ACCUMULATED FATIGUE AFFECTS RUNNING BIOMECHANICS DEPENDING ON THE PERFORMANCE LEVEL DURING A TRIATHLON COMPETITION

Abstract

The purposes of the present study were 1) to examine the different responses to the accumulated fatigue between international and national level triathletes in competition, and 2) to compare the profile of the running part presented by the two different performance levels. 32 participants at Madrid 2008 Triathlon World Cup and 32 participants at Spanish National Championships 2008, made up the sample. We found higher values (p<0.05) of stride frequency, stride length and flight time in international level triathletes. Also, lower values (p<0.05) in contact time and knee angles at toe-off were obtained. International level triathletes showed a consistent tendency in some of the analyzed variables (p = 1.00 among the laps) whereas the national level participants presented significant differences (p<0.05).