ReviewSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2025
Decoding Ultramarathon: Muscle Damage as the Main Impediment to Performance.
Review in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Evaluating the Impact of Urolithin A Supplementation on Running Performance, Recovery, and Mitochondrial Biomarkers in Highly Trained Male Distance Runners.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2025Trial
- Stiffness and Running Performance: From the Tissue to the Body: A Narrative Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- Project FURTHER: A Physiological, Biomechanical, and Psychosocial Profile of an All-Female 6-Day Ultramarathon Race.Sports medicine - open · 2026Article
- [Research on a muscle fatigue quantification based on an improved critical power model].Sheng wu yi xue gong cheng xue za zhi = Journal of biomedical engineering = Shengwu yixue gongchengxue zazhi · 2026Article
- Context-Dependent Differences in Muscle Architecture Following Fatigue in Ultramarathon Athletes: A Comparison Between Laboratory and Real Race Settings.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- 24-Hour Ultra-Marathon Running: A Narrative Review of Performance Factors and Physiological Impacts.Sports medicine - open · 2026Review
- Downhill Running-Induced Muscle Damage in Trail Runners: An Exploratory Study Regarding Training Background and Running Gait.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Long Nocturnal Hemodialysis and the Most Difficult UltraTrail Race.Kidney international reports · 2025Article
- Application of Exercise/Training Models to Evaluate Food Functionality with Special Focus on Preventing Inflammation and Oxidative Stress and Enhancing Exercise Performance.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Under Consumed and Overestimated: Discrepancies in Race-Day Carbohydrate Intake Among Endurance Athletes.European journal of sport science · 2025Article
- Influence of long-distance trail running on blood hemostasis at the World Mountain Trail Running Championship 2023-a pilot study.Research and practice in thrombosis and haemostasis · 2025Article
- Influence of Sleep Quality on Recovery and Performance in Endurance and Ultra-Endurance Runners: Sex Differences Identified Through Hierarchical Clustering.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Biomarkers of muscle damage and oxidative stress and biomechanical responses of two different advanced footwear technology shoes to a 60-min running test in competitive long-distance runners.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Impact of Genetic Polymorphisms on Electrochemical Parameters and Acid-Base Disorders in Brazilian Runners During a 105-Kilometer Ultramarathon.Nutrients · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The biological determinants of performance have been well described for running races up to and including the marathon (42.2 km). Ultramarathon is more complex. Events range from 50 to 5000 km in single or multiple stages, are contested in various environments and terrains, and force athletes to contend with diverse performance-limiting issues such as fueling, hydrating, gastrointestinal distress, muscle damage, and sleep deprivation. Ultramarathons are not simply "long marathons." Nevertheless, scientific developments over the past decade have inched us toward a more complete picture of the psychophysiological factors underpinning performance. In this Current Opinion, we argue that muscle damage and associated fatigue is the main impediment to performance in long ultramarathons; more performance-limiting than aerobic capacity, running economy, or gastrointestinal distress. To assess an athlete's tolerance to ultramarathon-specific muscle damage and fatigue, we propose a lab-based protocol comprising downhill running with pre- to post-exercise measures of muscle contractile function following electrical or magnetic stimulation of the quadriceps muscles or their central nerves, muscle damage biomarkers (e.g., creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and myoglobin), and muscle morphology via imaging techniques. We close by offering training and racing advice on mitigating the deleterious effects of muscle damage. The twofold aims of this paper are (i) to enable athletes and their teams to better prepare for races and (ii) to help medical personnel identify the physiological milieu most likely to afflict the ultrarunner.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.