Optimization of pacing strategies for variable wind conditions in road cycling

2017 ◽  
Vol 231 (3) ◽  
pp. 184-199
Author(s):  
David Sundström ◽  
Mikael Bäckström
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Power Distribution ◽  
Ambient Conditions ◽  
Bioenergetic Model ◽  
Ambient Wind ◽  
Pacing Strategy ◽  
Road Cycling ◽  
Pacing Strategies ◽  
Force Velocity ◽  
Variable Wind

It has been shown theoretically that performance can be enhanced by varying power in parallel with variable ambient conditions. However, no theoretical model has considered aerobic substrate utilization dynamics, limited carbohydrate stores, force–velocity relationships, and proper efficiency modelling. Furthermore, no study has investigated optimal pacing for courses with continuously variable ambient wind directions. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a model for the optimization of pacing strategies in road cycling with an updated bioenergetic model. The purpose of this model was to optimize pacing strategies for courses with continuously variable wind directions on both short (2 km) and long (100 km) courses. For this purpose, a numerical model consisting of three sub-models was programmed into the MATLAB software. This model consisted of one mechanical simulation model for cycling locomotion, one bioenergetic model based on the Margaria–Morton–Sundström model, and the method of moving asymptotes for optimization of the pacing strategy. Results showed that by optimizing the pacing strategies, time gains of 4.9% and 5.7% were attained for the 2-km courses with and without an ambient wind of 5 m·s−1, respectively. The corresponding time gains for the 100-km courses were 1.4% and 2.0% with and without ambient wind, respectively. The theoretical model in this study further resulted in all-out strategies for the flat 2-km courses with and without ambient wind. Moreover, the 100-km course without wind was met with a positive pacing strategy and the 100-km course with ambient wind was met with a compromise of positive pacing and variable power distribution in parallel with the variable ambient wind conditions. In conclusion, the model presented in this study performed more detailed bioenergetic simulations than previous pacing strategy optimization studies, and this resulted in more detailed pacing strategies for long courses.

Influence of the Cyclist’s Characteristics on the Optimal Pacing Strategy for an Ascending Road

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Angulo ◽  
Alejandra Polanco ◽  
Luis Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
Aerobic Capacity ◽  
Anaerobic Power ◽  
Anaerobic Capacity ◽  
Power Delivery ◽  
Race Time ◽  
Pacing Strategy ◽  
Pacing Strategies ◽  
Road Grade ◽  
Aerobic And Anaerobic ◽  
Drag Area

Abstract Pacing strategies are used in cycling to optimize the power delivered by the cyclist during a race. Gains in race time have been obtained when using these strategies compared to self-paced approaches. For this reason, this study is focused on revising the effect that the variation of the cyclist’s parameters has on the pacing strategy and its results. A numeric method was used to propose pacing strategies for a cyclist riding on an ascending 3.7 km route with a constant 6.26% road grade. The method was validated and then implemented to study the effect of aerobic and anaerobic power delivery capacity, mass, and drag area on the pacing strategies and their corresponding estimated race times. The results showed that modifying 1% of the aerobic capacity or cyclist mass value led to a change of 1% on the race time. Modifying 1% the anaerobic capacity and the drag area led to changes of 0.03% and 0.02% on the race time, respectively. These results are strongly dependent on the route characteristics. It was concluded that for the studied route (constantly ascending), the variation of the cyclist’s aerobic capacity influences the pacing strategy (i.e., the power delivery over the distance). The anaerobic capacity and mass of the cyclist also influence the pacing strategy to a lesser extent.

scholarly journals Core temperature up to 41.5ºC during the UCI Road Cycling World Championships in the heat

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (7) ◽  
pp. 426-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastien Racinais ◽  
Sebastien Moussay ◽  
David Nichols ◽  
Gavin Travers ◽  
Taoufik Belfekih ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Core Temperature ◽  
Power Output ◽  
Temperature Response ◽  
Time Trial ◽  
Ambient Conditions ◽  
Wet Bulb Globe Temperature ◽  
Road Cycling ◽  
Road Race ◽  
Globe Temperature

