The objective of this study is to examine the effects of acute ingestion of dietary nitrate on endurance running performance in highly trained cross-country skiers. Dietary nitrate has been shown to reduce the oxygen cost of submaximal exercise and improve tolerance of high-intensity exercise, but it is not known if this holds true for highly trained endurance athletes.
Ten male junior cross-country skiers (V?O(2max)) ˜ 70 mL·kg·min) each completed two trials in a randomized, double-blind design. Participants ingested potassium nitrate (614-mg nitrate) or a nitrate-free placebo 2.5 h before two 5-min submaximal tests on a treadmill at 10 km·h (˜55% of V?O(2max)) and 14 km·h (˜75% of V?O(2max)), followed by a 5-km running time trial on an indoor track.
Plasma nitrite concentrations were higher after nitrate supplementation (325 ± 95 nmol·L) compared with placebo (143 ± 59 nmol·L, P