Mood disturbances associated with training distress in swimmers

Titrating training volume to optimize physical readiness and avoid training distress in swimmers is a difficult challenge for coaches. The purpose of this study was to examine alterations in mood state in collegiate swimmers throughout an entire season and determine if there were differences across time, between training groups, gender, and year in school. A swim test was also employed to determine if alterations in swim times were associated with mood disturbance. Mood state and the swim test times were measured every three weeks. The results showed significant alterations in total mood disturbance (TMD) across time; and between genders, year in school and training group. When training volume was the highest, TMD in the swimmers had the greatest perturbations. These time periods were also associated with small but significant increases in the swim test times. These results indicate that use of the Profile of Mood States Questionnaire and a physiological swim test may be useful for detecting training distress in swimmers. Swim coaches may benefit from employing either or both of these tools for designing and tailoring training sessions and tapering for optimal performance