PhD, Associate Professor E.V. Krivoruchenko¹
PhD, Associate Professor A.I. Ivanov²
O.V. Shadrina³
PhD, Associate Professor M.I. Sentizova^1
1Institute of Physical Education and Sports of M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University, Yakutsk
²Yakutsk State Agricultural Academy, Yakutsk
³Churapcha State Institute of Physical Culture and Sports, Churapcha, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)

Keywords: track and field sports, running, heart rate regulation, physical fitness, performance.

Background. Issues of physicality tests (including the physical fitness and cardiovascular system performance tests) in sprint and middle-distance running have always been given a high priority, although remain still underexplored. Physical fitness of sprinters and middle-distance runners is studied by the top experts in the field of theory and methodology of athletic training in LA: V.Yu. Volkova, 1985; V.A. Zaporozhanova, 1985, 1988; V.V. Petrovsky, 1978; Y.G. Travina, 1991, 1997; V.N. Seluyanova, 2001, 2007; F.P. Suslova, 1982. Yet, their works do not cover the athletes' physical fitness test system, which consists of pedagogical tests, evaluation scales coupled with available and informative methods of diagnostics of the body's functional state, such as autonomic heart rate regulation.
It was found that long-term intensive training and competitive activities lead to stresses for the body, the manifestations of which, in the contemporary perception, are largely determined by the activation of the autonomic nervous system, i.e. the establishment of a new balance between its parasympathetic and sympathetic divisions [1].
The analysis of autonomic regulation of the functional state of athletes is closely related to the evaluation and forecasting of individual resistance of the body to physical loads [2]. The development of such evaluation and forecasting criteria, which correspond to a certain type of autonomic heart rate regulation and overall regulatory system performance in the preparatory and competitive periods of the annual training cycle at the stages of long-term sport excellence process, is an urgent issue of athletic training.
Objective of the study was to improve the physical fitness test system in application to sprinters and middle-distance runners of different qualifications by finding correlations of their physical fitness versus the autonomic heart rate regulation and by substantiating the possibility of using these data for sports selection.
Methods and structure of the study. The following test methods were applied during the study: educational tests (a complex of run tests: 60m sprint from standing start, 30m sprint from crouch start, 600m and 1000m race from high start; jumping tests: standing long jump, 5-fold standing long jump, 5-fold standing long jump first with the left and then with the right foot; tests with weights: underhand forward, underhand reverse (4 kg for men, 3 kg for women), pull-ups, dynamometry; anthropometric measurements; mathematical analysis of the heart rate variability indices (structural linguistic analysis); statistical processing of the data obtained. Sampled for the study were 110 qualified runners specializing in sprint (53 athletes) and middle-distance running (57 athletes) aged from 16 to 21 years and having different sports qualifications - from Class II to MS (among the sprinters: Class I, II - 12 athletes, CMS - 14 athletes, MS - 15 athletes; among the middle-distance runners: Class II - 18 athletes, Class I - 14 athletes, CMS - 12 athletes, MS - 13 athletes).
Results and discussion. The Class I and II sprinters (100-200m) with the above-average physical fitness rates were tested with both vagotonic and sympathotonic types of heart rate regulation – equal representation in two study groups (50%/ 50%). In the group of CMS, 100% of athletes with the above-average physical fitness rates were tested with the vagotonic type of heart rate regulation, while in the group of MS with similar physical fitness rates, 100% of athletes were tested with the sympathotonic type of heart rate regulation.
The analysis of the correlations of the middle-distance runners’ physical fitness versus the autonomic heart rate regulation enabled to trace the following regularities. The Class II middle-distance runners sample with the above-average and high physical fitness rates included those with the equally represented tones of the parasympathetic (vagotonic type) and sympathetic (sympathotonic type) autonomous nervous system. A similar picture was observed among the Class I runners; however, the high-physical fitness subsample included 100 % of those tested with the sympathotonic type of autonomic heart rate regulation.
Among the athletes qualified CMS and tested with the above-average physical fitness rates, there were both sympathotonics and vagotonics - 75 and 25%, respectively. However, the MS with the high physical fitness rates were 100% vagotonics. This testifies to the fact that highly-skilled middle-distance runners with the vagotonic type of heart rate regulation have a higher level of physical fitness, while among the runners of lower categories (CMS, Class I and II) there is an equal representation of vagotonics and sympathotonics with the average and high physical fitness rates. In the group of sprinters qualified Class I and MS, we found those with the high level of physical fitness. The sympathetic effects predominated in the Class I athletes, the vagotonic ones – in MS.
The use of the structural linguistic analysis of the heart rate variability indices helped classify the sprinters and middle-distance runners’ performance rates, forecast changes in the body’s functional state under the influence of physical loads, thus enabling to quickly amend the sports training system [3].
The data obtained during the structural linguistic analysis of the heart rate variability indices confirm the conclusion that it is the initial type of autonomic heart rate regulation that should be taken into account in track and field sports selection. At the same time, the most preferable type of autonomic heart rate regulation in sprint is sympathotonic one, in middle-distance running – vagotonic.
Based on the results of the analysis of rhythmocardiographic characteristics and pedagogical test rates, we determined the peculiarities of distribution of sprinters and middle-distance runners of various sports qualifications by the level of their physical fitness, depending on the initial type of autonomic heart rate regulation (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Distribution of sprinters and middle-distance runners by physical fitness level and type of autonomic heart rate regulation

