Option 1

An investigation of training and recovery leading up to the Maratona dles Dolomites

Bangor University Research Team:

PhD Researchers: Francesca Mottola; Clare Barwood

Staff Researchers: Dr’s Anthony Blanchfield, Andrew Cooke, James Hardy, Sam Oliver, and Ross Roberts

Invitation paragraph

As an entrant in the 2019 Maratone dles Dolomites, you are being invited to take part in a research study. The information contained in this document will give you all of the details about the study. This document will also tell you what you will need to do, if you would like to take part in the study. Please feel free to take your time to read the information carefully before deciding whether to take part, or not. Though it is not a requirement, please also feel welcome to discuss whether you should take part or not with friends, relatives, or your Doctor if that feels right for you. If before taking part, you would like some more information, please just contact the individual named at the bottom of this document.

We would like to express our gratitude for taking the time to read this document.

Requirements to take part in the Study

To take part in this study we require that you are able to understand written English and that you are 18 years or older. This research will be entirely questionnaire based. We will therefore never need to meet you, or to even know who you are. The questionnaires will be answered by clicking on internet-links that will be automatically sent to you by e-mail on specific dates before and after the Maratona Dles Dolomites. Because of this, you will need to be able to use a computer or smartphone to access these internet-links. So that we can send these internet-links to you, you will also need to provide us with your e-mail address as part of the study, when we ask for it.

 What is the background of the study?

When people enter a cycling event, they generally take part in exercise training to prepare for that event. Up to 9000 people may take part in the Maratona dles Dolomites. With so many people taking part, the way that people prepare for the Maratona dles Dolomites will differ from person to person. This study will explore how general lifestyle (family, leisure, work) and personality are associated with the way people train and recover when they prepare for the Maratona dles Dolomites.

Do I have to take part?

After reading this document, it is up to you to decide whether or not you would like to take part in this study. If you decide to take part, you are free to withdraw at any time and without giving a reason. This will not affect your race entry in any way, it will also not affect your relationship with the race organisers, or with Bangor University.

If you would like to take part, we will need your consent. To provide your consent you should follow the "sign up" link at the bottom of this page and place a tick next in the box next to “I do consent” in the consent form

As this study is questionnaire based, if you choose for whatever reason, not to answer a specific question, we will also give you the chance to do so. This too will not affect your race entry in any way. It will also not affect your relationship with the race organisers, or with Bangor University.

What is required of me if I take part?

We will gather online questionnaire data from you at four separate time-points. These time points, and the requirements at each time-point, are as follows:

Time-point 1 - After providing consent; Time-point 2 – Saturday 22nd June; Time-point 3 – Friday 5th July; Time-point 4 - Monday 8th July

Time-point 1 – After providing consent:

After consenting to take part, you will be asked to provide your e-mails address. You will then be required to answer some general questions about yourself. These questions will include:

• Age, gender, height, weight, and physical activity. We only ask for these details so that we can indirectly estimate your V̇O2max (V̇O2max is a common measure that we use to assess fitness in sport science).

• Your nationality, your first language and your previous participation in the Maratona dles Dolomites.

• After this, we will ask you approximately 100 questions about yourself. This will allow us to categorise certain aspects of your personality.

• We will ask you about how your coach influences your training (if you have one).

• For females, we will also ask you about your menstrual cycle (regularity, frequency, contraception use). We do this as some of the things that we measure change over time as a result of the menstrual cycle, e.g. mood. Importantly, as with all questions, you can skip this, if you wish to.

In total, Time-point 1 should take you approximately 20 - 30 minutes.

Time-point 2 – Saturday 22nd June:

On Saturday 22nd June, you will receive an e-mail that contains a link to the questionnaires for this day. When you click this link in your e-mail, it will take you directly to these online questionnaires. The questionnaires in this link will ask you about your average training, recovery and general life for the previous two weeks:

• Your general training activity and your attitudes to training during this time

• Your average sleep quality and duration for the previous two weeks

• Your average mental fatigue for the previous two weeks

• Your average post-exercise and general recovery for the previous two weeks

• General things about life stress and exercise for the previous two weeks

• We will also ask your expected race time in the 2019 Maratona dles Dolomites

In total, Time-point 2 should take you approximately 15 - 25 minutes[A4] . We courteously ask that you complete these questions for us on Saturday 22nd June.

Time-point 3 – Friday 5th July:

On Friday 5th July, you will receive an e-mail that contains a link to the questionnaires for this day. When you click this link in your e-mail it will take you directly to these online questionnaires. Many of the things we will ask here will be similar to those at Time-point 2. The questionnaires in this link will ask you about:

• Your general training activity and your attitudes to training during this time

• Your average sleep quality and duration for the previous two weeks

• Your average mental fatigue for the previous two weeks

• Your average post-exercise and general recovery for the previous two weeks

• General things about your life stress and exercise for the previous two weeks

• We will also ask your expected race time in the 2019 Maratona dles Dolomites

• We  will also ask you questions about your cycling motivations and goals

In total, Time-point 3 should take you approximately 20 - 25 minutes . We courteously ask that you complete these questions for us on Friday 5th July.

