Fig. 1.

Differential responses in haematological markers of muscle damage, muscle metabolic strain, and endocrinological stress response. Panels show: a = blood leucocyte count; b = blood neutrophil count; c = blood cortisol concentration; d = blood interleukin-6 concentration. Note: blood interleukin-6 concentrations violated the assumption of normal distribution and thus non-parametric ANOVA after aligned rank transformation was conducted. Despite a significant interaction effect, simple main treatment effects did not reach significance. Abbreviations: # = main time effect; & = main group effect; % = time × group interaction effect; $ = simple (main) time effect for intervention trials; § = simple (main) time effect for control trials; * = simple (main) trial effect; ITT = intervention time trial; CTT = control time trial; DJ = drop-jump protocol; CTRL = control; RE = running economy