Effects of Including Sprints During Low-intensity Cycling Exercises on Performance and Muscle/Blood Characteristics
Condition: Healthy; Cyclists
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      To investigate the effects of Including 30-s sprints during low-intensity cycling exercises
      during a training camp on performance and muscle/blood characterisitcs in elite cyclists
    

Detailed description: 
      Inclusion of sprint intervals during low-intensity training (LIT) sessions has been suggested
      as a potential mean to improve endurance performance in elite cyclists, facilitated by
      muscular or systemic physiological adaptations. So far, the effects of such training has been
      studied exclusively in context of short-lasting low-intensity sessions, representing a
      scenario with suboptimal ecological validity for such highly trained athetes.

      This study will investigate the effects of including sprints during prolonged LIT-sessions
      sessions during a 14-day training camp focusing on LIT, followed by 10 days recovery (REC),
      on performance and performance-related measures in elite cyclists. During the training camp,
      a sprint training group will conduct 12x30-s maximal sprints during five LIT sessions,
      whereas a control group will perform distance-matched LIT-only. Overall, the training camp
      will lead to substantial increases in training load compared to habitual training in both
      intervention groups, followed by subsequent reductions during REC. Performance tests will be
      conducted before the training camp (T0) and after REC (T2). Muscle biopsies, hematological
      measures and stress/recovery questionnaires will be collected Pre (T0) and after the camp
      (T1).

      The study was pre-registered at Norwegian Center for Research Data (14/08/2017, Norwegian):
      http://pvo.nsd.no/prosjekt/55322
    

Intervention name(s): Inclusion of sprints during low-intensity cycling during a 14-day training camp (high training load); Low-intensity cycling during a 14-day training camp (high training load); Recovery for 10 days (low training load)
Intervention type(s): Behavioral; Behavioral; Behavioral
Intervention description(s): Inclusion of 12x30-s maximal sprints during five low-intensity cycling sessions with long duration (>fours hours per session). Five sessions will be performed as low-intensity cycling-only (Controll sessions, distance matched). All other sessions will be performed as low-intensity sessions and adjusted according to each participants training load goal to reach an increase of ~50% in load compared to habitual training.; Five low-intensity cycling sessions (>four hours per session), distance-matched to sprint group.; Habitual low-intensity cycling (>0.5-2 hours per session)
Intervention MeSH terms: 8-chloro-cyclic adenosine monophosphate
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Intervention model description: Investigating the effects of including sprints during low-intensity training sessions during a 14-d training camp with increased training load on performance and muscle/blood biology
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Basic Science
Keywords: Sprint; Low-intensity cycling; Skeletal muscle; Endurance performance