Time-point 4 – Monday 8th July:

On Monday 8th July, you will receive an e-mail that contains a link to the questionnaires for this day. When you click this link in your e-mail it will take you directly to these online questionnaires. The questionnaires in this link will ask you for:

• Your actual race time, how effortful the race was, how recovered you are from the race, your motivations around the race.

In total, Time-point 4 should take you approximately 2 – 5 minutes. We courteously ask that you complete these questions for us as soon as possible, but not later than Wednesday 10th July.

 What do I have to do?

We simply ask that you check your e-mail on each of the dates that are listed above and then access the link that is enclosed in each of those e-mails. Each link will take you directly to the questions that we require you to answer for that day. We courteously ask you to provide your answers by the end of each day that they are sent to you.

 What are the possible disadvantages and risks of taking part?

Because of the subjective nature of questionnaires, it is possible that some people may find some questions intrusive. For instance, one question that we ask will require you to rate how often you felt depressed in the last two weeks. Another item asks you to choose between whether you like to be the centre of attention, or to blend in, while another questionnaire will ask you to rate your experiences around failure. For females, we will also ask you about your menstrual cycle. We would be grateful if you could answer each question very honestly. However, we will also provide a tick selection to allow you to skip any questions that you choose to, if for some reason you decide not to answer. We would however also like to remind you at this point that your answers will be recorded anonymously.

We will be collecting data using an online programme, QualtricsXM. QualtricsXM is commonly used in scientific research as a platform to collect questionnaire data when no direct contact is required with the person. Again, we would like to remind you that at no point will we collect your name; you will therefore complete these questionnaires anonymously. You can however access the security statement and privacy statement for QualtricsXM by clicking on each blue link below:

QualtricsXM: Security statement 

QualtricsXM: Privacy statement 

 What are the possible benefits of taking part? 

For individuals who take part until the end of the study (i.e., complete the full study), we will provide you with feedback about the data that you provide to us. This means that we will be able to provide you with a report on your estimated V̇O2max, your personality characteristics, your training and recovery stress, and your general life stress. You will receive this report on, or after, the week of the 22nd of July through an automatic email that contains a link to this report. Each of these reports might be helpful for you when you prepare for your next race. After the study is complete, we will also enter you into a random prize draw to receive 100 euros in Amazon vouchers. Only individuals who complete the full study will be entered the prize draw. Should you win these vouchers, we will inform you via the e-mail that you provide to us. This is the only time that we will use your e-mail for a reason other than to send you the link to the questionnaires that we would like you to complete, and your feedback.

Confidentiality and the use of my data

Only the named researchers on this document will have access to the data that you provide to us. We will capture your age, sex, height, weight, vocation and nationality. However, as we will collecting data anonymously (we will not be collecting your name), we do not expect these things to make you personally identifiable. We will need you to provide us with an e-mail address however after providing consent online. This is so that we can send out the remaining questionnaire links on the dates of Friday 22nd June, Friday 5th July, and Monday 8th July, and also your feedback. These e-mails will be sent directly to you by QualtricsXM. We will therefore not send you any group e-mails. Your e-mail information (or any other information) will not be passed on to any other individuals for third party use. The only other time that we may use your e-mail to e-mail you directly will be to inform you if you have won our prize draw.

Once we compile your anonymous data for data analysis, we will store it under a code name on password protected Bangor University Servers and in a Bangor University Secured one-drive folder that will only be available to the researchers who are named at the top of this document. We will store your data for 5 years from the end of data collection. While we will do our utmost to delete your data, should you decide to withdraw from the study, as the data that we collect will be anonymised and coded, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do this after data collection has taken place. We make seek to publish the findings in an academic publication. They will also be used as part of a Doctorate thesis. We can guarantee that you will not be personally identifiable from any of this data.  

Who is organising or funding the research? (if applicable)

This research is part of a Bangor University PhD research project and is partly funded by a European Union Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships European Convergence programme. The link to this can be found below:

Bangor University Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships

Who has reviewed the study?

This study has been reviewed by the Local Research Ethics Committee of the School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences, Bangor University

Feedback on Conduct of Research:

Any concerns or complaints about this study, or the conduct of individuals conducting this study, should be referred to:

Huw Ellis, College Manager, College of Human Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2AS; or, e-mail: huw.ellis@bangor.ac.uk.

You are welcome to contact the University’s assigned data protection officer (DPO) if for any reason, you wish to. The DOP of Bangor University can be contacted on these details: Mrs Gwenan Hine: gwenan.hine@bangor.ac.uk; 01248 382413.

Any Questions?

Please ask us if you have any questions. You should not sign the form consenting to take part in the study if you still have unanswered questions or any doubts. If you wish to answer any questions about the study, please contact the individual below:

Contact Details: Francesca Mottola: pep83b@bangor.ac.uk

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