Abstract
Purpose
The effect of trail running competitions on cost of running (Cr) remains unclear and no study has directly examined the effect of distances in similar conditions on Cr. Accordingly, the aims of this study were to (i) assess the effect of trail running races of 40–170 km on Cr and (ii) to assess whether the incline at which Cr is measured influences changes in Cr.
Methods
Twenty trail runners completed races of < 100 km (SHORT) and 26 trail runners completed races of > 100 km (LONG) on similar courses and environmental conditions. Oxygen uptake, respiratory exchange ratio, ventilation, and blood lactate were measured before and after the events on a treadmill with 0% (FLAT) and 15% incline (UH) and Cr was calculated.
Results
Cr increased significantly after SHORT but not LONG races. There was no clear relationship between changes in Cr and changes in ventilation or blood lactate. There was a significant correlation (r = 0.75, p < 0.01) between changes in FLAT and UH Cr, and the change in Cr was not affected by the incline at which Cr was measured.
Conclusion
The distance of the trail running race, but not the slope at which it is measured, influence the changes in Cr with fatigue. The mechanism by which Cr increases only in SHORT is not related to increased cost of breathing.
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Data availability
Data are available upon request.
Abbreviations
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- Cr:
-
Cost of running
- Cr-breath:
-
Cost of running minus the energy cost of breathing
- FLAT:
-
Treadmill runner at 0% incline
- HR:
-
Heart rate
- [La−]:
-
Blood lactate concentration
- LONG:
-
Races longer than 100 km
- RER:
-
Respiratory exchange ratio
- SHORT:
-
Races shorter than 100 km
- UH:
-
Uphill treadmill running at 15% incline
- \(\dot{\text{V}}\) E :
-
Pulmonary ventilation
- \(\dot{\text{V}}\)̇O2max :
-
Maximal oxygen consumption
- WB:
-
Work of breathing
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank all the subjects for their participation, Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc® organization and National School of Ski & Mountaineering for logistical support. The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the technical help provided Diana Rimaud and Audrey Parent. The authors thank Callum Brownstein for his help with proofreading the manuscript.
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This research was funded by an IDEX Lyon fellowship.
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Approval for the project was obtained from the French Ethical Research committee (Comité de Protection des Personnes Ouest VI). The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04025138).
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Communicated by Jean -Rene Lacour.
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Sabater Pastor, F., Varesco, G., Besson, T. et al. Degradation of energy cost with fatigue induced by trail running: effect of distance. Eur J Appl Physiol 121, 1665–1675 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-021-04624-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-021-04624-5