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International Journal of Sport and
Exercise Psychology
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Emotion regulation strategies used in
the hour before running
Damian M. Stanley
a
, Andrew M. Lane
a
, Christopher J. Beedie
a
,
Andrew P. Friesen
a
& Tracey J. Devonport
a
a
School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure, University of
Wolverhampton, Walsall, UK
Available online: 05 Apr 2012
To cite this article: Damian M. Stanley, Andrew M. Lane, Christopher J. Beedie, Andrew P. Friesen
& Tracey J. Devonport (2012): Emotion regulation strategies used in the hour before running,
International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, DOI:10.1080/1612197X.2012.671910
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2012.671910
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Emotion regulation strategies used in the hour before running
Damian M. Stanley*, Andrew M. Lane, Christopher J. Beedie, Andrew P. Friesen
and Tracey J. Devonport
School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure, University of Wolverhampton, Walsall, UK
(Received 18 April 2011; final version received 1 August 2011)
An online survey was used to explore emotion regulation strategies used by runners (N = 506,
mean age = 37.69 years, SD = 8.84 years) in the hour prior to training or competition. Content
analysis of responses identified 28 categories of emotion regulation strategy, with the most
popular being goal setting (23%), distraction (12%), recall of past performance
accomplishments (12%), and anticipated pleasant emotions after running (10%). Participants
reported greater use of cognitive strategies than behavioural ones, with responses suggesting
that emotion regulation and performance management are closely related. Given this
cognitive focus, and given the performance aspect inherent to running, it is suggested that
individuals’ approaches to emotion regulation in sport and exercise contexts differ
somewhat from those involved in general daily activities reported in the social psychology
literature.
Keywords: emotion; mood; affect; self-regulation; psychological skills
Evidence suggests that athletes experience emotions such as excitement, joy, relief, anger, dejec-
tion, and anxiety in training and competition (e.g., Hanin, 2000; Jones, Lane, Bray, Uphill, &
Catlin, 2005).
1
It has also been demonstrated that emotions influence the process and outcome
of athletic performance, and that some emotions, such as anger and anxiety, might be associated
with both successful and unsuccessful performance (e.g., Beedie, Terry, & Lane, 2000). The
complex links between emotion and performance are increasingly being demonstrated (e.g.,
see Hanin, 2007; Lane, 2008). However, a concern remaining for sport and exercise scientists
is how best to ensure that athletes attain and maintain optimal emotional states prior to and
during competition.
Emotion regulation is defined as a set of automatic and controlled processes involved in the
initiation, maintenance and modification of the occurrence, intensity, and duration of feeling states
(Eisenberg, Fabes, Guthrie, & Reiser, 2000). In the social psychology literature, emotion regu-
lation has attracted considerable attention (for a recent meta-analysis see Augustine & Hemen-
over, 2008). Findings suggest that individuals not only monitor their emotional states and
make judgements about these, but that they develop strategies to increase, decrease, or maintain
emotions when they perceive this to be necessary (e.g., Niven, Totterdell, & Holman, 2009;
Parkinson & Totterdell, 1999; Thayer, Newman, & McClain, 1994).
Researchers in social psychology have identified a wide range of emotion regulation strategies
used by individuals in everyday life (e.g., Thayer et al., 1994). Subsequent work has sought to
ISSN 1612-197X print/ISSN 1557-251X online
© 2012 International Society of Sport Psychology
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2012.67191 0
http://www.tandfonline.com
*Corresponding author. Email: D.Stanley@wlv.ac.uk
International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology
iFirst, 2012, 1–13
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classify such strategies. For example, Parkinson and Totterdell (1999) distinguished between cog-
nitive and behavioural emotion regulation strategies (e.g., trying to understand one’s emotions, or
going shopping, respectively), and between avoidance (e.g., diverting attention away from one’s
emotions via techniques such as looking at pictures of a loved one) and engagement strategies
(e.g., directly attending to emotions being experienced via techniques such as thinking
logically about one’s emotions, in order to understand their cause). Niven et al. (2009) suggested
the classification of emotion regulation strategies into those used with the intention of either
improving or worsening the emotions of others (e.g., complimenting or ignoring someone,
respectively). Gross and John (2003) suggested classification of emotion regulation strategies
into those that are either antecedent-focused (e.g., attempting to regulate emotions before an
anticipated emotional event, such as viewing an interview as an opportunity to learn more
about a job, rather than a test of one’s worth) or response-focused (e.g., suppressing an
emotion after it has occurred).
