Abstract

Nine highly trained male swimmers performed forty 25m swims at their front crawl 100m race pace. A start time of every 30 sec from the water gave a work: rest ratio of 1:1 (15:15 sec). After every second effort, HR was monitored and after each set of eight efforts microsamples of blood were collected from a hyperaemic earlobe for lactate determination. Five minutes after completion of the forty sprints, a 100m time trial was swum and maximal HR and HLa determined. The mean HLa response to the four final sets was 3.00mM (S.D. = 0.3) which corresponds to 43 of HLamax. Mean HR of the final four sets was 179 b/min (S.D. = 2.7) or 93 of HRmax. It is concluded that short intermittent work at 100m race pace requires a high aerobic loading but a low glycolytic stress, thereby making it possible to perform large volumes of swimming at race pace for short distance swimmers. Verf.-Referat