MAXIMISING OLYMPIC DISTANCE TRIATHLON PERFORMANCE ...

BRICK ProtocolsBRICK DRT (TT DRT + run) consisted ofa series of intermittent sprintscombined with a draft simulatedeffort. The sprints involved 2 sets of24 efforts with each sprint lasting 10 sand ranging in intensity from 80 –183% peak power. The sets wereseparated by a 20 min draftsimulated effort of variable power(mean 67 ± 10% peak power).BRICK ITU (TT ITU + run ) required thesubjects to repeat intermittent 10 ssprints (80 – 183 % peak power) andrecover (150 watts) in a stochasticmanner with open cadence. Thesubjects then completed 3 sets of 30sprints continuously for 45 min.Sprints were randomised and thesprint power had to be reached andheld to be valid. BRICK ITT (TT ITT +run) required the subject to maintainthe highest power output for 45 min.The linear factor for the LodeExcalibur cycle ergometer wascalculated based on a cadence of 90rpm and factored by the subject’spower at individual anaerobicthreshold as determined by Beaver etal., 1985.complete the 7.5 km time trialfollowing each cycle protocol andRTT.Maximal physiological measures andsignificance of ANOVA between theRTT and BRICK DRT , BRICK ITU andBRICK ITT are presented in Table 4.No significant differences were foundbetween RTT and BRICK DRT, ITU or ITTfor run time, mean run velocity, bloodlactate, bicarbonate ionconcentration, perceived exertion andaverage heart rate. Significantdifferences were observed for mid (p= .0102) and end (p = .0024) oxygenconsumption (VO 2 ) values betweenBRICK DRT, ITU, ITT and RTT. Similarly,significant differences were recordedfor % VO 2max for mid (p = .0083) andend (p = .0015) between BRICK DRT,ITU,ITTandRTT.LF X = IAT watts/90 rpm/90rpmWhere: IAT = Individual anaerobicthreshold (W)X = linear factor for each individualAll values are reported as mean ±standard deviation and significancewas set at p = 0.05.ResultsTable 1 outlines the descriptivestatistics for the subjects. The mean ±SD for lactate, heart rate and VO 2can be found in Table 2 for each ofthe BRICK cycle protocols. Table 3outlines the mean time taken to92