Exploring psychological strategies to manage fatigue in endurance sport

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to examine psychological interventions and their contextual validity in endurance-based sporting events. Over the course of three studies the work examines interventions for coping with fatigue in both laboratory and real-world settings. Participants range in ability and experience from novice to sub-elite competitors. The two cycling-based studies explore pacing strategies and goal directed self-talk. The final study delivers brief interventions to sub-elite runners in repeated trials at their local parkrun. Results throughout were mixed and often it was not clear the extent to which the intervention had been effective. The studies highlight the complexity and challenge involved in trying to teach and then measure psychological interventions in this context. Many factors influence performance, and more work is needed in understanding and highlighting the impact of training, experience, competitive conditions, belief effect and so on. In particular the motivation levels of athletes are critical when trying to assess a maximal performance. Case studies will be a useful model in future research to understand the complexities of individual athletes. Finding creative ways to examine athletes in environmentally valid settings, where there can be a high degree of confidence in athlete effort levels, will be valuable. The relationship between belief effect and the athlete’s choice of coping strategy is worthy of further research.