The running science nerd alert.
January 2024
Learn to train smart, run fast, and be strong with Thomas Solomon PhD
Here are this month's latest research studies on running-related exercise and nutrition science.
The studies are divided into sub-topics — training methods, supplements, athlete health, injuries, and female athletes, etc. Plus, there’s my beer of the month.
I’ve provided a brief conclusion from each study but click on the study title to go deep and read the full paper.
My favourite.
Randomised controlled trial: Effect of Personalized Sodium Replacement on Fluid and Sodium Balance and Thermophysiological Strain During and After Ultraendurance Running in the Heat. McCubbin et al. (2023) Int J Sports Physiol Perform.
“ Complete, personalized replacement of sweat sodium losses during 5-hour continuous running in the heat appears to have minimal impact on thirst, ad libitum water intake, net water balance, and body water shifts between compartments and no impact on thermophysiological strain. Furthermore, when water is consumed ad libitum, sodium replacement increases plasma sodium concentrations and plasma osmolality rather than preventing its decline. There was no evidence for release of osmotically inactive sodium stores in response to a large sodium deficit incurred during running, when such a deficit is not accompanied by large reductions in total body water or plasma volume. Net sodium loss during exercise causes a substantial postexercise renal sodium conservation, although in ultraendurance exercise this is inadequate to fully restore sodium balance within 24 hours without deliberately increased postexercise sodium intake. ”
Training methods.
Randomised controlled trial: Effect of brain endurance training on maximal oxygen uptake, time-to-exhaustion, and inhibitory control in runners. Lima-Junior et al. (2023) Scand J Med Sci Sports. “ The results conclude that concurrent brain endurance training (cognitive training plus endurance training) was not superior to endurance training just for improvement VO2max and time-to-exhaustion but showed reduced RPE throughout time-to-exhaustion tasks. Also, the findings enable concluding that concurrent brain endurance training improved inhibitory control similar to cognitive training. From the practical standpoint, the findings from the present study demonstrate that repeated concurrent brain endurance training is a training approach that can make an endurance task have lower perceived effort. However, it does not improve the tolerance to prolonged physical effort compared to endurance training alone in amateur runners. ” Systematic review and meta-analysis: The effects of intermittent hypoxic training on the aerobic capacity of exercisers: a systemic review and meta-analysis. Huang et al. (2023) BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil. “Intermittent hypoxic training (inducing hypoxia at rest to primarily stimulate altitude acclimatization or inducing hypoxia during exercise to primarily augment the training stimulus) has shown significant positive effects on improving exercisers’ VO2max and haemoglobin concentration. These findings preliminarily support the use of intermittent hypoxic training as a beneficial method for enhancing aerobic capacity. However, due to the limitations in the quality of the studies, these conclusions should be approached with caution and need to be verified by further high-quality research. Additionally, future research should strive to uncover more layers of intermittent hypoxic training’s potential effects and explore its role in optimizing performance, to fully understand and utilize this training modality. For this purpose, accurately determining the specific impacts of intermittent hypoxic training on exercisers with different levels of physical fitness, sports backgrounds, and genders will be an important direction of study. At the same time, how to optimize intermittent hypoxic training protocols to achieve the maximum benefit of individualized training is a question worth exploring in depth within the field of sports science.” Systematic review and meta-analysis: Effect of Strength Training Programs in Middle- and Long-Distance Runners' Economy at Different Running Speeds: A Systematic Review with Meta-analysis. Llanos-Lagos et al. (2024) Sports Med. “ Strength training with high loads (greater than or equal to 80% of one repetition maximum) can improve running economy and might be particularly effective in athletes running at high speeds (e.g., greater than 12.00 km/h) and/or possessing a well-developed VO2max. Plyometric training could improve running economy at speeds less than 12.00 km/h. The combination of two or more strength training methods (e.g., high-load training, plyometric training) may induce greater running economy improvement, compared to isolated training methods. These results are based on 31 studies with moderate to low certainty of evidence for the main outcomes, involving a total of 652 middle- and long-distance runners.”