In sport, Stevens and Lane ( 2001) found some support among athletes for the utility of strat-
egies previously reported in social psychology. Changing location, exercising and listening to
music were the most popular strategies among athletes, with certain strategies unique to the tar-
geting of particular emotions (e.g., seeking to be alone was used for the regulation of anger).
Stevens and Lane concluded that athletes perceive emotions as controllable and not deterministic
reactions to external factors.
However, it is possible that Stevens and Lane’s (2001) findings, based on a social psychology
framework (Thayer et al., 1994), do not reflect the full range of strategies utilised by athletes to
regulate emotions prior to or during performance. For example, many of the emotion regulation
situations in Thayer’s framework did not have any kind of task or performance element. Further-
more, a number of the strategies described would not be practical or suitable before or during ath-
letic performance (e.g., going shopping or drinking alcohol). Therefore questions remain
concerning the range of emotion regulation strategies used by athletes, and the degree to
which these strategies differ from those used in nonsporting contexts. The emotion regulation lit-
erature in social psychology is substantial. Gaining a comprehensive description of emotion regu-
lation strategies used by athletes might help to determine the degree to which the models,
measures, and interventions developed in social psychology might be applicable to sport, and
might also pave the way for work assessing the effectiveness of these strategies. Accordingly,
the present study used an open-ended survey approach to allow participants the opportunity to
describe emotion regulation strategies they use prior to performance. Prior work (e.g., Campen
& Roberts, 2001; Stevens & Lane, 2001) was extended by recruiting a larger, more heterogeneous
sample in age, gender and competitive level.
Method
Participants
Participants were 506 runners (189 male/317 female) ranging in age from 16 to 67 years (mean
age = 37.69 years, SD = 8.84 years). Participants reported the weekly mileage they run, with a
mean value of 22.74 miles (SD = 12.87). They were also asked whether they run in organised
races/events, and if so, what their upper distance limit is. Responses covered participants who
do not attend such events (n = 10), those specifying they do not attend because they are beginner
runners ( n = 4), and upper distances of up to 3.1 miles (5 km; n = 15), up to 6.2 miles (10 km;
n = 114), up to half marathon (n = 189), up to full marathon (n = 144), and 30 missing values.
Participants’ highest level of competition was recreational (n = 306), club (n = 111), regional
(n = 48), national (n = 26) and international (n = 14), with one missing value. The distance of
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the run being referred to in participants’ descriptions of their use of emotion regulation strategies
was also reported. The mean distance was 8.91 miles (SD = 6.71).
Procedure
Following institutional ethics approval, participants were invited to complete an online survey
via the website of the popular magazine “ Runner’s World” (www.runnersworld.co.uk). A link
to the survey was placed on the home page of the magazine’s website for two weeks in mid
2010. After providing demographic information, participants were requested to respond to the
following:
Try to remember how you felt before you performed in a recent running event. This could be an organ-
ised race or a training session but it should be one where you experienced intense emotions. Once you
have an event in your mind, please indicate how you felt approximately 1 hour before performance in
the space below.
Then,
In relation to how you felt before the performance above, what strategies did you use to influence the
way you were feeling? It does not matter whether the strategies worked or not, please simply indicate
those you used. Please provide details about these strategies in the space below.
Participants provided open-ended responses using as many words as they required. The time
frame of one hour before performance was selected as this is the standard time to assess emotional
states shortly before competition (see Martens, Vealey, Burton, Bump, & Smith, 1990). Despite
this time period being the focus of the present study, researchers should note that precompetitive
emotions can extend beyond this timeframe (see Cerin, Szab o, Hunt, & Williams, 2000).
