Overview

This course will cover topics from psychological theory and application that are relevant for marathon preparation. Topics will include:

Expectations and running (including personality type, motivation, performance anxiety, goal setting); Nutrition and running (impact of good nutrition on motivation, mental well-being and self-belief); Emotions and running (the ‘wall’, fear, attributional theories of emotion and bodily sensation); Cognition and running (self-talk, mental imagery, locus of control, distraction, mindfulness); Behaviour and running (action-reflection cycle, flow, effort and reinforcement); Resilience and mental toughness (including dealing with set-backs and failures).

There is an expectation that students will be able to run approx 3-5k comfortably before starting the module and therefore this module will not be suitable for students with physical disabilities or ailments that restrict running ability. Each student will also have to self-certify that they are helathy and wel enough to undertake the module, and that they will consult their GP should they feel otherwise, before they undertake this training. Therefore any heart conditions, epilepsy etc would need to be considered in line with the module aims by the GP before a student were to sign up. The aim of the module is to train to run a marathon and students should be prepared to do this before starting the module. It is understood that illness/accidents can occur during the course of a module and, if that were to be the case, the student would need to use the psychological principles taught within the module to adapt their goal and overcome disappointment/change in group dynamic etc.

Learning Outcomes

• On completion of the modue, students will be able to apply principles of positive & motivational psychology to set goals and understand how to achieve them

• On completion of the module students will be able to convey applied scientific material for a lay audience.

• On completion of the module, students will be able to apply the theoretical knowledge of the module to a real-world action-reflection cycle (e.g. running a marathon)

• On completion of the module, students will be able to evaluate progress towards their goals, their ability to accommodate setbacks and failures, and their development of resilience to challenges;

• On completion of the module, students will be able to understand the influence of state and performance-related factors such as nutrition, emotion, motivation and effort in goal-directed behaviour.

• On completion of the module, students will understand the influence of dispositional factors such as personality types and motivational ability in goal-directed behaviour.

• On completion of the modules, students will understand and be able to analyse goal setting behaviour/training plans.