Magnitude of cardiovascular effort in adventure corridors through cardiac frequency monitoring

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the intensity of an Adventure Racing (AR), by comparing the Heart Rate (HR) of the participants. The 15 sampled participants accomplished 8th Ulbra Adventure Race, in the city of Cachoeira do Sul, RS, Brazil, and were divided into two groups: trained runners (GT) and untrained runners (GD). The groups were separated after individual interviews about the training history of each participant. The participants' HR were collected throughout the course, using heart rate monitors. The means of the HR in the GT and GD, when starting the race, were 92.8 ± 15.8 bpm and 90.8 ± 17.9 bpm, respectively. When comparing the HR means among groups, GT presented 148.3 ± 15.9bpm and GD presented 165.4 ± 9bpm (p<0.05). When comparing the maximum values of HR, the mean in GT was 189 ± 3.3bpm, and in GD it was 191 ± 6bpm. The rate of work in the maximum HR was 78.2% ± 7 in GT and 86.4% + 4 in GD (p <0.03). The HR means during each modality of the race in GT were: MTB 1 = 164.6 ± 18.9bpm, TREK 1 = 168 ± 14.7bpm, CAN = 130 ± 28 bpm, TREK 2 = 149.6 ± 21.6bpm, MTB 2 = 134.3 ± 21.7bpm. In the GD the following values were obtained: MTB 1 = 172.6 ± 15.4bpm, TREK 1 = 172.9 ± 18.9bpm, CAN = 153.1 ± 14.1bpm, TREk 2 = 171.4 ± 14.2bpm and MTB 2 = 160.8 ± 10.9 bpm. We conclude that AR is a sport characterized by high cardiovascular fitness demand, especially during the running stages. The trained runners presented better performance than the untrained ones.