Perceptions Of Fatigue Among Cross Country Athletes During Races And Various Types Of Training Sessions

Collegiate runners undergo varying levels of training stress based on their race, practice, and recovery schedule. Determining an athlete’s fatigue can be difficult for coaches and runners and may lead to overtraining when not accounted for correctly. PURPOSE: This study assessed perceived fatigue in cross country runners before and after various types of sessions to compare the Borg CR-10 Scale (RPE) and Swedish Occupational Fatigue Inventory (SOFI). METHODS: 25 male (age 19.4 ± 1.3y) and 18 female (age 19.6 ± 1.2y) collegiate cross-country runners were evaluated during four practice sessions and one race. Sessions were categorized into Race (RC), Recovery (RV), or Practice (P). Fatigue was quantified using RPE and SOFI before and after each session. The SOFI was analyzed as a composite score, then broken down and individually analyzed as five sub-scales: Lack of Energy, Physical Exertion, Physical Discomfort, Lack of Motivation, and Sleepiness. A univariate ANOVA was used to examine the difference in fatigue measures across session categories based off change scores (pre to post) for each measurement. RESULTS: Significant differences were seen in RPE across categories (RC: 7.4 ± 3.0; RV: 2.0 ± 1.1; P: 5.9 ± 2.3; p < 0.01). Composite SOFI scores were significantly different for RV (0.9 ± 0.46) compared to RC and P (0.71 ± 0.86 and 0.92 ± 0.81, respectively; p < 0.01). Subgroups of the SOFI were significantly different across most categories (p < 0.05) - Lack Energy (RC: 3.64 ± 1.38; RV: 0.51 ± 0.92; P: 2.40 ± 1.53), Physical Exertion RC: 3.83 ± 1.57; RV: 0.93 ± 0.81; P: 2.82 ± 1.34), Lack of Motivation (RC: 0.50 ± 1.18; RV: -0.41 ± 0.94; P: 0.08 ± 1.10), Sleepiness (RC: 0.37 ± 1.27; RV: -0.67 ± 1.16; P: -0.01 ± 1.50). Physical Discomfort showed significant differences (p < 0.05) between RC and P (1.23 ± 1.15 and 1.14 ± 1.38, respectively) in relation to RV (0.97 ± 0.59). CONCLUSIONS: The type of training session has an observable effect on fatigue, with racing exhibiting the highest reported scores of overall fatigue in collegiate runners. The SOFI sub-scales are more sensitive to different components of fatigue, but RPE adequately and simplistically captures the overall impact of different types of training sessions. These findings are useful for coaches to better maximize training potential while ensuring adequate recovery.