It is indisputable that physical activity is essential for physical and mental health. Our body was made to move, with a sedentary lifestyle or physical inactivity being aggressive to our body. The World Health Organization’s recommendation is to practice 150 to 300 minutes of physical activities per week. The ideal is a mix of aerobic exercises with strength exercises so that you have greater gains, obtaining the positive results that each type of training provides.
But what about when physical activity exceeds this recommended time? When in just ONE DAY you exceed 1, 2 or even three times what’s recommended in a week? The longer the target race, the more careful the athlete must be with their health.
According to ITRA (International Trail Running Association), trail running is running in natural environments through paths, trails, mountains, forests, plains, beaches, ice, and snow, with the minimum possible of paved or asphalted roads (not exceeding more than 20% of the route).
The alternation of terrain, accumulated elevation gain, duration of runs, equipment, and specific trail running skills make this activity challenging even for the experienced road running practitioner. A race on asphalt that takes an average of 3 hours can take 5 to 6 hours on a trail. That’s many hours in movement, making effort, carrying a backpack, exposed to diverse environments, demanding a lot physically and psychologically.
Trail running is in the category of Endurance sports, which are sports of light to medium intensity for a long period of time (more than 90 minutes) continuously, requiring specific training to elevate or enhance cardiorespiratory and musculoskeletal variables in order to minimize fatigue and/or exhaustion, as well as avoid injuries.
The longer the target race and the greater the training volume, the more systems in our body are activated, each time on a larger scale, requiring greater attention to health, prioritizing rest, adequate nutrition, and supplementation. A training and monitoring strategy from the beginning of training progression is fundamental for the body to adapt and evolve in a linear and gradual way, achieving greater performance without harm.
Our Energy Production and Its Taxes
All energy production and muscle adaptation that our body does so we can practice physical activities comes with a tax, whether in the form of free radical production, acids, or the generation of inflammation. The more we practice, the more tax we pay. But then does practicing long physical activities harm health? The answer is no. But for us to maintain health, our body needs to promote adaptations that reduce or even nullify the taxes. And this is possible when we give time and help our body to do this.
ATP (Adenosine Tri Phosphate) is our energy-generating molecule. When broken down into ADP (Adenosine Di Phosphate) it releases energy to our cells. To generate ATP we use the well-known substrates: Glucose (carbohydrates), Lipids (fats) and Proteins. But the use of these substrates does not happen separately, and their uses cross and mix in a complex mechanism according to the energy demand of the moment. Glucose can be used by several pathways, aerobic (using O2) and anaerobic (without using O2), or if consumed in excess, it is stored in the form of lipids which are also mobilized to be used as energy substrate when requested. Normally Glucose and lipids are used concomitantly, with glucose being the most used because it is processed into ATP faster and more efficiently. If carbohydrates and lipids are lacking, proteins are mobilized to become energy. All these processes generate taxes, each with its rates, with glucose having the lowest rates and proteins the highest rates.
The chemical reaction of energy generation releases acid in the muscle continuously. This acid inhibits the action of calcium in muscle fibers, making contraction increasingly faulty, generating fatigue. Strategies that increase blood perfusion in the muscle, such as the use of Nitrate, or that make this acid be reused for generating more energy or even the production of buffers (substances that neutralize acids), such as carnosine from Beta-Alanine, can improve this condition. Supplements and nutritional and training strategies can optimize this acid production or make it be reused for ATP formation, reducing or postponing fatigue.
The Mitochondria: Our Cellular Engine
The organelle responsible for energy production in the cell is called mitochondria. It uses glucose and oxygen to, through an electron chain, release energy very efficiently. It is the cell’s engine. And the more engines, the greater the energy production. But even with many engines, you need great oxygen (VO2) and glucose uptake for them to function. Furthermore, mitochondria are very efficient but generate many free radicals. What are Free Radicals? They are unstable, highly reactive molecules that cause damage to the organism when not controlled or eliminated. The human body produces antioxidant enzymes such as Glutathione for this purpose, but their production is regulated according to demand. A very rapid increase in free radical production can cause our body not to keep up with the production of these enzymes. Excess Free Radicals cause premature aging, diseases such as atherosclerosis, heart diseases, inflammatory diseases, among others. Many foods such as fruits and supplements with antioxidants, such as Coenzyme Q10, Astaxanthin and PQQ, are recommended for athletes as a way to help the body eliminate or neutralize these “troublemakers.” Furthermore, ensuring the intake or maintenance of blood levels of adjuvants in the production of antioxidant enzymes, such as Manganese, Zinc, Copper, can facilitate this process.
