Trail running

PURPOSE: To examined the time-course of the early and late phase of the rate of voluntary force development (RVFD) and muscle damage markers after downhill running. METHODS: Ten recreational runners performed a 30-min downhill run at 10 km h-1 and -20% (-11.3°) on a motorized treadmill. At baseline and each day up to 4 days RVFD, knee extensors maximum voluntary isometric force (MVIC), serum creatine kinase (CK) concentration, quadriceps swelling, and soreness were assessed...

New and promising variables are being developed to analyze performance and fatigue in trail running, such as mechanical power, metabolic power, metabolic cost of transport and mechanical efficiency. The aim of this study was to analyze the behavior of these variables during a real vertical kilometer field test. Fifteen trained trail runners, eleven men (from 22 to 38 years old) and four women (from 19 to 35 years old) performed a vertical kilometer with a length of 4.64 km and 835 m positive slope. During the entire race, the runners were equipped with portable gas analyzers (Cosmed K5) to assess their cardiorespiratory and metabolic responses breath by breath...

BACKGROUND: This study aims to investigate body fluids and muscle changes evoked by different trail races using anthropometric, bioelectrical, and creatine kinase (CK) measurements. METHODS: A total of 92 subjects (55 men, 37 women) participating in three different races of 14, 35, and 52 km were evaluated before (PRE) and after (POST) the races. Classic bioelectrical impedance vector analysis was applied at the whole-body level (WB-BIVA). Additionally, muscle-localized bioelectrical assessments (ML-BIVA) were performed in a subgroup of 11 men (in the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves)...

The explosion of popularity of ultra-endurance (UE) sports in the last 20 years has attracted a lot of interest amongst sport psychologists who studied many aspects of their participants. However, a temporal perspective on the development of the UE engagement was missing. With this research we aimed to explore the long-term individual journeys of UE athletes and how their passion developed over time from the moment of inception to full adoption of UE as an identity and a lifestyle. For this purpose, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 UE athletes (12 male and 4 female, mean age 43...

PURPOSE: Outdoor running surfaces are designed with a cross-slope, which can alter kinetic and kinematic gait parameters. The purpose of this study was to evaluate running economy, gait characteristics, and muscle activation while running on a surface with cross-slopes similar to those encountered on roads and trails. METHODS: Eleven recreational runners (females n = 6) completed 5-min running trials on a treadmill at 10 km h-1 with cross-slopes of 0, 1...

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has proven effective in the treatment of major depression. The underlying mechanisms of action are still poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the changes in the levels of neuroactive steroids, neurotrophins and immunological biomarkers before and after rTMS treatment and assess the relationship of this change between clinical response and cognitive functions after monotherapy rTMS treatment. Twenty-three patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 25 matched healthy controls were included in the study...

The worldwide coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the associated social distancing measures have produced alterations in park visits of individuals, as well as their park-based physical activity (e.g. running exercise). Although studies on the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on changes in running activity patterns are becoming an emerging focus, less is known about how these changes are related to the environmental attributes of parks before and after the pandemic, the knowledge of which is essential to planning green infrastructure that better supports physical activities...

OBJECTIVES: Determine and compare the epidemiology, clinical characteristics, and injury severity among race entrants training towards different ultra-trail race distances. DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional study. SETTING: The six months training period before the 2022 Mac Ultra races (46 km, 80 km, 161 km and 322 km). PARTICIPANTS: Of the 245 race entrants, 162 (66% of Mac ultra-trail runners) consented to analyse their data...

Trail runners have been reported to be more injury prone than road runners. Limited past studies have examined the difference in the running biomechanics between the two groups of runners. More importantly, the effect of surface inclination has not been fully investigated. Hence, this study examined the effect of surface inclination on running biomechanics in trail and road runners. Twenty trails and 20 road runners were recruited in this study. Trail runners appeared to be more experienced and had longer training distance per week ( p  < 0...

Several studies explored the links between perfectionism and sport performance. However, only a few studies examined this relationship in the context of real sport competition and with a focus on the possible interactive effects of the dimensions of perfectionism. The present study aimed to investigate whether the two higher-order dimensions of perfectionism - perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns - interact in predicting performance in mountain trail running competitions. 167 athletes (54 females, 113 males) aged 19 to 65 ( M  = 39...