Data analysis proce dures
A conventional content analysis (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) was performed to generate categories
of emotion regulation strategies employed by participants. Content analysis is defined as a
“research method for the subjective interpretation of the content of text data through the systema-
tic classification process of coding and identifying themes or patterns” (Hsieh & Shan non,
p. 1278). It describes the phenomenon under examination through the identification of core con-
sistencies and meanings in a large volume of qualitative material (Patton, 2002).
The authors first read through the athletes’ responses several times to familiarise themselves
with the data, and independently derived text codes from the data by highlighting words and
phrases from the responses that seemed to capture key concepts or themes (Hsieh & Shannon,
2005). Categories were freely generated at this stage with the initial coding scheme based directly
on the participants’ verbatim responses. The authors defined as many groups of statements as they
believed necessary to describe all aspects of the data (Elo & Kyngäs, 2007). Where statements
included two or more strategies, or described two overlapping strategies (e.g., visualising the
run ahead and visualising achieving one’s goal for the run), responses were coded into both rel-
evant categories. Multiple group examinations of the data were then undertaken. Examination of
the various interpretatio ns of the individual authors led to revisions of the thematic framework and
a final consensual structure.
In terms of consensus in data coding, the final framework represented over 95% agreement
between the authors. This is likely the result of data being relatively simple, that is, participant
International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 3
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responses were mostly short single-sentence statements rather than in-depth paragraphs. The main
area of disagreement between authors related to the temporal nature of emotion regulation. Dis-
cussions focused on whether the most appropriate classification for some of the responses should
be a “Temporal” general dimension, with responses categorised in themes representing a “Future
focus” (e.g., how one will feel after running), “Present focus” (e.g., focusing on one’s warm up)
and “Past focus” (e.g., thinking about past successes). However, it was decided that such
responses could be organised into other themes that would better highlight subtle differences
in the responses (e.g., past focus responses could be classified into using positive thoughts
about past accomplishments to foster pleasant emotions, or using negative past experiences to
alter one’s current emotions).
To further improve the trustworthiness of our analysis, we provide sufficient verbatim
examples in the text of the Results section and in Figure 1 (Hsieh & Shannon, 2005; Morse &
Field, 1995).
Results
The emotion regulation strategies were grouped into five general dimensions (task preparation,
avoidance, positive thinking, negative thinking, self in relation to others), wh ich are presented
in this order below (the number of participants and the percentage of the total sample who
reported using each strategy appear in parentheses in each subheading).
Task preparation
Goal setting (n = 117, 23%). Goals were used to regulate emotions in a variety of ways. Some
participants explained using a goal to induce positive emotions (e.g., “I thought about my
targets to make myself feel better,”“I looked forward to seeing if I could improve my time
from my previous run of this length”). Others regulated emotions by anticipating how it would
feel to achieve a goal (e.g., thinking “about the goal I’m training towards and how it’ll feel to
complete it”). Some participants used goals as a source of pressure to perform well (e.g., “I
have to finish first in my team and always top 10, whatever the pain, have to do that”). Non-
performance goals were also evident; some participants reported running for charity and focusing
on this as a means of regulating emotion (e.g., “I was raising money for charity so I focused on the
benefits of this too”).
Listening to music (n = 45, 9%). Music was used to regulate emotions, with reference typically
being made to music with an “upbeat” tempo or style (e.g., “I listened to upbeat music to make
myself feel better”). Some described music as helping to feel better in general terms. Other
participants made reference to specific intended outcomes of using music, such as increasing
arousal levels (e.g.,
“played music to make me more aggressive,”“upbeat music to feel better
and energised before a run”).
Visualisation (n = 42, 8.5%). Participants reported using mental images focused on the end of
the run, and several explicitly referred to time as a factor in the image (e.g., “picture myself fin-
ishing the race and in the time I wanted,”“picture the outcome, the time on the clock on the finish
line”). Image content pertaining to overcoming obstacles was also described (e.g., “I tried to
imagine reaching a difficult point in the race and how that would feel, then imagined myself over-
coming the difficulty and running strong”). Participants made reference to imaging aspects of
their race strategy or the running course (e.g., “Imagining the run, for example, slower start,
increase pace etc.”), and also gave examples of imaging running with good technique (e.g.,
4 D.M. Stanley et al.
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Figure 1. Raw data examples, higher order themes, and general dimensions, including popularity of each
strategy.
