{"id":3615,"date":"2025-11-30T22:13:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T03:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/?p=3615"},"modified":"2025-11-30T22:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T03:13:11","slug":"reflection-2-the-electron-transport-chain-and-athletic-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/2025\/11\/30\/reflection-2-the-electron-transport-chain-and-athletic-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection 2 &#8211; The Electron Transport Chain and Athletic Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As an athlete, especially during intense practices, I rely on the efficiency of the electron transport chain (ETC) without even consciously thinking about it. The ETC is one of the key final steps of aerobic respiration where NADH and FADH<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> made during glycolysis, the bridging reaction, and the Citric Acid Cycle shed their electrons that drive ATP synthesis through oxidative phosphorylation. When I am skating, the demand for ATP increases drastically. My muscles need a constant supply of energy to sustain contractions during each stride. I find it fascinating that my performance on the ice is tied directly to how effectively the ETC can keep up with this demand. During tougher training sessions, I can feel the difference between when my body can bear the strain versus when it cannot. When oxygen delivery to muscles is adequate, the ETC works efficiently and generates lots of ATP that allow me to skate hard. However, when I push beyond my anaerobic threshold, my body shifts to anaerobic metabolism and produces lactate, which produces a burning sensation. This burning sensation and the fatigue I feel are a direct result of the ETC reaching its limit and not being able to keep up with the demand of the training session. Understanding this connection between my athletic performance and the ETC makes me appreciate how mitochondrial density, oxygen delivery, and ETC efficiency are critical to performing well in practice or games.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As an athlete, especially during intense practices, I rely on the efficiency of the electron transport chain (ETC) without even consciously thinking about it. The ETC is one of the key final steps of aerobic respiration where NADH and FADH2 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/2025\/11\/30\/reflection-2-the-electron-transport-chain-and-athletic-performance\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17546,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[349081],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3615"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17546"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3615"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3616,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3615\/revisions\/3616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bc362\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}