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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2010 Feb 19.
Published in final edited form as: Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2008 Jun;40(6):998–1006. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e31816722a9

TABLE 2.

Baseline characteristics (mean ± SE) of runners by cardiorespiratory fitness (10-km performance time).

10-km Performance (m·s−1)
Fastest Fast Intermediate Slow Slowest
Males
 N 1980 5094 8617 6565 2262
 Age (yr) 35.2 ± 0.2 40.9 ± 0.1 44.6 ± 0.1 48.2 ± 0.1 51.9 ± 0.2
 Education (yr) 16.3 ± 0.1 16.5 ± 0.0 16.5 ± 0.0 16.5 ± 0.0 16.5 ± 0.0
 Running distance (km·wk−1) 62.0 ± 0.7 48.4 ± 0.3 38.7 ± 0.2 31.2 ± 0.2 25.7 ± 0.3
 BMI (kg·m−2) 21.9 ± 0.0 22.8 ± 0.0 23.7 ± 0.0 24.5 ± 0.0 25.4 ± 0.1
Females
 N 1343 2286 2961 1755 711
 Age (yr) 34.4 ± 0.2 37.0 ± 0.2 39.6 ± 0.2 43.0 ± 0.2 45.4 ± 0.4
 Education (yr) 16.2 ± 0.1 16.1 ± 0.0 15.9 ± 0.0 15.9 ± 0.1 15.8 ± 0.1
 Running distance (km·wk−1) 54.4 ± 0.7 43.9 ± 0.4 36.1 ± 0.3 28.9 ± 0.4 25.9 ± 0.6
 BMI (kg·m−2) 20.2 ± 0.1 20.6 ± 0.0 21.2 ± 0.0 21.8 ± 0.1 22.9 ± 0.1

Cardiovascular fitness categories are defined as slowest (males, m·s−1 < 3.25; females, m·s−1 < 2.8); slow (males, 3.25 ≤ m·s−1 < 3.75; females, 2.8 ≤ m·s−1 < 3.20); intermediate (males, 3.75 ≤ m·s−1≤ 4.25; females, 3.20 < m·s−1 ≤ 3.60); fast (males, 4.25 < m·s−1 ≤ 4.75; females, 3.6 < m·s−1 ≤ 4.00); fastest (males, 4.75 < m·s−1; females, 4.00 < m·s−1).