Attention and self-regulation during endurance performance: a metacognitive framework (Brick 2016)

Brick, MacIntyre and Campbell give a cognitive account of self-regulation during endurance performance: how an athlete balances speed or power to reach an optimal result, and how what the athlete thinks about influences effort perception, physiological responses and performance.

They propose that effective cognitive control needs both proactive, goal-driven and reactive, stimulus-driven processes, and give metacognition — monitoring and controlling one's own thoughts — a central role. The framework is illustrated with Bradley Wiggins' 2015 Hour record. No experiment is reported; the paper is a perspective built on existing evidence.

Coach attention as a switchable skill, not a fixed setting. Near the limit — hard intervals, the closing part of a hard effort — cue association: cadence control, breathing rhythm, muscle engagement, rather than counting down time or watching scenery.

At low intensity, or when the aim is mood and boredom management, dissociation is a legitimate choice, not a failure of discipline. The trainable part is the meta-cognition — noticing which focus the moment calls for and moving between them — so rehearse both in training instead of drilling one strategy.

Attach no performance figures to this: the source is a conceptual review and reports none.