Exercise, particularly higher intensity exercise produces lactate and reactive oxygen species – both of which have shown to be causative factors of muscle damage.
Now, some observers may think ultra-endurance running, is lower-intensity, with slower speeds versus athletes running track. Well for any runner who has ran their first 50k, 100k or 100-miler knows that the dramatic elevation change (up/down), technical terrain and the duration drives high-intensity demands on the body and creates very real muscle damage, aches and pains…both from training and racing.
Many ultra-runners will talk about 100k, or 100milers taking several weeks to fully recover from – from a musculo-skeletal perspective – and even longer from an immune perspective. Over time, we have seen the common practices of using NSAIDS, like aspirin, ibuprofen and other anti-inflammatories to manage training and racing – only to find that these drugs cause havoc with the digestive system and the strength of the immune system.
So what to do ? Your ultra-life style generates high-inflammatory states, yet you don’t want to get hooked on the NSAID drug band-wagon.
Increasing studies are showing a number of plant based substances, like resveratrol, quercitin and turmeric have strong anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidation capabilities.
In this most recent study, Turmeric (Curcumin) was shown to effectively reduce exercise induced muscle damage – not in lab test tubes, but in-vivo…meaning in human beings.
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