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Assignment 2: Case study - Physiological responses in cross-country sprint

skiing; a study in regulation, control and homeostasis. (1500 words)
1. The most likely mechanism for recovery in between cross country sprints
would be the alactic oxygen debt system. This is known as the fast
component of oxygen recovery. Alactic oxygen recovery replenishes
adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and phosphocreatine (PC) stores within the
human body. The timeframe for compete recovery of these stores is between
two and three minutes, with 50% of phosphocreatine stores being recovered
within approximately 30 seconds (Gastin, 2001). This entire process requires
up to four litres of oxygen (Roberts & Morton, 1978). The aerobic breakdown
of fats and carbohydrates serves to provide the energy to fuel the reactions
that enable this process to occur. Due to the relatively short recovery times
between the sprints this may be the most utilised recovery system, as other
systems like the lactic acid system may take up to two hours to fully replenish
(Monedero & Donne, 2000), so in the twenty minute recovery timeframe
between sprints, the lactic acid system would make a negligible contribution to
recovery if any at all. Excess post exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) may
also have a supporting role in recovery between bouts of exercise. EPOC is
defined as the amount of oxygen consumed during recovery over and above
what would have been consumed at rest during the same time frame (Saladin,
2012). EPOC aids in recovery by elevating the base levels of aerobic
respiration to work in conjunction with the alactic recovery system in order to
provide oxygen needed to replenish stores of ATP and phosphocreatine. Due
to the alactic recovery phase also restoring levels of myoglobin and
haemoglobin in the muscle, the elevated ventilation rate aids in ensuring that
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there are ample levels of oxygen available to replenish stores of oxygen within
myoglobin.
2. During the race, there are several changes that promote greater oxygen
diffusion within the muscle. As the athlete performs, the blood vessels within
the muscle dilate, allowing for greater blood flow to the muscle itself. This
provides several benefits that allow for greater oxygen diffusion. Firstly, as
there is a greater volume of blood flowing to the muscle, there will be elevated
volumes of oxygen being diffused into the muscle simply due to the greater
availability of oxygen being carried into the muscle via the blood. Capillaries
within the muscles dilate during physical activity due to the release of
vasodilating waste products such as potassium ions, lactic acid and carbon
dioxide (Allen & Gow, 2009). Due to elevated levels of sympathetic nervous
system stimulation and epinephrine release, some vasoconstriction can occur
in the blood vessels of the skin and its sub layers of tissue, there is also a
vasodilation effect present in the skeletal muscles, resulting in altered levels
of blood flow to the tissues concerned. Resistance to blood flow to the skin is
increased and resistance to blood flow in skeletal muscle is decreased,
resulting in a shunt of oxygenated blood from the skin and surrounding layers
through the skeletal muscles. Due to the increased amount of physical
movement during the race, the working muscles compress the veins as they
contract. As a result, this significantly increases the venous return to the heart.
This, coupled with the increase in preload and greater levels of sympathetic
nervous system stimulation results in an increase in blood pressure (Eldridge,
2004). This increase in blood pressure ensures that the increased levels of
blood flow to the muscles are sustained during the race and therefore greater
oxygen uptake over the course of the event.
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3. The effect on performance that the outside temperature will have on the
athlete will be dependent on several factors. Firstly, due to the excessively
cold outside temperatures, skin temperature will decrease even though core
temperatures increase through exercise. This has a number of potentially
detrimental effects to athletic performance. Firstly, as blood travelling to the
extremities (arms and legs) cools due to the cold skin temperatures, less
oxygen is transported to muscles due to the blood cooling to below 37
degrees. This cooling of the blood causes less oxygen to disassociate from
the haemoglobin (Coetzee & Swanepoel, 1990). Due to this, the athletes VO2
max will have reduced. As there is less oxygen present in the muscles during
physical activity this will hinder the ability of the NADH to release the H+ ions,
allowing them to accumulate in the cell. In an effort to reduce the levels of
acidity in the cells, pyruvic acid accepts hydrogen ions, forming lactic acid.
This then disassociates to form lactate and H+ ions. As the muscle cell gets
further and further away from its ideal pH due to the build-up of H+ ions, the
ability of the muscle to contract may be reduced. This will therefore reduce
power output of the athlete over the course of the race. This process speeds
the athlete towards OBLA, obviously having a detrimental effect on force
production and muscular power (Keyser, 2010). Overall muscular endurance
may also be affected by the cold temperatures due to decreased nerve
conduction in the muscle (Herrera, Sandoval, Camargo & Salvini, 2010). This
is a direct result of the fall in temperature in the skin and peripheral muscle.
As this falls to 22 degrees centigrade, this is well below the point where
muscular endurance starts to decrease within the muscle, which is often cited
at 27 degrees Celsius. (Herrera et al., 2010)