ObjectiveTo characterise the core temperature response and power output profile of elite male and female cyclists during the 2016 UCI Road World Championships. This may contribute to formulating environmental heat stress policies.MethodsCore temperature was recorded via an ingestible capsule in 10, 15 and 15 cyclists during the team time trial (TTT), individual time trial (ITT) and road race (RR), respectively. Power output and heart rate were extracted from individual cycling computers. Ambient conditions in direct sunlight were hot (37°C±3°C) but dry (25%±16% relative humidity), corresponding to a wet-bulb globe temperature of 27°C±2°C.ResultsCore temperature increased during all races (p<0.001), reaching higher peak values in TTT (39.8°C±0.9°C) and ITT (39.8°C±0.4°C), relative to RR (39.2°C±0.4°C, p<0.001). The highest temperature recorded was 41.5°C (TTT). Power output was significantly higher during TTT (4.7±0.3 W/kg) and ITT (4.9±0.5 W/kg) than RR (2.7±0.4 W/kg, p<0.001). Heart rate increased during the TTs (p<0.001) while power output decreased (p<0.001).Conclusion85% of the cyclists participating in the study (ie, 34 of 40) reached a core temperature of at least 39°C with 25% (ie, 10 of 40) exceeding 40°C. Higher core temperatures were reached during the time trials than the RR.

scholarly journals Adaptive feedback system for optimal pacing strategies in road cycling

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Wolf ◽  
Francesco Biral ◽  
Dietmar Saupe
Keyword(s):  
Feedback System ◽  
Adaptive Feedback ◽  
Road Cycling ◽  
Pacing Strategies

scholarly journals Normalized and xPower to Generate Pacing Strategies in Road Cycling

2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 780-781 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Dahmen ◽  
D. Saupe
Keyword(s):  
Road Cycling ◽  
Pacing Strategies

Influence of Different Performance Levels on Pacing Strategy During the Women’s World Championship Marathon Race

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Renfree ◽  
Alan St Clair Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Relative Speed ◽  
Performance Levels ◽  
World Championship ◽  
Marathon Race ◽  
Pacing Strategy ◽  
Pacing Strategies ◽  
Elite Level ◽  
Group 1

Purpose:To analyze pacing strategies displayed by athletes achieving differing levels of performance during an elite-level marathon race.Methods:Competitors in the 2009 IAAF Women’s Marathon Championship were split into groups 1, 2, 3, and 4 comprising the first, second, third, and fourth 25% of finishers, respectively. Final, intermediate, and personal-best (PB) times of finishers were converted to mean speeds, and relative speed (% of PB speed) was calculated for intermediate segments.Results:Mean PB speed decreased from groups 1 to 4, and speeds maintained in the race were 98.5% ± 1.8%, 97.4% ± 3.2%, 95.0% ± 3.1%, and 92.4% ± 4.4% of PB speed for groups 1–4 respectively. Group 1 was fastest in all segments, and differences in speed between groups increased throughout the race. Group 1 ran at lower relative speeds than other groups for the first two 5-km segments but higher relative speeds after 35 km. Significant differences (P < .01) in the percentage of PB speed maintained were observed between groups 1 and 4 and groups 2 and 4 in all segments after 20 km and groups 3 and 4 from 20 to 25 km and 30 to 35 km.Conclusions:Group 1 athletes achieved better finishing times relative to their PB than athletes in other groups, who selected unsustainable initial speeds resulting in subsequent significant losses of speed. It is suggested that psychological factors specific to a major competitive event influenced decision making by athletes, and poor decisions resulted in final performances inferior to those expected based on PB times.

scholarly journals Análisis de la velocidad adoptada en corredores de Maratón (Analysis of the pacing strategies used by Marathon runners)

Retos ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 156-159
Author(s):  
José Joaquín Díaz-Martín ◽  
Eduardo J. Fernández-Ozcorta ◽  
Pablo Floría ◽  
Jordan Santos-Concejero
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Performance Level ◽  
Marathon Runners ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Pacing Strategy ◽  
Athletic Status ◽  
Pacing Strategies ◽  
And Performance

