Resumen de Clustering classification of cyclists according to acute fatigue outcomes produced by an ultra-endurance event

José Luis Sánchez Jiménez, Alexis Gandia Soriano, Pedro Pérez Soriano, José Ignacio Priego Quesada, Alberto Encarnación Martínez

• This study aimed to analyze the differences between clusters obtained by the acute fatigue effect followingan ultra-endurance event on the internal and external load of cyclists. 26 volunteersparticipated in the study, divided into the experimental group (N = 18; height: 177 ± 8 cm; body mass: 78.6 ± 10.3 kg) and the control group (N = 8; height: 176 ± 10 cm; body mass: 78.0 ± 15.7 kg). The experimentalgroup completed a 12 h non-stop cycling event. Jump height, lactate, plasma antioxidant capacity, pain perception and fatigue perception were measured before and after the event. Cyclists of the experimental group were classified taking into accounttheir training characteristics(recreational vs. competitive)and conducting non-supervised K-means clustering. The differentiation of cyclists according to training characteristics resulted in a lower distance covered by recreational cycliststhan competitive cyclists (279.4 ± 39.7 km vs. 371.0 ± 71.7 km; ES ≥ 0.8; p < 0.01), although no differences were observed in the othervariables between groups (p > 0.05). The clusteringanalysis resulted intwo clusters.Cluster 2 suffered a greater jump height decrease(-3.3 ± 1.6 vs. 1.2 ± 0.8; ES ≥ 0.8; p < 0.001) and increased pain and fatigue perception (ES ≥ 0.5; p < 0.05) after the race than Cluster 1. In conclusion, counter-movement jumpand fatigue/pain perception can differentiate the fatigue produced by a cycling ultra-endurance event and therefore, thesenon-invasive measurements areuseful in fatigue monitoring and recovery planning