Accelerometer detected lateral sway during a submaximal running test correlates with endurance exercise performance in elite Australian male cricket players

Abstract

ObjectiveTo identify whether movement patterns during a standardized submaximal running test (SSRT), assessed by accelerometry, were associated with improvements in endurance exercise performance. DesignA retrospective analysis of data collected from the 2018–2019 Australian cricket preseason. MethodsThirty-nine high-performance male cricket players were studied (25±3 years, 82±6kg, 183±6cm). SSRT was performed monthly prior to a two kilometre (km) running time trial (2kmTT). SSRT involved running between markers, positioned twenty metres apart, for three minutes. Foot strikes were timed to a metronome (154beats/min) to elicit a running speed of ˜eight km/h. Triaxial accelerometers were worn in vests on the upper back and used to assess PlayerLoad medio-lateral vector (PL1Dside%), vertical vector (PL1Dup%) and anterior-posterior vector (PL1Dfwd%) were assessed. Results2kmTT performance improved over the study period (p<0.05). PlayerLoad vectors during the first minute of SSRT were not related to 2kmTT performance (p>0.23). During the second and third minutes there were positive associations between 2kmTT (run time) and PL1Dside% (SSRT2min, β 2.12, p<0.03, 95% CI: 0.22–4.01; SSRT3min, β 2.30, p<0.03, 95% CI:0.32–4.29), but not PL1Dup% (SSRT2min, β −0.15, p=0.77, 95% CI: −1.13–0.83; SSRT3min, β −0.15, p=0.77, 95% CI: −1.11–0.87) or PL1Dfwd% (SSRT2min, β −0.45, p=0.42, 95% CI: −1.49–0.62; SSRT3min, B−0.45, p=0.40, 95% CI: −1.51–0.60). ConclusionAssessment of PL1Dside% during the second or third minutes of SSRT may inform how an athlete’s endurance exercise performance is responding to changes in training load.