Endurance

BACKGROUND: Triathlon is an increasingly popular sport at both the elite and the recreational level. However, there have been few high-quality studies of injuries and illnesses among triathletes. OBJECTIVE: To register overuse problems and acute injuries among iron-distance triathletes throughout a training season leading up to a major event. METHODS: A 26-week prospective cohort study was conducted including 174 participants of the 2011 Norseman Xtreme Triathlon...

OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationship between training, anthropometric characteristics, tapering, and time performance for a half-Ironman distance race. DESIGN: Cross sectional study in triathletes. METHODS: Data were obtained for 209 participants (155 males; 54 females) competing in a half-Ironman triathlon. Participants provided information regarding triathlon experience, training, race preparation, and tapering. Participants were divided into three groups based on finish time for analysis...

This study investigated the effect of ice slurry ingestion during a triathlon on intragastric temperature and 10 km running performance in the heat. Nine well-trained male triathletes performed two randomised trials of a simulated Olympic distance triathlon in hot conditions (32-34°C). Exercise intensity during the swim (1500 m) and cycle (1 hr) legs was standardised, and the 10 km run leg was a self-paced time trial. During the cycle leg, either 10 g · kgBM(-1) of ice slurry (< 1°C) or room temperature fluid (32-34°C) was ingested...

The Kona Ironman Triathlon is one of the most difficult endurance races in the world. The medical director of this race has summarized his experience in managing the injuries that these triathletes suffer. The heat, strong winds, and overall length of the event present unique injuries in swimming, cycling, and running. These injuries and their management have evolved over the years, and the change in their treatment is discussed.

With the mastery of 3 sports required, a triathlon can be a daunting mental challenge. Some liken a triathlon to a physical game of chess. A triathlete must mentally assess their physical ability across 3 sports against their competitors, the environment, and, most of all, themselves. The mental preparation required for a triathlon is often minimized, but its importance should not be underestimated. Appropriate mental planning should be carried out during training. The need for nutrition, race planning, visualization, imaging, and possible changes in conditions should all be anticipated...

The sport of triathlon offers athletes the chance to build and/or maintain cardiovascular fitness across 3 endurance disciplines. Swimming, biking, and running each have a host of overuse injuries that can occur as a result of overtraining. High running mileage, a history of previous injury, inadequate warm up or cool down, and an increase in the years of triathlon experience are a few of the factors that have been linked to triathlon overuse injuries. Early identification of overtraining symptoms and a corresponding reallocation of balance between each discipline, perhaps with an emphasis on increasing swimming, may help prevent many overuse injuries...

Most triathlon overuse injuries occur due to the running and cycling aspects of the sport. By nature of swimming being a non-weight-bearing sport, triathletes have a tendency to use swimming for rehabilitation and recovery. Swimming has a significantly lower injury rate than the other 2 disciplines in a triathlon. Most triathletes use the freestyle stroke, because it is typically the first stroke learned, it is for many the fastest stroke, and by lifting the head the freestyle stroke allows triathletes to sight their direction, which is important in open water swimming...

Intense exercise has been shown to have negative effects on systolic and diastolic ventricular function in adults. Very little is known about the normal reaction of the growing heart to endurance stress. For this study, 26 healthy children (18 males) with a mean age of 12.61 years (range, 7.92-16.42 years) took part in an age-adapted triathlon circuit. The athletes were investigated by two-dimensional (2D) echocardiographic/speckle tracking, M-mode, pulse-wave Doppler, color Doppler, and color-coded tissue Doppler at 2-4 weeks before and immediately after the race...

BACKGROUND: Musculoskeletal injuries occur frequently in runners and despite many studies about running injuries conducted over the past decades it is not clear in the literature what are the main running-related musculoskeletal injuries (RRMIs). OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to systematically review studies on the incidence and prevalence of the main specific RRMIs. METHODS: An electronic database search was conducted using EMBASE (1947 to October 2011), MEDLINE (1966 to October 2011), SPORTDiscus(1975 to October 2011), the Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information (LILACS) [1982 to October 2011] and the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) [1998 to October 2011] with no limits of date or language of publication...

The well-established ergogenic benefit of ingesting carbohydrates during single-discipline endurance sports has only been tested once within an Olympic-distance (OD) triathlon. The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of ingesting a 2:1 maltodextrin/fructose solution with a placebo on simulated OD triathlon performance. Six male and 4 female amateur triathletes (age, 25 ± 7 years; body mass, 66.8 ± 9.2 kg; peak oxygen uptake, 4.2 ± 0.6 L·min(-1)) completed a 1500-m swim time-trial and an incremental cycle test to determine peak oxygen uptake before performing 2 simulated OD triathlons...