Physiological responses of elite cross-country skiers at selected exercise intensities under laboratory and field conditions.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the heart rate (HR) and blood lactate (BLa) responses of elite male and female cross-country skiers. The testing consisted of a progressive incremental test on a sport-specific ski treadmill (ST) on Day 1 followed by dryland field tests using 2 training techniques, running with cross-country ski poles (RP) and freestyle rollerskiing (FR), on Days 2 and 3. The dryland field tests consisted of discontinuous bouts of exercise using 3 selected exercise intensities called Zone 1, Zone 2 and Zone 3. The Zones were intended to elicit steady-state responses corresponding to the dryland training intensities of the cross-country skiers. The immediate post-exercise HRs and the one minute post-exercise BLas from the 3 Zones and the 2 training techniques were compared with the HRs and BLas on the ST. The results suggest that there were no significant physiological differences between the dryland training techniques across the three Zones but that there were significant physiological differences when the laboratory responses were compared with the field responses. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)