Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK (Ms Johannsen, Mr Shin, and Dr Coker). Electronic address: mmjohannsen@alaska.edu.
The Alaska Mountain Wilderness Ski Classic is a self-supported ultramarathon cross-country skiing event that traverses one of the mountain ranges of Alaska each winter. Unique aspects of this event challenge athletes with a significant amount of physical and mental stress while in the chronically cold conditions of the Arctic. Assessment of energy requirements or body composition has never been performed during this event. The objective of the study was to evaluate the influence of the 2016 Alaska Mountain Wilderness Ski Classic on caloric expenditure and body composition.
Caloric expenditure was estimated using GT3x+ Actigraph accelerometers and ActiLife software. Lean tissue mass, total fat mass, visceral fat mass, and bone mineral density were measured using a General Electric iDXA before and after the event. Data are presented as mean±SD. Differences were analyzed using paired t tests with significance at P