Aerobic Mechanism Relative Contribution during a Simulated 2000m ‘All-Out’ Race

Abstract

Rowing is a strength-endurance type of sport and competition performance depends on factors such as aerobic and anaerobic metabolism. Energy cost during all-out effort in water has not clearly reported. The purpose of this study was to determine the relative contribution of VO2max during simulated a 2000m race. Twenty-five rowers (height 182.23 ± 1.50 cm; weight 77.93 ± 1.42 Kg; age 20.50 ± 1.3 years; training age 5.07 ± 1.24 years) performed an incremental exercise test to determine the maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), and a 2000 metre “allout” test to evaluate performance indices. The results revealed high contribution of the VO2max during the simulated race and reached 88.67% for absolute and 88.56% for relative values of VO2max. Aerobic power was significantly lower during the simulated race compared to the incremental test, both in absolute (4389.57 ± 84.87 vs 4951 ± 46.81 ml·min-1) and relative values (56.32 ± 0.34 vs 63.60 ± 1.97 ml·kg-1·min-1). Heart rate was significantly higher during the simulated race compared with the incremental test 202.50 ± 2.02 vs 196.93 ± 1.13b·min1). Dyspnea index and breathing frequency were also significantly higher during the simulated race compared with the incremental test (1.12 ± 0.03 vs 0.94 ± 0.02; 70.14 ± 1.64 vs 61.79 ± 2.62 b·min-1). Blood lactate concentration was also significantly higher during the 2000m all-out test compared to the incremental test (15.27 ± 0.64 vs 11.70 ± 0.32 mmol·lt-1). In conclusion the present findings support the notion that aerobic metabolism has high contribution a during simulated 2000m race (>88% of VO2max) compared to the anaerobic metabolism.