Short-term performance peaking in an elite cross-country mountain biker

ABSTRACT

Endurance athletes usually achieve performance peaks with 2–4 weeks of overload training followed by 1–3weeks of tapering. With a tight competition schedule, this may not be appropriate. This case investigates the effect of a 7-day overload period including daily high-intensity aerobic training followed by a 5-day step taper between two competitions in an elite cross-country mountain biker. Pre-test peak oxygen consumption was 89 ml·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹, peak aerobic power 6.8 W·kg⁻¹, power output at 2 mmol·L⁻¹ blood lactate concentration 3.9 W·kg⁻¹, maximal isometric force 180 Nm and squat jump 21 cm. During overload, perceived leg well-being went from normal to very heavy. On day 1 after overload, vastus lateralis and vastus medialis EMG_mean activity was reduced by 3% and 7%, respectively. Other baseline measurements were reduced by 3–7%. On day 4 of the taper, he felt that his legs were good and all measurements were 3–7% higher than before overload. On day 6 after the taper, his legs felt very good. This case shows that an elite mountain biker (11th in UCI World Cup one week prior to the pre-test) could achieve a rather large supercompensation by using a 12-day performance peaking protocol.

KEYWORDS:

• Training load
• endurance
• supercompensation
• tapering
• periodisation

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to express gratitude to the two cyclists and their coaches for great cooperation. No funding was received for this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for this work.