Determinants of Pacing Decisions in Competitive Endurance Activity

This portfolio consists of six peer reviewed journal articles relating to the overall theme of the role of decision-making in informing pacing in competitive endurance events. In addition to identifying the importance of pacing decisions in determining performance level achieved, the complexity of the factors informing the process are explored. Whilst physiological state, psychological state, and the perception of exertion are important in a laboratory time trial environment, mass start races are complicated by the presence of other competitors who appear to also influence decision-making. The outputs in this portfolio investigate the role of physiological and psychological parameters in influencing pacing, and present models that may explain the decision-making process leading to observed pacing behaviours. Specifically, work in this portfolio identifies a potential role for affect and the importance of assessment of risk in informing decisions, and proposes that the decision-making process may also be influenced by a hardwired tendency to engage in collective behaviours that could ultimately be detrimental in some endurance sport competitions. It is concluded that pacing behaviour results from complex decision-making processes informed by multiple interconnected physiological and psychological variables, in addition to athlete-environment interactions. Future research priorities are identified as identification of the relative weightings assigned to internal and external (environmental) factors in informing pacing decisions, further development of interdisciplinary models of pacing during competition, and development and testing of interventions that better enable athletes to maintain individually optimal pacing strategies during competition in order to realise performance potential.