Abstract
Background and objective: The increased participation in endurance sports such as marathon running has attracted scientific interest especially with regard to adult athletes. However, few studies have examined the impact of a marathon race on children and adolescents. Therefore, the aim of the present case study was two-fold: first, to describe pacing during a marathon race, and second, to examine acute responses of blood physiology and biochemistry parameters during the race (i.e., pre- and post-race) as well as five consecutive days after the race. Materials and Methods: Participant was a 15-year-old boy who completed a self-paced marathon attempt for the first time and finished in 5 h 19 m 53 s. Positive pacing (i.e., a running speed that decreased throughout race) with a final end spurt was observed. Results: An increase in fluid intake across race was shown. Exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH, i.e., plasma sodium concentration <135 mmol/L) was found post-race. C-reactive protein (CRP) did not correlate either with creatine kinase (CK) (r = 0.457, p = 0.302) or with lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (r = 0.156, p = 0.739); however, leukocytes correlated very largely with LDH (r = 0.889, p = 0.007) but not with CK (r = 0.696, p = 0.082). CK and LDH related almost perfectly with creatinine (r = 0.937, p = 0.002 and r = 0.959, p = 0.001, respectively); also, creatinine clearance correlated very largely with CK (r = −0.782, p = 0.038) but not with LDH (r = −0.733, p = 0.061). Leukocytes, aspartate aminotransferase, LDH, and CK deviated from physiological range post-race, but returned to normal values during the five-day recovery period. Conclusions: In summary, a male teenager at the age of 15 years was able to run a marathon in under 6 h without significant harmful effects on health. He developed mild and asymptomatic EAH and an increase in leucocytes, CRP, CK, and LDH as markers of inflammation and skeletal muscle damage. EAH after the marathon was resolved within one day of recovery.
Highlights
Marathon running has predominantly been a domain of elite runners [1]; marathons recently have become attractive to both recreational and professional athletes [2]
Elite marathoners try to achieve a positive pacing with minimal speed change [1,2], recreational age group marathoners largely show a positive pacing with a continuous decrease during running as well as a final end spurt [3,4,5]
The day before, after the run, and for five days during the recovery, venous blood samples were drawn for hematological analysis, including erythrocytes, hemoglobin, hematocrit, thrombocytes, mean cell volume (MCV), mean cell hemoglobin (MCH), mean cell hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and leucocytes
Summary
Marathon running has predominantly been a domain of elite runners [1]; marathons recently have become attractive to both recreational and professional athletes [2]. Elite marathoners try to achieve a positive pacing with minimal speed change [1,2], recreational age group marathoners largely show a positive pacing with a continuous decrease during running as well as a final end spurt [3,4,5]. Several studies have demonstrated that marathon running below the official age of 18 years seems not to be harmful in terms of health [10,11]. We have little knowledge about the pacing strategy during a self-paced marathon attempt or the recovery phase in a marathoner younger than 18 years [9]. We investigated the changes in running speed during a marathon run and the changes in selected biochemical variables during the recovery phase in a 15-year-old teenager in a self-paced marathon attempt
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