Critical velocity, lactate concentration and rowing performance

Abstract

There is, in the literature, a search for simple and non-expensive tests to determine the intensity equivalent to maximal lactate steady state (MLSS). The critical velocity (CV) has been an indirect method used to determine MLSS. However, the few studies that applied CV in rowing did not verify its validity to estimate MLSS. Therefore, this study had the purposes of testing the validity of CV in determining MLSS velocity as well as of analyzing its predictive value in rowing performance. Therefore, eleven male rowers were submitted to three trials to exhaustion for CV determination. A 2000-m test in a rowing ergometer was used as performance criteria. Later, the subjects performed a continuous test at the CV, with blood lactate concentration (LA) being measured during the test. During the continuous test, the LA linearly increased from rest (2 ± 0.,2 mmol.L-1) to the 10th minute (10.9 ± 3.7 mmol.L-1) with slightly higher values (11.6 ± 2.3 mmol.L-1) at the mean time to exhaustion (10.4 ± 3 min), showing that CV does not correspond to MLSS. The correlation coefficient between CV and mean velocity at the 2000-m test (r = 0.87; p < 0.001) presented the possibility for performance prediction. However, it is important to emphasize that two performance values are being correlated and one of them was determined from distances similar to the 2000-m test.