Cognitive strategies and recall of pace by long-distance runners

The purpose of this study was to examine whether long-distance runners with high or low performance of recalling running pace differed in their use of cognitive strategies in a race. Recalling pace means the accuracy which runners have to approach their self-set target pace in a race. 60 male competitive runners who participated in a 20-km intercollegiate race were categorized as either runners with high recall of pace (accurate) or the runners with low recall of pace (inaccurate) on the basis of the discrepancy between a self-set target time and actual time. Analysis showed that the 30 accurate recallers used the attention strategies more frequently for recalling running pace, used the strategy of following other runners less frequently, and set a more appropriate finish time in accordance with their running ability than the 30 inaccurate recallers. The accurate recallers, who monitored their running pace and fatigue by using attention strategies, would reproduce more accurate self-set target times in accordance with their running ability.