Mind and motion – AW

A new research project from ASICS is exploring how much of an impact perception of effort can have on athletes 

Last December, AW travelled down to Seville to witness a new research project by ASICS on the perception of effort. The purpose of the experiment was to discover the relationship between how athletes run and their perception of effort, physically and mentally, focusing on the impact of pacing. 

For the experiment, ASICS created a 600m lap with asphalt surface at the Plaza de America. When elite athletes from ASICS ran on the circuit, wearing the new METASPEED™ Series – the METASPEED™ SKY PARIS and the METASPEED™ EDGE PARIS – they were either running at a constant pace or one which varied. The aim was to establish their perception of effort during both types of pace and to, crucially, understand their physical and mental states in response to changes in speed. 

During the 10km runs, athletes passed the ASICS Institute of Sport Science team (ISS), who asked athletes to shout a number based on a large scale which visualised numbers 0-10, located on the inside of the track just before the finish straight. For example, if an athlete shouted 0 then they perceived themselves to be putting no effort into their run, whereas 10 would be the maximum. 

To learn more about the experiment and its importance, AW spoke to Professor Samuele Marcora, who worked with ASICS on the project and specialises in the interplay between physiology and psychology of athletes. 

What was the idea/inspiration behind the experiment and what’s the impact of “perception of effort”? 

I’ve been involved with ASICS since 2018 and their philosophy is to help everyone achieve a ‘sound mind in a sound body’. 

I’m an expert in that field and during any exercise, certainly running, one of the best ways to judge the relationship between an athlete’s mind and body is through perception of effort. 

The research question for this project came from ASICS’ ISS team and that came from work they’d be doing for a while. They wanted to test the self-regulation of athletes’ speed and the behaviours associated with them. How did the change in pace in a race impact their perception of effort? Was there any correlation? 

To test the behaviours of athletes, we split the experiment into sections and started with an “even pacing strategy”. That’s basically maintaining the same pace throughout the race. The…