Purpose: Existing literature proposes an even-pacing strategy as the optimal approach for best performance during prolonged endurance events (>2 minutes) but lacks support of systematic experimental data. This study tested the hypothesis that even-paced cycling is superior to intermittent-paced cycling during a time to exhaustion protocol on a bike trainer at 100 % of maximal aerobic power (MAP). Methods: Twenty (five females) competitive cross-country (XC) cyclists (18.7 ± 3.6 y/o) completed two protocols to exhaustion in a counterbalanced fashion; even protocol (EP) and intermittent protocol (IP). The protocols were standardized to each cyclist's MAP, which ensured that the total work in both protocols equated to 100 % of MAP. The EP demanding cycling at 100 % of MAP while the IP employing a work ratio of 60% for 20 seconds and 120 % for 40 seconds. Time to exhaustion, oxygen consumption, heart rate and rate of perceived exhaustion (RPE) were collected throughout both protocols whilst blood lactate concentration was obtained directly after completion. Results: TTE was 11.3 [95 % confidence interval; 3.7 - 18.8] % (411 ± 83 vs 375 ± 86 s, p = 0.008) longer in the EP compared to the IP protocol. Average oxygen consumption was 1.7 [0.4 - 2.8] % larger (59.1 ± 5.7 vs 58.2 ± 6.1 ml·kg-1·min-1, p = 0.006) in the EP vs IP. Accumulated oxygen deficit was 9.9 [0.8 - 19.0] % lower (39.0 ± 10.6 vs 43.8 ± 10.0 ml·kg-1, p = 0.007) in the EP compared to IP. Reported mean RPE throughout the EP was 0.4 lower (16.6 ± 0.8 vs 17.0 ± 1.0, p = 0.037) than IP. Conclusion: For a work-matched TTE protocol of ~ 6 minutes, even pacing is superior to intermittent pacing in competitive XC cyclists.
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