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Iñigo Mujika

Physiology & Training
Triathletes Ainhoa Murua and Jon “Stoneman” Unanue, London 2012 (Photo: Iñigo Mujika)

Triathletes Ainhoa Murua and Jon “Stoneman” Unanue, London 2012 (Photo: Iñigo Mujika)

Mujika, I.

International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, Volume 9, Issue 4, 2014, 9, 727 – 731

Abstract

Detailed accounts of the training programs followed by today’s elite triathletes are lacking in the sport-science literature. This study reports on the training program of a world-class female triathlete preparing to compete in the London 2012 Olympic Games. Over 50 wk, she performed 796 sessions (303 swim, 194 bike, 254 run, 45 strength training), ie, 16 ± 4 sessions/wk (mean ± SD). Swim, bike, and run training volumes were, respectively, 1230 km (25 ± 8 km/wk), 427 h (9 ± 3 h/wk), and 250 h (5 ± 2 h/wk). Training tasks were categorized and prescribed based on heart-rate values and/or speeds and power outputs associated with different blood lactate concentrations. Training performed at intensities below her individual lactate threshold (ILT), between the ILT and the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA), and above the OBLA for swim were 74% ± 6%, 16% ± 2%, 10% ± 2%; bike 88% ± 3%, 10% ± 1%, 2.1% ± 0.2%; and run 85% ± 2%, 8.0% ± 0.3%, 6.7% ± 0.3%. Training organization was adapted to the busy competition calendar (18 events, of which 8 were Olympic-distance triathlons) and continuously responded to emerging information. Training volumes were 35–80% higher than those previously reported for elite male and female triathletes, but training intensity and tapering strategies successfully followed recommended best practice for endurance athletes. This triathlete placed 7th in London 2012, and her world ranking improved from 14th to 8th at the end of 2012.

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Start in a swimming event in London 2012 (Photo: Inigo Mujika)

Start in a swimming event in London 2012 (Photo: Inigo Mujika)

Under the auspices of FINA, a group of experts-researchers-practitioners in the areas of sports nutrition and aquatic sports has been working together for almost a year now to come up with sound recommendations for optimal nutrition strategies, general and sport specific.

As a result of this work, a series of articles will be published in a special issue of the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, in a couple of months, and the good news is that the special issue will be fully open access on the journal’s website, meaning the electronic content will be freely available.

Until then, here are the abstracts of the two of the three articles I co-authored. The third one, on nutritional recommendations for water polo, will be coming up very soon.

(more…)

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