The VO2 Max Forum

Background I am a big fan of Lionel Sanders! If you haven’t heard of him, he is a Canadian professional triathlete currently living in Tucson, AZ. He has been a pro in the sport for a while now, since 2013. He also has many, many accolades to his name, including the placing 1st at the 2017 ITU Long

Background   This month’s post will be a bit different from the norm. I will of course be sharing some thoughts as it relates to endurance sport-related science, but I will be using a recently published study as an opportunity to share some learning points about properly interpreting and contextu

Background Over the years, the scientific community has come to recognize various factors that are strongly related to endurance performance. These factors are primarily physiological characteristics and include VO2max, lactate threshold, efficiency/movement economy, and most recently, durabilit

Introduction to Running Mechanics Running mechanics is a fairly misunderstood topic among many coaches and athletes. There is a lot of misinformation out there on what is considered ‘proper running form’. Some of the most common recommendations I will often here from others is to ‘run with a cad

Introduction Climate change is something that we all have to face and navigate as a human species. We can only hope that we are able to make progress towards reducing our burden on the planet’s global temperature, and therefore climate patterns, by reducing our output of carbon emissions into th

What is Ashwagandha Ashwagandha might be an herb you have never heard of, but it is time that you hear about it! I became interested in using Ashwagandha for its various medicinal properties, namely the evidence-based beneficial effects of this compound on stress and mood. To my surprise however

Isn’t Strength Training just for Weight-Lifting and Strength/Power-Based Athletes? Nope! I have written a lot on strength training in previous posts of mine, but a recent study has me excited as it is one of the first studies to take a look at how a long-term strength training program impacts ex

Study title Swim-Specific Resistance Training: A Systematic Review Link to research paper https://static.wixstatic.com/ugd/4c7e20_03aadd13f0c64ccba1d2b2a17007c8a5.pdf What are the benefits of resistance training for endurance athletes? Resistance training (aka “strength training”) is a highly e

What is Heart Rate Variability? Heart rate variability, or HRV for short, has become popularized by mainstream media and technologies in recent years. The most common example of a piece of technology that many athletes utilize that uses HRV is the Whoop strap; however, there are many other devic

Training Volume and Triathlon Performance Endurance athletes tend to train a lot, particularly in triathlon. Obviously, the term “a lot” is very relative as five hours of training a week might feel like a lot for a novice or untrained endurance athlete, whereas more advanced and well-trained ath

Background Polarized training, or “80/20 training” as it is also known, has become a popular training periodization approach in recent years. Initially, observations that elite Norwegian cross-country skiers spend most of their annual training volume at low intensities (i.e., >80% of training vol

Background To answer the question posed in the title of this post, it depends. Truthfully, the answer to most questions posed in the world of sports science is “it depends”. In brief, it truly doesn’t matter what time of day you choose to train, or when your athletes train if you are a coach, as

Background on Training Variables: Frequency, Intensity, Time/Duration, and Type/Mode Endurance athletes have a few key training variables that can be manipulated to optimize training adaptation and maximize race-day performance. These variables include the following: Frequency The number of trai

Introduction Muscle cramping is something that nearly every single endurance athlete has dealt with at some point in their sporting journey. Cramping can be mild and bearable for some, but debilitating for others. Cramping can also unfairly afflict some athletes more than others. Cramping during

Brief Overview of Functional Overreaching, Non-Functional Overreaching, and Overtraining Syndrome Before we begin a discussion on markers of functional overreaching, it is imperative that we have a discussion about the continuum of fatigue so that we understand the different stages of fatigue. T

Injuries Among Triathletes Injuries are unfortunately relatively common among endurance athletes. However, the unique demands of triathlon place a potentially greater risk of injury on athletes competing in the sport. Prior studies have found a wide range of injury rates among triathletes, rangi

What is Iron? Iron is a critical micronutrient that is needed in the diet since the body cannot produce iron on its own. Iron is important and required for numerous processes in the body, ranging from proper immune cell function to the formation of red blood cells. Likely a few of the most impor

The Debate on Dehydration and Endurance Performance? It is a pretty commonly held belief among athletes, coaches, and researchers alike in the endurance space that dehydration negatively affects endurance performance. However, despite this widely held belief, a belief that does have substantial

What is “Durability”? Most endurance athletes I come across are familiar with terms such as “VO2 max”, “threshold”, and “movement economy”. These are all physiological characteristics of an athlete that can be measured in a laboratory (or estimated in the field), monitored over time to assess pr

Sleep and Athletic Performance We all intuitively know that sleep is important for us as athletes, but just how important is it? There are decades and decades of sleep-related research within the general, non-athletic population documenting the deleterious effects of sleep deprivation on overal

Background   In my continued effort to take a deeper look at the research surrounding the potential long-term health implications of chronic endurance exercise, I decided to focus this month on ultra-endurance running. Before diving into this topic, I want to be clear that exercise of all types c

Background Barefoot and minimalist footwear running has garnered a lot of controversy among athletes, coaches, and researchers since the turn of the century. Those in favor of more minimalist running footwear claim that they benefit from a lower likelihood of injury and improved performance. How

Introduction It has been almost three years now since I last looked at the scientific literature surrounding compression/recovery boots (I will refer to them from here on out as compression boots). A few years ago, there was still very limited published research on this topic, and that research

Introduction Compression socks or calf sleeves (referred throughout as ‘garments’) are popular amongst endurance athletes, particularly runners and triathletes. They are typically worn by athlete either during training/racing to improve performance or after exercise to augment recovery. Regardle

Brief Overview of Low-Carbohydrate, High-Fat Diets for Endurance Athletes Current sports nutrition guidelines from leading nutrition and exercise organizations around the globe (4,5) recommend a high-carbohydrate, low-fat (HCLF) diet for endurance athletes that broadly consists of: 1. ~50-60% of

What is the rationale behind cold-water immersion to enhance endurance adaptations? I have written previously about the science surrounding the use of cold-water immersion (CWI) and other forms of cold therapies on recovery in athletes. However, another recently popularized use of CWI is to help

What are Omega-3 Fatty Acids? Omega-3 fatty acids consist of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and alpha linoleic acid (ALA). EPA and DHA are the fatty acids primarily found in fatty fish, whereas ALA is typically found in plant oils, nuts, and seeds (1). These three fatty

What is Cryotherapy? Most athletes have heard of the term “cryotherapy” and usually associate it with the form of whole-body cooling that can be done by entering a freezing cold chamber of air cooled to well below 100 degrees Celsius. Whole-body cryotherapy has been, in part, made more popular i

Ironman and Ironman 70.3 Racing Most triathletes are well aware that racing, and even training for, Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events does a number on the body and the mind. Training for a long-distance triathlon event that takes 4-7 hours (Ironman 70.3) or 8-17 hours (Ironman) is mentally and phy

What is static stretching? Static stretching is a type of stretching in which a position is held near the individual’s end range of motion or at the point of discomfort for a period of time. Static stretching, when done appropriately, regularly, and for an adequate length of time, can improve f