My Research

My research examines how psychological interventions can be used to improve the performances of people who participate in endurance sports, such as middle- and long-distance running, cycling, swimming, and triathlon events.

The first piece of research that I published from my PhD was a literature review of all of the published research that has examined the effects of psychological interventions on endurance performance. In this review, we found considerable support that learning psychological skills such as goal setting, imagery, and self-talk can improve the performances of endurance athletes. We also found that external motivators, such as head-to-head competition and verbal encouragement, which can be applied practically by coaches can have substantial benefits on performance. In addition, we found that some psychological factors can have a detrimental effect on performance. In particular, engaging in prolonged and demanding tasks can cause mental fatigue, which leads to endurance exercise feeling even more strenuous.

The second piece of research that I published from my PhD was a qualitative study that examined the psychological demands experienced by recreational-level runners, cyclists, and triathletes who participate in a range of endurance competitions. Our aim was to use the findings to inform the design of interventions that could help athletes to perform better and have a more enjoyable and satisfying experience in their sport. We conducted group interviews with runners, cyclists, and triathletes who competed in a range of events and at different competitive levels, and we asked about the mental demands that they experience during training, before events, and during events. We paid particular interest to the demands that were commonly reported by different types of endurance athletes. We found the following:

• People committed a substantial amount of time to their sport, and their sport competed with family, friends, jobs, and study for their time. Finding enough time to train was often stressful, and the sacrifices people made to train and compete were often sources of negative emotions such as guilt.

• Some people worried about whether they were getting their training right, in terms of doing the right amounts of the right types of training, to the right standard.

• Remaining committed to frequent training was challenging. People were tempted to miss training sessions, particularly when training alone in unpleasant weather.

• People often worried about things going wrong before an event, and a lot did go wrong! For example, some people arrived late and some forgot equipment. Pre-event experiences were often stressful and characterised by negative emotions, rather than anticipation and excitement.

• Training and events can be strenuous, painful, and feel unpleasant.

• During events, people often worried about whether they were getting their pacing right – “Can I go faster and still make it to the finish?” They also had difficult decisions to make when racing – “Should I follow my competitor, or stick to my own pace?"

• Runners, cyclists, and triathletes need to overcome a huge number of adversities during events that include weather and conditions, navigation, equipment malfunction, nutrition and hydration problems, and getting overtaken. Effective coping is needed to stop these adversities from harming people’s focus and motivation.