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The aim of this study was to compare the pacing strategies adopted by women and men during a World Cup ITU triathlon. Twelve elite triathletes (6 females, 6 males) competed in a World Cup Olympic distance competition where speed and heart rate (HR) were measured in the three events. The power output (PO) was recorded in cycling to determine the time spent in five intensity zones ([0-10% VT1]; [10% VT1-VT1]; [VT1-VT2]; [VT2-MAP] and > or =MAP) [ventilatory threshold (VT); maximal aerobic power (MAP)]. Swimming and running speeds decreased similarly for both genders (P < 0.05) and HR values were similar through the whole race (92 +/- 2 and 92 +/- 3% of maximal HR for women and men, respectively). The distribution of time spent in the five zones during the cycling leg was the same for both genders. The men's speed and PO decreased after the first bike lap (P < 0.05) and the women spent relatively more time above MAP in the hilly sections (45 +/- 4 vs. 32 +/- 4%). The men's running speed decreased significantly over the whole circuit, whereas the women slowed only over the uphill and downhill sections (P < 0.05). This study indicates that both female and male elite triathletes adopted similar positive pacing strategies during swimming and running legs. Men pushed the pace harder during the swim-to-cycle transition contrary to the women and female triathletes were more affected by changes in slope during the cycling and running phases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purposes of this study were (1) to determine the time sustained above 90% of *[These characters cannot be converted to ASCII text] in different intermittent running sessions having the same overall time run at the velocity ( *[These characters cannot be converted to ASCII text] ) associated with *[These characters cannot be converted to ASCII text] , and (2) to test whether the use of a fixed-fraction (50%) of the time to exhaustion at *[These characters cannot be converted to ASCII text] (T[sublim]) leads to longer time spent at a high percentage of *[These characters cannot be converted to ASCII text] . Subjects were 8 triathletes who, after determination of their track *[These characters cannot be converted to ASCII text] and T[sublimv], performed three intermittent running sessions alternating the velocity between 100% and 50% of *[These characters cannot be converted to ASCII text] , termed 30s∼30s, 60s∼30s, and ½T[sublim]∼½T[sublim], where the overall time at *[These characters cannot be converted to ASCII text] was similar (= 3 x T[sublim]). *[These characters cannot be converted to ASCII text] achieved in the incremental test was 71.1 ± 3.9 ml·min[sup-1]·kg[sup-1] and T[sublim] was 236 ± 49 s. *[These characters cannot be converted to ASCII text] and peak heart rate were lower in 30s∼30s than in the other intermittent runs. The time spent above 90% of *[These characters cannot be converted to ASCII text] was significantly (p < 0.001) longer either in 60s∼30s (531 ± 187 s) or in ½T[sublim]∼½T[sublim] (487 ± 176 s) than in 30s∼30s (149 ± 33 s). T[sublim] was negatively correlated with the time (in % of T[sublim]) spent above 90% of *[These characters cannot be converted to ASCII text] in 30s∼30s (r =-0.75, p <0.05). T[sublim] was also correlated with the difference of time spent over 90% of *[These characters cannot be converted to ASCII text]... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In sport, high training load required to reach peak performance pushes human adaptation to their limits. In that process, athletes may experience general fatigue, impaired performance, and may be identified as overreached (OR). When this state lasts for several months, an overtraining syndrome is diagnosed (OT). Until now, no variable per se can detect OR, a requirement to prevent the transition from OR to OT. It encouraged us to further investigate OR using a multivariate approach, including physiological, biomechanical, cognitive, and perceptive monitoring. Twenty-four highly trained triathletes were separated into an overload group and a normo-trained group (NT) during 3 wk of training. Given the decrement of their running performance, 11 triathletes were diagnosed as OR after this period. A discriminant analysis showed that the changes of eight parameters measured during a maximal incremental test could explain 98.2% of the OR state (lactatemia, heart rate, biomechanical parameters and effort perception). Variations in heart rate and lactatemia were the two most discriminating factors. When the multifactorial analysis was restricted to these variables, the classification score reached 89.5%. Catecholamines and creatine kinase concentrations at rest did not change significantly in both groups. Running pattern was preserved and cognitive performance decrement was observed only at exhaustion in OR subjects. This study showed that monitoring various variables is required to prevent the transition between NT and OR. It emphasized that an OR index, which combines heart rate and blood lactate concentration changes after a strenuous training period, could be helpful to routinely detect OR.