Abstract

LOPES, Renata Fiedler; OSIECKI, Raul  and  RAMA, Luis Manuel Pinto Lopes. Heart rate and blood lactate concentration response after each segment of the Olympic Triathlon event. Rev Bras Med Esporte [online]. 2012, vol.18, n.3, pp. 158-160. ISSN 1517-8692.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S1517-86922012000300003.

INTRODUCTION: The physiological responses of each part of Triathlon are different; better training loads could be prescribed for athletes considering each segment of this sport. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the behavior of physiological variables - heart rate and blood lactate concentration - before the event, after each segment of an Olympic Triathlon: swimming, cycling and running, and after recovery time. METHODS: The sample included twelve male triathletes who participated in a triathlon event with Olympic distance. Capillary blood samples were taken from the fingertip in the beginning of the event (pre-event), after each segment (swimming, cycling, running) and after 1 hour of recovery. Each athlete was monitored during the entire event by a heart rate monitor (Polar® S610). Statistical procedures included: Spearman correlations and Wilcoxon non parametric tests (p<0.05). RESULTS: The study results showed that the highest intensity was reached during cycling (HR_max: 86.3%; Lac: 6.98 mmol/L) in both physiological parameters, followed by swimming (HR_max: 85.2%, Lac: 5.75 mmol/L) and running (HR_max: 83.6%, lac: 4.47mmol), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Training load prescription based on different physiological markers responses - such as heart rate and blood lactate concentration - of each triathlon segment will be more efficient for the Olympic triathlon demands.

Keywords : swimming; cycling; running; blood; cardiac monitoring.