximal heart rate (%HRmax), ventilatory threshold (VT), and time to exhaustion (TTE). Prior to each scheduled competition submaximal hear rate (HR) and submaximal blood lactate accumulation (bLa) were determined from a one-mile run on an indoor track. Five subjects ran at 5 min 30 sec per mile pace and two ran at a 6 min per mile pace (mean intensity = 83.14 + 4.44% VO2max). VO2max, RE, % VO2max, %HRmax and TTE all significantly improved over the season (p < 0.05). VT and HR268 remained unchanged. % VO2max and %HRmax exhibited the highest correlations to performance within a given competition (range r = .525 to .722 and .571 to .844, respectively). HR and bLa did not change during the season. These results suggest: 1) % VO2max and %HRmax are the best predictors of cross-country running performance among the variables measured whereas 2) field trials employing single HR and single bLa measurements are not indicators of endurance running performance in highly trained distance runners. / Human Performance Laboratory

Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 35-40).