3rd Annual Academic Symposium - Michelle Key

Differences in post-swim lactate levels, heart rate, and time to completion were measured and assessed using a maximal 100-yard freestyle swim in normal breathing (NB) and controlled-frequency breathing (CFB) conditions with twenty-one trained Division 1 female swimmers (age 19 ± 2 yrs). A randomly assigned 100-yd swim test was conducted twice, once with NB pattern, and the second using CFB pattern. Blood samples were taken from the earlobe at rest and 0 (NB 4.34±. 62mmol/L; CFB 4.56± .34mmol/L), 1.5 (NB 7.24± .56mmol/L; CFB 5.90± .62mmol/L), 3 (NB 6.84± .63mmol/L; CFB 6.04± .52mmol/L), and 5 (NB 6.10± .61mmol/L; CFB 4.7± .51mmol/L) minutes post-swim. No significant difference (P > .05) in blood lactate levels (BLA) were found in the study; post-exercise HR was significantly higher (P = 0.02)in NB trial (184.9 ± 12.0 bpm) than the CFB trial (174.8 ± 14.8 bpm). The results suggest that oxygen deprivation have no significant immediate effect on blood lactate levels after high intensity swimming races. The significant difference in heart rate between the CFB and NB swims could be explained by the decrease in ventilation produced by the CFB swim which would cause the heart rate to slow even during exercise. Data were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance.