The VO2 Max Forum

Welcome to the VO2 Max Forum. Here, I share Science Posts to help you, the reader, bridge the gap between endurance sport science and its application to your endurance discipline(s).

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-Distance Triathlon World Championships, 2nd at the Ironman World Championships twice (2017 and 2021), and is the winningest Ironman professional in history, with over 30 professional wins at Ironman-branded half and full-distance races.

Lionel Sanders was an up and coming pro when I first got into triathlon myself back in 2014. He was the OG when it came to professional triathletes having a social media presence, particularly on YouTube. He was known for being super raw, unfiltered, and somewhat insane. He usually posted uncut videos of himself training for long hours on his bike trainer…

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 volume), very little at modest intensities (i.e., 0-5% of training volume), and then the remainder at very high intensities (i.e., 15-20% of training volume) led to a surge in interest in this style of training intensity distribution among researchers, coaches, and some amateur/recreational athletes (3). This interest has grown into somewhat of a craze among most endurance athletes. Nowadays, many endurance athletes follow this sort of training approach or, have at the very least, heard of it from one of the many voices preaching its superiority as an approach to training intensity distribution for endurance performance success (e.g., Matt Fitzgerald and one of his many “80/20” books).

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 confers incredible health benefits. When I discuss my interest in the potential negative long-term implications of endurance exercise, this is limited in scope to chronic, high volumes of endurance exercise that has gained more attention for its relationship to a small, elevated health risks. In particular, high levels of endurance exercise and sport participation has, in some research, demonstrated a very small increased risk of cardiovascular health concerns.

Naturally, as both an endurance athlete and coach, I figured I should be more well-versed in this emerging area of research so that I am aware of any risks that might be present…