Glycogen use during habitual running training sessions
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Quantifying the carbohydrate cost of habitual training sessions in amateur runners
IRAS ID
192085
Contact name
Sam Shepherd
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Liverpool John Moores University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Maximal performance in endurance events relies critically on the availability of both endogenous (muscle glycogen) and exogenous (supplied through feeding) carbohydrates. A large body of research underlies the current nutritional guidelines for carbohydrate intake for endurance events, yet surprisingly, much of this research is based on laboratory-based exercise protocols where cycling is the predominant exercise modality, and as a result, is unlikely to be representative of the habitual training or competition loads actually experienced by athletes in the “real-world” field situation. To overcome this, we aim to quantify the carbohydrate cost of habitual training sessions undertaken by amateur male and female runners.
Determining muscle glycogen use during exercise is reliant on biochemical analysis of invasively-obtained muscle biopsies. This technique, however, does not provide information on fibre type or subcellular-specific use of muscle glycogen. Furthermore, recent data suggests that non-invasive assessment of muscle glycogen is now possible through ultrasound techniques, which if true, would provide a practical tool to assess glycogen metabolism in the field. In this study, we will combine both invasive and non-invasive techniques to advance our understanding of glycogen utilization during training runs undertaken by amateur athletes.
Amateur male and female runners will undertake three typical training sessions ‘in the field’; 10 mile steady state run, a high intensity aerobic interval track session and a speed endurance track session. Muscle biopsies will be obtained before and after each session to assess glycogen utilization using both biochemical and microscopy techniques. Ultrasound scanning will also be performed to assess muscle glycogen utilization non-invasively.REC name
West Midlands - Black Country Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/WM/0428
Date of REC Opinion
14 Dec 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion