Physiologic Effects of Distance Running Training on Teenage Females¹

The purpose of this study was to investigate selected physiological changes that occurred with distance training in teenage females. Two groups of untrained teenage females were matched on [Vdot]O2 max, percent utilization of [Vdot]O 2 @ 9.66 km/hr, peak heart rate, and percent body fat. One group served as control (n = 9) while the other (n =10) underwent a 20-week training program designed to gradually increase the subjects' average mileage from 0 to 32.2 km per week. At the end of the 20 weeks, a MANOVA revealed significant mean differences within the trained group and no significant mean differences within the control group. The univariate analysis revealed that significant (p <0.05) mean differences found within the training group were for [Vdot]O 2 max (45.1 vs. 49.3 ml · kg –1 · min –1 ), percent utilization of [Vdot]O 2 @9.66 km/hr (76.5% vs. 67.5%), and economy VO 2 @9.66 km/hr (34.5vs.33.2 ml · kg –1 · min –1 ). Of the variables which exhibited significant training effects, percent utilization of [Vdot]O 2 max showed the greatest relative change, a 12.2% decrease, with [Vdot]O 2 max showing a 9.3% increase. The posttest results were similar to the research literature for training effects found for males and other age groups.