Evaluation of a Training Recommendation Strategy for Trail Runners.

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Training recommendations GEN: Generic training plan that will be created from a platform that is both free and popular, offering training plans for trail-running (The Decathlon Pacer application).

Training recommendations PERSO: A training plan that takes into account the rider's training history, in particular the number of hours per week over the last two years, the rider's level, age and gender, the time available for training and access to mountainous terrain.

Training recommendations PERSO-ADAPT: A training plan that takes into account the rider's training history, in particular the number of hours per week over the last two years, the level, age and gender of the rider, the time available for training and access to mountainous terrain. Training will also be adapted on a weekly basis according to the following feedback: state of fatigue assessed by questionnaire and heart rate variability; state of overtraining, assessed by questionnaire; degree of completion of sessions.

Study summary

Finding the optimal training, i.e. the training that enables the athlete to achieve the best performance while preserving their physical and psychological integrity, is a multi-factorial issue.

Each individual's background and training capacity are very different, hence the need for personalised training. The availability of data combined with advances in Artificial Intelligence (data modelling and analysis sciences, big data, machine learning, deep learning, etc.) offer the opportunity to refine our understanding of training and adapt recommendations according to the runner's profile for a given objective (achieving a time over a distance, completing an event, etc.). The strategy that the investigators wish to evaluate as part of this trial could make it possible to recommend an optimal training load, as well as the distribution of intensities (as a percentage of the aerobic threshold, anaerobic threshold, VVO2max, etc). The two features are (i) the personalisation will be based on training history, the level of the runner, age and gender, and the runner can focus on training, and (ii) the strategy will be adaptive, i.e. the algorithm will update the training load in real time based on contextual data about the athlete (level of fatigue via heart rate variability, feedback on recent training sessions, feelings of stress).

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Comparison of the ITRA performance index — Month : 10
  The main criterion for assessing the improvement in trail running performance will be the increase in the ITRA performance index of users following PERSO-ADAPT compared with the increase in the ITRA score of PERSO and GEN. The ITRA Performance Index (PI) is a tool that estimates a runner's level of performance. The performance index can be used to compare the level of different trail runners around the world and is built on a scale up to a maximum of 1000 points. The top of the scale corresponds to the theoretical best possible level.

Trial sites (1)

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