What needs to be researched about Ironman distance events?

penlynwilson

I'm working with a team that wants to do research around Ironman-distance events. We have some ideas around nutrition and hyrdation, but wanted to see what those in the trenches thought. It could be anything from physiology, biomechanics, nutrition, etc.

What are your thoughts? If you could do a research study on Ironman athletes, what question would you want answered?

Steve West

There is an interesting conversation on cadence at http://members.endurancenation.us/Training/TrainingForums/tabid/101/aft/6376/Default.aspx#83888 that I would like to know more about. Specifically is there any advantage to long course athletes to applying high or low cadence stratagies on the bike that will benefit the run segment.

pgiesin

Penny: You really opened yourself up for this one. Good luck! Just coming off of IM CdA, where the water temperature was on the cold side, sub 60 degrees, there is a lot of discussion of what impact this has on the rest of the race.

penlynwilson

Peter: That's exactly what we want! Ideas from those "in the trenches." :-)

Tom Glynn

I'd love to see the studies and research on salt intake for long course triathlons. Necessary? Optional? How warm does it have to be? Is Gatorade good enough. Lots of variables!

tom

Coach Rich

+1 for Tom's stuff. I'd also like to see research on calories/hr needed for IM, by body weight.

Also, I know these two guys who have a team of IM athletes, 20-40+ of whom are racing every US IM, 10-20 at many halfs, nearly every weekend. Just sayin'...

TerryO

I have always really wondered about the cardiovascular effects of an ironman. I have heard that left ventricular structure and function changes (in a bad way) after an ironman and can take time to revert back to baseline. I've always thought it would be cool to do echocardiograms on people the day before the race, right after the race, the next day, and possibly one or two weeks later.

left.right.repeat

+1 on caloric intake per hour versus body weight.

I think exertion level, ie power vs FTP and/or pace vs target would be interesting. You might also filter in weather. Not just temp but also
Humidity and wind.

Tom Glynn

More to the nutritional stuff again, but I would love a good paper/article on IM and GI issues. There are so many people who ruin their day with stomach bloat and other GI issues. Love to hear more on the science behind the issues, how to avoid it, control if it happens and stop it before it ruins the day. I think EN has a lot of race day stuff dialed in, but there are lots of race reports that discuss this issue still. Maybe you could figure it out, RnP could buy the rights to the work and we could keep it in the haus as a super secret kinda thing

Kevin Walter

I would love to participate and have thought about a variety of studies that I think could be done pretty easily around Ironman, but there are some real barriers that would need to be worked through in order to involve anyone from the scientific/medical field. Any study such as this would need to be approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) and go through an approved informed consenting process/data management storage/etc plan. Not a major issue, but a paperwork PITA. Without such approval anyone running such a study would be wide open to litigation and loss of professional licensure. For example, if we ran a study say on "high salt vs low salt" replacement during IM and someone passes out, crashes, etc; whether related to the study or not, and the study was not approved that person would win any lawsuit and any physicians/nurses/PT/Nutrition folks running the study would likely lose their license.

penlynwilson

Kevin: I hear you. I'm a the Dietitian for the Ironman Sports Medicine Institute at Memorial Hermann, a large non-profit hospital system in Houston. We are associated with the University of Texas at the Medical Center. I'm associated with the main campus of the University of Houston and the other PhD on the team is over the Human Performance lab at the University of Houston Clear Lake. We also have a large group is sports med physicians associated with the Institute many of whom were involved in medical at IMTX (our hospital was responsible for all medical aspects at IMTX including the medical director). With any research project we do, we have to go to a minimum of 2 IRBs and up to 4. The hospital's IRB has been more difficult to deal with than the university IRBs in the past. Safety is the PRIMARY concern. We have to balance lab research and real-world research to not put participants in danger.

rah2774

would psychology factor in to what you're looking for? I'm thinking about the mental toll of training not to mention race day nerves, excitement, mental fatigue, loss of focus... endurance events are as much mental as physical as we all know as we have a strategy for keeping our heads in good places during training and for getting us through the finish when we hit the line.

I'd also be interested in a study that looks at the point of diminishing returns of training (over training). How much is just right? How much is too little to get you ready for a good day? How much is too much that you go into race day fatigued (mentally and physically) and potentially injured (but not noticeably so - i.e., micro tears that may ruin race day). Lots of AG folks put in 20+ hours week in and week out for 20 weeks. What does that do to a body?

ironmtngrl

I would love to see more studies about the long term health affects of an ultra-endurance lifestyle. What are the consequences for when you are much older on your joints? I would love to be able to permanently quiet those folks who swear I will have horrible arthritis when I'm older due to my activity now.

Cyclingmaniac

Hey Penny! 

Two items: 

1) What is the frequency of plantar fasciitis amongst long course triathletes?  Is the most common cause resulting from overuse injury or acute injuries?

2) One of the posts I saw tonight referenced body fat % and being too cold/unable to warm up.   What is an optimal body fat % to ward off the affects of cold conditions?  Heavier or more "padded" athletes don't seem to have the same issue. 

Just some thoughts!