The effect of chronic exposure to endurance exercise on the skeletal muscle of distance runners

It is likely that masters runners may experience an intolerance to exercise primarily due to the age-related changes in their bodies, and specifically of those systems and organs most utilised during running. A more disturbing phenomenon, however, is that of younger runners becoming exercise intolerant. One study described exercise intolerance in athletes who were only 40 +/- 10 years old. The muscle of these athletes had greater levels of markers of structural pathology and showed evidence of having undergone more regeneration compared to age- and mileage-matched apparently healthy athletes. The authors attributed their intolerance to exercise to their large volumes of endurance training and racing which compromised their skeletal muscle. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to examine the effects of chronic exposure to endurance running on the athlete, with particular emphasis on skeletal muscle.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Human Biology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Rae, Dale Elizabeth

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Collins, Malcolm
• Lambert, Mike

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/3196

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/3196