VO2 and Performance
VO2max (maximum capacity of an individual’s body to transport and metabolize oxygen during physical exercise) is one of the most used variables to evaluate the chronic effect of endurance training; it is considered a predictor of performance in this type of race and its enhancement is an indicator of adaptations to the stress imposed by training. These adaptations represent an increase in the volume of blood ejection by the heart at rest, decrease in heart rate, and an increase in arteriovenous O2 difference. Another important variable in this type of modality is the lactate threshold, used to control training intensity. Lactate is produced by the muscle through lactic acid and goes into circulation to be metabolized or reused. Its direct relationship with VO2max makes both determine performance in high-level athletes. Working to increase VO2 requires training and homeostasis of O2 transport and uptake processes. Hematocrit, hemoglobin, Iron and Transferrin Saturation (amount of Iron bound to its carrier protein) are items to be evaluated. Lung capacity and chronic lung diseases, such as asthma, should be evaluated and treated.
Adapting and Remodeling
All higher intensity physical activity generates muscle damage and an inflammatory response. But this is necessary for muscle adaptation to that activity to occur. Our body remodels and readapts to the conditions we subject it to. This is beautiful, but when done correctly. Intense muscle damage, with great post-training pain, is no longer recommended. The effort for your body to repair such damage may not be so efficient. It’s like building a house that was shaken by an earthquake. If the house was heavily damaged and you only have a few days to rebuild it because another earthquake is coming, you will hardly do it the best way, but rather the way you can. That’s why slow, programmed progression is so important, to give the body time to make necessary repairs and improvements. Furthermore, high-grade inflammation for a prolonged time can lead to anemia and other health conditions, and poorly repaired muscle destruction can lead to future injuries. Supplements with antioxidants such as those already mentioned, indirect anti-inflammatories such as Omega 3 and N-Acetyl Cysteine, can help in muscle repair and recovery but should be used in the right phases of training so as not to harm muscle adaptation.
The Intestine
The effort of a long activity has already been proven to temporarily alter the intestinal microbiota of athletes. This implies poor absorption of nutrients, vitamins, gastrointestinal discomfort, and even diarrhea. It can also alter the immune system, increasing the chance of infections during the most intense periods of training and during races. Normally this alteration is transitory and limited to peak phases, however some imbalances during this process can cause the microbiota not to restore itself and the problem to perpetuate. The use of probiotics and Glutamine can help in these phases, but with the persistence of the problem, other supplements and/or medications may be necessary.
Good Monitoring, Good Results
For you to pay fewer metabolic taxes, improve your performance and establish the balance of your health, as your goals within trail running increase, your body must accompany these processes. The physiological needs and demands of an endurance athlete, even an amateur (I would say even more so), are very different from a “normal” or sedentary person, so clinical monitoring with a doctor who understands these processes is very important.
Bibliographic References
- Henry Okigami e Marcelo Carvalho – Em busca do equilíbrio bioquímico na atividade física, 1 edição; Fapes Books, 2019.
- Alexsandro Balbino de Oliveira – Adaptações fisiológicas ao treinamento de endurance contínuo – Universidade de Ribeirão Preto – Campus Guarujá.
- Guia de Trail Running – Conselho Regional de Educação Física RS.
- Kenneth Vitale e Andrew Getzin – Nutrition and Supplement Update for the Endurance athlete: review and recommendations – Nutrients, 2019.
- Shaun A. mason, Adam J. Trewin, lLewan Parker, Glenn D. Wadley -Antioxidant supplements and Endurance exercise: current evidence and mechanistic insights, Elsevier, Redox biology, 2020.
- Dan L Waitzberg, Rafael Malagoli Rocha, Alan Hiltner Almeida – Microbiota Gastrointestinal: da Disbiose ao Tratamento – Ed Atheneu, 2021.
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