Effects of a training taper on tissue damage indices, serum antioxidant capacity and half-marathon running performance

This study investigated the effects of a training taper on muscle damage in dices and performance. Two matched groups of seven male runners each perfor med two self paced half-marathons on a motorised treadmill. After the first half-marathon one group maintained their normal weekly training volume, wh ile the taper group progressively reduced weekly training volume by 85 %, V enous blood was drawn immediately before and after the first half-marathon. Subsequent samples were taken 7 days later, immediately before and after t he second half-marathon. Serum samples were analysed for antioxidant capaci ty, urate concentration and creatine kinase activity (CK), The plasma conce ntration of malondialdehyde (MDA) was used as a marker of lipid peroxidatio n, There were no differences in running performance either between the firs t and second half-marathon within each group, or between groups (86.75 +/- 2.65 min and 87.57 +/- 2.87 min for the "normal training" group vs 85.62 +/ - 2.81 min and 85.39 +/- 3.52 min for the "training taper" group). Serum an tioxidant capacity and CK were increased over time (P < 0.05, ANOVA), with significant elevations after each half-marathon (P < 0.025, t-test). Elevat ions in MDA attained significance for the first half-marathon (P < 0.05, t- test) when data for both subject groups were pooled. There were no differen ces in serum antioxidant capacity, or urate concentration between groups. P ostexercise CK was lower following the training taper (149 +/- 22% baseline , for the training taper vs 269 +/- 55 % baseline for the normal training g roup, P < 0.05, t-test), Despite evidence that the training taper reduced m uscle damage, relative to the normal training group, half-marathon performa nce was not enhanced.