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- Posted June 28, 2025
Want To Run Better? Try Focusing Your Eyes Straight Ahead
If you’re looking to boost your running performance, try this simple tip: Keep your eyes on the finish line.
New research shows that narrowing your focus while running — especially as you get closer to the end — can help you run faster and push harder.
The study, which examined nearly 1,600 runners, found that this “attentional narrowing” serves as a powerful mental strategy.
“The findings offer a low-cost and simple way to improve running performance — merely by adjusting how we direct our attention,” study author Shana Cole, associate professor of psychology at Rutgers University-New Brunswick in New Jersey, said.
The research, published June 25 in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, looked at six studies.
These included surveys of elite and casual runners, as well as experiments in which runners were asked to focus either narrowly or broadly during their runs.
Runners who narrowed their attention — meaning they looked straight ahead rather than observing their surroundings — tended to run faster and showed signs of greater physical effort.
“Looking at one spot ahead of you — rather than around you — can help you keep going,” lead author Emily Balcetis, an associate professor of psychology at New York University, said in a news release.
In the experiments, some runners were asked to focus narrowly throughout their run, while others were told to narrow their attention only near the end. All of the runners in this group ran either 400 meters or one mile.
In all the cases, those who narrowed their attention ran at a faster pace than those who didn’t. Their heart rates were also higher than usual.
The researchers found that elite runners and faster athletes reported using this strategy more than casual runners.
“The studies show that narrowing attention isn’t just correlated with performance,” said co-author Corey Guenther, a psychology professor at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. “It actively enhances it.”
So next time you run, it might help to pick a spot ahead — then keep your eyes on it until you reach it.
More information
UNC Health Talk has more on healthy running.
SOURCE: Rutgers University-New Brunswick, news release, June 26, 2025
