Fatigue and Recovery: a Comparison Between Trail and Marathon

Launched by CENTRE HOSPITALIER UNIVERSITAIRE DE SAINT ETIENNE · Feb 20, 2024

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is exploring how different types of running—specifically trail running and road marathons—affect fatigue and recovery in healthy endurance runners. Trail running takes place on uneven terrains like mountains or deserts, while road marathons are run on flat roads. The researchers want to understand how these two running styles impact the body in different ways, especially since trail runners often race longer distances more frequently than road runners.

To participate in this study, you should be between 18 and 55 years old, be a male or female endurance runner who trains at least 20 kilometers per week, and have completed a marathon in under 5 hours or a 30-kilometer trail race in the last three years. You will need to have a doctor’s approval to ensure it’s safe for you to compete. During the trial, participants will be asked to refrain from any competitions for a month before the study and throughout its duration. This is a great opportunity to contribute to research that could help runners understand how different terrains impact their performance and recovery!

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• Common for MARASIM, TRAILSIM and TRAILNAT:
• • Male or female
• • 18-55 years old
• • Endurance runners who run at least one running session of 20 km per week
• • Being able to run a marathon under 5 h or finishing a trail of 30 km during the last 3 years
• • Refrain from participating to a competition one month before the first visit and during the duration of the study
• • To have a medical certificate of no contraindication of running practise in competition
• • Registered with a social security scheme
• • Having given the written consent freely
• Specific for the 3 groups :
• • Specialist of trail running (TRAILSIM and TRAILNAT)
• • Specialist of road running (MARASIM)
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Subjects who present cardiac or articular chronic pathologies (example: repeated sprain, patellar or joint problems)
• • Subjects who present chronic or central neurological pathologies
• • Subjects deprived of liberty or who should be legally deprived
• • Subjects who report to take forbidden products by the World Anti-Doping Agency
• • pregnant or breastfeeding woman