Author(s): BUDEL, L., NARDELLO, F., BETTEGA, S., SCHENA, F., TARPERI, C., Institution: UNIVERSITY OF VERONA, Country: ITALY, Abstract-ID: 1263

INTRODUCTION:
3000 m track race intensity (s3K) is a popular and easy method commonly used by coaches both to estimate an athlete’s Maximal Aerobic Speed (MAS) and to prescribe High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) (1). The 3000m race involves aerobic and anaerobic energy sources (2). MAS does not consider the anaerobic contribution once the plateau has been reached, while the ramp peak velocity (vPeak) also considers this anaerobic contribution. The aim of this study was to compare the ecological performance (s3K) with MAS and vPeak in middle-distance runners with different profile characteristics. We hypothesized that s3K would be more similar to vPeak (i.e., by considering the anaerobic pattern over the plateau) rather than MAS.
METHODS:
A sample of thirty sub-elite middle-distance male runners (22.5±4.73 years, VO2max: 71.0±5.31 mlO2/min/kg) was analyzed: i) as a whole group; ii) by separating athletes into 2 subgroups according to their race characteristics. In particular, 15 runners were classified as Endurance-based group (3000-5000 m) (VO2max: 73.7±5.27 mlO2/min/kg), while the Speed-based group (800-1500 m) involved the other athletes (67.9±3.37 mlO2/min/kg). For the laboratory session, a ramp test was performed on a motorized treadmill (H/P Cosmos Saturn) and metabolic data (CPET, Cosmed) were collected to obtain MAS and vPeak. For the ecological test, all athletes ran a 3000 m race with pacers in an official competition (2023-2024). The s3K was obtained by knowing the distance and the official Federation timing. To assess the differences among speeds, a series of t-tests for paired samples has been conducted (p<0.05).
RESULTS:
By considering the whole group, the average s3K, MAS, and vPeak were 20.5±0.74, 19.4±0.82, and 20.6± 0.80 km/h, respectively. In the Endurance-based group, s3K, MAS, and vPeak were 20.5±0.75, 19.5± 0.96, and 20.6± 0.92 km/h; in the Speed-based, they were 20.4±0.74, 19.25± 0.64, and 20.7±0.67 km/h. MAS was significantly different from s3K in all the investigated populations (p<0.001 for all the paired comparisons). On the other side, vPeak is not significantly different from s3k in Endurance-based group (p=0.857), as well as in the whole group (p=0.115), while a poor significant trend (p=0.041) has been observed for the Speed-based runners.
CONCLUSION:
Both assessment and prescription of workouts at MAS starting by a 3000m mean speed lead to errors and inaccuracies regardless of the runner’s characteristics. Our data showed that s3K was always faster than MAS. From practice, using s3K to prescribe HIIT could lead to excessive lactate buildup. Such accumulation could negatively interfere with time spent above 90% VO2max by limiting adaptations whether the goal of the session is to stimulate aerobic power (3). Therefore, we recommend using a direct measurement to assess maximal aerobic speed and to prescribe HIIT in sub-elite middle-distance runners.

1-Haugen T, et al. Sports Med. 2021
2-Pèrronet F et al. J Appl Physiol. 1989
3-Billat LV, et al. Sports Med. 19