TRANSITION POINTS OF HEART RATE AT RACE WALKING

Introduction: Heart rate provides useful information for race walking training. Objective: The objective of study was to analyze the behavior of heart rate (HR) and inflection points (HRIP) and deflection points (HRDP) in a progressive test of race walking (PTRW) before and after 20 training sessions. Methods: Participants were 13 young athletes (12.46 +/- 1.61 years, 44.29 +/- 10.25 kg, 157.93 +/- 12.03 cm, 24.39 +/- 7.60 F%). The PTRW was held at an official athletics track before and after training. The HR data and load were plotted every minute to identify the HRIP and HRDP. Results: The HR showed sigmoid behavior with the identification of transition points (TP), being in the pre-training: a) eight subjects HRIP (5.31 km.h(-1); 125 bpm) and HRDP (7.63 km.h(-1); 169 bpm); b) one subject only HRIP (7.00 km.h(-1); 149 bpm); c) one subject only HRDP (8,00 km.h(-1); 170 bpm); d) three subjects had no TP observed, and post-training: a) 12 subjects HRIP (5.46 km.h(-1); 125 bpm) and HRDP (7.75 km.h(-1); 168 bpm); b) one subject HRDP (7.50 km.h(-1); 184 bpm). The HRIP was found to be significantly lower than the HRDP in pre-training (p< 0.001) and post-training (p< 0.001). When we compared HRIP and HRDP in the pre-and post-training we found no significant difference either in relation to the load (p=0.87 and p=0.61) or HR (p=0.60 and p=0.99). Conclusion: It is concluded that the HR has curvilinear relation with the load, and that it is possible to detect its transition points during PTRW.