Managing Training Load in the Lead-Up to Competition: Session-Rating of Perceived Exertion, not the Acute-to-Chronic Workload Ratio, Associated with the Performance of Elite Swimmers
(Alexanter Marinof, Jesús Martínez-Sobrino, Jesús Santos del Cerro, José María González-Ravé, Santiago Veiga)

This study aimed to investigate the dynamic relationship between training loads and swimming performance among elite swimmers over a 40-week training period. Training data from seven international-level swimmers (4 men and 3 women) were collected during three macrocycles comprising one target competition each. The best personal times at the beginning of the cycle (MTp) were used to calculate the change in the swimmer’s performance at the end of each macrocycle (MT1, MT2, and MT3). The training volume in the pool and the gym, as well as the session rating of perceived exertion (SRPE) were used to calculate the acute-to-chronic workload ratio (ACWR). Associations between training loads and performance change were analyzed using linear mixed models (LMMs), with the swimmer identity being included as a random intercept to account for repeated measures. The higher accumulated dry-land and swimming load during the final seven weeks preceding competition was negatively associated with performance (z_D_SRPEkg7: β = −20.3; z_W_SRPEkm7: β = −15.5), whereas ACWR-based models showed limited explanatory value. The findings of the study emphasize that monitoring the swimmer’s SRPE in the lead-up to competition can be important for performance optimization.

Marinof, A., Martínez-Sobrino, J., Del Serro, J. S., González-Ravé, J. M. & Veiga, S. (2026). Managing Training Load in the Lead-Up to Competition: Session-Rating of Perceived Exertion, not the Acute-to-Chronic Workload Ratio, Associated with the Performance of Elite Swimmers. Journal of Human Kinetics, 101, 271–284. https://doi.org/10.5114/jhk/218950