Short report

Analysis of the factors related to running time
at different distances
Hitoshi Koda1*, Yasuhiro Mitani1, Toshimitsu Ohmine1, Atsushi Ueda1
1

Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Kansai University of Welfare Sciences

Abstract【Introduction】Running speed is often an advantage in athletic competitions,and running training is frequently conducted in various sports. The form
during running is not always the same as that during short running; it has
been reported that the acceleration phase at the start of running and the fullspeed phase afterwards are different. The purpose of this study was toanalyze factors related to running time at different distances.
【 Methods 】 The participants were 17 high school soccer players. Themeasurements were the 10 m time, 30 m time, knee flexion torque, kneeextension torque, hamstring-to-quadriceps ratio ( representing the ratio offlexion to extension muscle strength), and vertical jump height. Dashr-Bluelaser module was used to measure the running time, and the sensors wereplaced at three locations: the start position, the 10 m point, and the 30 mpoint. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to analyze the relationshipbetween the 10 m and 30 m running time and other outcomes. Thesignificance level was set at 5%.
【Results】There was a significant negative correlation of H:Q ratio ( r ＝−0.54, p＜0.05) with the 10 m time, and a significant negative correlation ofvertical jump height (r＝−0.50, p＜0.05) with the 30 m time. No significant
correlations were found among other measurements.
【Conclusion】
The factors related to short running times differed depending on thedistance. When training for instantaneous running performance, it may benecessary to set up a training program based on the running distance andrequirements of the sports event.

Introduction
Running is an essential movement not only in track andfield events but also in all the other sports. Runningspeed is often an advantage in athletic competitions andrunning training is frequently conducted in various sports.
Running speed is expressed as the product of stride andpitch (leg revolutions per time )1) . Therefore, in sports,
training to increase the number of leg revolutions using

Submitted Feb. 27. 2023
Accepted Mar. 27. 2023
*Correspondence
Hitoshi Koda
Department of Rehabilitation
Sciences, Faculty of Allied
Health Sciences, Kansai
University of Welfare Sciences
E-mail:h-koda@tamateyama.ac.jp
Keywords
runningspeedsoccerladders and other equipment, as well as training to expand
the stride by stretching, jumping, etc., are used.
However, the form during running is not always thesame; even in short running, it has been reported that theacceleration phase at the start of running and full-speed
phase afterwards are different2) . At the beginning ofrunning, the runner needs to accelerate, which mainly
requires pitch movements to increase the number of leg

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rotations, whereas stride movements are required during
the running phase when the runner reaches the maximum
speed. However, during short running, a series ofmovements are often mixed. Even within the same shortrace, the relevant factors may differ depending on thesection of the race.
The knee flexion and extension torque represent lower
limb muscle strength3) and both of them play a role inrunning4) . Vertical jumping, which is an indicator of
jumping power that might affect the stride duringrunning5) . Therefore, the purpose of this study was toanalyze factors related to running time at different
distances.

Methods
The participants were 17 male soccer players (age: 15.9
±0.7 years, height: 167.6±4.7 cm, weight: 57.6±13.2 kg,
playing experience: 6.3±3.5 years) belonging to a highschool team. Two players who had experienced pain fouror more times in the past and were still experiencing
difficulty with daily activities were excluded from thestudy because injuries were judged to have affected theirrunning performance. All participants were informed ofthe purpose, methods, and expected disadvantages of theexperiment, and their consent was obtained in accordancewith the Declaration of Helsinki. The present study wasconducted after obtaining approval from the institutional
ethics committee (approval number: 22-40).
The measurements were the 10 m time, 30 m time,knee flexion torque, knee extension torque, hamstring-toquadriceps ( H : Q ) ratio, which represents the ratio offlexion to extension muscle strength, and vertical jumpheight. The same examiner assessed each factor.
Dashr-Blue laser module (S & C) was used to measure
the running time. This device can record the time when
passing between the photoelectric tube and the reflector,
and by using multiple sensors, it is possible to measure
the time for each section. Because a previous study6)
reported that the maximum speed was reached at
approximately 20 m from the start of running, a 30 m
straight running path was secured for this study, andsensors were placed at three locations: the start position,
the 10 m point, and the 30 m point. The participants wereinstructed to run 30 m at full-speed after sufficient
preparatory exercise. The running times for the 10 m and30 m sections were extracted from the obtained values.
(Figure 1)
Torque machines ( Biodex Medical Systems, Biodex
Systems 3 ) were used to measure knee flexion andextension torques. In accordance with previous studies7)
on soccer players, the maximum constant-velocity knee
flexion and extension torques were measured at 60 deg/
sec in a sitting posture with the trunk fixed by a belt.
Measurements were performed twice, once on each side,and the maximum value was used for the analysis. The H:
Q ratio was calculated as the ratio of knee flexion toextension muscle strength.
Vertical jump height was measured using a digital
vertical jump-measuring machine (Takei Kiki Kogyo, T.K.
K. 5406). The participant was instructed to jump using
the recoil of the upper and lower limbs and to perform amaximum vertical jump from a standing posture with theFigure 1. Measurement of the running time.
The sensors were placed at three locations: the start position, the 10 m point, and the 30 m point.
The running times of the 10 m and 30 m sections were extracted from the obtained values.

