Systemic Arterial Compliance Following Ultra-Marathon

Abstract

There is a growing interest in training for and competing in race distances that exceed the marathon; however, little is known regarding the vascular effects of participation in such prolonged events, which last multiple consecutive hours. There exists some evidence that cardiovascular function may be impaired following extreme prolonged exercise, but at present, only cardiac function has been specifically examined following exposure to this nature of exercise. The primary purpose of this study was to characterize the acute effects of participation in an ultra-marathon on resting systemic arterial compliance. Arterial compliance and various resting cardiovascular indices were collected at rest from 26 healthy ultra-marathon competitors using applanation tonometry (HDI CR-2000) before and after participation in a mountain trail running foot race ranging from 120-195 km which required between 20-40 continuous hours (31.2±6.8 h) to complete. There was no significant change in small artery compliance from baseline to post race follow-up (8.5±3.4-7.7±8.2 mL/mmHgx100, p=0.65), but large artery compliance decreased from 16.1±4.4 to 13.5±3.8 mL/mmHgx10 (p=0.003). Participation in extreme endurance exercise of prolonged duration was associated with acute reductions in large artery compliance, but the time course of this effect remains to be elucidated.

Influence of body composition and physical fitness on arterial stiffness after marathon running

“…In contrast to our results, Burr et al found a reduced compliance 20‐60 min after ultramarathon (120‐195 km). This seems to contradict Phillips et al who did not find significant changes in carotid‐femoral PWV running the same distances.…”

Thoracic aorta vasoreactivity in rats under exhaustive exercise: effects of Lycium barbarum polysaccharides supplementation

“…Moreover, Nickel [27] showed that 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise transiently increased small arterial compliance after exercise, but not sustained. Extremely high volume exercise may be associated with decreases in cardiovascular function and large artery compliance [6]. Ahmadi et al [28] recently reported that coronary artery calcification was associated with impaired aortic compliance.…”

“…For example, High-intensity strength exercise leads to a decrease in arterial compliance [4,5]. Twenty to forty hours of continuous mountain trail running decreases the large artery compliance [6]. Moreover, marathon runners have increased aortic stiffness compared to that of the control group [7].…”

Changes in blood morphology and chosen biochemical parameters in ultra-marathon runners during a 100-km run in relation to the age and speed of runners

“…Deaths occurred mainly among young participants (< 45 years old). Therefore, scientists are increasingly interested in the issue of the body's response to the extreme effort performed by amateurs, especially economy of the use of energy sources [5][6][7][8], relationship between running speed and maximal oxygen uptake (VO 2max ) [9][10][11][12], changes of biochemical indicators in the blood [4,[13][14][15] that indicate damage to skeletal muscles and organs [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] and recently, advantages and threats of such an activity in terms of health [25][26][27][28][29]. Thus, it seems that monitoring of the reaction of the body by observing changes in blood indicators during a marathon run, should be a standard procedure.…”