PSYCHOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE DURING RUNNING EXERCISE: EFFECT OF OLFACTORY IMAGERY ON DISTANCE

and mental training programmes are applied to athletes in different types of sports. It has to be researched what particular effect mental training can have on running performance during training. To this purpose, 19 students from a German university took part in a controlled study assessing running performance with and without mental training intervention for eight weeks. There was a difference between meters completed per training session in the female intervention and control group (5119.70 ± 272.72 m vs. 4858.80 ± 551.70 m, p ≤ 0.02, η2 = 0.14) and a by trend difference between meters completed per training session in the male intervention and control group (5781.20 ± 437.27 m vs. 5963.40 ± 709.09 m, p ≤ 0.09, η2 = 0.09). Students in the intervention group displayed a higher increase in meters completed per training session (males p ≤ 0.00, r = 0.42 vs. controls p ≤ 0.03, r = 0.40; females p ≤ 0.00, r = 0.52 vs. controls p ≤ 0.03, r = 0.24). Findings suggest that mental training can effectively enhance running performance and that females respond better to the intervention.