5 Considerations for Quantifying Stress

Coaches and athletes alike are often quoted using the old standby “listen to your body” when it comes to managing stress while training, but what does that really mean? By simply listening to our bodies are we able to deliver a truly objective approach to training and stress management? For some athletes, there may be value in attempting to do a better job of quantifying the role and toll that stress has on training quality. Using a blend of metrics, non-traditional concepts, and routine tracking may help to shed light on how training should be modified during times of increased stress.

Track Sleep Hours and Quality

It may sound obvious to most athletes, but the easiest and best way to manage stress is to sleep. In our modern 24/7 lives, this is so often easier said than done. Not only is the amount of sleep that you get important, but the quality of that sleep is also key. Start by getting in the habit of tracking how much you slept as well as the objective quality of that sleep every morning when you get up. When comparing these metrics against performance it’s a good idea to set up a chart in your TrainingPeaks dashboard to keep tabs on any trends that might be taking shape over a given time period. With the help of new emerging technology, you can take things a step further by keeping track of more quantifiable sleep metrics such as sleep latency, sleep efficiency, sleep consistency, respiratory rate, time in REM and more. These types of metrics attempt to shed light on the quality component of sleep, and if tracked over time can help you make concrete decisions regarding daily training. 

Heart Rate Variability (HRV)

HRV has gained popularity and credibility in the last few years as coaches and athletes begin to understand how it can be used to more accurately prescribe training load. If you’re not familiar with HRV it’s very simply a method for understanding the effect that stress has on the body. More specifically it measures the time gaps between heartbeats. HRV helps to quantify total load by taking into consideration sleep, diet, stress, etc. versus purely focusing on physical stress. Recording your HRV every morning before any training has occurred, and then tracking trends in HRV on a rolling 7-day average can provide insight into how stressors are manifesting themselves in the body. Studies have shown that looking at HRV through the lens of longer-term averages instead of a daily HRV score helps emphasize cumulative fatigue. The key to HRV is consistent tracking on a daily basis. Once trends uncover themselves HRV can be a very powerful tool in the integration of stress into training decisions.

Does Stress Have a TSS Score?

Often when discussing and attempting to quantify stress, and it’s subsequent impacts, more nuanced approaches must be considered. Remember, we’re ultimately trying to assign metrics to the age-old “listen to your body” approach, and this isn’t always as black and white as we’d like. One possible approach is to treat stress like a workout, meaning that during periods of particularly high stress we can assign a TSS number to these days/weeks to help compensate and proportionally weight the toll that stress takes on performance. This concept requires a good understanding of an athlete’s body either by the athlete themselves, or their coach. Making the link between how an athlete feels after different types (intensities) of workouts, and how they may feel during stressful periods can be a good approach to defining stress in terms of Training Stress Score. This may take some experimentation, but it can be a valuable exercise when attempting to factor stress into overall training load. 

TSS May Not Tell the Whole Story

One of my favorite sayings is that “Training doesn’t happen in a vacuum”. What this means is that we can’t look purely at performance metrics and expect to get the whole story. The body and mind are dynamic and can change dramatically from day to day. This is more of the “art” of training and coaching that requires experience and the ability to factor in sometimes hard to decipher signs of fatigue, stress, overtraining, and/or burnout. The subtle tells may never show up in CTL, ATL, and TSB, but taking action on them may very well be the difference between a long and sustainable career in endurance sports, and one that ends abruptly. The end goal is to pay close attention to the whole picture and don’t be blinded by what you see on the PMC and push forward with reckless abandon. 

Mood and Motivation

These metrics, when tracked consistently, can help to shed some light on the “art” of training that’s mentioned above. How an athlete feels, not physically in terms of fatigue, but their emotional state and drive can be very telling. When tracked in conjunction they can show a trend that can help to uncover stressful time periods that athletes may be trying to deny or push through. It’s a natural inclination to want to perform well, so many athletes will deny their ongoing negative mood, or lack of motivation in an attempt to make progress. While not every day or week is going to be a home run, and there will certainly be tough periods, if pushed too far everyone has their breaking point. There must be highpoints and times when things are going right, otherwise, it may become too much weight to bear.

Stress, and how it’s managed, plays an integral role in performance. The body and mind are intrinsically linked, and this relationship must be treated with the same importance that we give key workouts. There are many different methods to capture and track stress. The most important component of this being that it’s done consistently and taken into consideration when weighing decisions related to training prescription and goals. Stress is a natural part of the human condition, but as athletes, it’s vital that it be given the weight and attention it deserves so that a balanced approach is reached.

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