Association between endurance performance, oxidative stress, and antioxidant markers during a running training program in untrained men

Purpose The aim of this study was to examine the associations between running performance variables, oxidative stress (OS) and antioxidant markers at pre- and post- endurance running training program in untrained men. A second aim was to verify the responses of the performance variables, OS marker malondialdehyde (MDA) and antioxidant markers antioxidant markers catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione (GSH) and oxidized (GSSG) after the endurance training program. Methods Fifteen untrained men performed 8 weeks of endurance running training. All assessments were performed at pre- and post-endurance training program. The performance variables peak running velocity (V-peak) and 5-km performance (t(5-km)), the OS marker MDA and the antioxidant markers CAT, SOD, reduced GSH and oxidized GSSG were analyzed. Absolute and percent changes were calculated (change from pre- to post-training) for each variable. Associations were performed using the Pearson (r) or Spearman (rho) correlation coefficient. Results The highest and significant correlations occurred between performance variables and GSSG at post-training (rho = - 0.86 and 0.88, with V-peak and t(5-km), respectively). All other correlations were not significant. Furthermore, 8 weeks of endurance training improved performance and no significant differences were observed in the OS and antioxidant responses between pre- and post-training. Conclusion The correlations between running performance variables and OS and antioxidant markers at pre- and post-training in untrained men were not significant and expressive, except for the associations between GSSG and performance variables (V-peak and t(5-km)), that were very large. In addition, the endurance training program improved performance and did not significantly change the OS and antioxidant markers in untrained men.