How Participation, Physiology, Psychology, and Cognition Interact in Multi- Marathon Runners: Insights from a Harmonised Cross-Sectional Analysis

How Participation, Physiology, Psychology, and Cognition Interact in Multi- Marathon Runners: Insights from a Harmonised Cross-Sectional Analysis | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article How Participation, Physiology, Psychology, and Cognition Interact in Multi- Marathon Runners: Insights from a Harmonised Cross-Sectional Analysis Leo Lundy, Richard B Reilly, Neil Fleming This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7392979/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Multi-marathon running provides a unique context to examine how participation behaviours, physiological capacity, psychological traits, and cognitive performance interact. Previous research has analysed these domains separately, but their combined influence on athlete profiles remains unclear. Guided by the biopsychosocial model, self-determination theory, and cognitive reserve hypothesis, this study integrated multiple datasets to identify within- and cross-domain associations and multi-domain profiles. Cross-sectional data were harmonised to age × gender cells: participation (n = 830; motivation, diet, health, injury, treatment), psychology (n = 593; personality, anxiety, depression), physiology (n = 340; self-reported VO₂max), and cognition (n = 130; reaction time, sustained attention, global cognition). Variables were residualised for demographic effects and grouped into four domains. Correlation analysis, principal component analysis, and k-means clustering were applied to the integrated dataset. Strong associations occurred within domains, particularly among psychological variables, but novel cross-domain links also emerged: cognitive errors with musculoskeletal injury, diet with conscientiousness, and treatment preferences with personality traits. Principal components explained 60% of variance, and clustering identified three profiles differing in motivation, affective state, and cognition, independent of age, gender, or marathon completions. Findings highlight the value of cross-domain integration for understanding endurance athletes and supporting holistic strategies for participation and wellbeing. Biological sciences/Neuroscience Biological sciences/Psychology Social science/Psychology Multi-marathoners Cross-domain analysis. Endurance athletes Principal component analysis K-means clustering Psychology and cognition Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files imputeddatasetfinalcomplete202508131517.csv MMCESDSTAItests.xlsx MMSARTCRTMMSE.xlsx MMTIPISurvey.xlsx MMVo2max.csv MMParticipationsurvey.xlsx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 20 Jan, 2026 Reviews received at journal 20 Jan, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 31 Dec, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Dec, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 26 Dec, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 17 Dec, 2025 Editor invited by journal 21 Aug, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 19 Aug, 2025 First submitted to journal 19 Aug, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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