Physiological Response From Trail Test Application In Chilean Amateur Trail Runners

Abstract

Trail is a type of running that takes place typically in mountains. It’s growing fast in popularity inside the running community and people who wish to live a more active lifestyle, because of the appealing natural environments. Its characteristics, having up and downhill sections, makes running speed and physiological demands vary across the race. This response has been evaluated through a specially developed Trail Test (TT) in highly-trained male athletes, nonetheless, it hasn’t been tested in amateur runners. PURPOSE: To determine the physiological response from the TT in male amateur trail runners. METHODS: Analytical cross-sectional study. 41 male amateur trail runners (36,07 ± 6,37 years) were evaluated with the TT, with a 3 min warm-up at 8 km/h, then starting at 10 km/h and a continuous increase by 0,5 km/h per minute and continuous inclination increase by 1.0% per minute starting at 0.5%. During the test, breath by breath analysis was performed, with an average of 11 breaths and a 10 second recording time, using a Jaeger Oxycon Mobile ergospirometer. Heart rate (HR) was measured with a Polar monitor and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) was obtained with the Original Borg Scale. Participants were instructed to achieve maximal effort. The first (VT1) and second (VT2) ventilatory thresholds were determined by two blind evaluators. Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) when: 1) RPE ≥ 17, 2) Respiratory exchange ratio (RER) ≥ 1,1, 3) 95% of maximal theoretical HR, 4) oxygen uptake plateau in spite of intensity increase, and 5) oxygen uptake plateau with <150 ml/min differences. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed, data are presented as mean ± standard deviation. RESULTS: VO2max was 50,29 ± 7,84 ml/kg/min, and only 13 (31,7%) runners achieved our criteria. Maximal HR was 177,39 ± 8,46 bpm, peak oxygen pulse 21,34 ± 2,96 ml/heartbeat, RER 1,16 ± 0,07, RPE 17,93 ± 0,91, speed achieved 13,43 ± 0,73 km/h, inclination achieved 7,51 ± 1,5 %, and time to exertion was 7,28 ± 1,41 min. The VT1 was obtained at 32,55 ± 6,03 ml/kg/min and the VT2 at 45,26 ± 7,2 ml/kg/min. CONCLUSIONS: The TT is a well tolerated tool to evaluate the physiological response in male amateur trail runners. VO2max was lower compared with high-trained athletes but still classified as a good performance. Submaximal VT1 and VT2 need to be analyzed to enhance performance.