Fig. 5

Trajectory of theoretical KsA values as a function of distance, calculated using KsA values derived from the annual best performance times of German male runners. The median and the 25th, 75th, and 90th percentiles (P25, P75, P90) of the theoretical KsA values were plotted against distance (A). Non-linear regression analysis was used to identify the best fitting curve of the trajectory of the theoretical KsA values. The resulting two-phase exponential decay function and its corresponding parameter are shown in the table (B). The theoretical KsA values were calculated by successively multiplying the empirical single KsA values obtained from performances over neighboring distances. The empirical KsA values were, in turn, derived from annual best performance times of German male runners. The course of the theoretical KsA values represents the relative loss of pace from the 100 m distance to the 10,000 m distance. Underlying dataset/original data: A1 (Tab. S01)/ Tab. S06–S12.