An energy balance of the 200 m front crawl race

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to determine the relative contribution of the aerobic (Aer), anaerobic lactic (AnL) and alactic (AnAl) energy sources during each of the four laps of a 200 m front crawl race. Additionally, energy cost (C) and arm stroke efficiency were also computed. Ten international swimmers performed a 200 m front crawl swim, as well as 50, 100, and 150 m at the 200 m pace. Oxygen consumption was measured during the 200 m swim and blood samples were collected before and after each swim; the C of swimming was calculated as the ratio of E (tot) to distance (where E (tot) = Aer + AnL + AnAl). Arm stroke efficiency was calculated by kinematic analysis as the speed of center of mass to the ratio of 3D hand speed. For the 200 m the contributions were 65.9% (Aer), 13.6% (AnL), and 20.4% (AnAl) whereas for each lap they were 44.6, 73.2, 83.3 and 66.6% (Aer), 14.1, 5.0, 4.4 and 28.1% (AnL) and 41.3, 21.8, 12.3 and 5.2% (AnAl) for the four laps, respectively. For the 200 m as a whole C was 1.60 kJ m(-1) whereas C = 1.71, 1.56, 1.44 and 1.70 kJ m(-1) for each consecutive lap, respectively. Arm stroke efficiency ranged from 0.40 to 0.43 and was significantly lower in the last lap as compared to the first (P = 0.002), suggesting the occurrence of fatigue. The decrease in arm stroke efficiency was mirrored by an increase in C as can be expected on theoretical grounds.

Effects of different swimming race constraints on turning movements

“…Despite traditional swimming race analyses measuring fixed 15-m turn times regardless of the race lap (Arellano et al, 1994;Thompson et al, 2000;Tourny-Chollet et al, 2002), the turn and underwater distances in the present study generally dropped throughout the race (Fig. 1 and Table 1), probably due to fatigue (Figueiredo et al, 2011;Toussaint et al, 2006) and the hypoxic conditions of the underwater swimming. The decrement in underwater distance from the first to the third turn of the race (0.6-0.8-m) represented approximately the distance covered when performing one dolphin kick (Zamparo, Vicentini, Scattolini, Rigamonti, & Bonifazi, 2012).…”

“…However, they may have also organized their competitive turns according to their lower levels of gliding skills (Kolmogorov, Rumyantseva, Gordon, & Cappaert, 1997) and muscular power (Wakayoshi, Yoshida, Ikuta, Mutoh, & Miyashita, 1993). Taking into account that the 200-m event is considered to be exhausting (Bonifazi, Martelli, Marugo, Sardella, & Carli, 1993;Figueiredo et al, 2011Figueiredo et al, , 2013, they may not have been able to maintain apnea conditions at the end of the race like the national level swimmers did. On the other hand, national level swimmers obtained a more consistent turn performance, which may be optimal in swimming, where a high level of precision is required and unexpected changes in competitive conditions rarely occur (Hiley, Zuevsky, & Yeadon, 2013).…”

“…However, it is unknown how swimmers organize the underwater or surface components during a swimming race or how various competitive swimming constraints (like the number of laps, gender, expertise or event stroke) could influence the underwater swimming parameters. Previous research studies have reported that skilled swimmers exhibited more stable stroking parameters and average velocities (Chollet, Pelayo, Delaplace, Tourny, & Sidney, 1997;Figueiredo et al, 2011;Hellard et al, 2008) in 100 and 200-m freestyle races, although there is still a lack of knowledge if this skill issue is also present during non-swimming segments.…”

“…Researchers and/or practitioners have measured partial times at 5, 10, 15 or 25-m intervals from the starting or turning walls and have evaluated how different swimming constraints, such as increasing fatigue, affect their evolution throughout races (de Jesus et al, 2012;Figueiredo, Rouard, Vilas-Boas, & Fernandes, 2013;Figueiredo, Zamparo, Sousa, Vilas-Boas, & Fernandes, 2011;Hellard et al, 2008;Suito et al, 2008;Toussaint, Carol, Kranenborg, & Truijens, 2006). However, temporal race parameters do not discriminate between submerged and surface techniques and it cannot be assumed that swimmers travel the same distances with starting, turning or stroking movements (Veiga, Cala, Mallo, & Navarro, 2013).…”

Effects of swim training on energetic and performance in women masters’ swimmers

“…The followup of physiological and performance changes over a season provides useful information on the chronic response to training (Costa et al, 2012). Some literature was found about this topic in male swimmers in elite swimmers (Capelli et al, 1998;Pendergast et al, 2006;Figueiredo et al, 2011;Costa et al, 2012;Sousa et al, 2013). However, no studies have been conducted, so far, to determine the energetics adaptations to annual training in female masters swimmers.…”