BLOOD LACTATE LEVELS OF DECATHLETES DURING COMPETITION

There are many detailed physiological profiles of athletes who partici pate in a wide variety of sporting activities but few data have been o btained on decathletes. This study defines some physiological characte ristics of these athletes and measures capillary lactate concentration s [La-b] during a laboratory test of progressive maximal exhaustion an d the different events during competition. The treadmill test is simil ar to the 100 m, 400 m and 1500 m in terms of [La-b] accumulation but only similar to the 1500 m in terms of velocity. The 400 m is the most demanding event with the greatest blood lactate accumulation (mean(s. d.) 16.38(2.36) mmol l(-1)). The [La-b] at the end of the 110 m hurdle s is significantly lower than in any other racing events (mean(s.d.) 6 .96(1.32) mmol l(-1)) compared with mean(s.d.) 12.14(2.87) and mean(s. d.) 11.44(2.16) for the 100 m and 1500 m respectively. The [La-b] afte r the long jump, the high jump and the pole vault are not significantl y different (mean(s.d.) 5.30(2.23), 4.64(1.39) and 5.36(1.34) mmol l(- 1)) respectively).