Influence of post-warm-up recovery time on swim performance in international swimmers

Objectives: Swimmers must enter a marshalling call-room 20 min prior to racing, which results in some swimmers completing their warm-up 45 min pre-race. Since a recovery period longer than 15-20 min may prove problematic, this study examined 200 m freestyle performance after a 20 and 45 min post-warm-up recovery period. Design: Eight international swimmers completed this randomised and counter-balanced study. Methods: After a standardised warm-up, swimmers rested for either 20 (20 min) or 45 min (45 mm) prior to completing a 200 m freestyle time-trial (TT). Core temperature (T-core), blood lactate (BL), heart rate and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded at baseline, post-warm-up, pre-TT, immediately post-TT and at 3 min post-TT. Results: T-core was similar after the warm-up under both conditions, however, at pre-TT T-core was greater under 20 min (mean +/- SD; 20 min 37.8 +/- 0.2 vs. 45 min 37.5 +/- 0.2 degrees C; P=0.002). BL was similar between conditions at all-time points before the TT (P>0.05). Swimmers demonstrated a 1.5 +/- 1.1% improvement in performance under 20 min (20 min 125.74 +/- 3.64 vs. 45 min 127.60 +/- 3.55s; P=0.01). Tcore was similar between conditions at immediately post-TT and 3 min post-TT (P>0.05), however, BL was higher at these time points under 20 min (P<0.05). Heart rate and RPE were similar between conditions at all-time points (P>0.05). Conclusions: 200 m freestyle performance is faster 20 min post-warm-up when compared to 45 min probably due to better T-core maintenance. This has implications for swim race preparation as warm-up procedures should be completed close to entering the pre-race call room, in order to maintain elevated core temperature. (C) 2012 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.