Optimization of Pentathlon Training Plans

An approach has been outlined to determine the optimal weekly training plan of a pentathlon athlete, (a woman) in order to maximize her score at week-end competitions. The various training activities which have an influence on the results in each of the five pentathlon events, as well as the relationship between the amount of training in these activities and the results, have been established by regression analysis. The total score from the five events, depending on the result in each event, and subject both to the total time which the athlete is willing to devote to training and to various physiological requirements for balancing the development of the athlete's body, has been maximized using linear programming. Suggestions have also been put forth for the application of the method to cases in which nonlinear relationships between results and training activities exist.