Validation of Field-Based Running Tests to Determine Maximal Aerobic Speed in Professional Rugby League: Anonymised data set

McLaren-Towlson, Christopher; Marshall, Phil; Simpson, Andrew; Bray, James; Nickolay, Tom

Abstract

Practitioners place importance on high-speed running (HSR) to monitor training practice and match-play demands, whilst attempting to maximise fitness and minimize the risk of injury occurrence. Practitioners apply various methods to quantify HSR, such as absolute thresholds, percentage of maximum sprint speed and maximal aerobic speed (MAS. A recent survey demonstrates the 5-minute run and 1200m shuttle test (ST) to be implemented among rugby league practitioners to quantify HSR by incorporating MAS. However, it is unclear as to how valid these methods are to accurately quantify MAS. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the validity of the 5-minute run and 1200m ST when compared to a gold standard measure for MAS. Twenty 1st team professional rugby league players competing in the European Super League participated in this study. Players were required to complete an incremental treadmill test, 5-minute run and 1200m ST over a two-week period in pre-season. MAS, peak heart rate (HRmax), peak lactate (Lapeak) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) where collected upon completion of each test. Results demonstrated the 1200m ST to have a higher correlation for MAS than the 5-minute run (1200m ST: r = 0.73, 5-minute run: r = 0.64). However, when assessing validity using the level of agreement between data, the 5-minute run underreported MAS by 0.45 m·s-1 whereas the 1200m ST underreported MAS by 0.77 m·s-1. Ultimately, both field-based tests used in this study underreport MAS when compared to an incremental treadmill test, although the 5-minute run provides a closer agreement and therefore a more valid measurement for MAS than the 1200m ST.

Citation

McLaren-Towlson, C., Marshall, P., Simpson, A., Bray, J., & Nickolay, T. (2024). Validation of Field-Based Running Tests to Determine Maximal Aerobic Speed in Professional Rugby League: Anonymised data set. [Data]

• Online Publication Date: Feb 20, 2024
• Publication Date: 2024
• Deposit Date: Feb 14, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 20, 2024
• Publisher: University of Hull
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4547039
• Type of Data: Numerical heart rate (bpm), distance covered (m), maximal aerobic speed (MAS; m/s), Peak Lactate and RPE
• Collection Date: Oct 10, 2022
• Collection Method: Physiological Measurements; Maximal Aerobic Speed; During all trials, each player was required to wear a Catapult Vector GPS sports vest with integrated heart rate accompanied by a 10 Hz GPS unit positioned between the scapulae (Vector S7, Catapult Sports, Melbourne, Australia). The speed achieved at the termination of the incremental treadmill test was collected as MAS. The distance covered and time to complete was collected during both trial two and three to calculate MAS using the formulas mentioned above, in each trial section, respectively.; Heart Rate; Peak heart rate (HRmax) was quantified upon immediate completion of the trials through the Catapult Vector integrated heart rate vest and GPS unit. HRmax was identified using the Catapult Openfield software (Catapult Sports, Melbourne, Australia).; Blood Lactate; Blood lactate (La) was also collected one and three minutes post completion of each trial(39, 40) (Lactate Plus, Nova Biomedical, USA)(41) with each player providing one finger-pick blood sample at each time point and the highest of these two values being identified as (Lapeak).; Rating of Perceived Exertion; The rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was collected upon completion of each trial using CR10 scale(42).