Spring-mass characteristics during human locomotion: Running experience and physiological considerations of blood lactate accumulation
The aim of this study was to examine how running experience affects leg stiffness (K leg ) and spring-mass characteristics during running stages associated with the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA). Seven trained (66.9 ± 4.8 kg; 182 ± 4.0 cm; 23.1 ± 3.1 years) and 13 untrained (78.5 ± 7.6 ...
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Published in | European journal of sport science Vol. 19; no. 10; pp. 1328 - 1335 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Routledge
01.11.2019
|
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The aim of this study was to examine how running experience affects leg stiffness (K
leg
) and spring-mass characteristics during running stages associated with the onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA). Seven trained (66.9 ± 4.8 kg; 182 ± 4.0 cm; 23.1 ± 3.1 years) and 13 untrained (78.5 ± 7.6 kg; 182 ± 3.0 cm; 20.3 ± 1.5 years) runners completed an incremental treadmill run. Running velocity was increased by 1 km
.
h
−1
every four minutes and blood lactate samples were taken at every stage, in addition to a 10 s video recording using 'Runmatic'. Once 4 mmol
L
−1
(OBLA; the second lactate turn point) had been reached one more stage was completed. Spring-mass characteristics across groups and at pre-OBLA, OBLA and post-OBLA were compared. The velocity at OBLA was higher for the trained runners compared to the untrained runners (18 ± 0.7 vs 11 ± 1.3 km
.
h
−1
, p < 0.001). K
leg
was similar between untrained and trained runners across each stage (15.8 ± 0.3 vs 14.3 ± 0.3 kN
.
m) and did not change between stages, yet spring-mass characteristics differed between groups. Vertical stiffness increased in the trained runners from pre-OBLA to post-OBLA (45.5 ± 3.35-51.9 ± 3.61 kN
−1
), but not in untrained runners (35.0 ± 5.2-39.6 ± 5.7 kN
−1
). K
leg
was strongly related to F
peak
for trained runners only (r = 0.79; untrained runners, r = 0.34). K
leg
was unaffected by physiological training status and was maintained across all OBLA stages. Trained runners appear to have optimised their spring-mass system in a homogenous manner, whilst less consistent spring-mass characteristics were observed in untrained runners. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1746-1391 1536-7290 |
DOI: | 10.1080/17461391.2019.1609095 |