Unstable conditions were registered in the group of sprinters qualified CMS and tested with the above-average physical fitness rates before and after the testing, as well as in the group of Class I runners with the average physical fitness rates at rest. The main sign of an unstable condition is the presence of ultra low-frequency oscillations in the rhythmocardiogram spectra. The onset of this state under physical loads, and especially in the state of rest, may be indicative of either insufficient qualification of an athlete or the risk of disadaptation or overtraining. Unstable conditions were recorded in the state of rest in the Class II athletes with the average physical fitness level (12%) and in the CMS with the above-average physical fitness rates (20%), which indicated either insufficient qualification or the risk of disadaptation or overtraining. After the standard test load (800m race), unstable conditions developed in the Class II athletes with the above-average physical fitness rates (25%), Class I athletes (25%) and CMS (20%) with the average level of physical fitness. The athletes tested with the high physical fitness rates were not found to have unstable states either at rest or after exercise. The runners qualified MS, regardless of their physical fitness level, had no unstable conditions.
Conclusions. The use of the structural linguistic analysis of the heart rate variability indices enabled to classify the middle-distance runners’ performance rates. The study data and analysis may be helpful for the coaching teams when making corrections to the individual training systems. The data obtained during the structural linguistic analysis of the heart rate variability indices confirm our conclusion that it is the initial type of autonomic heart rate regulation that should be taken into account in sports selection of track and field athletes specializing in different types of run. The most preferable type of autonomic heart rate regulation in sprint is sympathotonic one, in middle-distance running – vagotonic.

References

1. Ivanov A.I., Ularov A.P., Yakovlev P.I. et al.Osobennosti postroenie trenirovochnogo protsessa kvalifitsirovannykh sportsmenok, spetsializiruyushchikhsya v bege na dlinnye distantsii, s uchetom OMTs [Features of OMC based training process design for skilled female long-distance runners]. Uchenye zapiski universiteta im. P.F. Lesgafta. 2018. no.7 (161). pp. 105-108.
2. Krivoruchenko E.V., Yakovlev P.I., Petrov M.V., Artamonova M.G. Struktura funktsionalnogo sostoyaniya organizma sportsmenov razlichnoy kvalifikatsii, spetsializiruyushchikhsya v bege na srednie distantsii [Middle-distance runners’ skill-specific functionality profiling study]. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury. 2018. no, 7.pp. 72-74.
3. Cherkashin I.A., Krivoruchenko E.V., Skryabin S.P., Okhlopkov P.P. Nauchno-metodicheskoe obespechenie podgotovki sportivnogo rezerva Respubliki Sakha (Yakutiya) [Methodological support of training of sports reserve of Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)]. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury, 2015, no.10, pp. 51-53.

Corresponding author: 706037@mail.ru

Abstract
Issues of physicality tests (including the physical fitness and cardiovascular system performance tests) in sprint and middle-distance running have always been given a high priority, although remain still underexplored. The study was designed to analyze the HR/ cardiographic data and training process test data to find correlations of the physical fitness versus the autonomic heart rate regulation in sprinters and middle-distance runners. Sampled for the study were the Class II to CMS qualified sprinters (with the below-average physical fitness rates) with equal representation (50%/ 50%) of the sympathotonic and vagotonic types of autonomic heart rate regulation; and the highly skilled (MS) runners with above-average physical fitness rates and with 100% of those tested with the sympathotonic type of autonomic heart rate regulation. The highly-skilled middle-distance runners sample included those with the above-average-physical fitness subsample with the equally represented (50%/ 50%) the sympathotonic and vagotonic types of autonomic heart rate regulation; and the high-physical fitness subsample with 100 % of those tested with the vagotonic type of autonomic heart rate regulation.
We used a heart rate variability analysis to classify the sprinters and middle-distance runners performance rates. The study data and analysis may be helpful for the coaching teams when making corrections to the individual training systems.