Characteristics, changes and influence of body composition during a 4486 km transcontinental ultramarathon: results from the Transeurope Footrace mobile whole body MRI-project

Schütz, Uwe; Billich, Christian; König, Kathrin; Würslin, Christian; Wiedelbach, Heike; Brambs, Hans‐Jürgen; Machann, Jürgen

doi:10.1186/1741-7015-11-122

Cited by 32 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…During these events, the adaptation of human physiology to extreme physical and mental demands is tested and ultra-endurance races therefore appeared particularly relevant to investigate the limits of the adaptive response of human bodies (Millet & Millet, 2012;Schütz et al, 2013). Respecting regular recovery and sleep needs has been shown to be an effective strategy to successfully achieve ultra-endurance challenges (Schumacher, Ahlgrim, Prettin, & Pottgiesser, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sleep Management Strategy and Performance in an Extreme Mountain Ultra-marathon

Poussel

Laroppe

Hurdiel

et al. 2015

Research in Sports Medicine

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We intended to assess the relationship between sleep strategies and performance during the North-Face Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc 2013, to test the hypothesis that sleep management can influence athletic performance. Almost all runners specifically adopted sleep management strategies before the race. Among the finishers 72% didn't sleep at all during the race and 28% took a least one break for sleep. Non-sleepers completed the race faster than the sleepers (P = 0.0008). Race time was positively correlated with drowsiness (P < 0.0001) and negatively correlated with the number participations in this race (P = 0.0039). Runners who adopted a sleep management strategy based on increased sleep time before the race completed the race faster (P = 0.0258). Most finishers seemed to be aware of the importance of developing sleep management strategies and increasing sleep time some nights before the race appeared to be the most relevant strategy to improve performance.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sleep Management Strategy and Performance in an Extreme Mountain Ultra-marathon

Poussel

Laroppe

Hurdiel

et al. 2015

Research in Sports Medicine

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“…A further aspect is the fact that cycling performance is related to leg power 40. It has been shown that ultra-endurance performance leads to a decrease in lean body mass 41. Since women have a lower skeletal muscle mass, a prolonged cycling performance might lead to a higher relative decrease in lower leg skeletal muscle mass in women compared to men; therefore, cycling performance might become more reduced in women compared to men.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex difference in top performers from Ironman to double deca iron ultra-triathlon

Knechtle¹,

Zingg²,

Rosemann³

et al. 2014

OAJSM

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This study investigated changes in performance and sex difference in top performers for ultra-triathlon races held between 1978 and 2013 from Ironman (3.8 km swim, 180 km cycle, and 42 km run) to double deca iron ultra-triathlon distance (76 km swim, 3,600 km cycle, and 844 km run). The fastest men ever were faster than the fastest women ever for split and overall race times, with the exception of the swimming split in the quintuple iron ultra-triathlon (19 km swim, 900 km cycle, and 210.1 km run). Correlation analyses showed an increase in sex difference with increasing length of race distance for swimming (r2=0.67, P=0.023), running (r2=0.77, P=0.009), and overall race time (r2=0.77, P=0.0087), but not for cycling (r2=0.26, P=0.23). For the annual top performers, split and overall race times decreased across years nonlinearly in female and male Ironman triathletes. For longer distances, cycling split times decreased linearly in male triple iron ultra-triathletes, and running split times decreased linearly in male double iron ultra-triathletes but increased linearly in female triple and quintuple iron ultra-triathletes. Overall race times increased nonlinearly in female triple and male quintuple iron ultra-triathletes. The sex difference decreased nonlinearly in swimming, running, and overall race time in Ironman triathletes but increased linearly in cycling and running and nonlinearly in overall race time in triple iron ultra-triathletes. These findings suggest that women reduced the sex difference nonlinearly in shorter ultra-triathlon distances (ie, Ironman), but for longer distances than the Ironman, the sex difference increased or remained unchanged across years. It seems very unlikely that female top performers will ever outrun male top performers in ultratriathlons. The nonlinear change in speed and sex difference in Ironman triathlon suggests that female and male Ironman triathletes have reached their limits in performance.

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“…Although this case study provides a lot of physiological and technical details, some limitations must be acknowledged. The daily measurement of body composition using a bioelectrical impedance analysis or radiological procedures like BIA [67], DEXA [68], or MRI [69] would help monitor changes in body composition. The inclusion of the last two days with very slow overall times (outlier) might have had an influence on the analysis of the data.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-Selected Pacing During a World Record Attempt in 40 Ironman-Distance Triathlons in 40 Days

Sousa

Pereira

Rosemann

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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The present case study analyzed performance, pacing, and potential predictors in a self-paced world record attempt of a professional triathlete to finish 40 Ironman-distance triathlons within 40 days. Split times (i.e., swimming, cycling, running) and overall times, body weight, daily highest temperature, wind speed, energy expenditure, mean heart rate, and sleeping time were recorded. Non-linear regressions were applied to investigate changes in split and overall times across days. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to test which variables showed the greatest influence on the dependent variables cycling, running and overall time. The athlete completed the 40×Ironman distances in a total time of 444:22 h:min. He spent 50:26 h:min in swimming, 245:37 h:min in cycling, 137:17 h:min in running and 11:02 h:min in transition times. Swimming and cycling times became slower across days, whereas running times got faster until the 20th day and, thereafter, became slower until the 40th day. Overall times got slower until the 15th day, became faster to 31st, and started then to get slower until the end. Wind speed, previous day’s race time and average heart race during cycling were significant independent variables influencing cycling time. Body weight and average heart rate during running were significant independent variables influencing running performance. Cycling performance, running performance, and body weight were significant independent variables influencing overall time. In summary, running time was influenced by body weight, cycling by wind speed, and overall time by both running and cycling performances.

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Characteristics, changes and influence of body composition during a 4486 km transcontinental ultramarathon: results from the Transeurope Footrace mobile whole body MRI-project

Cited by 32 publications

References 79 publications

Sleep Management Strategy and Performance in an Extreme Mountain Ultra-marathon

Sleep Management Strategy and Performance in an Extreme Mountain Ultra-marathon

Sex difference in top performers from Ironman to double deca iron ultra-triathlon

Self-Selected Pacing During a World Record Attempt in 40 Ironman-Distance Triathlons in 40 Days

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