This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

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Readings

WEEK # TOPICS REQUIRED READINGS OPTIONAL READINGS
1 Introduction Buy at Amazon Fitzgerald, Matt. Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide: Plans, Scheduling Tips, and Workout Goals for Triathletes of All Levels. New York, NY: Warner Wellness, 2006. ISBN: 9780446696760. [Read chapters 1 and 2, plus other chapters/fitness levels for your specific event.]  
2 Injury prevention

Woods, K., P. Bishop, and E. Jones. "Warm-up and Stretching in the Prevention of Muscular Injury." Sports Med 37, no. 12 (2007): 1089-1099.

Witvrouw, E., N. Mahieu, L. Danneels, and P. McNair. "Stretching and Injury Prevention." Sports Med 34, no. 7 (2004): 443-449.

Hreljac, A. "Impact and Overuse Injuries in Runners." Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 36, no. 5 (2004): 845-9.

 Cosca, D. D., and F. Navazio. "Common Problems in Endurance Athletes." American Family Physician 76, no. 2 (2007): 237-44.
3 Training

Charlton, G. A., and M. H. Crawford. "Physiologic Consequences of Training." Cardiologic Clinics 15, no. 3 (1997): 345-354.

Sutton, J. R. "Limitations to Maximal Oxygen Uptake." Sports Medicine 12, no. 2 (1992): 127-133.

Sesboüe, B., and J.-Y. Guinestre. "La Fatigue Musculaire." Ann Readapt Med Phys 49, no. 6 (2006): 257-264 and 348-54. [English-Language Abstract in PubMed.]

O'Toole, M. L., and P. S. Douglas. "Applied Physiology of Triathlon." Sports Med 19, no. 4 (1995): 251-67.

Maughan, R. J., and S. M. Shirreffs. "Recovery from Prolonged Exercise: Restoration of Water and Electrolyte Balance." Journal of Sports Medicine 15, no. 3 (June 1997): 297-303.

Sharwood, K., M. Collins, J. Goedecke, G. Wilson, and T. Noakes. "Weight Changes, Sodium Levels, and Performance in the South African Ironman Triathlon." Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine 12, no. 6 (2002): 391-399.

Cairns, S. P. "Lactic Acid and Exercise Performance: Culprit or Friend?" Sports Medicine 36, no. 4 (2006): 279-291.

Reference text: Buy at Amazon Brooks, G. A., T. D. Fahey, and K. M. Baldwin. Exercise Physiology: Human Bioenergetics and its Applications. 4th ed. Columbus, OH: McGraw-Hill, 2004. ISBN: 9780072985405.
4 Nutrition

Tipton, K. D., and O. C. Witard. "Protein Requirements and Recommendations for Athletes: Relevance of Ivory Tower Arguments for Practical Recommendations." Clinics in Sports Medicine 26 (2007): 17-36.

Burke, L. M., and J. A. Hawley. "Fat and Carbohydrate for Exercise." Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care 9, no. 4 (July 2006): 476-481.

Rehrer, N. J. "Fluid and Electrolyte Balance in Ultra-endurance Sport." Sports Medicine 31, no. 10 (2001): 701-715.

Venderley, A. M., and W. W. Campbell. "Vegetarian Diets: Nutritional Considerations for Athletes." Sports Medicine 26, no. 4 (2006): 293-305.

de Wit, J. N. "Nutritional and Functional Characteristics of Whey Proteins in Food Products." Journal of Dairy Science 81 (1998): 597-608.
5 Running form

Metzler, Brian. "Run Softly, Naturally: Can a Gait Makeover Improve Your Running?" Running Times 364 (March 2009): 18-20.

Levine, B. D., and P. D. Thompson. "Marathon Maladies." New England Journal of Medicine 352 (2005): 1516-1518.

Almond, C. S. D., et al. "Hyponatremia among Runners in the Boston Marathon." New England Journal of Medicine 352 (2005): 1550-6.

  
6 Epigenetics Koubova, Jana, and Leonard Guarente. "How Does Calorie Restriction Work?" Genes and Development 17 (2003): 313-321.

Fitzgerald, Matt. "Will Genetic Doping Be the End of Sports?" Triathlete Magazine (April 2008): 32-33.

