The Effects of Mental Pacing on the Mile Run

Success in cardio-based physical activity is often related to the ability to pace oneself. Pacing allows the athlete to decide how and when to invest the most and least amount of energy into their performances. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine if college students and faculty can mentally pace themselves on a one-mile run. METHODS: Thirty apparently healthy females (n=11) and males (n=14) participated. All subjects were capable of either walking or running a mile and all testing was completed in a single session using a 150m indoor track. Participants were asked to remove any headphones, watches, phones or any other devices that could pace them from their body. Following a brief warm-up, participants provided their predicted mile time. Participants then began running or walking at their predicted pace until completing approximately 11 laps around the track. Observers were not allowed to cheer or talk to participants, unless it was to inform them about being on their last lap. Once the participants finished the eleven laps, the overall time was recorded and compared to the predicted time. A pair-samples t-test was used to compare the predicted times versus the actual time to completion. RESULTS: As a group, the participants significantly (pCONCLUSION:The results of this study show that participants tend to over-predict their actual times while completing the activity at a faster pace. In conclusion, males were able to more accurately predicted their actual times (+0:07sec) without aid of a watch, phone, or any other form of pacing, while females mostly over predicted their times (+0:39sec)