In a psychobiological world, your perceived ability to sustain the same or higher pace over the remaining distance of a race is driven by five factors. Primary amongst these is the balance between perceived effort and motivation. Additionally your prior experience, knowledge of the race distance, and knowledge of the distance remaining will affect how you time your effort at any stage in the race.

This self-regulation of pace is then affected by an additional two factors; the presence and actions of competitors, and the athletes pre-planned pacing strategy. With the effort being modulated by biomechanics and technique, you arrive at your performance velocity and pacing pattern – namely how fast you go for the race.

Thoughts of slowing down or stopping are described in the literature as equating to a “psychological crisis” – something that all endurance athletes can relate to!

What capacities can be developed, and skills learned, to positively affect the above equation? Either in practice beforehand or during the race itself? Research supports the following;

Firstly the development of an athlete’s “psychological battery” of grit and mental toughness that enables them to handle physical and mental stress during training and in races. Developing a larger psychological battery, being more effective at controlling its discharge, and better able to recharge it are all teachable and learnable skills.

Secondly, certain psychological skills have been identified as particularly effective in helping endurance athletes overcome slowing down and can be developed by coaches and athletes without necessarily needing a clinical sports psychologist on staff. For example, race goal setting, self-talk (motivational and instructional), if/then scenario planning, and pacing practice are relevant and powerful in the rowing world.

How do these capacities and skills help you go faster? The video below ties it all together; illustrating where these two psychological capacities, and the four psychological skills particularly pertinent to rowing, affect race pacing – ending up with your athletes going faster!