Huffman, D. M., et al. "Effect of Exercise and Calorie Restriction on Biomarkers of Aging in Mice." Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 294 (March 5, 2008): R1618-R1627.

Dubé, J. J., et al. "Exercise-induced Alterations in Intramyocellular Lipids and Insulin Resistance: The Athlete's Paradox Revisited." Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 294 (March 4, 2008): E882-E888.
7 Science of swimming

Craig, A. B., Jr., and D. R. Pendergast. "Relationships of Stroke Rate, Distance per Stroke, and Velocity in Competitive Swimming." Medicine and Science in Sports 11, no. 3 (1979): 278-283.

Toussaint, H. M., et al. "Effect of a Triathlon Wet Suit on Drag During Swimming." Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 21, no. 3 (1989): 325-328.

Zamparo, P., D. R. Pendergast, J. Mollendorf, A. Termin, and A. E. Minetti. "An Energy Balance of Front Crawl." European Journal of Applied Physiology 94 (2005): 134-144.

Haman, François. "Shivering in the Cold: From Mechanisms of Fuel Selection to Survival." Journal of Applied Physiology 100 (2006): 1702-1708.
9 Science of bicycles

Prasuhn, J. "Drag Race: The Secret, Savvy Underworld of Triathlon's Addiction to the Wind Tunnel." Inside Triathlon [unknown volume/issue, date]: 12-30.

  
Triathlon preparation

Jeukendrup, A., R. Jentjens, and L. Moseley. "Nutritional Considerations in Triathlon." Sports Medicine 35, no. 2 (2005): 163-81.

Van Schuylenbergh, R., B. Vanden Eynde, and P. Hespel. "Prediction of Sprint Triathlon Performance from Laboratory Tests." European Journal of Applied Physiology 91 (2004): 94-99.

Peeling, P. D., D. J. Bishop, and G. J. Landers. "Effect of Swimming Intensity on Subsequent Cycling and Overall Triathlon Performance." British Journal of Sports Medicine 39 (2005): 960-964.

Millet, G. P., and V. E. Vleck. "Physiological and Biomedical Adaptations to the New Cycle to Run Transition in Olympic Triathlon: Review and Practical Recommendations for Training." British Journal of Sports Medicine 34 (2000): 384-390.

  
10 Energy metabolism

Fitzgerald, Matt. "Lactic Acid Myths Debunked." Triathlete Magazine (Februrary 2009): 94-96.

Bacon, L., and M. Kern. "Evaluating a Test Protocol for Predicting Maximum Lactate Steady State." The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 39 (1999): 300-308.

Vobejda, C., K. Fromme, W. Samson, and E. Zimmermann. "Maximal Constant Heart Rate - A Heart Rate Based Method to Estimate Maximal Lactate Steady State in Running." International Journal of Sports Medicine 27 (2006): 368-372.

Gladden, M. B. "Lactate Metabolism: A New Paradigm for the Third Millennium." Journal of Physiology 558, no. 1 (2004): 5-30. [Just read the first 8 pages.]

Pendergast, D., et al. "Energy Balance of Human Locomotion in Water." European Journal of Applied Physiology 90 (2003): 377-386.

Alexander, R. M. "Models and the Scaling of Energy Costs for Locomotion." Journal of Experimental Biology 208 (2005): 1645-1652.

Brooks, G. A. "Lactate Shuttles in Nature." Biochemical Society Transactions 30, part 2 (2002): 258-264.

Bergman, B. C., et al. "Active Muscle and Whole Body Lactate Kinetics after Endurance Training in Men." J Appl Physiol 87, no. 5 (November 1999): 1684-1696.

Dubouchaud, H., et al. "Endurance Training, Expression, and Physiology of LDH, MCT1, and MCT4 in Human Skeletal Muscle." Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 278, no. 4 (April 2000): E571-E579.
11 Chemistry of cheating

Carlson, T. "Inside Dope: So You Think You Know All About Drugs and Triathlon?" Inside Triathlon (April 2008): 34-40.

Birkeland, K. I., and P. Hemmersbach. "The Future of Doping Control in Athletes: Issues Related to Blood Sampling." Sports Medicine 28, no. 1 (1999): 25-33.

Saugy, M., et al. "Human Growth Hormone Doping in Sport." British Journal of Sports Medicine 40, suppl. 1 (2006): i35-i39.