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legs shoulder-width apart. Measurements were taken
twice, and the maximum value was used for the analysis.
Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to analyze
the relationship between the 10 m and 30 m runningtime, knee flexion torque, knee extension torque, H : Q
ratio, and vertical jump height. All analyses wereperformed using SPSS version 28. The significance levelwas set at 5%.

Results
For each of the measured values, 10 m time was 2.0±0.1 s, 30 m time was 4.7±0.2 s, knee flexion torque was
82.7±22.2 Nm, knee extension torque was 167.5±42.0Nm, H:Q ratio was 51.2±4.9, and vertical jump was 50.0
± 7.1 cm. Statistical analysis revealed a significant
negative correlation with 10 m time for H:Q ratio (r ＝− 0.54, p ＜ 0.05 ) ( Table 1 ) , and a significant negative
correlation with 30 m time for vertical jump (r＝−0.50, p＜0.05). No significant correlations were found between
the other measurements.

Discussion
The current study analyzed the factors related torunning time at different distances. The results of theanalysis showed that the 10 m time was related to the H:
Q ratio, and the 30 m time was related to the jumping
ability.
During the full-speed phase of running, running speed
tends to increase by expanding the stride2) . Gabbett etal.8) reported that not the strong force but the proper
application of force to the ground, i. e. , forward sprint
force, is involved in the 100 m running time. Jalilvand etal.5) noted that the vertical jump height tended to be morestrongly correlated with the full-speed phase in shortrunning. In the present study, the 30 m running time wasalso significantly related to the vertical jump height.
Therefore, jumping ability was related to the 30 m
running time required to reach full-speed sprinting.
A significant negative correlation of H : Q ratio wasobserved with the 10 m time. In previous studies9), the H:

Q ratio was reported to influence the occurrence ofdisorders such as torn muscles and anterior cruciate
ligament rupture. Although this study cannot be
considered speculative because the joint angles andmuscle activities of the lower limbs were not measured, it
is possible that the strong impact on the ground was
repeated during the accelerated running phase of the 10m section, suggesting that the muscle strength balance of
the knee joint may have been involved. However, a study
by Lockie et al.10) showed a correlation between the 10 mtime and vertical jump height, and the results might differ
depending on the characteristics of the sports event.
On the other hand, no correlation was found between
the knee flexion torque or knee extension torque andrunning time. Wagner et al.11) reported that muscle
strength in soccer players varies depending on theconditions of the measurement task, such as angularvelocity. For muscle strength measurements in thepresent study, the angular velocity was set to 60° , inaccordance with a previous study7). Because short runningrequires rapid leg movements at higher speeds, acorrelation might have been observed if muscle strengthvalues were measured at higher angular velocities.
Hamner et al.12) also reported that the quadriceps play therole of shock cushioning, whereas plantar flexors play therole of propulsion during running. Thus, each muscle
plays a different role in running motion, and it isnecessary to analyze the relationship of running time withthe hip or ankle torques.
In summary, the factors related to short running times
differed depending on the distance. When training for
instantaneous running performance, it may be necessary
to set up a training program based on the running
distance and characteristics required by the sports event.
However, this study was conducted only on one team,and, in future, we would like to increase the number ofparticipants and conduct studies to examine the factors
related to running speed.

Table 1. Correlation between running time and each measured outcome (n＝17)

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Conflict of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge the members of ourlaboratory.

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