International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 5
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“I carefully planned the race in my head, trying to use mental imagery of myself running well,
comfortable etc.”).
Task focus (physical) (n = 29, 5.5%). In addition to actual physical preparation before the run,
participants reported focusing on physical aspects of the task ahead (e.g., “Thinking about coach-
ing details like stretching out my stride,”“Tried to concentrate on good technique and feeling
relaxed”). Participants indicated that this physical focus could help to dispel negative emotions
experienced before running (e.g., “Focused on the physical act of running itself to clear negative
thoughts”).
Physical preparation (n = 24, 4.5%). Participants indicated that preparing physically aided
them in regulating emotions before the run, often explicitly linking physical and psychological
preparation. For example, one participant described using “a longer than normal warm up to
try and loosen up both physically and mentally.” Another described wanting to “concentrate
on being properly hydrated, for the physical effect and the psychological.” Several participants
described giving themselves more time to undertake a complete preparation routine (e.g., “allo-
cate more than ample time to do the routine - bathroom, sunscreen, lace up etc.”). Some partici-
pants described the emotional aims of this preparation (e.g., “Jogged to warm up and distract
myself from my anxiety”). Among these physical preparations, deep breathing was a popular
technique for remaining calm (e.g., “Focusing on my breathing and counting to four over and
over again to free my thoughts,”“Focusing on breathing and relaxing,”“Deep breaths to stay
calm”).
Task focus (race strategy) (n = 24, 4.5%). Participants reported regulating their emotions by
mentally preparing for, and planning, the run ahead. These strategies primarily addressed what
needed to be done to perform well (e.g., “Just went through what I knew I needed to do in the
race,”“Thought about tactics and a positive race strategy that would allow me to run my best”).
Avoidance
Distraction (n = 62, 12%). Participants described distraction as a means of regulating their
emotions, and this took several forms. One was to divert attention from the challenges inherent
in the task (e.g., “I chatted to friends and strangers before the run to take my mind off the dis-
tance,”“Tried to keep calm and not think about the run at all,”“I distracted myself by watching
other people around me and listening in to their conversations”). A variation on this theme, linked
to the desire to distract oneself from a run, was participants trying not only to avoid thoughts of
running, but to dispel thoughts altogether (e.g., “Tried not to think about anything at all”).
Downplaying outcomes (n = 29, 5.5%). Participants reported deemphasising or downplaying
the importance of outcomes for a variety of emotion regulation purposes; primarily it diminished
pressure and anxiety related to performance. One participant reported having “thought that in the
grand scheme of things, performance in this race really did not matter all that much, which took
pressure off and helped me to relax.” Another explained: “
I minimised the importance of my
potential performance to make myself feel better, reduce anxiety.” Other participants provided
examples of reducing the importance of outcomes to have an excuse for poor anticipated perform-
ance (e.g., “Telling myself that the race wasn’t important. I’ d just take it easy. I did a long run the
day before partly so I could use that as an excuse if I didn’t beat my time”). In situations such as
returning from injury, participants also displayed pragmatism toward run outcomes in order to
manage expectations or negative feelings about performance (e.g., “Focus on level prior to
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injury and view this session as a trial so not to have excessive expectation,”“I just accepted that
the race might not go as well as I hoped, all for valid reasons such as interrupted training”).
Positive thinking
Recall of past performance accomplishments (n = 63, 12%). Participants described recalling past
accomplishments as an emotion regulation strategy (e.g., concentrating on “the knowledge that I
have done the distance before so would be able to do it again,”“think of past successes to make
me feel more confident about my potential performance”). Several participants mentioned focus-
ing on training achievements and consistency before the current run (e.g., “Reminded myself of
the training I had done, how far I had come and that there was no reason I could not do it”).
Drawing from successes in other areas of life, one athlete’s emotion regulation strategy was to
“think of past, previous triumphs whether in sport, work or anywhere.”
