BLOOD LACTATE AND AMMONIA IN SHORT-TERM ANAEROBIC WORK FOLLOWING INDUCED ALKALOSIS

This study was designed to investigate the effect of an induced metabo lic alkalosis on a 300 m sprinting time in six elite 400 m runners, Th e subjects competed as pairs, on two separate occasions, in a standard racing format, three hours after ingestion of either an alkaline (sod ium citrate, 0.5 g . kg-1 body weight) or a placebo solution (calcium carbonate, 0.5 g . kg-1 body weight), The results showed that followin g alkaline ingestion mean sprinting time was not improved, Peak blood lactate during recovery was higher after sodium citrate administration than after placebo (19.88+/-2.09 vs 18.82+/-1.84 mmol . l(-1), p<0.01 ). No difference was observed in peak blood ammonia between the alkali ne and placebo treatments (187.0+/-37.0 vs 188.8+/-49.0 mu mol . l(-1) ). The absence of effects on performance confirms that when exercise o f short duration (30 to 40 s) is used, alkaline agents have minor or n o effects on performance, The altered relationship observed between bl ood lactate and ammonia under placebo and buffering loading conditions suggests that the regulation of lactate and ammonia metabolism is unr elated.