Physiological and performance responses to a 6-day taper in middle-distance runners: influence of training frequency.

The purpose of this investigation was to examine the influence of training frequency on performance and some physiological responses during a 6-day taper. After 18 weeks of training, 9 male middle-distance runners were assigned to a high frequency taper (HFT, n = 5) or a moderate frequency taper (MFT, n 4), consisting of training daily or resting every third day of the taper. Taper consisted of an 80% nonlinear progressive reduction in high intensity interval training. Blood samples were obtained, and 800m performance and peak blood lactate ([La] peak ) measured before and after taper. Performance improved significantly after HFT (121.8±4.7 vs 124.2±4.9s, p<0.05), but not after MFT (126.6±2.8 vs 127.1 ± 2.1 s). Neutrophils (2.89±0.68 vs 2.56±0.61 10 3 × mm -3 ), granulocytes (3.08±0.70 vs 2.77±0.66 10 3 ×mm -3 ), haptoglopin (79.7±47.9 vs 60.7±33.6mg×dl -1 ), total testosterone ( 7.39 ±1.67 vs 5.52 ± 0.88 μg × l -1 ) and [La] peak (15.5±1.5 vs 14.4±2.0 mmol ×l -1 ) significantly increased with taper. [La] peak correlated with performance time before taper (r = -0.76, p <0.05), and change in [La] peak with change in serum cortisol (r = -0.75, p < 0.05) and total testosterone:cortisol ratio (r = 0.82, p < 0.01). In conclusion, training daily during a 6-day taper brought about significant performance gains, whereas resting every third day did not. High [La] peak and a hormonal milieu propitious to anabolic processes seemed to be necessary for optimum performance.