Anticipated pleasant emotions after running (n = 52, 10%). Anticipating the emotions that
could follow a run was a common emotion regulation strategy. A number of participants described
anticipating feeling better in general terms (e.g., “thought about how I’d feel after the run. I
always feel great,”“I thought about how good I’d feel aft er I’d been for a run”). More specific
emotions were also described (e.g., “thinking about the finish line and the feeling of relief of
crossing the line,”“think about the finish and how happy I’d be when I’d done it”). These antici-
pated emotions also spread to a wider sense of self-esteem, as indicated by quotes such as “I try to
force myself to remember how good I feel about myself after a run,” and “thinking how pleased I
would be with myself when I had finished.”
Self-reassura nce (n = 34, 6.5%). Reassuring oneself with positive statements or affirmations
was a strategy used to regulate emotions (e.g., “Reassured myself that I would do well,”
“Trying to reassure myself that I had done the preparation”).
General positivity (n = 22, 4.5%). Participants reported using positive thinking, but did so in a
nonspecific way, with typical examples being: “Thinking positively about what was coming up,”
“Anchoring in a positive state,
” and “Tried to think positive.”
Active enjoyment (n = 16, 3%). Some participants reported regulating emotions before the run
by focusing on enjoyment (e.g., “I focused on … and on enjoying the run,”“Tried to remember
this was for fun”), or actively trying to making the run enjoyable (e.g., “I deliberately chose one
section of the run to enjoy. I decided it would be my favourite bit before I set off and looked
forward to it”).
Anticipated benefits (n = 15, 3%). Possible benefits associated with running were used to regu-
late emotions. These were typically expressed in appearance or fitness terms (e.g., “I th ought
about the benefits of exercise and dwelt on knowing a run would be good for me”). Thinking posi-
tively about benefits to future performance was also done (e.g., “As this was a run to a set heart
rate I focused on the improvements these sessions will make to my fitness and running”).
Doing one’s best (n = 10, 2%). Whilst some participants regulated emotions by setting speci fic
performance goals (above), others did so by aiming to do as well as possible on that given day
(e.g., “Just tried to say ‘ do your best’ . That’s all you can do”). For one participant this overlapped
with the theme of downplaying outcomes: “Reduced the importance of the outcome so that I
could just do my best.” Others demonstrated an understanding that performance might be
International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 7
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constrained by circumstances such as injury (e.g., “I was honest and philosophical about the fact
that I had an injury and had missed some training so could only do my best on the day”).
Gratitude (n = 6, 1%). Being grateful for being physically able to run helped several partici-
pants to regulate emotions (e.g., “positive thinking about how lucky I was to be able to run
and enjoy the day,”“I thought on how fortunate I was to be able to participate”). Some individuals
mentioned contemplating the hardships of others (e.g., “reminding myself how lucky I am to be
able to run when so many others cannot,”“think about how hard life is for others, and if you can
run you have nothing to fear”).
Anticipated behavioural rewards (n = 5, 1%). Anticipating behavioural rewards after a run was
used by a small number of participants (e.g., “thinking about something nice after the race, like a
hot bath and nice meal,”“a nice meal I could have after the race and not worry about counting
calories”).
Passive enjoyment (n = 2, .5%). While some participants used active language to express trying
to make the run more enjoyable, two discussed enjoyment in a passive way without concerted
effort to cause it (e.g., “just enjoyed the sceneries and people around me”).
Negative thinking
Negative focus (n = 44, 8.5%). Participants provided descriptions of focusing on current negative
emotions to either use them in a positive manner (e.g., “Channelled negative emotions to my com-
petitiveness”), or to dismiss any negative thoughts they were aware of, in order to up-regulate
pleasant emotions (e.g., “Tried to empty my mind of negative thoughts, tried to think calm”).
Reframing (n = 35, 7%). Current emotions were altered by either reframing negative thoughts,
or by recalling negative experiences overcome in the past. One participant described “thinking
about a time when I felt worse and came through that, so this time would not be so bad,”
while another thought “about worse situations I have been in to balance current situation and
make me feel better.” One participant remarked on engaging in a process of analysing negative
thoughts as they arose, to minimise them before running, stating: “I thought about each negative
thought and thought it through logically and rationally.” Thus, rather than suppressing or avoiding
negative thoughts, a number of participants used them in order to manage their emotions.
