Self-regulation and Emotion Regulation in Endurance Performance

Self-regulation is described as the ability to successfully monitor and control one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions in accordance with the demands of a task. It involves change to bring one’s thinking and behaviour in line with often consciously desired standards and goals. Endurance athletes frequently attempt to control their thoughts and feelings in a deliberate, goal-driven fashion to regulate performance. In essence, this requires both “thinking” (e.g. engaging cognitive strategies, such as relaxation or self-talk) and “thinking about thinking” (i.e. meta-cognition) to plan, monitor, and adapt situationally-appropriate cognitive strategies during endurance performance. Affective states and emotions also influence endurance performance. More so, recent literature has suggested that affective states may play a mediatory role in the regulation of exercise intensity during endurance activity. Accordingly, in this chapter we will discuss the roles of cognitive processes and affective states in the self-regulation of endurance performance. The focus will be on the influence of cognitive and affective processes on whole-body endurance performance. We also present a three-dimensional framework that highlights the interdependencies between sensory, affective, and cognitive processes to determine goal-directed exercise behaviour. Finally, based on the evidence presented throughout this chapter, implications for applied practitioners and researchers will be provided in the context of optimising endurance performance.