Juhn, Mark S. "Popular Sports Supplements and Ergogenic Aids." Sports Medicine 33, no. 12 (2003): 921-939. [This is a great article to review the 14 supplements that athletes are known to use. It includes both legal and illegal supplements.]

Seedhouse, E., and D. Nugent. "The Science of False Positives." Inside Triathlon [unknown volume/issue, date]: 77 [Excerpt from their forthcoming book Presumed Guilty: How the War on Drugs in Destroying the Hopes and Dreams of Athletes.]

"La carnicería de Vandenbroucke en Navalmoral." January 21, 2008. YouTube. Accessed July 7, 2009. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8MOQuF4_BI [Cyclist on EPO.]
12 Legal means of manipulating your body

Titlow, L. W., J. H. Ishee, and C. E. Riggs. "Failure of Caffeine to Affect Metabolism During 60 Minute Submaximal Exercise." Journal of Sports Sciences 9 (1991): 15-22.

Spriet, Lawrence L. "Caffeine and Performance." International Journal of Sport Nutrition 5 (1995): S84-S99.

Magkos, F., and S. A. Kavouras. "Caffeine Use in Sports, Pharmacokinetics in Man, and Cellular Mechanisms of Action." Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 45 (2005): 535-562. [If you ever want to know what really happens to caffeine in your body, read this article.]

Shirreffs, S. M., and R. J. Maughan. "The Affect of Alcohol on Athletic Performance." Current Sports Medicine Reports 5, no. 4 (June 2006): 192-196.

Fitzgerald, Matt. "Planning for Perfection: Nail your Early-Season Peak." Triathlete Magazine (April 2007): 122-131.

Williams, M. B., et al. "Effects of Recovery Beverages on Glycogen Restoration and Endurance Exercise Performance." Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 17, no. 1 (2003): 12-19.

Collomp, K., et al. "Benefits of Caffeine Ingestion in Sprint Performance in Trained and Untrained Swimmers." European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology 64 (1992): 377-380.

Cheuvront, S. N., et al. "Effect of ENDUROX™ on Metabolic Responses to Submaximal Exercise." International Journal of Sport Nutrition 9 (1999): 434-442.

Karp, J. R. et al. "Chocolate Milk as a Post-Exercise Recovery Aid." Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab 16, no. 1 (February 2006): 78-91.

Thomas, K. P. Morris, and E. Stevenson. "Improved Endurance Capacity Following Chocolate Milk Consumption Compared with 2 Commercially Available Sport Drinks." Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 34, no. 1 (February 2009): 78-82.

"Creatine Supplements." American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

"Creatine and Whey Protein Supplements." McKinley Health Center, University of Illinois.

"Creatine Supplements." USGyms.net

Buy at Amazon Williams, M. H., R. B. Kreider, and J. D. Branch. Creatine: The Power Supplement. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1999. ISBN: 9780736001625. [Preview in Google Books]
13 Chemistry of clothing Reisch, M. "What's that Stuff? Spandex." Chemical and Engineering News 77, no. 7 (February 15, 1999): 70.  
15 Transitioning in a triathlon Millet, G. P., and D. J. Bentley. "The Physiological Responses to Running After Cycling in Elite Junior and Senior Triathletes." International Journal of Sports Medicine 25, no. 3 (2004): 191-197.  
Triathlon tapering

Mujika, Inigo, Sabino Padilla, David Pyne, and Thierry Busso. "Physiological Changes Associated with Pre-event Taper in Athletes." Sports Medicine 24, no. 13 (2004): 891-927.

Hooper, Sue L., Laurel Traeger Mackinnon, and Enid M. Ginn. "Effects of Three Tapering Techniques on the Performance Forces and Psychometric Measure of Competitive Swimmers." European Journal of Applied Physiology 78, no. 3 (1998): 258-263.

Hue, O., S. Antoine-Jonville, and F. Sara. "The Effect of 8 days of Training in Tropical Environment on Performance in Neutral Climate in Swimmers." International Journal of Sports Medicine 28, no. 1 (January 2007): 48-52.

Morton, R. Hugh, John R. Fitz-Clarke, and Eric W. Banister. "Modeling Human Performance in Running." Journal of Applied Physiology 69, no. 3 (September 1990): 1171-1177. (This is an interesting article that develops a mathematical model of a runner.)