Factors associated with perceived performance drops and musculoskeletal injuries in Brazilian recreational triathletes

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to investigate sleep characteristics, use of supplements, and training volume of recreation-al triathletes, and to verify possible associations with perceived performance drops and occur-rence of injuries.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Recreational triathletes (n=942) answered a questionnaire in-quiring about their demographic characteristics, performance, injuries and training volume.RESULTS: When comparing athletes who slept more (9-10 hours) with those who slept less, less sleep was associated with a higher prevalence of perceived performance drops. Regarding dif-ficulties in initiating sleep, the absence of initiat-ing difficulties (p<0.001) was a protective factor against perceived performance drops. Regard-ing weekly training volume, compared to those who trained more than 20 hours, training less than 3 hours (p<0.001), 3-5 hours (p<0.001), or 12-14 hours (p<0.001) were protective factors against perceived performance drops. Con-cerning training volume and injuries, we found that compared to those who trained more than 20 hours, training 18-20 hours (p<0.001), 15-17 hours (p<0.001), 12-14 hours (p<0.001), 6-8 hours (p<0.001), or 3-5 hours (p<0.001) were protective factors against injuries.CONCLUSIONS: Triathletes with a lower sleep quantity and those who have difficulties initiat-ing sleep frequently experience drops in per-formance. Training volumes can influence both performance and the likelihood of injuries.

Automated summary

The study found that sleep quality could impact performance and injury risk in triathletes. Less sleep, as well as difficulties in falling asleep, were associated with higher likelihood of performance drops.