Conditioning Research

OK, so you agree to do a 5 minute time trial....but how do you pace it for the best performance? Particularly how do you start off? Fast then slow down, slow then speed up or just try to keep it even..... 5 minutes is a really difficult distance - like the mile in a run: not a sprint but not a long slow thing either. This study says it is better to go off fast..... Effects of starting strategy on 5-min cycling time-trial performance. The importance of pacing for middle-distance performance is well recognized, yet previous research has produced equivocal results. Twenty-six trained male cyclists (VO(2peak) 62.8 +/- 5.9 ml . kg(-1) . min(-1); maximal aerobic power output 340 +/- 43 W; mean +/- s) performed three cycling time-trials where the total external work (102.7 +/- 13.7 kJ) for each trial was identical to the best of two 5-min habituation trials. Markers of aerobic and anaerobic metabolism were assessed in 12 participants. Power output during the first quarter of the time-trial...

This is an interesting one. A study done to compare different pacing strategies for sprint / middle distance exercise (about 2 minute duration). The study compared an constant / even pace to two other options - one in which the exercisers started fast but then slowed down and one in which they went the other way - started slow and speeded up. The start fast and then slow down strategy was more effective than the other two. Influence of pacing strategy on O2 uptake and exercise tolerance Seven male subjects completed cycle exercise bouts to the limit of tolerance on three occasions: (1) at a constant work rate (340±57 W; even-pace strategy; ES); (2) at a work rate that was initially 10% lower than that in the ES trial but which then increased with time such that it was 10% above that in the ES trial after 120 s of exercise (slow-start strategy; SS); and, (3) at a work rate that was initially 10% higher than that in the ES trial but which then decreased with time such that it was 10% be...