Let Math Dictate Your Race Strategy

French researchers have devised a mathematical model to optimize running, which could lead to e-coaching customized to a user's physiological state.

The model, produced by Amandine Aftalion from the Mathematics Laboratory in Versailles (CNRS/University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines) and Frédéric Bonnans from the Center of Applied Mathematics (CNRS/Inria/École polytechnique), provides a system of differential equations relating not only speed, acceleration, and propulsion forces and friction, but also a runner's maximal oxygen uptake and anaerobic energy.

The model can be used to predict the optimal strategy for a runner to adopt in a race.