Abstract
While a few authors have compared the maximal oxygen consumption(VO2max) of triathletes during running, cycling, and swimming, all previous investigators have used tethered swimming. No researchers have reported this comparison using a swimming treadmill (flume) which better represents the open water swimming encountered during a triathlon. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare maximal oxygen consumption during flume swimming, stationary cycling, and treadmill running in highly trained competitive triathletes. Seven healthy male triathletes (Age=32±11 yrs, Ht=178±5 cm, Wt=68±6 kg, Fat%=8.4±3.8%) were recruited for this study. On separate days, subjects performed a continuous incremental test to volitional exhaustion to determine maximal oxygen consumption(L·min-1), maximal ventilation (VEmax;L·min-1) and maximal heart rate (HRmax:beats·min-1) for each mode of exercise. The findings can be seen in the followingtable: Despite the varied athletic background of these triathletes, all subjects elicited their highest VO2max during running, and lowest during swimming. This was represented by a 6% and 18% greater VO2max during the run as compared to the cycle and swim, respectively. These data indicate that a triathlete's VO2max varies in each event despite being well conditioned in all three.
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