AIM: Despite heavy training requirements, triathlon is a sport that is rapidly increasing in popularity. Yet, there is limited research detailing the relationship between training, the incidence of injuries and illness, psychological stress, overtraining and athlete burnout amongst triathletes. Six hypotheses relating inter-individual differences to training factors were generated to evaluate change in self-reported measures of these negative health outcomes over a training year. METHODS: Thirty, well-trained, triathletes (males n=20: age=27.1±9.1 years and females n=10: age=27.4±6.6 years) from a local triathlon club participated in this study. The study commenced during pre-season training, and involved weekly monitoring of each athlete until the end of the competitive season 45 weeks later. Linear Mixed Modelling was used for the analysis. RESULTS: Signs and symptoms of injury and illness (SAS) were significantly associated with increases in training factors (P≤0.05); however, greatest impact on SAS was produced by psychological stressors (P≤0.001). Common symptoms of overtraining were significantly affected by increases in exposure to both training and psychological stressors (P≤0.05). Mood disturbance was not significantly affected by training factors (P>0.05) but rather increases in psychological stressors (P≤0.001). Finally, each of the three athlete burnout subscales were significantly affected by both psychological (P≤0.001) stressors as well as varying combinations of training factors (P≤0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to stressors (either training or psychological) had significant effects on all negative health outcomes assessed.
AIM: Despite heavy training requirements, triathlon is a sport that is rapidly increasing in popularity. Yet, there is limited research detailing the relationship between training, the incidence of injuries and illness, psychological stress, overtraining and athlete burnout amongst triathletes. Six hypotheses relating inter-individual differences to training factors were generated to evaluate change in self-reported measures of these negative health outcomes over a training year. METHODS: Thirty, well-trained, triathletes (males n=20: age=27.1±9.1 years and females n=10: age=27.4±6.6 years) from a local triathlon club participated in this study. The study commenced during pre-season training, and involved weekly monitoring of each athlete until the end of the competitive season 45 weeks later. Linear Mixed Modelling was used for the analysis. RESULTS: Signs and symptoms of injury and illness (SAS) were significantly associated with increases in training factors (P≤0.05); however, greatest impact on SAS was produced by psychological stressors (P≤0.001). Common symptoms of overtraining were significantly affected by increases in exposure to both training and psychological stressors (P≤0.05). Mood disturbance was not significantly affected by training factors (P>0.05) but rather increases in psychological stressors (P≤0.001). Finally, each of the three athlete burnout subscales were significantly affected by both psychological (P≤0.001) stressors as well as varying combinations of training factors (P≤0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to stressors (either training or psychological) had significant effects on all negative health outcomes assessed.
Authors: Trent Stellingwerff; Ida A Heikura; Romain Meeusen; Stéphane Bermon; Stephen Seiler; Margo L Mountjoy; Louise M Burke Journal: Sports Med Date: 2021-06-28 Impact factor: 11.136
Authors: Martin Schwellnus; Torbjørn Soligard; Juan-Manuel Alonso; Roald Bahr; Ben Clarsen; H Paul Dijkstra; Tim J Gabbett; Michael Gleeson; Martin Hägglund; Mark R Hutchinson; Christa Janse Van Rensburg; Romain Meeusen; John W Orchard; Babette M Pluim; Martin Raftery; Richard Budgett; Lars Engebretsen Journal: Br J Sports Med Date: 2016-09 Impact factor: 13.800
Authors: Dominik Schorn; Tim Vogler; Georg Gosheger; Kristian Schneider; Sebastian Klingebiel; Carolin Rickert; Dimosthenis Andreou; Dennis Liem Journal: PLoS One Date: 2018-06-01 Impact factor: 3.240
Authors: Michael D Kennedy; Camilla J Knight; Joao Henrique Falk Neto; Katie S Uzzell; Sara W Szabo Journal: BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil Date: 2020-01-10