Respiratory muscle fatigue does not limit exercise performance during moderate endurance run.

The role of respiratory muscle fatigue in limiting exercise performance in well-trained subjects is still controversial, especially as far as relatively short runs are concerned. To determine the occurrence of respiratory muscle impairment, we studied six well-trained athletes before, during (middle of the run) and after a 17 km run. They were all asked to produce the maximum effort they could during the race. Strength was assessed by measuring maximal inspiratory mouth pressure against close airways (MIP), dynamic lung volumes were monitored using a spirometer. No changes in forced vital capacity (FVC), maximal expiratory flow (PEF) and forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) were observed throughout the experiment. This suggested that functional residual capacity and subsequently the initial length of respiratory muscle were unchanged. Respiratory muscle strength did not significantly vary at the different time of measurements (154.8 +/- 20.9 cm H2O at the beginning, 157.5 +/- 23.7 cm H2O after 7.5 km, 155.8 +/- 22.5 cm H2O at the end and 152.3 +/- 17.6 cm H2O after 30 min of recovery). We therefore conclude that respiratory muscle fatigue does not impair the exercise performance of well-trained athletes in a relatively short race. The difference between these results and others reported in literature, could be explained by the different degree of training of the subjects performing the race.