Predictive Validity of Critical Power, The Onset of Blood Lactate and Anaerobic Capacity for Cross-Country Mountain Bike Race Performance
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17140/SEMOJ-1-116Keywords:
Blood lactate, Strength, ParticipantsAbstract
Critical power is emerging as an important indicator of high intensity endurance exercise capability. Little is known regarding its ability to predict performance during high intensity intermittent events such as Olympic format cross country mountain bike racing. Therefore, the purpose of this pilot study was to assess the validity of critical power and anaerobic capacity compared to the more traditional measure of power at physiological thresholds previously related to race performance. Five nationally competitive athletes (mean±s: age:31.4±9.3 years; mass: 70.8±9.5 kg; VO2max : 63.8±7.0 ml•kg-1•min) volunteered for this study. Participants completed a cycle ergometry step test to exhaustion in order to determine the anaerobic threshold. On a separate occasion participants completed a 3-minute all-out test against a fixed resistance to determine critical power and anaerobic capacity. Laboratory data showed no differences (P=0.057) between the power output at the onset of blood lactate or critical power and neither related to anaerobic capacity (p=0.499 and p=0.344, respectively). Performance was measured via race data analysis gathered from a USA Cycling sanctioned race. Linear regression was used to assess the prediction of performance. Critical power predicts Olympic format cross country mountain bike performance (r2=0.943, p=0.006) to a greater degree of accuracy than anaerobic threshold (r2=0.785, p=0.046) or anaerobic capacity (r2=0.477, p=0.197) with less error (39.413; 76.526; 118.9 s, respectively). Therefore, the ability to sustain a high intensity effort for the race duration, determined via critical power rather than the onset of blood lactate, is likely more valuable to cross country mountain bike athletes than anaerobic capacity.
References
Macdermid PW, Stannard S. Mechanical work and physio-logical responses to simulated cross country mountain bike rac-ing. Journal of sports sciences. 2012; 30(14): 1491-1501. doi: 10.1080/02640414.2012.711487
Castagna C, Impellizzeri FM, Rampinini E, D’Ottavio S, Manzi V. The Yo–Yo intermittent recovery test in basketball players. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport. 2008; 11(2): 202-208. doi: 10.1016/j.jsams.2007.02.013
Macdermid P, Morton R. A longitudinal analysis of start po-sition and the outcome of World Cup cross-country mountain bike racing. Journal of sports sciences. 2012; 30(2): 175. doi: 10.1080/02640414.2011.627368
Gavin TP, Van Meter JB, Brophy PM, Dubis GS, Potts KN, Hickner RC. Comparison of a field-based test to estimate functional threshold power and power output at lactate thresh-old. J Strength Cond Res. 2012; 26(2): 416-421. doi: 10.1519/ JSC.0b013e318220b4eb
Allen HC, Andrew. Training and racing with a power meter. Boulder, CO: Velopress; 2006.
Miller MC, Moir GL, Stannard SR. Validity of using func-tional threshold power and intermittent power to predict cross-country mountain bike race outcome. 2014; 3.
Jones AM, Vanhatalo A, Burnley M, Morton RH, Poole DC. Critical power: implications for determination of VO and ex-ercise tolerance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2010; 42(10): 1876-1890. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181d9cf7f
Atkinson G, Batterham AM, Jones H, Taylor CE, Willie CK, Tzeng YC. Appropriate within-subjects statistical models for the analysis of baroreflex sensitivity. Clinical physiology and functional imaging. 2011; 31(1): 80-82. doi: 10.1111/j.1475- 097X.2010.00974.x
Skiba PF, Chidnok W, Vanhatalo A, Jones AM. Modeling the expenditure and reconstitution of work capacity above criti-cal power. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2012; 44(8): 1526-1532. doi:
1249/MSS.0b013e3182517a80 10. Hill DW. The critical power concept. A review. Sports Med. 1993; 16(4): 237-254.
Skiba PF, Clarke D, Vanhatalo A, Jones AM. Validation of a Novel Intermittent W’ Model for Cycling Using Field Data. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2014. doi: 10.1123/ijspp.2013-0471
Smith JC, Dangelmaier BS, Hill DW. Critical power is re-lated to cycling time trial performance. Int J Sports Med. 1999; 20(6): 374-378. doi: 10.1055/s-2007-971147
Chidnok W, Dimenna FJ, Bailey SJ, et al. Exercise tolerance in intermittent cycling: application of the critical power concept. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2012; 44(5): 966-976.
Vanhatalo A, Doust JH, Burnley M. Determination of critical power using a 3-min all-out cycling test. Medicine and science in sports and exercise. 2007; 39(3): 548.
Vanhatalo A, Doust JH, Burnley M. A 3-min all-out cycling test is sensitive to a change in critical power. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2008; 40(9): 1693-1699. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e318177871a
Ahn JS, Konno A, Gebe JA, et al. Scavenger receptor cys-teine-rich domains 9 and 11 of WC1 are receptors for the WC1 counter receptor. Journal of leukocyte biology. 2002; 72(2): 382- 390.
Alonso E, Gregory J, Field F, Kirchain R. Material avail-ability and the supply chain: risks, effects, and responses. Envi-ronmental science & technology. 2007; 41(19): 6649-6656. doi: 10.1021/es070159c
Abbiss CR, Ross MLR, Garvican LA, et al. The distribu-tion of pace adopted by cyclists during a cross-country mountain bike World Championships. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2013; 31(7): 787-794. doi: 10.1080/02640414.2012.751118
Jenkins D, Quigley B. Blood lactate in trained cyclists dur-ing cycle ergometry at critical power. European Journal of Ap-plied Physiology and Occupational Physiology. 1990; 61(3-4): 278-283.
Pringle J, Jones A. Maximal lactate steady state, critical power and EMG during cycling. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2002; 88(3): 214-226. doi: 10.1007/s00421-002- 0703-4
Francis JT, Quinn TJ, Amann M, LaRoche DP. Defining in-tensity domains from the end power of a 3-min all-out cycling test. Medicine and science in sports and exercise. 2010; 42(9): 1769-1775. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181d612e8
Stapelfeldt B, Schwirtz A, Schumacher YO, Hillebrecht M. Workload demands in mountain bike racing. International Jour-nal of Sports Medicine. 2004; 25(4): 294-300. doi: 10.1055/s-2004-819937
Inoue A, Sa Filho AS, Mello FC, Santos TM. Relationship between anaerobic cycling tests and mountain bike cross-coun-try performance. J Strength Cond Res. 2012; 26(6): 1589-1593. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e318234eb89
Coyle EF, Sidossis LS, Horowitz JF, Beltz JD. Cycling ef-ficiency is related to the percentage of type I muscle fibers. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1992; 24(7): 782-788.
Gregory J, Johns DP, Walls JT. Relative vs. absolute physi-ological measures as predictors of mountain bike cross-country race performance. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Re-search. 2007; 21(1): 17-22.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All content published in Sports and Exercise Medicine (SEM) is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). This license allows anyone to copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt the work — including for commercial purposes — provided appropriate credit is given to the original author(s) and source.
