Effect of ambient temperature on endurance performance while wearing cross-country skiing clothing

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of exposure to cold (-14 and -9°C), cool (-4 and 1°C) and moderate warm (10 and 20°C) environments on aerobic endurance performance-related variables: maximal oxygen consumption (VO(2max)), running time to exhaustion (TTE), running economy and running speed at lactate threshold (LT). Nine male endurance athletes wearing cross-country ski racing suit performed a standard running test at six ambient temperatures in a climatic chamber with a wind speed of 5ms(-1). The exercise protocol consisted of a 10-min warm-up period followed by four submaximal periods of 5min at increasing intensities between 67 and 91% of VO(2max) and finally a maximal test to exhaustion. During the time course mean skin temperature decreased significantly with reduced ambient temperatures whereas T (re) increased during all conditions. T (re) was lower at -14°C than at -9 and 20°C. Running economy was significantly reduced in warm compared to cool environments and was also reduced at 20°C compared to -9°C. Running speed at LT was significantly higher at -4°C than at -9, 10 and 20°C. TTE was significantly longer at -4 and 1°C than at -14, 10 and 20°C. No significant differences in VO(2max) were found between the various ambient conditions. The optimal aerobic endurance performance wearing a cross-country ski racing suit was found to be -4 and 1°C, while performance was reduced under moderate warm (10 and 20°C) and cold (-14 and -9°C) ambient conditions.