Supplements.
Randomised controlled trial: Effect of Personalized Sodium Replacement on Fluid and Sodium Balance and Thermophysiological Strain During and After Ultraendurance Running in the Heat. McCubbin et al. (2023) Int J Sports Physiol Perform. “ Complete, personalized replacement of sweat sodium losses during 5-hour continuous running in the heat appears to have minimal impact on thirst, ad libitum water intake, net water balance, and body water shifts between compartments and no impact on thermophysiological strain. Furthermore, when water is consumed ad libitum, sodium replacement increases plasma sodium concentrations and plasma osmolality rather than preventing its decline. There was no evidence for release of osmotically inactive sodium stores in response to a large sodium deficit incurred during running, when such a deficit is not accompanied by large reductions in total body water or plasma volume. Net sodium loss during exercise causes a substantial postexercise renal sodium conservation, although in ultraendurance exercise this is inadequate to fully restore sodium balance within 24 hours without deliberately increased postexercise sodium intake. ” Randomised controlled trial: Acute Ingestion of a Ketone Monoester without Co-ingestion of Carbohydrate Improves Running Economy in Male Endurance Runners. Brady et al. (2024) Med Sci Sports Exerc. “ Acute ingestion of an (R)-3-hydroxybutyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate ketone monoester resulted in an improvement in running economy across a range of submaximal running speeds in a cohort of trained, male middle- and long-distance runners, when consumed alone but not when coingested with carbohydrates. Time-to-exhaustion was not different during a ramp test to volitional exhaustion between the different conditions. An improvement in running economy potentially represents a change in the metabolic response to exercise that may subsequently translate into an improvement in endurance running performance. Future research should therefore investigate the effect of acute ingestion of (R)-3-hydroxybutyl (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate ketone monoester (or exogenous ketone supplements producing similar changes in circulating β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations) without co-ingestion of carbohydrate on endurance performance over exercise durations of more than 2 h with male and female endurance runners.”
Athlete health (inc. mental health).
Observational study: Losing passion: A test of the seasonal attenuation of passion (SAP) hypothesis across three longitudinal studies with athletes and sport fans. Schellenberg et al. (2023) Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology. “ The SAP hypothesis predicts that, on average, a season will sap people’s passion. We found evidence to support this hypothesis in three longitudinal studies with intercollegiate student athletes (Studies 1 and 2) and sports fans (Study 3). In all cases, passion significantly decreased over the course of the season. This research has implications for our understanding of how passion changes over time, particularly in sport. ” Systematic review and meta-analysis: Athlete mental health help-seeking: A systematic review and meta-analysis of rates, barriers and facilitators. Cosh et al. (2023) Psychol Sport Exerc. “ This study provides a meta-analysis of formal mental health help-seeking behaviour of athletes. The mental health help-seeking rate in athletes is 22.4 %, comparable with the general population. Barriers to help-seeking in athlete populations include team culture, and concerns around selection and confidentiality. Facilitators of mental health help seeking suggest the value of athlete role models in normalising help-seeking for athletes. ” Randomised controlled trial: Jumping Exercise Combined With Collagen Supplementation Preserves Bone Mineral Density in Elite Cyclists. Hilkens et al. (2023) Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. “ In conclusion, frequent short bouts of jumping exercise combined with collagen supplementation beneficially affects femoral neck BMD during the off-season period in elite road-race cyclists. Hence, this intervention seems a promising and feasible strategy to counteract the negative impact of professional cycling on bone health. ”
Injury and rehab.