Anticipated unpleasant emotions (n = 14, 3%). Participants anticipated potential negative
emotions (e.g., “I thought about how embarrassed I would feel if I complete the race in a bad
time,”“I also focused on how bad I would feel if I wimped out of finishing the run”). Emotions
were also regulated by the anticipation of unpleasant experiences in the run ahead (e.g., “tell
myself the worst is over in the first 10 minutes!”).
Self in relation to others
Receiving social support (n = 29, 5.5%). A number of participants provided examples of giving
and receiving social support. Emotions were regulated by sharing them with others (e.g.,
“Dis-
cussed feelings with others, compared feelings with others attending the race for camaraderie,”
“Just talked to others about how I felt, telling them that I knew I would not perform well since
I felt sluggish”). Participants also described deliberately seeking support and reassuran ce from
others to regulate emotions or manage performance (e.g., “Involving myself in discussions
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with my partner to try to reinforce my readiness to compete against the clock”). Distraction was a
further emotion regulation function served by social support (e.g., “Distracted myself by talking
to others, even complete strangers”).
Giving social support (n = 15, 3%). Participants reported the altruistic provision of support to
others with no indication of this needing to be reciprocated. Examples are giving “positive mess-
ages to less experienced runners,” or “talking to someone else in the same situation, trying to reas-
sure them.”
Social comparison (n = 13, 2.5%). Some participants tried to feel better before their run via
comparison with others in a competitive manner, such as seeking to “compare myself to other
runners on the start line and tell myself that I am faster than her,” or having “focused on the
fact that hundreds of other people would run more slowly than me.” Other participants made
such comparisons to dispel or mitigate negative emotions, as illustrated by one individual
having tried to “tell myself there are others here slower than myself as I fear I’ll be the last
one to end!”
Drawing inspiration from loved ones (n = 7, 1.5%) . Participants mentioned thinking of loved
ones (e.g., “looking at photos of family and friends,” or thinking “about the love of my family and
my lost brother and the love I had for past lovers” ). Some participants reported planning to run
sections of a race with a particular loved one in mind and “dedicating miles run to friends,
family, even pets” as their emotion regulation strategy. For others, running in memory of a
deceased loved one had emotional importance and reinforced reasons for running (e.g., “thinking
about the reason I was running, to raise money for the British Heart Foundation in memory of my
mother who passed away from heart disease in 2007”).
Drawing inspiration from others (n = 5, 1%). Other people in the running environment were
also used to engender positive emotions (e.g., “I tried to tap into other people’s optimism and hap-
piness, create a joke”). Some used other people’s reasons for running to derive positive emotions
(e.g., “I looked at other runners and the charity that they were running for and it gave me more
strength and reason to run faster and finish”).
Avoiding others (n = 5, 1%). Seve ral participants described regulating their emotions by
seeking isolation from others before the run (e.g., “Kept myself to myself, tried to allow time
to pass me by,”“Keep away from other runners as much as possible”).
Negativity directed toward others (n = 2, .5%). A couple of participants mentioned strategies
involving criticising others or directing negative emotions at others (e.g., “Vent my anxiety on
others!”).
Discussion
We investigated the strategies used by runners to regulate their emotions in the hour prior to a run.
Findings indicate that emotion regulation before running is focused largely on performance-
related factors, and is predominantly cognitive in nature. In describing attempts to regulate
their emotions, many participants reported utilising cognitive strategies to concentrate on the
achievement, appraisal, or re-evaluation of their performance goals. Behavioural emotion regu-
lation strategies were less frequently reported, with attending to physical preparation, and
seeking/using social support being the most prominent of these.
