INTRODUCTION Endurance performance decreases during ageing due to alterations in physiological characteristics, energy stores, and psychological factors. To investigate alterations in physiological characteristics and body composition of elderly master athletes in response to an extreme endurance event, we present the case of the first ninety-year-old official male marathon finisher. CASE DES...

PURPOSE Despite the increasing popularity of marathon running, there are no data on the responses of stroke volume (SV) and cardiac output (CO) to exercise in this context. We sought to establish whether marathon performance is associated with the ability to sustain high fractional use of maximal SV and CO (i.e, cardiac endurance) and/or CO, per meter (i.e., cardiac cost). METHODS We measured...

VICTORY ( í ) was the last word uttered by Philippides, before collapsing, at the end of the 42-km run from the fields of Marathon to Athens, where he had been sent to announce the victory against the Persians in 490 BC. In modern Olympic games, the marathon has been introduced as a 42.2-km road run, with a 2008 world record of 2 h, 3 min, and 59 s. It has been said that winning the Olympic mar...

PURPOSE To investigate the effects of docosahexaenoic-(DHA)-rich fish oil (FO) supplementation on lymphocyte function before and after a marathon race. METHODS Twenty-one athletes participated in this study. Eight marathon runners were supplemented with 3 g of FO daily for 60 d (FO group), and 13 athletes were not supplemented (C group). The following measures of lymphocytes were taken before...

Background Based on laboratory studies performed through decades, it is suggested that carbohydrate intake during prolonged exercise improves performance. However, we do not know much about whether marathon race performance in practice can be improved by intervening with a scientifically based nutritional strategy. The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that a marathon race can be comp...

PURPOSE To describe and compare training characteristics of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifiers. METHODS All qualifiers (104 men, 151 women) received questionnaires. Ninety-three (37 men, 56 women) responded and were categorized as elite (men <2 hours 15 min, women <2 hours 40 min) or national class. RESULTS Men and women ran 75% and 68% of their weekly training distance, respe...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of anthropometric characteristics and training indices on marathon race times in recreational male marathoners. METHODS Training and anthropometric characteristics were collected for a large cohort of recreational male runners (n = 126) participating in the Basel marathon in Switzerland between 2010 and 2011. RESULTS Among t...

The purpose of this study is to compare changes in biochemical markers for the skeletal muscles, hepatic metabolism, and renal function based on extreme long-distance running.Among healthy amateur endurance athletes who participated in a marathon, 100 km-, or 308 km ultramarathon, 15 athletes with similar physical and demographic characteristics were chosen to be the subjects in this study, upo...

The sex difference in marathon performance increases with finishing place and age of the runner but whether this occurs among swimmers is unknown. The purpose was to compare sex differences in swimming velocity across world record place (1st-10th), age group (25-89 years), and event distance. We also compared sex differences between freestyle swimming and marathon running. The world's top 10 sw...

BACKGROUND Prolonged aerobic exercise, such as running a marathon, produces supraphysiological stress that can affect the athlete's homeostasis. Some degree of transient myocardial dysfunction ("cardiac fatigue") can be observed for several days after the race. OBJECTIVE To verify if there are changes in the cardiopulmonary capacity, and cardiac inotropy and lusitropy in amateur marathoners a...