Objectives: To determine the pacing strategies adopted by elite rowers in championship 2000 m races. Methods: Split times were obtained for each boat in every heavyweight race of the Olympic Games in 2000 and World Championships in 2001and 2002, and the top 170 competitors in the British Indoor Rowing Championships in 2001 and 2002. Data were only included in subsequent analysis if there was good evidence that the athlete or crew completed the race in the fastest possible time. The remaining data were grouped to determine if there were different strategies adopted for on-water versus ergometer trials, ''winners'' versus ''losers'', and men versus women. Results: Of the 1612 on-water race profiles considered, 948 fitted the inclusion criteria. There were no differences in pacing profile between winners and losers, and men and women, although on-water and ergometry trials showed a competitively meaningful significant difference over the first 500 m sector. The average profile showed that rowers performed the first 500 m of the race faster than subsequent sectorsthat is, at a speed of 103.3% of the average speed for the whole race, with subsequent sectors rowed at 99.0%, 98.3%, and 99.7% of average speed for on-water rowing, and 101.5%, 99.8%, 99.0%, and 99.7% for ergometry. Conclusions: These data indicate that all athletes or crews adopted a similar fast start strategy regardless of finishing position or sex, although the exact pace profile was dependent on rowing mode. This strategy should be considered by participants in 2000 m rowing competitions.T he sport of rowing has received little scientific research on the effect of different pacing strategies on performance. This is perhaps surprising given the popular belief that pacing strategies have major effects on performance in most sports, and although there may be little physiological difference between elite competitors, athletes may win or lose depending on their pacing strategy. In competitive rowing, it is tactically and psychologically advantageous to gain placement at the front of the race by increasing effort at the start. This will allow the rowers, who look backwards down the course, to be able to monitor the position of other boats and react to any sudden advances from other competitors, and also allows them to avoid the wake of other boats. In some sports, there is some evidence that a fast start is the optimal strategy 1 3-5 whereas in other sports a slow start may be beneficial. 6 There is also evidence that variations in pace may be detrimental to performance.1 2 7 There has been only one previous investigation of pacing strategies in rowing 8 and no investigations of other sports with races of similar duration to rowing (6-8 minutes).The purpose of this study was to determine the pacing strategies adopted by elite rowers in championship 2000 m races. Separately for on-water and ergometer rowing modes, the competitors were sorted into the following groups for comparison: (a) men versus women; (b) ''winners'' (placing in the top half of the field)...

No hierarchy of recovery effects was found. Neither contrast bathing nor compression acted to promote acute recovery from EIMD any more effectively than passive conditions, although contrast bathing may transiently attenuate postexercise soreness.

Omnical, Parvo, Cosmed, and DeltaTrac had greater accuracy and reliability. The small number of instruments tested and expected differences in gas calibration variability limits the generalizability of conclusions. Finally, humidity and temperature could be modified in the laboratory to optimize IC conditions.

We tested the hypothesis that priming exercise would speed kinetics during treadmill running. Eight subjects completed a square-wave protocol, involving two bouts of treadmill running at 70% of the difference between the running speeds at lactate threshold (LT) and max, separated by 6-min of walking at 4 km h −1 , on two occasions. Oxygen uptake was measured breath-by-breath and subsequently modelled using non-linear regression techniques. Heart rate and blood lactate concentration were significantly elevated prior to the second exercise bout compared to the first. However, kinetics was not significantly different between the first and second exercise bouts (mean ± S.D., phase II time constant,