Sensors, Vol. 24, Pages 2635: Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Amateur Runners & rsquo; Performance: An Analysis through Monitoring Devices

Sensors, Vol. 24, Pages 2635: Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Amateur Runners’ Performance: An Analysis through Monitoring Devices Sensors doi: 10.3390/s24082635 Authors: María García-Arrabé María-José Giménez Juliette Moriceau Amandine Fevre Jean-Sebastien Roy Ángel González-de-la-Flor Marta de la Plaza San Frutos This retrospective study aimed to analyze the return to running of non-professional runners after experiencing asymptomatic or mild COVID-19. Participants aged 18–55 years who maintained a training load of ≥10 km/week for at least three months prior to diagnosis and utilized Garmin/Polar apps were included. From these devices, parameters such as pace, distance, total running time, cadence, and heart rate were collected at three intervals: pre-COVID, immediately post-COVID, and three months after diagnosis. The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used for analysis (significance was set at ≤0.05). Twenty-one participants (57.1% male; mean age 35.0 ± 9.8 years) were included. The results revealed a significant decrease in running duration and distance two weeks after diagnosis, without significant changes in other parameters. Three months after infection, no differences were observed compared to pre-infection data, indicating a return to the pre-disease training load. These findings underscore the transient impact of COVID-19 on training performance among non-professional runners wi...
Source: Sensors - Category: Biotechnology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research