Ultra-endurance triathlon: heart rate-based intensity profile, energy balance, muscle damage and race performance

• Autores: Anna Barrero Franquet
• Directores de la Tesis: Jordi Porta i Manzañido (dir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universitat de Barcelona ( España ) en 2014
• Idioma: inglés
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: David Tanner (presid.), Michel Marina (secret.), Roberto Cejuela Anta (voc.)
• Materias:
  • Ciencias de la vida
    • Fisiología humana
      • Fisiología cardiovascular
      • Fisiología del ejercicio
      • Fisiología del movimiento
  • Ciencias médicas
    • Ciencias de la nutrición
      • Metabolismo energético
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en:  TDX  Dipòsit Digital de la UB 
• Resumen

  • This thesis presents the results of two research studies related to the physiological demands, the energy balance and the muscle damage induced by an ultra-endurance triathlon. The first study of this thesis examined the heart rate response during an ultra-endurance triathlon race in relation with heart rate-based intensity markers derived from specific swimming, cycling and running incremental tests. We found that, contrary to what was believed until now, the absolute or relative heart rate (expressed as percentage of heart rate peak) is greater in the swimming stage than in the cycling and running stages. It was also observed that swimming at a higher intensity inversely correlated with performance during the following stages and the overall racing performance. Moreover it was found that 81% of the variance in total racing time was explained by the weight-adjusted VO2max and the heart rate difference between the running and swimming stages. Furthermore, our data support the concept of an "oxygen consumption ultra-endurance threshold". The second study provided proper characterization of the energy and fluid intake, as well as the estimated energy expenditure, of a group of male triathletes during an entire UET race. The estimated EE was aprox. 11000 kcal (46 MJ), whereas EI was only aprox. 3600 kcal (15 MJ), which resulted in an energy deficit of almost 70%. This result partially confirms our hypothesis and demonstrates the challenging metabolic demands of a UET. In this study it was as well assessed the muscle damage induced by a UET and its relationship with the hydration status. The results, beyond confirming fibre muscle damage induced by an UET race, strongly suggest that cellular structural damage predominantly affects slow fibres, and that muscle damage is related to the hydration status.