Applied Physiology of Triathlon

Abstract

The triathlon is a 3-event endurance sport in which athletes compete sequentially in swimming, cycling and running. The primary determinant of success is the ability to sustain a high rate of energy expenditure for prolonged periods of time. Exercise training-induced physiological adaptations in virtually all systems of the body allow the athlete to accomplish this. Aerobic capacity (measured as maximal oxygen uptake, VO2max), economy of motion (submaximal VO2) and fractional utilisation of maximal capacity (%VO2max) reflect the integrated responses of these physiological adaptations. Numerous studies have reported relatively high mean VO2max values for various groups of triathletes that are comparable to those reported for athletes in single-event endurance sports and clearly above those reported for untrained individuals. In shorter distance triathlons and in studies using recreational (rather than elite) triathletes, VO2max is related to performance in the corresponding event of the triathlon (e.g. tethered swimming VO2max with swim time). In longer events and with more elite triathletes, VO2max correlates less well with performance. The physiological adaptations that correspond to and facilitate improved VO2max occur centrally in the cardiovascular system, centred on increased maximal cardiac output, and peripherally in the metabolic systems, centred around increased arterio-venous O2 (a-v O2) difference. While a high VO2max in individuals is clearly of importance to triathlon performance, energy output must be sustained for long periods of time, making economy of motion also very important. Studies suggests that competitive swimmers have better swimming economy than triathletes. However, since many triathletes have previously been competitive swimmers this finding is questionable. The finding suggests that triathletes from nonswimming backgrounds would benefit from improving swimming technique rather than concentrating training workouts solely on distance. In cycling and running, comparison studies have not been done. Economy of motion in swimming, cycling and running have all been found to be correlated with comparable event performance. Training to improve swimming economy can be done without prior exercise, but training to improve swimming economy can be done without prior exercise, but training to improve cycling and running economy should take the multimode nature of a triathlon into consideration. That is, swimming should precede cycling economy training, and cycling should precede running economy training. Cardiovascular, metabolic and neuromuscular adaptations are the main physiological correlates of improved movement economy. Since exercise-induced stress on most physiological systems is based on relative, rather than absolute, exercise intensity, training and racing intensities are frequently quantified as a percentage of maximal capacity of %VO2max.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Relationship Between Optimal Lactate Removal Power Output and Olympic Triathlon Performance

“…V O 2 max values during treadmill running were similar to those recently reported for elite triathletes (17,25,28). It is already known that the wide range in V O 2 max (from 52 to ) reported by different investigators (26,31) indicates that factors other than V O 2 max contribute more significantly to triathlon performance. In fact, the ventilatory threshold with the economy of motion (26) and, more recently, the peak treadmill running velocity associated with blood lactate concentration during steady-state cycling at 4 W·kg Ϫ1 body mass (28) have been proposed as predictive parameters of triathlon performance.…”

“…The distances of each competition segment may vary substantially, so that the total competition time ranges from 30 minutes to several hours (25,26). In particular, the standard distance (also known as ''short distance'' and ''Olympic triathlon'') consists of 1,500 m of swimming, 40 km of cycling, and 10 km of running.…”

Trends in Triathlon Performance: Effects of Sex and Age

“…[8,9] Triathlon performance has been studied from numerous perspectives by a number of research groups over approximately the same period that the sport has grown. Research has investigated physiological [1,10,11,12,13,14] , biomechanical [15,16,17] , training [16,18,19,20] , nutritional [21] or medical [22] aspects of triathlon performance. Although Ironman triathlon is a relatively new ultra-endurance event, recently elite Ironman triathletes appear to have reached their performance limits [2,23] as has been observed in more traditional sports such as marathon running where performance times have plateaued.…”

European athletes dominate performances in Double Iron ultra‐triathlons – A retrospective data analysis from 1985 to 2010

“…Regarding the performance in triathlons, the association of different characteristics in physiology (Laursen et al, 2005;O'Toole, 1989;O'Toole, Douglas, & Hiller, 1989a;O'Toole, Douglas, & Hiller, 1989b;Whyte et al, 2000), anthropometry (Knechtle, Knechtle, & Rosemann, 2010a;Knechtle, Wirth, & Rosemann, 2010b;Knechtle, Wirth, Baumann, Knechtle, & Rosemann, 2010c), training (Gulbin, & Gaffney, 1999;Knechtle, et al, 2010a;2010b) and previous experience (Knechtle et al, 2010b;2010c;Knechtle, Knechtle, Rosemann, & Senn, 2011b;Rüst, Knechtle, Knechtle, Rosemann, & Lepers, 2011) with race time have previously been investigated.…”