Effect of a 5 min cold water immersion recovery on exercise performance in the heat
Jeremiah J Peiffer 1*, Chris Richard Abbiss 1, Bradely A Wall 1, Greig Watson 1, Kazunori Nosaka 1 and Paul B Laursen 1
1 Edith Cowan University, Australia
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: j.peiffer{at}ecu.edu.au.
Accepted 19 May 2008
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Abstract |
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This study examined the effect of a 5-min cold water immersion (CWI; 14°C) recovery intervention on repeated cycling performance in the heat. Ten male cyclists performed two bouts of a 25-min constant paced (254±22W) cycling session (CP) followed by a 4-km time trial (TT) in hot conditions (35°C, 40% relative humidity). The two bouts were separated by either 15-min of seated recovery in the heat (CON), or the same condition with 5-min CWI (5th-10th min), in a counterbalanced cross-over design (CP1TT1 
CWI or CON CP2TT2). Rectal temperature (Tre) was measured immediately before and after both the CP sessions and 4 km TTs. Cycling economy and VO2 were measured during the CP sessions and the average power output (PO) and completion times (CT) were recorded for each TT. Compared with CON, Tre was significantly lower (0.5±0.4°C) in CWI before CP2 until the end of TT2. However, the increase in Tre (0.5±0.2°C) during CP2 was not significantly different between conditions. During TT2, PO was significantly greater in CWI (327.9 ± 55.7 W) compared with CON (288.0 ± 58.8 W), leading to a faster CT in CWI (6.1 ± 0.3 s) compared with CON (6.4 ± 0.5 s). Economy and VO2 were not influence by the CWI recovery intervention. In conclusion, 5-min CWI recovery significantly lowered Tre and maintained endurance performance during subsequent high-intensity exercise. These data indicate that repeated exercise performance in heat may be improved when a short period of CWI is applied during the recovery period.
