BackgroundNo literature reviews have systematically identified and evaluated research on the psychological determinants of endurance performance, and sport psychology performance enhancement guidelines for endurance sports are not founded on a systematic appraisal of endurance-specific research.ObjectiveA systematic literature review was conducted to identify practical psychological interventions that improve endurance performance and to identify additional psychological factors that affect endurance performance. Additional objectives were to evaluate the research practices of the included studies, to suggest theoretical and applied implications, and to guide future research.MethodsElectronic databases, forward-citation searches and manual searches of reference lists were used to locate relevant studies. Peer-reviewed studies were included when they chose an experimental or quasi-experimental research design; a psychological manipulation; endurance performance as the dependent variable; and athletes or physically active, healthy adults as participants.ResultsConsistent support was found for using imagery, self-talk and goal setting to improve endurance performance, but it is unclear whether learning multiple psychological skills is more beneficial than learning one psychological skill. The results also demonstrated that mental fatigue undermines endurance performance, and verbal encouragement and head-to-head competition can have a beneficial effect. Interventions that influenced perception of effort consistently affected endurance performance.ConclusionsPsychological skills training could benefit an endurance athlete. Researchers are encouraged to compare different practical psychological interventions, to examine the effects of these interventions for athletes in competition and to include a placebo control condition or an alternative control treatment. Researchers are also encouraged to explore additional psychological factors that could have a negative effect on endurance performance. Future research should include psychological mediating variables and moderating variables. Implications for theoretical explanations for endurance performance and evidence-based practice are described.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40279-015-0319-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This study aimed to identify psychological demands that are commonly experienced by endurance athletes so that these demands could inform the design of performanceenhancement psychological interventions for endurance athletes. Focus group interviews were conducted with 30 recreational endurance athletes of various sports (running, cycling, and triathlon), distances, and competitive levels to explore the psychological demands of training, competition preparation, and competition participation. An inductive thematic analysis was used to identify psychological demands that were experienced across sports, distances, and competitive levels. Seven themes captured demands that were commonly experienced away from the competitive environment (time investment and lifestyle sacrifices, commitment to training sessions, concerns about optimising training, and exercise sensations during training), preceding an endurance event (pre-event stressors), or during an event (exercise sensations, optimising pacing, and remaining focused despite adversity). Interventions that could be delivered to recreational athletes, who do not typically have access to a sport psychologist, are suggested. Experimental research examining the efficacy of interventions that help endurance athletes to cope with the reported psychological demands is encouraged.Keywords: cycling, focus groups, qualitative research, running, stressors, triathlon 3 Through this research, we aim to contribute to the design of performance-enhancement 1 psychological interventions for endurance athletes by increasing the understanding of the 2 psychological demands commonly encountered by endurance athletes. Sport psychology 3 professional practice guidelines (Birrer & Morgan, 2010; Simons, 2012; Taylor, 1995) 4 encourage practitioners who are designing a psychological performance-enhancement 5 intervention to target the psychological demands of the sport, in order to optimise the efficacy 6 of the intervention. Although the prominent psychological demands experienced in specific 7 endurance events vary (e.g., Dosil, 2006), there may be demands that are commonly 8 experienced across various endurance sports, competitive distances, and competitive levels. 9Research examining the efficacy of interventions at improving endurance performance could 10 target these common demands, which would provide an evidence base for practitioners 11 working with endurance athletes who compete in various endurance events. In other words, 12 efficacious interventions that target common psychological demands could have a wide 13 application.14 Psychological demands relate to stressors in transactional theories of stress (e.g., 15Fletcher, Hanton, & Mellalieu, 2006;Lazarus, 1999). Contemporary transactional theories in 16 sport psychology propose that stress is "an ongoing process that involves individuals 17 transacting with their environment, making appraisals of the situations they find themselves in, 18and endeavouring to cope with any issues that might arise" (Fletcher et al., 2006, p.329)...

This study is the first to empirically demonstrate that exercise intensity distorts time perception, particularly during maximal exercise. Consequently external feedback of chronological time may be an important factor for athletes undertaking maximal effort tasks or competitions.

There is considerable research interest in psychological aspects of endurance performance. Until recently, research typically lacked a theoretical underpinning, and contemporary research is particularly informed by the psychobiological model of endurance performance. In this critical review, we propose that psychological theories relating to self-regulation, particularly self-efficacy theory and the process model of emotion regulation, could shed more light on how endurance performance is determined and lead to additional understanding of how psychological interventions can be used. We argue that people encounter fewer stressors in most experimental studies than are encountered before and during real-life events. In addition, we argue that most research conducted to date has focused on the forethought and performance phases of self-regulation, rather than the self-reflection phase, and research has not considered the cyclical nature of self-regulation. We also argue that if research participants are not endurance athletes, then their motivation may not be self-determined and self-regulatory learning may not take place. Recommendations are given for future research, and evidence-based guidance is offered on enhancing performance and improving the quality of experience for endurance athletes.