The importance of sleep in the recovery process is well-established. Exploring the potential impact of athletes' recovery on the subsequent day's external workload during training adds a critical insight into the relationship between sleep and athletic performance. The understanding of recovery and external workload is particularly important for enhancing an athlete`s well-being and performance. PURPOSE: Determine the relationship between self-reported sleep parameters and measures of external workload during training. METHODS: Twenty National Collegiate Athletics Association Division I women`s lacrosse athletes participated in this study. Athletes wore Polar Team Pro monitors during all training sessions and completed a morning sleep questionnaire for four weeks in the off-season. External workload was evaluated via total distance (TD), high-speed distance (HSR), rate of distance covered (rDIST, m/min), and relative high-speed distance covered (rHSR, %TD). Self-reported sleep duration (SD) was recorded in hours and sleep quality (SQ) on a 5-point scale with half-point increments. Linear regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between sleep parameters and external workload measures while adjusting for individual training sessions (a = 0.05). RESULTS: SD did not significantly predict TD (p = 0.467), HSR (p = 0.058), or rDIST (p = 0.117). However, SD had a significant relationship with rHSR (p = 0.012). SQ did not significantly predict TD (p = 0.963), HSR (p = 0.515), rDIST (p = 0.106), or rHSR (p = 0.412). CONCLUSION: The results reveal that duration of sleep the night before a training session does have a significant impact on the training intensity. After adjusting the models for the individual training sessions, sleep duration and quality did not have a significant impact on total volume of practice since it is likely that the practice plans may dictate these values. Therefore, coaches and trainers should be aware of the negative effects on high-intensity capabilities resulting from shorter duration of nightly sleep.
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