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4. There are three main mechanisms that work within the body of the athlete to
regulate the acid base balance. These systems are the bicarbonate, protein
and phosphate buffer systems. These all serve to help maintain the bodys
optimum pH balance of between 7.38 and 7.42 during exercise (Waugh, Grant
& Ross, 2001). A buffer solution is a combination of a weak acid and its
conjugate base or a weak base and its conjugate acid. The bicarbonate buffer
system helps to regulate pH during exercise by controlling the balance of
carbon dioxide (CO2) within the blood. Bicarbonate is an extracellular buffer. If
there is excess amounts of CO2 present within the body, the enzyme carbonic
anhydrase then combines this with water (H2O) to produce carbonic acid.
This is then broken down into hydrogen ions (H+) and bicarbonate (HCO3).
The bicarbonate ions are then shifted through the circulation system where in
the lungs they combine with H+ ions to form carbon dioxide and water. The
excess gas is then expelled by the lungs, reversing the negative change in
pH. The protein buffer system is a very versatile system as proteins contain
both acid and base groups. Proteins are also the most abundant pH buffers
present within the blood, with the amino acids Histidine and Cysteine being
responsible for the majority of the buffering capacity of proteins. As proteins
can be both H+ donors and acceptors, they can help to regulate the pH of the
blood by ensuring that the correct amount of hydrogen ions are present. If
there are too many H+ ions in the blood they can be removed or in the case of
too few H+ ions in the blood they can be donated by the proteins, balancing
out the pH levels. The phosphate buffer system is a mainly intracellular buffer,
playing an important role as a urinary buffer within the body. The phosphate
buffer system is comprised of dihydrogen phosphate ions (acid) and hydrogen

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phosphate ions (base) held at an equilibrium. If excess H+ ions enter the

cellular fluid, the hydrogen phosphate ions react with them and maintain the
pH of the intracellular fluid (Scorpio, 2000).
5. One of the most likely cause of muscular fatigue during cross country sprints
may be the accumulation of metabolic by-products. The mechanisms the body
uses to produce ATP during exercise also produce by-products that can
interfere with normal muscular function and impair the athletes ability to
continue performing at his/her optimum levels of performance. Three byproducts in particular act on the levels of calcium (CA2+) being released from
the sarcoplasmic reticulum. These compounds are inorganic phosphate, ADP
and magnesium, all found in high concentrations when ATP and PCr are
broken down within the cell. All three of these compounds have shown to
have negative effects on the ability of the muscle to forcefully contract when
found in high concentrations within the muscle itself (Allen & Westerblad,
2001). Furthermore, high concentrations of ADP and inorganic phosphate
have been shown to reduce the amount of energy released by ATP
breakdown in the cell. Lactic acid production within the muscle as a result of
the breakdown of glycogen and glucose also has a detrimental effect when it
comes down to the fatigue of the muscle. Due to the elevated levels of H+
ions within the muscle, the excitation-contraction coupling and force
production of the myosin filaments is compromised (Costill, Verstappen,
Kuipers, Jansson & Fink, 1983). These factors, coupled with the inhibited
levels of CA2+ release into the muscle cell, severely inhibit the ability
formation of actin-myosin cross bridges to form, preventing an efficient
contraction of the muscle.

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6. Both the aerobic and anaerobic energy systems contribute to the regeneration
of ATP during the process of a cross country sprint skiing event. The speed at
which ATP is generated is much greater when it is being generated
anaerobically, whereas if ATP is generated aerobically the process is much
slower but yields more ATP over time. At the beginning of the race, the athlete
will not yet have reached the steady state of exercise. This means that the
athlete will be working predominantly anaerobically at this point of the race
due to the fact that anaerobic glycolysis is the most efficient system for
resynthesizing ATP quickly (Losengard, Mykelbust & Hallen, 2012). As the
race continues, the bodys need for energy increases exponentially. This need
for ATP dwarfs the contribution that anaerobic glycolysis can deliver, therefore
the mechanism of ATP synthesis begins to shift towards aerobic glycolysis
(Losnegard & Halln, 2014). This process continues to move along this
continuum as the race proceeds towards the finish. As the race carries on, the
athletes demands for the removal of metabolic by-products also increases.
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