We examined the effects of the chronological age and sexual maturation on the running speed at lactate threshold (vLL) of children and adolescents. Eighteen boys, divided according to age (GC1: 11.00 to 13.50 and GC2: 13.51 to 15.99 years) and sexual maturation (GB1: levels 1 and 2 and GB2: levels 4 and 5 of pubic hair), performed an incremental treadmill test until exhaustion, with 20-second pauses between the stages of 3 minutes for blood sampling and lactate concentration analysis. The vLL was determined by the Dmax method. There were no significant differences in the vLL (km•h-1) between the groups GC1 (11.5 ± 0.3) vs. GC2 (11.8 ± 0.6) and GB1 (11.6 ± 0.3) vs. GB2 (11.8 ± 0.6). It was concluded that the vLL does not suffer the effects of chronological age and sexual maturation among untrained 11- to 15-year-old boys.
Aerobic capacity; Growth; Performance; Anaerobic threshold