SELF REGULATION / 004 [SHOULD YOU CHANGE YOUR GOAL IN THE MIDDLE OF A RACE?]

Question
How do top runners decide during a race whether to stick to their goal, lower it or raise it?

Study
Researchers interviewed 21 distance runners, from regional to Olympic level, a few days after an excellent race: a personal record or a leading position. They went through the race phase by phase and asked about thoughts, feelings and goals.

Findings
All runners held on to their goal at some point, and 10 changed their goal during the race. They made these decisions by comparing where they wanted to be with where they actually were. When they fell behind, some pushed harder. Others switched to a realistic alternative instead of giving up, like an ultrarunner who missed his A goal of 264 kilometres and switched to his B goal. When they were ahead early in the race, they stuck to their original goal, often remembering races where they had started too fast. When they were ahead late in the race, some raised their goal, like a runner who went from 100 to 150 miles.

What It Means for Athletes
A goal is not fixed once the race starts. Adjusting it, down or up, is a skill that can save a race or turn a good one into a great one. These were interviews afterwards about best races only, so memories may be coloured, but the patterns are very practical.

Try this: before your next race, set three goals. A: your dream result. B: realistic. C: the minimum you'll still be proud of. Add one plan: "If I'm behind my A goal at halfway, I switch to B and focus on my next split."

Source
Jackman, P. C., Whitehead, A. E., Swann, C., & Brick, N. E. (2024). Self-regulatory processes in goal striving during excellent distance-running performances: A qualitative study. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 70, 102516.

BEHIND THE SCIENCE
Translating sports science into information athletes can actually use.

Written by Tom Christiaan Boek
MSc student Sport & Performance Psychology, University of Amsterdam

EMOTIONS / 001 [DO EMOTIONS HELP OR HURT YOUR SELF CONTROL?]

Question
Are emotions the enemy of discipline?

Study
In this book chapter, researchers summarised experiments on how emotions affect self control. Most studies were done in the lab with students, not athletes.

Findings
Negative emotions can derail you in three ways. First, you start chasing a better feeling right now: sad people ate more and procrastinated, but only when they believed it would improve their mood. Second, intense emotions like anger make you ignore information and take bigger risks. Just one minute of thinking about pros and cons undid that. Third, when you feel bad about yourself, you want to escape that feeling, for example through distraction or alcohol, and you stop keeping an eye on yourself. But emotions also help. Negative emotions signal that you're off track and push you to change. Positive emotions signal progress and can recharge your self control.

What It Means for Athletes
Emotions are a feedback system, not a weakness. The problem starts when you act to get rid of a feeling instead of acting toward your goal, like the retaliation foul after a bad decision by the referee. Keep in mind that this research comes mostly from the lab and some theories have not been fully replicated.

Try this: after a big emotional moment in a match, take one breath before your next decision and ask: what do I want right now, and what does the game need right now?

Source
Baumeister, R. F., Zell, A. L., & Tice, D. M. (2007). How emotions facilitate and impair self-regulation. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 408 to 422). Guilford Press.

BEHIND THE SCIENCE
Translating sports science into information athletes can actually use.