International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 9
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In their meta-analysis of emotion regulation strategies in social psychology, Augustine and
Hemenover (2008) found behavioural strategies were more effective than cognitive strategies
in terms of creating a larger hedonic shift. They asserted that this is the result of behavioural strat-
egies being easier to implement than cognitive strategies, which require greater emotion regu-
lation ability. Participants in the present study used behavioural strategies closely aligned with
those highlighted by Parkinson and Totterdell (1999), for example listening to music, deep breath-
ing, seeking reassurance, and looking at photos of loved ones. We suggest that the primary reason
for cognitive strategies being favoured over behavioural strategies in our sample is that the par-
ticipants had an imminent performance to manage, typically with an associated performance goal;
an evident tendency was for strategies to serve the dual purpose of emotion regulation and per-
formance management. Studies of emotion regulation in other areas of social psychology do
not necessarily involve contexts that include such a task performance element; a number of the
behavioural strategies identified by Parkinson and Totterdell (e.g., mend things, visit friends,
wash the car) might either be unfeasible or ineffective shortly before a run.
In a study of running and anxiety, Campen and Roberts (2001) reported that runners endorsed
coping strategies such as wearing particular shoes or engaging in a warm up, and suggested that
runners may not be able to distinguish between emotion regulation and performance management.
Our results suggest that this is not necessarily the case. When reporting physical preparation as a
strategy to regulate emotions, participants described both the physical preparation and the
emotional reason for doing this (e.g., “Jogged to warm up and distract myself from my
anxiety”). Thus, while we agree with Campen and Roberts that emotion regulation and perform-
ance management are closely aligned, it is perhaps incorrect to suggest that athletes do not recog-
nise any distinction. The open-ended response format used in the present study allowed
participants to provide a breadth of description arguably not permitted by the closed-response
format used by Campen and Roberts. Furthermore, while Campen and Roberts examined
anxiety coping strategies used over an extended period of time, the current findings reflect strat-
egies being used shortly before undertaking a run. The present study investigated emotion regu-
lation in the hour prior to running. It may be that athletes employ different strategies at different
times, or in varied situations. For example, when a competition is several weeks away, rather than
an hour away, it could be that athletes use behavioural emotion regulation strategies to a greater
degree. Future research could examine the situational variability of athletes’ use of emotion regu-
lation strategies, or whether these strategies change over time, for example, the possible extent to
which cognitive emotion regulation strategies predominate as an event draws nearer.
With regard to another major division of categories of emotion regulation strategies in social
psychology research, our findings also correspond with the proposed distinction between avoid-
ance and engagement strategies (Augustine & Hemenover, 2008; Parkinson & Totterdell, 1999).
Again however, our results highlight the unique features of emotion regulation in a performance
context. Avoidance strategies represent those aimed at removing oneself from an emotional situ-
ation, via the use of a cognitive or behavioural strategy. Perhaps through necessity, with an athletic
task about to be undertaken, participants’ responses indicate that they were more inclined to
engage with their task than avoid it, and this was done via a range of behavioural strategies (e.
g., attending to one’s physical preparation) and cognitive strategies (e.g., reviewing one’s race
strategy). Attempts at avoidance typically took the form of distraction (e.g., diverting one’s atten-
tion to something else), and were almost exclusively cognitive in nature. The only really clear
examples of behavioural avoidance strategies involved instigating conversations with others to
distract oneself from the task at hand, or of removing oneself from the company of others,
although even this could have been done with the intention of seeking isolation to focus attention
on the run. Therefore we reiterate our recommendation that future research is required to examine
the situational variability of emotion regulation in sport, to verify our finding that engagement is
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the more popular strategy in sport and exercise contexts, since it could be the case that when a task
or performance is not imminent, athletes make more use of behavioural avoidance strategies than
was the case here.
An intriguing point of comparison in our findings versus those generated in recent research on
emotion regulation strategies in everyday activities relates to increasing unpleasant emotions.
Niven et al. (2009) reported individuals use strategies with the aim of worsening their emotions.
Tamir, Mitchell, and Gross (2008) explaine d that in the pursuit of a goal which holds personal
importance, an individual will endure unpleasant emotions in the short term, if this facilitates
the achievement of their longer-term objective. In this sense, if anxiety serves the instrumental
purpose of improving performance, then anxiety will not only be tolerated, but even increased
or induced. Participants described strategies similar to some of those outlined by Niven et al.
(e.g., looking for problems in one’s current situation or thinking about negative experiences).
