Miguel Indurain, durante la prueba. (Foto: Iñigo Mujika)

Hace unos cuantos meses tuve la gran fortuna de hacer una prueba en el cicloergómetro a quien ha sido sin duda uno de los mejores ciclistas de todos los tiempos: Miguel Indurain. Como en sus mejores tiempos, Miguel dio todo lo que llevaba dentro, y cuando terminó la prueba me puse de rodillas haciéndole alabanzas. Una vez más él dio muestras de su carácter tranquilo y de su gran humildad, sonrió y dijo: “Ya no estoy para estos trotes”. ¡Yo creo que sí! Como prueba, aquí tenéis el resumen del artículo que escribí sobre dicha prueba:

Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2012 Aug 1. [Epub ahead of print]

The Cycling Physiology of Miguel Indurain 14 years after Retirement.

Mujika I.

Abstract

Age-related fitness declines in athletes can be due to both aging and detraining. Very little is known about the physiological and performance decline of professional cyclists after retirement from competition. To gain some insight into the aging and detraining process of elite cyclists, 5-time Tour de France winner and Olympic Champion Miguel Indurain performed a progressive cycle ergometer test to exhaustion 14 years after retirement from professional cycling (age 46 yrs; body mass 92.2 kg). His maximal values were: oxygen uptake 5.29 l.min-1 (57.4 ml.kg-1.min-1), aerobic power output 450 W (4.88 W.kg-1), heart rate 191 bpm, blood lactate 11.2 mM. Values at the individual lactate threshold (ILT): 4.28 l.min-1 (46.4 ml.kg-1.min-1), 329 W (3.57 W.kg-1), 159 bpm, 2.4 mM. Values at the 4 mM onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA): 4.68 l.min-1 (50.8 ml.kg-1.min-1), 369 W (4.00 W.kg-1), 170 bpm. Average cycling gross efficiency between 100 and 350 W was 20.1%, with a peak value of 22.3% at 350 W. Delta efficiency was 27.04%. Absolute maximal oxygen uptake and aerobic power output declined by 12.4 and 15.2% per decade, whereas power output at ILT and OBLA declined by 19.8 and 19.2%. Larger declines in maximal and submaximal values relative to body mass (19.4-26.1%) indicate that body composition changed more than aerobic characteristics. Nevertheless, Indurain's absolute maximal and submaximal oxygen uptake and power output values still compare favorably with those exhibited by active professional cyclists.