Purpose: High cardiorespiratory capacity is a key determinant of human performance and life expectancy; however, the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. The objective of this pilot study was to investigate biochemical signatures of endurance-performance athletes using high-resolution nontargeted metabolomics. Methods: Elite long-distance runners with similar training and anthropometrical records were studied. After athletes’ maximal oxygen consumption () was measured, they were divided into 2 groups: low (<65 mL·kg−1·min−1, n = 7) and high (>75 mL·kg−1·min−1, n = 7). Plasma was collected under basal conditions after 12 hours of fasting and after a maximal exercise test (nonfasted) and analyzed by high-resolution LC–MS. Multivariate and univariate statistics were applied. Results: A total of 167 compounds were putatively identified with an LC–MS-based metabolomics pipeline. Partial least-squares discriminant analysis showed a clear separation between groups. Significant variations in metabolites highlighted group differences in diverse metabolic pathways, including lipids, vitamins, amino acids, purine, histidine, xenobiotics, and others, either under basal condition or after the maximal exercise test. Conclusions: Taken together, the metabolic alterations revealed in the study affect cellular energy use and availability, oxidative stress management, muscle damage, central nervous system signaling metabolites, nutrients, and compound bioavailability, providing new insights into metabolic alterations associated with exercise and cardiorespiratory fitness levels in trained athletes.

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The Achilles tendon stores and releases strain energy, influencing running economy. The present study aims to verify the influence of the Achilles tendon tangent modulus, as a material property, on running economy by comparing two groups of elite endurance-performance athletes undergoing different running training volumes. Twelve athletes, six long-distance runners and six pentathletes, were studied. Long-distance runners had a higher weekly running training volume (116.7±13.7 vs. 58.3±20.4 km, p<0.05) and a better running economy (204.3±12.0 vs. 222.0±8.7 O2 mL ∙ kg−1 ∙ km−1, p<0.05) evaluated in a treadmill at 16 km·h–1, 1% inclination. Both groups presented similar VO2max (68.5±3.8 vs. 65.7±5.0 mL ∙ min−1 ∙ kg−1, p>0.05). Achilles tendon tangent modulus was estimated from ultrasound-measured deformations, with the ankle passively mobilized by a dynamometer. True stress was calculated from the measured torque. The long-distance runners had a higher maximum tangent modulus (380.6±92.2 vs. 236.2±82.6 MPa, p<0.05) and maximum true stress than pentathletes (24.2±5.1 vs. 16.0±3.5 MPa, p<0.05). The correlation coefficient between tangent modulus at larger deformations was R=–0.7447 (p<0.05). Quantifying tendon tissue adaptations associated with different running training volumes will support subject and modality-specific workouts prescription of elite endurance athletes.

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