Friday, April 27, 2018

Do you have the genes to run a marathon?



A recent study found that our genetics can affect our success in running a marathon. Running a marathon requires great effort from our respiratory, cardiovascular and muscular systems. During a marathon, a runner will complete around 30,000 strides and with each stride the legs bare 1.5 to 3 times the runner’s body weight. This causes muscle deterioration which causes the muscles to lose the ability to gain strength. Also, the proteins of the damaged muscles are released into the blood stream, so they can be measured by measuring the amount of myoglobin in the blood. This study looked at 71 marathon runners and how genetics affects muscle damage. The results showed that there are some marathon runners who show low levels of muscle deterioration after a marathon and others who show great muscle damage. The researchers looked specifically at seven genes that are known to be related to muscle function and each gene was given a score. Marathon runners who were given a high score had good muscle genetics and showed low muscle deterioration, while runners with a low score had muscle genetics were not as good and showed muscle damage after the race. The runners who scored lower genetic scores can still run marathons, but they will need to do a specific type of training in order to not have muscle deterioration. This discovery will hopefully allow researchers to find new ways for athletes to train according to their genetics and in the future, possibly even allow runners to measure their genetics to know how they should train for a marathon.
                                         Image result for muscle genetics runner

This similar study looked at 30 genes that affect a persons ability to run marathons, but has a slightly different view on how that affects that runners.

6 comments:

  1. As a runner, this article is very interesting because many runners are naturally talented and don't require as much training as others.

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  2. I found this article highly interesting, because I have been a high level competitive gymnast since I was 4 years old; I would consider myself in great shape and at a highly athletic level. However, no matter how much I work out, I cannot do long distance running to save my life. So, who knew genetics could play a role in that!?

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  3. As a swimmer, I have never been the best at distance running. A few miles is fine but after about 3-4 I nearly keel over. I found it very interesting that I can blame my parents for my poor running stamina.

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  4. There will always be those who are faster and more efficient in sports, but the more we train, the better we will be at our desired sport of interest.

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  5. This article is interesting and makes me wonder if I am one of those without the genes for good muscle genetics, I've tried running for long periods and I never see any progress before my muscles give out.

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  6. Personalized training according to your genetics is a very interesting theory and I wonder if it may the future of high level athletics.

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