Determining optimal cadence for an individual road cyclist from field data

Mechanistic influence of the torque cadence relationship on power output during exhaustive all-out field tests in professional cyclists

Understanding the torque-cadence-power relationship can be important in assessing a cyclist's performance potential. This study explored these relationships in elite male cyclists (N = 17; age: 24.1 ± 3.8 years; body mass: 66.0 ± 4.8 kg, critical power (CP): 5.5 ± 0.3 W.kg-1) through sprint, torque, and CP tests conducted in fresh and after accumulated work. Testing protocols, performed during a pre-season training camp, included maximal efforts across varied gear ratios and durations (15 s, 3 min, and 12 min), under stable environmental conditions (15-20°C). Results revealed reduced power output, torque, and cadence after accumulated work compared to fresh conditions (p ≤ .001). Sprint-derived maximum torque (Tmax) was strongly correlated with torque intercepts for CP fresh (r = .558, p = .020) and after accumulated work (r = .556, p = .020). The cadence relationships demonstrated a large negative correlation between maximum cadence (Cmax) and optimum cadence (Copt) from the sprint test and the 15 s, 3 min and 12 min cadence recorded during CP after accumulated work (r = -0.541 to -0.634, p = 0.006 to 0.025). These findings highlight that accumulated work-induced reductions in work capacity (W') and CP values were accompanied by lower cadences across all effort durations.

Stability analysis and prediction of pacing in elite 1500 m freestyle male swimmers

This study aimed to analyse the stability of elite male long-distance swimmers (1500 m), and to identify the main predictors related to the pace. The performance of 16 elite male swimmers (22.59 ± 2.10 years-old) participating in the 1500 m event at the 2016 (London) and 2018 (Glasgow) LEN European Aquatic Championships were analysed. The lap performance, clean swim performance, turn performance, and a set of stroke mechanics variables were assessed. The lap performance presented a significant and moderate variation with all laps included (p < 0.001) and deleting the first and last lap (p = 0.002). Swimmers were significantly faster in the first half in comparison of the second. The total turn also presented a significant and moderate variation. The hierarchical linear modelling retained the time (estimate = 0.0019, p = 0.007), stroke frequency (estimate = -27.49, p < 0.001) and stroke length (estimate = -6.55, p < 0.001) as the main predictors of the clean swim performance. By contrast to the analysis based on the lap performance, clean swim performance presented a non-significant variation. Coaches should be aware that stroke length maintenance could negatively affect the clean swim performance, whereas a small increase of stroke frequency may present a meaningful enhancement of the total race time.