title: Determinants of recovery from a 161-km ultramarathon.
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.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Department of Veterans Affairs , Northern California Health Care System , Sacramento , CA , USA.|b University of California Davis Medical Center , Sacramento , CA , USA.
authors.forename: Martin D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.affiliation: c Department of Emergency Medicine , Stanford University School of Medicine , Stanford , CA , USA.
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Badowski
authors.affiliation: d State University of New York Upstate Medical University , Syracuse , NY , USA.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.affiliation: e Health Sciences Department , Gettysburg College , Gettysburg , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Kristin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Stuempfle
authors.affiliation: f Sutter Institute for Medical Research , Sacramento , CA , USA.
authors.forename: Carol A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Parise
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003402:Creatine Kinase / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018763:Muscle Fatigue; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D063806:Myalgia; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D003402:Creatine Kinase
keywords: Creatine kinase; muscle fatigue; muscle pain; muscle soreness; running