Systematic review: Risk Factors for Running-Related Injury in High School and Collegiate Cross Country Runners: A Systematic Review. Joachim et al. (2023) J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. “A runner’s sex and history of injury, both of which are non-modifiable, had the strongest evidence for being potential predictors of running-related injuries in high school and collegiate cross country runners. There was moderate evidence indicating increased RED-S risk factors (e.g. menstrual dysfunction, poor bone health) may be associated with increased risk of running-related injuries. The most likely risk factors for running-related injuries are non-modifiable. There is a significant need for more research in high school and collegiate runners to determine modifiable risk factors for running-related injuries and guide future interventional studies. High-quality research on modifiable risk factors for running-related injuries in this population is lacking and the present findings are supported by few studies. ” Systematic review and meta-analysis: Relationship Between Athletes' History of Stressors and Sport Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Chyi et al. (2023) Percept Mot Skills. “ By adopting Anserson and Williams’s (1998) stress-injury model, we systemically reviewed and conducted a meta-analysis for moderate-quality research published over a 23-year period between 2000 and 2023. We found the relationship between lifetime stress history and sport injury statistically significant but small in effect size (r = .12). Further, this relationship was moderated by: (a) athletes’ age (with the relationship stronger in adults than adolescents); (b) athletes’ region (with the relationship stronger in the Americas, Asia, and Oceana than in Europe); (c) sport-type (with the relationship stronger in contact than non-contact sports); (d) stress measurement scale type (with the relationship stronger on non-specific measures than sport-specific measures); and (e) athlete competition level (with the relationship stronger among non-elite than elite athletes). . ”
Female athletes and sex differences.
Narrative review: Recommendations for Women in Mountain Sports and Hypoxia Training/Conditioning. Burtscher et al. (2024) Sports Med. “ Various sex-dependent (patho)physiological reactions to hypoxia could explain the potentially increased vulnerability of women to develop acute mountain sickness. Adequate acclimatisation, slow ascent speed and/or preventive medication, (e.g. by acetazolamide) are solutions. Targeted training of the respiratory musculature could be a valuable preparation for altitude training in women. Sex hormones influence hypoxia responses and hormonal-cycle and/or menstrual-cycle phases and therefore may be factors in acclimatisation to altitude and efficiency of altitude/hypoxic training. This should be considered for altitude sojourns and/or training but especially for future research. As many of the recommendations or observations of the present work remain partly speculative, further quality research on female athletes is required not only for sports in general but also for sports at altitude/in hypoxia. ”
And, to help you wash down the latest evidence, here's a snifter from my recent indulgence...
What is the beer called? Mis-Thunder-Stood.
Which brewery made it? Browar Stu Mostów (Wrocław, Poland).
What type of beer is it? Imperial Double Pastry Stout.
How strong is the beer? 10.5% ABV.
How would I describe this beer?
Hazelnut to the eye, molasses and chocolate to the nose, a sweet, full and almost bready mouth feel, smooth and chocolatey down the hatch, and a mildly boozy vanilla and bready aftertaste. Mis-thunder-stood leaves quite the impression.
What is my Rating of Perceived beer Enjoyment?
RP(be)E(r) = 7 out of 10.
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Disclaimer: I occasionally mention brands and products but it is important to know that I am not affiliated with, sponsored by, an ambassador for, or receiving advertisement royalties from any brands. I have conducted biomedical research for which I have received research money from publicly-funded national research councils and medical charities, and also from private companies, including Novo Nordisk Foundation, AstraZeneca, Amylin, A.P. Møller Foundation, and Augustinus Foundation. I’ve also consulted for Boost Treadmills and Gu Energy on their research and innovation grant applications and I’ve provided research and science writing services for Examine — some of my articles contain links to information provided by Examine but I do not receive any royalties or bonuses from those links. These companies had no control over the research design, data analysis, or publication outcomes of my work. Any recommendations I make are, and always will be, based on my own views and opinions shaped by the evidence available. My recommendations have never and will never be influenced by affiliations, sponsorships, advertisement royalties, etc. The information I provide is not medical advice. Before making any changes to your habits of daily living based on any information I provide, always ensure it is safe for you to do so and consult your doctor if you are unsure.