Comparison of spatio-temporal, metabolic, and psychometric responses in recreational and highly trained swimmers during and after a 400-m freestyle swim.

Spatio-temporal, metabolic and psychometric responses during and after a 400-m freestyle swim trial were investigated for gender and skill-level effects. Thirty-four men and women, 18 national and international competitors and 16 recreational swimmers, were compared. Mean speed, stroke rate (SR), and stroke length (SL) were obtained from video recordings. Peak heart rate (HR) and the lactate value (Hla) were determined, as were the recovery kinetics, i.e., the recovery time index (RTI) for heart rate and %Hla (r) for the lactate values. Well-being was assessed with the Profile of Mood States questionnaire (POMS). Subjective workload was assessed with the NASA-TLX questionnaire. The experts showed less variation in their swim speed than the recreational swimmers. The male experts showed greater SL and the female experts showed greater SL and SR. No significant difference was noted between the experts and recreational swimmers for peaks of HR and Hla, POMS (157.3 +/- 15.1 vs. 163.1 +/- 21.5), or subjective workload (32.4 +/- 6.7 vs. 31.6 +/- 6.1). The experts exhibited higher RTI (- 38.5 +/- 5.5 % vs. - 31.1 +/- 5.4 %) and %Hla (r) (8.6 +/- 7.18 % vs. 1.65 +/- 8.2 %). They also showed an improvement of 7.8 +/- 2.6 % for men and 6.02 +/- 1.6 % for women between the performance time for the trial and the best competitive time of the season. Last, our results suggest that the 400-m freestyle trial is a valid field test to evaluate the maximal aerobic speed (MAS) of swimmers with different training status. The systemic analysis herein described can be used to set the end-of-season target time for expert competitors. Attention should focus on SL, race management, and the physiological recovery for training prescription.