El propósito de este estudio fue analizar la influencia del nivel de rendimiento y sexo sobre los ritmos de carrera adoptados por atletas en tres maratones con perfiles muy parecidos en cuanto a recorrido y condiciones ambientales. Se analizaron 14420 atletas, 13387 hombres y 1034 mujeres. Los resultados indicaron que existían diferencias entre sexos en todos los tramos. Asimismo, hubo diferencias entre grupos con diferentes niveles de rendimiento, tanto en hombres como en mujeres. También se encontraron diferencias en las velocidades de cada tramo entre los diferentes ritmos empleadas en ambos sexos (54% hombres y 50% mujeres), siendo las mayores diferencias encontradas entre el primer y último tramo. Por lo general, el ritmo más utilizado durante la competición es aquel en que el atleta ralentiza su velocidad en el transcurso de los 42km. Este estudio ha demostrado que independientemente del sexo y el rendimiento, los atletas adoptan en su gran mayoría un ritmo positivo para completar un maratón. Abstract: The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of gender and athletic status on race pacing strategies used by runners in three marathons with similar profiles in terms of itinerary and environmental conditions. A total of 14420 athletes were analyzed, 13387 men and 1034 women. The results indicated that there were pacing differences between men and women in all sections. Furthermore, differences between groups of different athletic status in both men and women were observed. The biggest differences were found in the first and the final section. In general, the pacing strategy that athletes used the most (54% in men and 50% in women) was positive. This study shows that regardless of gender and performance level, the majority of athletes adopt a positive pacing strategy to complete a marathon.

scholarly journals Cell Merger Potential in Multicell Thunderstorms of Weakly Sheared Environments: Cell Separation Distance versus Planetary Boundary Layer Depth

2003 ◽  
Vol 131 (8) ◽  
pp. 1678-1695 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Stalker ◽  
Kevin R. Knupp
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Planetary Boundary Layer ◽  
Cell Separation ◽  
Wind Shear ◽  
Convective Cell ◽  
Separation Distance ◽  
Quantitative Relation ◽  
Ambient Conditions ◽  
Ambient Wind ◽  
Cell Pair

Abstract Using high-resolution three-dimensional numerical experiments, this paper shows that the cell separation distance scales as 0.75 times the planetary boundary layer (PBL) depth for successful cell mergers between constructively interacting cells within multicell thunderstorms. This boundary layer scaling is determined from several simulations of convective cell pairs with a fixed PBL depth and is shown to be valid for other sensitivity simulations with larger PBL depths. This research establishes a robust and quantitative relation between prestorm ambient conditions and cell merger potential useful for research efforts on the multifaceted cell merger process of multicell thunderstorms. The weakly sheared ambient prestorm conditions of the 9 August 1991 Convection and Precipitation/Electrification Experiment (CaPE) multicell thunderstorm are used to initialize the cell pair simulations. Since ambient wind and wind shear are assumed to be zero, only simple cell mergers, defined in this study as those between cell updraft cores joined but not overlapping in the convective stage, are shown to be possible. The coarse-resolution simulations of Stalker suggest that ambient wind shear may be necessary for forced cell mergers, defined in this study as those in which the initial updraft cores are found apart. The scenarios of overlapping initial updraft cores for cell merger are considered physically invalid in this study.

Influence of Prior Knowledge of Exercise Duration on Pacing Strategies During Game-Based Activities

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim J. Gabbett ◽  
Ben Walker ◽  
Shane Walker
Keyword(s):  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Exercise Bout ◽  
Random Order ◽  
Exercise Duration ◽  
Video Footage ◽  
Pacing Strategy ◽  
Pacing Strategies ◽  
Post Hoc

Purpose:To investigate the influence of prior knowledge of exercise duration on the pacing strategies employed during gamebased activities.Methods:Twelve semiprofessional team-sport athletes (mean ± SD age 22.8 ± 2.1 y) participated in this study. Players performed 3 small-sided games in random order. In one condition (Control), players were informed that they would play the small-sided game for 12 min and then completed the 12-min game. In a 2nd condition (Deception), players were told that they would play the small-sided game for 6 minutes, but after completing the 6-min game, they were asked to complete another 6 min. In a 3rd condition (Unknown), players were not told how long they would be required to play the small-sided game, but the activity was terminated after 12 min. Movement was recorded using a GPS unit sampling at 10 Hz. Post hoc inspection of video footage was undertaken to count the number of possessions and the number and quality of disposals.Results:Higher initial intensities were observed in the Deception (130.6 ± 3.3 m/min) and Unknown (129.3 ± 2.4 m/min) conditions than the Control condition (123.3 ± 3.4 m/min). Greater amounts of high-speed running occurred during the initial phases of the Deception condition, and more low-speed activity occurred during the Unknown condition. A moderately greater number of total skill involvements occurred in the Unknown condition than the Control condition.Conclusions:These findings suggest that during game-based activities, players alter their pacing strategy based on the anticipated endpoint of the exercise bout.

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