Abstract
Purpose: To assess the effect of acute nitrate-rich (BJ) and nitrate-depleted (PL) beetroot juice ingestion on 2 km running performance in amateur runners, and to what extent the ergogenic effect of BJ supplementation would be influenced by the sex of the participants; Methods: Twenty-four amateur long-distance runners (14 males and 10 females) performed a 2 km time trial (TT) on an outdoor athletics track 2.5 h after ingesting either 140 mL of BJ (~12.8 mmol NO3−) or PL. After the tests, blood [lactate] and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) related to the leg muscles (RPEmuscular), cardiovascular system (RPEcardio) and general overall RPE (RPEgeneral) were assessed; Results: Compared to PL, BJ supplementation improved 2 km TT performance in both males (p < 0.05) with no supplement × sex interaction effect (p > 0.05). This improvement in 2 km running performance was a function of improved performance in the second 1 km split time in both males and females (p < 0.05). Supplementation with BJ did not alter post-exercise blood [lactate] (p > 0.05) but lowered RPEgeneral (p < 0.05); Conclusions: acute BJ supplementation improves 2 km running performance in amateur runners by enhancing performance over the second half of the TT and lowering RPEgeneral by a comparable magnitude in males and females.
Highlights
Consumption of dietary supplements is a common pre-competition strategy for athletes competing in a variety of sports at different competitive standards in an attempt to enhance performance [1,2,3,4,5,6]
NO3− undergoes a stepwise reduction to nitrite (NO2−) and nitric oxide (NO), with the latter step augmented in conditions of acidosis and hypoxia, and believed to be responsible for the ergogenic effects of NO3− supplementation [7,9]
Data are shown as mean ± standard deviation
Summary
Consumption of dietary supplements is a common pre-competition strategy for athletes competing in a variety of sports at different competitive standards in an attempt to enhance performance [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Most of the research assessing the ergogenic potential of NO3− supplementation to date has been conducted in males completing cycling exercise [10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27]. This experimental approach has limited wider understanding of the settings in which NO3− supplementation is more and less likely to be ergogenic
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