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Case Study Essay Question: Athletes #1
Meosha Jackson
Department of Health Professions, Liberty University
EXSC 510: Advanced Exercise Physiology
Dr. Andrew Bosak
February 12, 2023
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It is important to understand the concept of cardiovascular drift. Cardiovascular drift is an
important concept when doing cardiovascular training. The athletes that compete in cycling,
marathons, and long intense exercises really need to understand the factors of cardiovascular
drift. Cardiovascular drift is a rise in heart rate and a fall in stroke volume over time during
walking, cycling or running in thermoneutral or even hot environments (Souissi et al., 2021).
During cardiovascular drift your cardiac output can change as well. The amount of blood that is
pumping to heart at a given amount of time is cardiac output. If you are doing any cardiovascular
exercise, then your blood flow will increase. During cardiovascular drift your blood flow is
maintained at a constant level as long as you are exercising. “The reduction in stroke volume is
the most striking component of cardiovascular drift during prolonged exercises” (Souissi et al.,
2021).
Cardiovascular drift plays an important role in cycling training. There are three factors
that will affect the cardiovascular drift. The first factor is the cardiac output. Cardiac output will
increase during the cycling training because during cycling training you are burning calories and
your body is trying to complete the exercise as fast as possible. Your blood flow is pumping, and
your endurance is high. Your body is working faster than normal so your bod y has to pump
blood to your heart faster so that you won’t go into cardiac arrest or have a heart attack. This is
why cardiac output will cause your cardiovascular drift to shift.
“The progressive drift in heart rate is due to the influence of rising body temperature and
dehydration” (Powers et al., 2021). Which leads me to the second factor that will affect the
cyclist cardiovascular drift. The increase on body temperatures will affect the cardiovascular
drift. Think about how much energy you are burning on a long cycle ride. Depending on the
weather you are either sweating or trying to cycle faster to obtain your body heat to stay warm.
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This will cause an increase in heart rate and decrease the stroke volume. Your body is telling you
to pump blood to organ that you are utilizing the most. This is why it is important to hydrate a
couple days before you complete prolonged exercises. You will sweat and become dehydrated if
you don’t hydrate. The increase in heart rate will decrease at times when completing along cycle
ride. Depending on the terrain when you are riding on a flat surface then you will cycle slower
than if you were climbing a hill. Your heart rate will decline and will cause your stroke volume to
increase. This will affect the cardiovascular drift tremendous because you can have a heat stroke.
Another factor that will affect the cardiovascular drift during a long cycling ride is your
blood pressure. We know that cardiovascular drift is the increase in heart rate. Prolonged
exercises can cause an increase in blood pressure which will leave to a stroke. The harder you
cycle and go will cause your blood pressure to increase. This is why you have to train for
prolonged exercises. If you go out and try to cycle for 25 miles without training it is not good on
your body. Increase in blood pressure isn’t good for a person health. The cyclist is pumping so
much blood to the brain and depending on their body to distribute the blood to the organ that is
needed. Sometimes the body will start to reject blood in the organs. This is how strokes, cardiac
arrest and heart attacks occur. This is why you need to monitor your blood pressure and oxygen
levels with during prolonged exercise. The cyclist should take water breaks as needed and rest
depending on how far he is riding. This will allow the cyclist blood pressure to elevate so when
he finish, he will not feel dizzy or anything.
Cardiac output, blood pressure, and body temperature are all factors that will affect
cardiovascular drift during a long cycling training ride. It is important that a cardiovascular
athlete know and understand the cardiovascular drift so that they will know how to elevate their
heart rate and stoke levels.
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References
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Powers, S. K., Howley, E. T., & Quindry, J. (2021). ISE Exercise Physiology: Theory and
Application to Fitness and Performance (ISE HED B&B PHYSICAL EDUCATION) (11th
ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Souissi, A., Haddad, M., Dergaa, I., Ben Saad, H., & Chamari, K. (2021). A new
perspective on cardiovascular drift during prolonged exercise. Life Sciences, 287,
120109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2021.120109
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