Carbohydrate Intake During Racing & Training
Media coverage has presented recent performance improvements across endurance sports as being driven in part by a “high-carbohydrate fuelling revolution”. As a result, there is growing interest in consuming carbohydrate at rates above traditional scientific recommendations of up to 60–90 grams per hour (g/h). Intakes above 90 g/h are becoming increasingly common, with some athletes reportedly consuming 120 g/h or more, and occasional reports of intakes approaching 150–200 g/h. However, … Continue reading
RED-S And Energy Availability
. ENERGY BALANCE & THE PAY TWICE PRINCIPLE Energy is the real currency of training. Learning to manage that energy is what keeps an athlete consistent, healthy, and improving year after year. Adaptation to endurance training is constrained not just by workload, but by the athlete’s ability to maintain adequate energy availability and recover from the hidden energetic cost of training. Yet many athletes and coaches still focus almost exclusively … Continue reading
Do We Need to Worry About Sodium Supplementation?
. . INTRODUCTION: SEPARATING EVIDENCE FROM MARKETING Sodium supplementation is one of the most debated topics in endurance sports nutrition. Many ultra runners now believe that determining their personal sweat sodium concentration is an essential step towards optimising hydration, preventing cramping, avoiding exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH), and maximising performance. Commercial sweat testing has become increasingly popular. Some companies claim that measuring an athlete’s sodium losses allows hydration strategies to be precisely … Continue reading
Staying Cool and Maximizing Ultra Performance in the Heat.
. Extreme environments have a unique way of exposing the limits of our assumptions. In controlled laboratory settings, individual stressors such as heat, dehydration, fatigue, altitude, or nutritional restriction can be studied in isolation. Real ultras are different. They reflect a growing theme in contemporary endurance physiology: that performance in extreme environments must be viewed as a systems problem rather than a single-variable problem. Few environmental challenges impair ultra performance … Continue reading
Hydration in Ultra Running: Physiology and Practice.
. DEHYDRATION AND PERFORMANCE. The human body is composed largely of water, and this water is constantly being lost through sweating, respiration, and urine production. During exercise, sweating is a normal and essential physiological response whose primary function is to dissipate heat through evaporation. Without an effective sweating response, body temperature would rise rapidly and exercise performance would decline. Sweat rate varies enormously between individuals and can be influenced by … Continue reading
Strength Training For Ultra Endurance.
. CATABOLISM VS. ANABOLISM. Most “strength training” for ultra endurance athletes just looks like all their other training – adding fatigue and furthering imbalances. And that’s exactly what it shouldn’t be! I wrote this for anyone who cares about actually getting functionally stronger, more durable, and faster (not just more tired!). Strength training for endurance athletes isn’t about getting bigger, stronger, or admiring yourself in the mirror! It’s about building … Continue reading
Blood Testing for Athletes
RYTHM HEALTH – THE WORLD’S EASIEST BLOOD TEST In endurance sport, data carries authority. Numbers imply objectivity, rigor, and truth – particularly when they describe our internal physiology. As blood biomarker testing moves from hospitals and doctor’s surgeries into the consumer marketplace, this authority is increasingly leveraged by direct-to-consumer ‘health and wellness’ tech companies promising convenience, frequency, and insight. Rather than relying on traditional print news and journalists … Continue reading
Should I Use Poles My Next Ultra Marathon?
Introduction. Running poles are a common sight in mountain ultras. Advocates argue that poles reduce joint loading, improve stability, and preserve leg strength over long distances. Yet biomechanical and physiological evidence suggests their benefits may be more situational than universal. The popularity of poles in ultra running seems to reflect cultural inheritance, psychological reassurance, and commercial reinforcement more than physiological necessity. Pole use in mountain ultras has migrated … Continue reading
Psychological Tools for Navigating Discomfort in Ultrarunning.
INTRODUCTION. In ultras, the mental game outweighs the physical one. Ultra running performance is not primarily limited by physical and physiological factors like muscle or metabolic fatigue. Rather, it is ultimately regulated by psychological factors – and in particular by the conscious decision to continue (or stop) based on perception of effort and the presence or absence of motivation to override discomfort. Perceived effort – how hard an activity feels … Continue reading
The Importance of Subjective Feedback.
The only way to determine accurately an athlete’s readiness to perform is to ask: “How do you feel?” No amount of physiological tests or algorithmic performance ‘metrics’ can answer this question. It is impossible to put together effective training programs when athletes are not forthcoming about their experiences, both on and off the trails. Everyday life stresses impact our ability to train effectively, whether we are prepared to … Continue reading