32 Celsius = 89 F !!!!!!!!!!!!
Effect of water temperature on performance, lactate production and heart rate at swimming of maximal and submaximal intensity.
Mougios V, Deligiannis A.
The effect of water temperature on performance effort, monitored heart rate and lactate production during freestyle swimming at maximal and submaximal speed has been studied. Fifteen male sprint swimmers performing 100 m swimming and fifteen comparable endurance competitors performing 30 min swimming at submaximal speed served as subjects. Water temperature in separate events was 20, 26 and 32 degrees C. At maximal performance there was a direct relationship between any two of the following parameters: water temperature, average swimming speed, heart rate during the competition and plasma lactate concentration after the event. Thus, the best effort (speed 1.704 m/s), the highest peak heart rate (185 beats/min) and the highest lactate level (19.8 mmol/l) were observed at 32 degrees C (all mean values). In contrast, these values were markedly lower at 20 degrees C. At the submaximal effort, water temperature was related to peak heart rate only. The highest peak heart rate (144 beats/min) was again obtained at 32 degrees C, while the lactate concentration (4.2-5.2 mmol/l) was independent of temperature. Water temperature appears to have a direct effect on performance effort, heart rate and lactate production during swimming at maximal intensity, whereas this effect seems to fade at submaximal efforts.
The colder the better for me, I get so hot once I start moving, I don't feel well in warmer water. A race situation might be different than a workout though since I would be in the water for a longer period of time at a workout than a meet.
Per rule book:
"107.6 Water T emperature
Water temperature between 78 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit shall be maintained for
competition. "
I am definately a girly man - 84 - 88F is just fine with me.
In track events, it's clear that most sprinters prefer racing in hotter temperatures, but longer distance runners do much better in cooler weather.
If I am reading the study correctly, it says that all out short distance sprint performance is helped by the higher water temperature.
They didn't study 1500 m swimmers, but I would be very surprised if this same conclusion held up for them.
One of the numerous body adaptations to training is improvements in ability to handle heat produced by muscle contractions. It would be very interesting to see if training in hot water has any kind of benefit for racing performance in longer events than the 100 m.
My own hypothesis is that training in water much higher than 82-84 degrees wouldn't be beneficial simply because it's too hot to sustain really hard effort for more than a few sprints. True, your body would almost certainly get better at handling the heat, but I don't think this would outweigh the reduction in effort necessitated by the heat.
Who knows, but it might a bit like altitude training. Remember when this was assumed to be beneficial because of increases in red blood cells, hematocrit, etc.? The mantra has changed to "sleep high, train low" because athletes and coaches alike discovered you just can't work out very hard when the air is thin.
Ditto, I hypothesize, for swim training in hot soup. Maybe we would be better off sleeping in specially designed hot tubs to get the heat adaptations passively, then swim practices in more temperate waters where we are not too heat-sapped to swim fast.
Man I wish I understood that for sure... Is he saying they went fastest in the warm water? So warm water is good for sprint races? Sounds like the other effects of warm water (higher heart rate and lactate) would not be ideal for training or distance swimming...
If that is what he's saying, it goes against what I always thought (which is that a cool pool is best for racing).
I dunno, seems like it all works out. For a sprint race, we usually need a lot of warm-up, as there is not enough time during the race to get the muscles warm (which is good for peak speed). Warm water probably helps that.
For most people, the 100 race time is more than 2x best 50 time. This indicates that for most races (and almost all of practice), you aren't going at maximal speed, and cooler water is needed to keep the heart rate down. (Although you may be going as fast as you can sustain for a longer period of time, but that is not absolute peak speed.)
Those of you who love swimming in warm water should come to Arizona from October to March. Every pool is kept at 83 to 84 degrees, with a couple of exceptions.
If Erik's post says that performance is better in warm water, I heartily disagree. In warm water, your blood is working to cool you off, not to bring nutrients to the muscles as you swim. Therefore, you tire quicker and your heart works harder to do twice the work, and not in a good way.
Why do you think it's in the rules that pool temperatures MUST be between 78 and 80 degrees for competitions?
32 Celsius = 89 F !!!!!!!!!!!!
Effect of water temperature on performance, lactate production and heart rate at swimming of maximal and submaximal intensity.
Mougios V, Deligiannis A.
The effect of water temperature on performance effort, monitored heart rate and lactate production during freestyle swimming at maximal and submaximal speed has been studied. Fifteen male sprint swimmers performing 100 m swimming and fifteen comparable endurance competitors performing 30 min swimming at submaximal speed served as subjects. Water temperature in separate events was 20, 26 and 32 degrees C. At maximal performance there was a direct relationship between any two of the following parameters: water temperature, average swimming speed, heart rate during the competition and plasma lactate concentration after the event. Thus, the best effort (speed 1.704 m/s), the highest peak heart rate (185 beats/min) and the highest lactate level (19.8 mmol/l) were observed at 32 degrees C (all mean values). In contrast, these values were markedly lower at 20 degrees C. At the submaximal effort, water temperature was related to peak heart rate only. The highest peak heart rate (144 beats/min) was again obtained at 32 degrees C, while the lactate concentration (4.2-5.2 mmol/l) was independent of temperature. Water temperature appears to have a direct effect on performance effort, heart rate and lactate production during swimming at maximal intensity, whereas this effect seems to fade at submaximal efforts.
1.704 m/s is about a 58.68 hundred. I'd like to see what the maximal speed was at the other temperatures. I'll bet it was very close. I'd like to see the change in speed graphed against the changes in heart rate and lactate concentration. I'm guessing that those changed much more dramatically in response to temperature than the maximal speed.
So does this mean that warmer water is more stessful and the adaptation to that stress is a good thing (for swimmers college age and younger)? I'm not really sure the practical application of the information, please help.
Does this mean that, at a certain temp, older swimmers shouldn't train in really warm water because their heart rates can move into levels that are unsafe?