However, in most instances, participants also provided a particular instrumental reason for
doing this, typically a positive intended outcome. Respondents reported dwelling on past negative
experiences with the aim of spurring themselves on in the present situation , or with the aim of
deriving comfort that the present situation can be handled as it is not as bad as the recalled situ-
ation. Participants also described trying to capitalise on negative emotions to try to use them to
make themselves more competitive, or using music to up-regulate anger. This instrumental use
of emotions to achieve sport outcomes supports Tamir’s work in social psychology and warrants
increased research attention in sport and exercise contexts.
Participants also reported analysing and channelling negative emotions. Such strategies are
reminiscent of cognitive strategies such as rationalisation and positive reappraisal described by
Augustine and Hemenover (2008). Future negative experiences such as the run being difficult
or painful were contemplated, but again with caveats such as the pain only being temporary, or
of having the resources to deal with this discomfort. Only in a few instances were examples of
emotion worsening provided without mention of a positive motivation or intended outcome
underpinning this. We again suggest that the important consideration here is that athletes are enga-
ging in a task with associated objectives, which their emotions can help them to achieve. In a sport
or exercise context, it therefore seems inappropriate to portray this kind of strategy described by
our participants as “worsening,” especially considering that when participants explained using
strategies akin to negative rumination or rationalisation (Augustine & Hemenover), it was done
with a positive aim at its core. Hence when describing athletes’ emotion regulation attempts, it
seems more conceptually suitable to use terminology such as the increasing or decreasing of par-
ticular emotions such as anxiety or anger (e.g., see Parkinson & Totterdell, 1999), rather than
emotion worsening per se.
Participants’ endorsement of music as a strategy to regulate their emotions, often with the
intention of altering arousal levels, is consistent with previous research highlighting music as
an effective strategy to enhance emotions before competition (Bishop, Karageorghis, &
Loizou, 2007). Technological advances have made music much more accessible and more porta-
ble, and this, with its implications for music as an available emotion regulation strategy, may be
something that research has not yet fully explored, and represents another direction for future
research.
In addition to adopting a more open-ended approach than similar work on emotion regulation
in sport (e.g., Campen & Roberts, 2001; Stevens & Lane, 2001), the present study involved a
much larger and more heterogeneous sample in terms of age and competitive level, with male
and female runners also well represented. However, one limitation of our sample was that only
one sport/exercise activity was represented. It is possible that athletes in other sports use different
emotion regulation strategies. We also did not explore the perceived or real effectiveness of the
strategies described. However, our aim was to describe emotion regulation techniques and
International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 11
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thereby to form the basis of future work examining the effectiveness of these. In addressing inter-
personal emotion regulation, while some participants described the positive emotional effects of
camaraderie and social support, researching inter-individual emotion regulation in other sports,
especially team sports, may yield different results.
Present findings suggest that runners employ many kinds of strategies to regulate their
emotions. In the performance context, these strategies differ from those reported elsewhere in
the social psychology literature, most notably by being more cognitive in their focus. It is
hoped that the current findings can both serve to inform applied work by suggesting an array
of possible emotion regulation strategies, and to serve as a platform for future research to
further explore the ways in which athletes regulate their emotions, the effectiveness of their strat-
egies, and links with performance outcomes.
Note
1. Debate over distinctions between the related constructs of emotion, mood and affect has been a feature
of the psychology and philosophy literatures for many years (see Beedie, Terry, & Lane, 2005). Given
that no generally accepted criterion to distinguish between these three has been proposed, and given that
the term “emotion” is arguably the most frequently used of the three in the description of human feeling
states in both the scientific literature and in everyday life, in the present manuscript we use the word
“emotion.” This is consistent with the approach adopted by a number of the authors from social psychol-
ogy whose work is cited in the present manuscript. Although the term “affect” can refer to either
emotions or moods, and might seem to be the more scientifically appropriate term of the three, it is
not a word commonly used in everyday conversation by athletes, and therefore its adoption in a
paper grounded in that everyday language seemed inappropriate. In fact, Dennett (1991) described
the term “affect” as “the awkward term [for emotion] favoured by psychologists ” (p. 45), whilst
Gregory (1987) suggested that it is a word largely limited to use in academic psychology.
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