Abstract des Autors

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the influence of training frequency on performance and some physiological responses during a 6-day taper. After 18 weeks of training, 9 male middle-distance runners were assigned to a high frequency taper (HFT, n=5) or a moderate frequency taper (MFT, n=4), consisting of training daily or resting every third day of the taper. Taper consisted of an 80 % nonlinear progressive reduction in high intensity interval training. Blood samples were obtained, and 800m performance and peak blood lactate ([La]peak) measured before and after taper. Performance improved significantly after HFT (121.8 ± 4.7 vs 124.2 ± 4.9 s, p<0.05), but not after MFT (126.6 ± 2.8 vs 127.1 ± 2.1 s). Neutrophils (2.89 ± 0.68 vs 2.56 ± 0.61 10 exp3 × mm exp-3), granulocytes (3.08 ± 0.70 vs 2.77 ± 0.66 10 exp3 × mm exp-3), haptoglobin (79.7 ± 47.9 vs 60.7 ± 33.6 mg/dl), total testosterone (7.39 ± 1.67 vs 5.52 ± 0.88 µg/l) and [La]peak (15.5 ± 1.5 vs 14.4 ± 2.0 mmol/l) significantly increased with taper. [La]peak correlated with performance time before taper (r=-0.76, p<0.05), and change in [La]peak with change in serum cortisol (r=-0.75, p<0.05) and total testosterone:cortisol ratio (r=0.82, p<0.01). In conclusion, training daily during a 6-day taper brought about significant performance gains, whereas resting every third day did not. High [La]peak and a hormonal milieu propitious to anabolic processes seemed to be necessary for optimum performance. Verf.-Referat