Comparison of Wpeak and the ventilation threshold from two different incremental exercise tests: relationship to endurance performance

This report presents data comparing the peak rate of oxygen consumption (V\u87O2peak), peak power output (Wpeak) and the ventilation threshold (VT) obtained from two different incremental cycle exercise tests performed by nine well trained triathletes (Mean±SD age 32±3 yrs; body mass 77.4±4.9 kg and height 185±3 cm). Furthermore, the relationship between these variables and the average sustained power output (W) during a 90 min cycle time trial (TT) was also determined. The two incremental exercise tests involved a 'short' test, which commenced at 150 W with 30 W increments every 60 s until exhaustion. The second ('long') incremental test commenced at a power output representing 50% of the Wpeak obtained in the short test. The subjects were then required to increase the power output by 5% every 3 min until exhaustion. The results showed the Wpeak (W) in the short test was significantly (p<0.01) higher than in the long test. However, there was no significant difference in the V\u87O2peak (l·min-1) between the two tests. There was a weak but significant correlation between Wpeak (W) and V\u87O2peak (l·min-1) (r=0.72; p<0.05) in the short (60 s stage) test but not the long (3 min stage) test (r=0.52). There were no significant differences and good agreement between for the heart rate (HR) (b·min-1) and oxygen consumption (V\u87O2) corresponding to the VT. In contrast, the power output (W) corresponding to the VT was significantly different and not comparable between the long and short incremental tests. The cycle TT performance was most correlated to the Wpeak (W) (r=0.94; p<0.01) and the VT (W) (r=0.75; p<0.05) from the long test as well as the VÌ\u87O2peak (l·min-1) obtained from the short incremental test (r=0.75; p