A Comparison of Athletesʼ and Coachesʼ Rating of Training

Abstract

1022 PURPOSE: Previous studies have shown a mismatching of the training load (TL) designed by coaches and executed by athletes. The difference was in the direction of athletes training too much on coach intended easy days, and too little on coach intended hard days. The purpose of this study was to determine whether differences in TL were related to the presence of a coach to supervise training sessions. METHODS: Training information including (session RPE (category ratio scale) and duration (minutes) was collected over 123 training sessions for 6 elite long track speed skaters (including 2 Olympians and 1 Olympic medalist). TL was calculated by multiplying session RPE by duration. RESULTS: There was a significant difference (p < 0.05) between TL of athletes (250 ± 378) and coaches (223 ± 143) during relatively easy sessions when coaches were not present. However, on harder training days when the coach was present, there was no significant difference in TL between athletes (985 ± 483) and coaches (946 ± 403). CONCLUSION: The lack of supervision when the coaches are not present apparently leads athletes toward overdoing easy training sessions. These data are consistent with earlier findings of athletes training inappropriately hard on coach designated recovery days, and suggest the need for more effective strategies for monitoring training during periods of recovery.