Locating potential mates in non-native habitats is one of the most important challenges faced by invasive vertebrate species. The Argentine black and white tegu lizard (Salvator merianae) is a major invasive reptile species in the contiguous United States and is rapidly expanding its range across Florida and the Southeast, in part due to inadequate management strategies and tools. Because a wide array of reptiles, especially squamates (snakes and lizards), have been well-studied for their reliance on chemical cues to locate conspecifics, our project aimed to isolate chemical cues from tegus and assess the ability of adult males and females to use only these cues to make navigation decisions within a Y-maze...

Technical clothing has recently been brought into the spotlight as one of the most promising tools to improve sports performance and to enhance sports recovery. Among technical clothing items, garments engineered to emit far infrared (FIR) spectrum frequencies have come to the fore as a treatment for pain, muscle fatigue, and tissue healing due to their potential antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties, with applications not only during recovery phases but also in the active phases of exercise. These garments, composed of fibers mixed with noble metals and/or bioceramics that respond to body infrared frequencies by returning an FIR emission backwards, are thought to improve muscle oxygenation and therefore recovery...

Trail running is an emerging discipline with few studies performed in ecological conditions. The aim of this work was to investigate if and how biomechanics differ between more proficient (MP) and less proficient (LP) trail runners. Twenty participants (10 F) were recruited for a 9.1 km trail running time trial wearing inertial sensors. The MP athletes group was composed of the fastest five men and the fastest five women. Group differences in spatiotemporal parameters and leg stiffness were tested with the Mann-Whitney U-test...

Hingrand, C, Olivier, N, Combes, A, Bensaid, S, and Daussin, FN. Power is more relevant than ascensional speed to determine metabolic demand at different gradient slopes during running. J Strength Cond Res 37(11): 2298-2301, 2023-Trail running is characterized by successive uphill and downhill running sessions. To prescribe training intensity, an assessment of maximal running capacity is required. This study compared 2 uphill incremental tests using the same ascensional speed increment to identify the influence of the slope gradient on performance...

BACKGROUND: Little is known about changes in kinetics or kinematics following a 10 km training run. This information has implications on risk of running-related injury. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a 10 km run on running kinematics and kinetics in a sample of experienced runners. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-Sectional Study. SUBJECTS: Nineteen runners ages 18-48 (7 female, 12 male) consented to participate including eight (3 female, 5 male) ultra-runners, and 11 (4 female, 7 male) recreational runners...

The study aims to investigate the effects of different loads and speed during running on inter- and intra-individual muscle force amplitudes, variabilities and coordination patterns. Nine healthy participants ran on an instrumentalized treadmill with an empty weight vest at two velocities (2.6 m/s and 3.3 m/s) or while carrying three different loads (4.5, 9.1, 13.6 kg) at 2.6 m/s while kinematics and kinetics were synchronously recorded. The major lower limb muscle forces were estimated using a musculoskeletal model...

Despite recent advances in the development of computational methods of modeling thrombosis, relatively little effort has been made in developing methods of modeling blood clot embolization. Such a model would provide substantially greater understanding of the mechanics of embolization, as in-vitro and in-vivo characterization of embolization is difficult. Here, a method of computationally simulating embolization is developed. Experiments are performed of blood clots formed in a polycarbonate tube, where phosphate-buffered saline is run through the tube at increasing flow rates until the clot embolizes...

The objective of the present study was to undercover the cognitive rules developed by athletes in pacing strategy during a trail running competition. Fifty participants completed a questionnaire on how decisions were made around pacing. Each questionnaire consisted of 12 scenarios that featured the two components of affective balance (effort and pleasure) as information cues. We applied repeated-measures analyses of variance and Tukey's post hoc tests to the data. The results showed that pleasure and effort had a significant effect on deciding to reduce the pace and deciding to maintain the pace...

Microplastics (MPs) from rubber outsoles of trail running shoes may contribute significantly to contamination in protected areas. In the natural environment, weathering processes can damage MP molecular structure and alter the mobility of inorganic and organic compounds used as additives in rubber. In this study, we characterised changes in the surface morphology, functional groups, and thermal stability of MPs weathered on and below the soil surface over 12 weeks, and analysed inorganic and organic additives in leachates (0...

BACKGROUND: Trail running socks with the same fibers and design but with different separations of their three-dimensional waves could have different thermoregulatory effects. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the temperatures reflected on the sole of the foot after a mountain race with the use of two models of socks with different wave separations. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In a sample of 34 subjects (twenty-seven men and seven women), the plantar temperature was analyzed with the thermal imaging camera Flir E60bx® (Flir systems, Wilsonville, OR, USA) before and after running 14 km in mountainous terrain at a hot temperature of 27 °C...