Determinants of recovery from a 161-km ultramarathon |
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| Authors: | Martin D Hoffman Natalie Badowski Joseph Chin Kristin J Stuempfle Carol A Parise |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Physical Medicine &2. Rehabilitation, Department of Veterans Affairs, Northern California Health Care System, Sacramento, CA, USA;3. University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA, USA;4. Department of Emergency Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA;5. State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY, USA;6. Health Sciences Department, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA, USA;7. Sutter Institute for Medical Research, Sacramento, CA, USA |
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| Abstract: | The primary study objective was to identify determinants of short-term recovery from a 161-km ultramarathon. Participants completed 400 m runs at maximum speed before the race and on days 3 and 5 post-race, provided a post-race blood sample for plasma creatine kinase (CK) concentration, and provided lower body muscle pain and soreness ratings (soreness, 10-point scale) and overall muscular fatigue scores (fatigue, 100-point scale) pre-race and for 7 days post-race. Among 72 race finishers, soreness and fatigue had statistically returned to pre-race levels by 5 days post-race; and 400 m times at days 3 and 5 remained 26% (P = 0.001) and 12% (P = 0.01) slower compared with pre-race, respectively. CK best modelled soreness, fatigue and per cent change in post-race 400 m time. Runners with the highest CKs had 1.5 points higher (P < 0.001) soreness and 11.2 points higher (P = 0.006) fatigue than runners with the lowest CKs. For the model of 400 m time, a significant interaction of time with CK (P < 0.001) indicates that higher CKs were linked with a slower rate of return to pre-race 400 m time. Since post-race CK was the main modifiable determinant of recovery following the ultramarathon, appropriate training appears to be the optimal approach to enhance ultramarathon recovery. |
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| Keywords: | Creatine kinase muscle fatigue muscle pain muscle soreness running |
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