Abstract
(1) Background: half-marathon races are popular among recreational runners, with increases in participation among middle-aged and women. We aimed to determine the effects of two half-marathon training programs on hematological and biochemical markers in middle-aged female recreational runners; (2) Methods: ten women (40 ± 7 years) followed moderate intensity continuous training (MICT), based on running volume below 80% O2max, and another ten women followed high intensity interval training (HIIT) at 80%–100% O2max, with less volume, and combined with eccentric loading exercise. Hematology, plasma osmolality, and plasma markers of metabolic status, muscle damage, inflammatory, and oxidative stress were measured before (S1) and after (S2) training and 24 h after the half-marathon (S3); (3) Results: both training programs had similar moderate effects at S2. However, the acute response at S3 induced different alterations. There was a greater decrease in cholesterol and triglyceride levels in MICT and reductions in markers of damage and inflammation in HIIT. Greater variability in some plasma markers at S3 in MICT suggests that there is inter-individual variability in the response to training; (4) Conclusions: HIIT led to better adaptation to the competition maybe because of the repeated exposure to higher oxygen consumption and eccentric loading exercise.
Highlights
Half-marathons are not included in the Olympic Games, they are extremely popular among recreational runners, as demonstrated by increased participation over recent decades [1]
Since the objective of the study was to compare the effect of training and the impact of a half-marathon run on hematology and several plasma markers within a moderate intensity continuous training (MICT) and a high intensity intermittent training (HIIT) program, no between-group comparisons were performed
The results of the linear correlations using the performance of the race as dependent variable and the muscle damage, inflammation, and most relevant oxidative stress markers as independent variables, did not show significant linear correlations for any variable, as is deduced from Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients (r) and p-values (Table 1)
Summary
Half-marathons are not included in the Olympic Games, they are extremely popular among recreational runners, as demonstrated by increased participation over recent decades [1]. The gender gap in participation has narrowed considerably and, according to the latest Running USA report [2], in 2019 female halfmarathon finishers equaled male’s numbers. Knechtle et al [1] found that the mean age of half-marathon finishers in Switzerland between 1999 and 2014 was approximately 41 years for both sexes. The rapid growth in race participation by women has had important performance consequences and has been the result of the development of specific training programs. We must consider several established physiological differences between men and women, including erythrocyte mass, body composition, Int. J.
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