Biochemical Responses in Adventure Races after Ecomotion-Pro 2005

Abstract

Adventure endurance races are a multi-sport endurance that generally involve a nonmotorized sports including of a minimum, mountain biking, padding (rafting, canoeing, kayaking), trekking, mountaineering and navigation or orienteering. The participants had to partake in almost continuous submaximal exercise over a period of several days without sleeping, in an attempt to end the race as soon as possible. This combination of sustained exertion and prolonged wakefulness is currently unparalleled anywhere in sporting around the world. In respect to the high metabolic expenditure that these athletes are submitted, researches have indicated that prolonged exercise produce alterations in the dynamics of blood parameters. For 5 days in October of 2005, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) hosted Ecomotion/Pro Serras Gauchas, the most important and challenging adventure race on the South American calendar. In order to determine the impact of this expendition-length adventure race in the biochemicals responses, 15 athletes the both gender were evaluated before (baseline) and immediately after the race. Their mean (± SD) age, height, weight and oxygen uptake peak were: 29.20 ± 7.25 yr, 1.75 ±0.06 cm, and 71.56 ± 8.82 Kg, 62.70 ± 6.63 ml.min−1. Kg−1, respectively. The athletes were conducted to our lab before the race and submitted to baseline evaluation that consisting in collected blood samples and were again evaluated immediately after the end of the race (post exercise). When compared with baseline conditions, the Test T showed a increase in CK and CKMB levels (131.23 ± 56.37 to 1483.38 ± 163.02 and 13.76 ± 5.54 to 51.23 ± 24.80 respectivelly);aldolase levels (3.05 ± 1.47 to 13.43 ± 9.05); PCR (0.28 ± 0.29 to 1.08 ± 0.55); Magnesium (1.90 ± 0.16 to 2.13 ± 0.19); TGO (27.30 ± 4.71 to 86.76 ± 53.74); and DHL (429.15 ± 32.82 to 568.61 ± 199.10) In the same statistical analisys, we observed decrease in following variables: haematocrit (43.73 ± 3.59 to 39.59 ± 3.36), hemoglobine (14.72 ± 1.16 to 13.98 ± 1.06), but, no significative changes was observed in VHS, Creatinine, TGP and Troponine. Our results demonstrate that adventure race is able to promote important changes in biochemicals patterns in adventure races and suggest that verify the real conditions of this athletes before start race in this type os sports because the high physical exigence. Financial Support: AFIP, CAPES, FAPESP (Cepid #98/14303 to ST). Acknowlegments: CEPE.