📝 Gastrointestinal symptoms (GIS) reportedly affect 96% of ultramarathon runners during their endurance events. GIS can be detrimental to performance and even result in an athlete quitting the event. Identifying contributing factors to GIS and determining strategies to mitigate them is crucial for endurance athletes.Full post: www.werunultras.com/endurance-research/pre-event-factors-for-gastrointestinal-issues-in-endurance-athletes

📝 Endurance runners’ perception of fatigue plays a key role in their performance. The perception of fatigue is the level of intensity an athlete feels during exercise. Factors included for intensity are the amount of tension, level of discomfort, and physical exhaustion. Exercise-induced fatigue exhibits through muscle soreness, heart rate increase, and reduced mental performance.Full post:... more

📝 The ketogenic low-carbohydrate, high-fat (K-LCHF) diet shifts the body’s utilization of food from carbohydrates to fat. The shift to fat oxidation in the muscles enhances the body’s use of fat for energy. This effect is thought to improve endurance performance since fat stores are typically more abundant in the body than carbohydrates.Full post:... more

📝 The human heart has its own pacemaker, the sinoatrial node, which typically beats 100 times per minute. However, if the person is experiencing physical or emotional stress, the rhythm of the heart will be affected by autonomic control. This control system either up-regulates or down-regulates the heart rate by changing heart rate variability (HRV). When HRV is increased, the heart beats slower, and when HRV is decreased the heart beats faster.Full post:... more

📝 A limiting factor for many endurance athletes is an exercise-induced inflammatory response. Inflammation-inducing molecules agitate the central nervous system which in turn leads to coordination loss and decreased movement ability. Athletes tend to use over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, even though they can be ineffective (and outright dangerous). A rarely used method of inhibiting inflammation is using vitamin D.Full post:... more

📝 Endurance runners are often faced with gastrointestinal (GI) stress, which can result in bloating, abdominal cramping, diarrhoea, nausea, and vomiting. The cause of GI stress during endurance exercise is influenced by several factors including oxygen deficiency in the abdomen, oxidative stress, hyperthermia, exercise-related mechanical stress, and malabsorption of carbohydrates consumed before and during exercise.Full post:... more