Effect of Air Pollution on Marathon Running Performance

Abstract

The concentrations of air pollution present during marathons rarely exceed health-based national standards and levels known to affect lung function in laboratory situations. Regardless, PM(10) was significantly correlated with performance of women marathon runners.

Participation and performance trends in 100-km ultra-marathons worldwide

“…A limitation in this cross-sectional study is that influences on endurance performance such as physiological (Landman et al, 2012;Saltin et al, 1995;Saunders et al, 2004) and anthropometric characteristics (Knechtle et al, 2008(Knechtle et al, , 2009Knechtleet al, 2010), training variables (Billat et al, 2001;Knechtle, Wirth, et al, 2010), fluid and food intake (Bürge et al, 2011;Cejka, Knechtle, Knechtle, Rüst, & Rosemann, 2012;Fallon, Broad, Thompson, & Reull, 1998;Onywera et al, 2004), medical problems (Scheer & Murray, 2011) and environmental conditions of the race (El Helou et al, 2012;Ely, Cheuvront, Roberts, & Montain, 2007;Marr & Ely, 2010;Vihma, 2010) were not taken into consideration. However, this study reveals valuable data, because it provides insight into the development of participation and performance in 100-km ultramarathon worldwide.…”

Inhaled whole exhaust and its effect on exercise performance and vascular function

“…Surprisingly, in a world which so highly covets athletic competition and where seconds may mark the difference between first place, fifth place, or even a world record, a dearth of literature exists examining the effects of PM inhalation on exercise performance. A recent publication, examined the times of the top three finishers in seven US marathons over the course of 8-28 years and identified performance decrements associated with PM 10 (< 10 µm) among women but not men (Marr & Ely, 2010). earlier investigated the effects of PM 1 inhalation on male subjects who completed two, 6 min work accumulation rides in low PM (LPM) separated by 48 h and followed by two, 6 min work accumulation rides in high PM (HPM) seven days later under laboratory conditions where fresh particulate matter was generated from a 2-cycle engine.…”

Environment and Exercise

“…General recommendations for preparing to train and compete in these environments are provided in Table 35.5. by laboratory-based research, although a fi eldbased retrospective analysis showed that "acceptable" levels (i.e., not "unhealthy" levels) of PM were negatively correlated to marathon performance in female recreational runners (Marr & Ely, 2010).…”