250 Application of the Critical Power Concept to Young Swimmers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate use of the critical power concept with swimmers ages 8 to 18 years. Critical velocity (CV) and anaerobic swimming capacity (ASC) were determined from the results of three short time trials (n = 86) or competition swims (n = 60). Data fit the critical power model well, as evidenced by high R2 and low SEE of CV and ASC estimates. CV was correlated with velocity in an endurance swim (r 2 0.86) and ASC was correlated with peak lactate (r-2 0.69). Thus, even in very young swimmers, CV and ASC provide mode-specific indices of endurance and anaerobic capacity, respectively.

The critical power and related whole-body bioenergetic models

“…In the same way as for running, CV and ADC can be evaluated for swimming (Biggerstaff et al 1992;Steward et al 1994;Wakayoshi et al 1992a, b). Although subject to even less scrutiny than running, the critical swimming velocity corresponds to the maximal lactate steady-state swimming velocity (Wakayoshi et al 1993) and correlates significantly with swimming VO 2 at the anaerobic threshold and the onset of blood lactate accumulation (Wakayoshi et al 1992a, b) and with the lactate threshold (Martin and Whyte 2000).…”