Performance in triathlon depends on physiological, biomechanical and psychological factors. If the effects of physiological and biomechanical factors on endurance performance have received much attention by sport scientists, the interest for psychological factors such mental fatigue on performance is more recent. Marcora et al. (2009) showed that mental fatigue induced by a prolonged cognitive task could reduce the maximal duration of a time trial cycling exercise by 12%. The alteration of endurance performance following mental fatigue cannot be explained by physiological or neuromuscular factors but is associated with a greater perception of effort during the exercise (Pageaux et al 2013, 2014). Mental fatigue differs from central fatigue that is an alteration of neuromuscular system at cortical or spinal level. Exhaustion is a form of task disengagement that occurs when athletes perceived the task as being impossible to complete despite their maximal effort, or when the effort required by the task exceeds the upper limit of what athlete is willing to do (potential motivation). Because mental fatigue undermines endurance performance by increasing perception of effort, any interventions that could reduce perceived of effort during endurance exercise could be beneficial for the athlete. Psychological techniques such as mental imagery, verbal encouragement, self-talk, head to head competition and goal setting could improve performance in triathlon. Triathletes should avoid mentally draining activities before they compete. For example, triathletes might avoid thought suppression strategies (e.g. thought stopping) and situations that require them to suppress their emotions or behaviour (e.g. interviews with the press) before they compete, because they could be mentally fatiguing and therefore detrimental to endurance performance. Vortrag des Referenten auf der Science + Triathlon 2015 World Conference vom 26.-27. November 2015 am INSEP in Paris
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