HEART RATE AND BLOOD LACTATE CONCENTRATION RESPONSE AFTER EACH SEGMENT OF THE OLYMPIC TRIATHLON EVENT

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 (R) 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 (HRmax: 86.3%; Lac: 6.98 mmol/L) in both physiological parameters, followed by swimming (HRmax: 85.2%, Lac: 5.75 mmol/L) and running (HRmax: 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.