The relationship between pacing and cognitive strategies during 800 m for collegiate students

Abstract

Athletes in middle- and long-distance running must expend all their energy until they cross the finish line to achieve their best performance. Previous studies have demonstrated that the positive pace strategy for 800m and 1500m is the best strategy to achieve a record. The present study aimed to investigate the race strategy for 800m. Few studies have examined the relationship between pacing and cognitive strategies in inexperienced runners. Fifty-three female participants were recruited. We employed an 800m run as the running performance. We used the strategy scale for recalling the pace. For the upper group, there was no significant slowdown up to 400m. There was a gradual decrease in pace after 400m. In the lower group, there was a significant decrease in pace after 100m. There was a negative relationship between cognitive and pacing strategies, with participants who ran with someone else displaying better running performance. Additionally, participants who were more concerned about their time displayed a better running performance.