Effects Of a Duathlon Race On Delayed Muscle Damage And Immunological And Hormonal Changes

Introduction
Appropriate physical exercise has a beneficial effect on both physical and mental health. On the other hand, it has been
shown that strenuous physical exercise induces cell damage in muscle and liver, which is a result of inflammation
(Tokmakidis,2003). Furthermore strenuous physical exercise has been shown to have many effects in the performer
such as immunological and hormonal changes. Therefore physical exercise is not always beneficial and healthy but
could be dangerous and unhealthy. It has been a common recommendation that participants should take sufficient
recovery time especially after strenuous physical exercise, such as marathon or triathlon races. The aim of the present
investigation was to search for promoting parameters that might objectively represent the degree of organ damage after
exercise in a broad spectrum of hematological, biochemical and hormonal parameters which were examined in
triathletes engaged in a duathlon race.

Methods
Four male and three female triathletes members of national team of Greece, competed in a duathlon race. The triathletes
performed 2,5 Km running , 20 Km cycling , 5 Km running and the average time to complete the race was 1:10 min.
Intravenous blood samples were obtained pre- immediately after and three hours post the race. The blood was used for
in vitro determination of metabolic, hormonal and immunological parameters. The statistical analysis used the ANOVA
repeated measures and the significance level adopted for all the analysis was p<0,05.

Results
After the race there were significant elevation of leukocytes and neutrophils (p<0,05) and this elevation continued and
three hours post the race. Stress hormones, cortisol and growth hormone presented significant elevation after the race
(p<0,05) and three hours after reduced more than the initial levels. The results of the present investigation is in table 1.

Discussion
The results of the present study show that duathlon events lead a marked increase in levels of stress associated hormone
cortisol. The levels of stress associated hormones may influence many immunological parameters (Haq,1992)The
present study also shows a significant increase in leukocytes is also found after the race. The fact that the race took
place in cold temperatures must make the coaches more aware to provide proper care and attention to the athletes after
the races to ensure a healthy recovery period and to be able to continue their sport.

References
[1]. Kayashima S., Ohno H., Fujioka T., Taniguchi N., Nagata N. (1995) Eur J Appl Physiol70: 413-420
[2]. Inder W. J., Hellemans J., Swanney M.P., Prickett T.C.R., and Donald R.A.(1998) J Appl Physiol 85:835-841.
[3]. Tokmakidis S., Kokkinidis A., Smilios I., Douda H. (2003) J of Strength and Conditioning Research, 17(1), 53-59
[4]. Haq A., Al Hussein K., Lee J., and Al-Sedairy S(1993). Med Sci. Sports Exerc.,Vol 25, No 2.,pp186-190..
Acknowledgments
Sincere thanks are due to the athletes who participated to this study and to the doctors who supported and helped to the
biochemical examination

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