Endurance Index in Ecuadorian Youth Runners at Distances of 100-200, 200-400, 400-800 and 800-1500 Meters

Abstract

In Ecuadorian youth athletics, no research has been carried out aimed at controlling, in the long term, the level of lactic resistance of runners in distances between 100 and 1500 meters and it is a topic of interest, when the application of the blood lactate test is very expensive for most. Studies show that the level of lactic endurance can be assessed by using mathematical formulas that correspond to nearby competitive distances, for example, 100 and 200, 200 and 400, 400 and 800 and 800 and 1500 meters, which give rise to the endurance index. This measuring instrument facilitates the evaluation of the level of lactic endurance of the runners without using the lactate test and allows to act on this process. The research was aimed at characterizing the behavior of these indices in 390 youth runners of both sexes, through a study of the best times achieved by them in the last 10 years in these test duos. The data were selected from the archives of the Ecuadorian Athletics Federation and the coaches themselves and by means of mathematical formulas of correspondence three types of endurance index and their corresponding scales were calculated for the age group studied. The use of endurance index called by the authors ∆XT, ∆XP, ∆XV is a very useful tool to quickly assess the levels of lactic endurance of runners in formation.