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This week’s Jockology column rounds up a bunch of research on the optimal preparation and training for soccer: the mechanics of kicking, the physiology of repeated short sprints, the psychology of penalty kicks, the optimal warm-up and nutrition, rapid direction changes, etc. It’s in the form of a big infographic, put together by Trish McAlaster, the talented artist I often work with at the Globe. (We’re currently working a pretty cool graphic for the next column — stay tuned!)
Most interesting bit of info in the current column, for me, was this: when you run a short sprint, you get about 20% of the ATP you need from aerobic processes, and 80% from anaerobic processes. But if you keep sprinting (as you would for a soccer game), the third sprint is already 50% aerobic/50% anaerobic, and the “Nth” sprint is 75% aerobic/25% anaerobic. So if you want to be fast late in the game, you need to fuel yourself like an endurance athlete.
(This info comes from Stuart Phillips‘ chapter in the book Sports Nutrition: From Lab to Kitchen. And I actually simplified the info a bit for the column by combining the contributions from phosphocreatine with other anaerobic sources. The actual split for aerobic/anaerobic/phosphocreatine is 20/30/50 for the first sprint, 50/20/30 for the third, and 75/5/20 for the Nth.)
I think the same would be fairly true for hockey players. Yes, no? Alex?
@Cassidy
Definitely — though the details are slightly different. According to Stu Phillips, soccer players cover about 12km and spent about 30% of their time in the “critical performance zone,” where intensity very high. Ice hockey players cover about 4km, but spend 50% of that time in the critical performance zone. A big difference is the fact that hockey players are taking short shifts with breaks, so they’re able to spend more of their ice time at the higher intensity. That may mean that they’re a little more anaerobic — but by the third period, I’d have to think there wouldn’t be much difference!