Background: Achilles tendinopathy is commonly reported by athletes involved in activities that include running and jumping. Despite the prevalence of the problem, causative factors in Achilles tendinopathy remain poorly understood. Hypothesis: In Masters track and field athletes, there is no influence of age, gender, weight, height, and impact profile in developing Achilles tendinopathy. Study Design: Cross-sectional study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: During the European Veterans Athletics Championships in Poznań, Poland, in July 2006, 178 athletes (110 men and 68 women; mean age, 54.1 years; range, 35-94 years) were evaluated with the Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment—Achilles (VISA-A) questionnaire. A fully trained orthopaedic surgeon made a diagnosis of Achilles tendinopathy according to clinical criteria. Results: There was no effect of gender on the presence of Achilles tendinopathy (P = .14). No significant track and field specialty effect upon the frequency of Achilles tendinopathy was found on the VISA-A questionnaire scores (P = .32). Equally, there was no effect of track and field specialty on the VISA-A score (P = .31). No correlation was found between age and VISA-A score (P = .36). There was no statistically significant difference in either prevalence of Achilles tendinopathy or VISA-A score between high-impact and low-impact athletes (P = .19 and P = .31, respectively). Conclusion: In competing Masters track and field athletes, we did not find any influence of age, gender, weight, height, or impact profile on the development of Achilles tendinopathy. Additional research is required to improve our understanding of the causative factors in Achilles tendinopathy.

Cardiorespiratory and biochemical indicators typically used by contemporary elite athletes seem to have limited applicability. According to some recent studies, purine metabolism better reflects exercise response and muscle adaptation in this group. We propose using purine derivatives, especially plasma hypoxanthine concentration, as indicators of training status in consecutive training phases in highly trained athletes.

So far, aging studies have concentrated on endurance athletes. Master sprint-trained athletes were not the main focus of attention. We propose the novel hypothesis that the sprint model of lifelong physical training that involves high-intensity exercise is at least as beneficial as moderate-intensity endurance exercise for successful aging.

Purine metabolism is crucial for efficient ATP resynthesis during exercise. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of lifelong exercise training on blood purine metabolites in ageing humans at rest and after exhausting exercise. Plasma concentrations of hypoxanthine (Hx), xanthine (X), uric acid (UA) and the activity of erythrocyte hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (HGPRT) were measured in 55 sprinters (SP, 20‒90 years), 91 endurance runners (ER, 20‒81 years) and 61 untrained participants (UT, 21‒69 years). SP had significantly lower levels of plasma purine metabolites and higher erythrocyte HGPRT activity than ER and UT. In all three groups, plasma purine levels (except UA in UT) significantly increased with age (1.8‒44.0% per decade). HGPRT activity increased in SP and ER (0.5‒1.0%), while it remained unchanged in UT. Hx and X concentrations increased faster with age than UA and HGPRT levels. In summary, plasma purine concentration increases with age, representing the depletion of skeletal muscle adenine nucleotide (AdN) pool. In highly-trained athletes, this disadvantageous effect is compensated by an increase in HGPRT activity, supporting the salvage pathway of the AdN pool restoration. Such a mechanism is absent in untrained individuals. Lifelong exercise, especially speed-power training, limits the age-related purine metabolism deterioration.