Dive into the complete episode list for KoopCast. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
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Pub. Date
Title
Duration
12 Dec 2019
Nutrition R&D with Roxanne Vogel from Gu⎮KoopCast Episode 2
01:06:47
Coach Jason Koop speaks with Roxanne Vogel from Gu energy labs about their research and development process. How supplements go in and out of favor and the fine balance between staying on the cutting edge and producing efficacious products.
05 Dec 2019
Should ultrarunners become vegan? With Stephanie Howe, PhD and David Clark⎮KoopCast Episode 1
00:57:32
Host Jason Koop speaks with Stephanie Howe, PhD and David Clark about plant based diets and if they are right for ultrarunners.
10 Feb 2022
Coach/Athlete Communication with CTS Coach Ryne Anderson | Koopcast Episode 115
00:58:37
Ryne Anderson is a CTS ultrarunning coach. You can see coach Ryne’s bio here.
Mental Health in Ultrarunning with Neal Palles | Koopcast Episode 116
01:09:00
Neal Palles is a CTS, a coach Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and Sports Performance Specialist based in Longmont, Colorado. He provides psychotherapy and mental skills training/consulting to athletes of all levels throughout the state.
Neal holds a dual Masters degrees in Social Work and Applied Sport Psychology as well as holds a license as a clinical social worker.
He works towards certification as a mental performance consultant (CMPC) from the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.
He has worked for twenty-three years in the mental health field as a clinical social worker and psychotherapist in both private practices, as a consultant, care manager, and supervisor for employee assistance programs, and as a therapist for a residential treatment center.
Designing your Ultramarathon Nutrition with Meredith Terranova | Koopcast Episode 118
01:07:44
Meredith Terranova is a performance nutritionist to many of today’s top ultrarunners. She has been helping her clients reach their nutritional goals since 2004. Through Meredith’s guidance, her clients have reached goals ranging from losing weight, wellness nutrition, race nutrition, training and recovery nutrition, and others using a real-world nutrition approach.
During the course of this conversation, we discuss Meredith’s approach to nutrition planning, how to find the right foods for you, and her famous ‘gas station’ protocol.
Feeding Tolerance and Fat Oxidation in Ultrarunners with Chris Rauch B.Nut.Diet, APD, AccSD | Koopcast Episode 119
01:05:43
Chris Rauch graduated in Nutrition and Dietetics at Monash University in 2015 following a previous career in Engineering. He is experienced in helping people to manage dietary changes for a broad array of chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and liver disease. A special interest of his is the management of digestive issues such as irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease.
Using Training Groups To Enhance Your Training with CTS Coach Michelle Foster | Koopcast Episode 122
00:44:24
Michelle Foster has a BS in Biology and is a CTS Expert coach, a UESCA certified running coach, and an RRCA Level 1 certified running coach. In this episode, we explore how training groups can help or hurt your training and how to leverage them the most effectively.
Julien Périard is a Research Professor at the University of Canberra Research Institute for Sport and Exercise (UCRISE), where he leads the Environmental Physiology Research Group. Julien’s research examines the physiological mechanisms that impact health and performance in adverse environments (heat and altitude), along with strategies to mitigate their influence and harness their adaptive potential. He has worked with both amateur and professional athletes from various disciplines, along with National and International Federations (FIFA, UCI, World Athletics, and World Triathlon). He has authored over 85 research publications in international journals, including an invited review in Physiological Reviews on exercise under heat stress. Julien has also edited a textbook on Heat Stress in Sport and Exercise. He currently serves as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Physiology and has served as Guest Editor for the British Journal of Sports Medicine and Scandinavian Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport.
Kristin Keim is a sports psychologist out of Newberry, South Carolina. She has one of the more renown practices sports psychology practices in the country today that consists of all types of endurance athletes, cyclists, triathletes, and MMA fighters. In particular, she works with many of the country’s best cyclists, many of whom we mention throughout the course of this podcast.
In this podcast, we discuss the origins of and how to manage one of the most common psychological pitfalls athletes face, performance anxiety.
Performance Testing for Ultrarunners with Dr. Philip Skiba | Koopcast Episode 128
00:53:33
Dr. Philip Skiba received his medical degree in June of 2003, and trained in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Georgetown University / National Rehabilitation Hospital, in Washington DC. He then completed residency training in Family Medicine and a fellowship in Sports Medicine. He is board-certified in both Family Medicine and Sports Medicine, and his practice focuses on the non-surgical management of sports injuries, as well as athlete training, health, rehabilitation, and wellness. He completed his Ph.D. (exercise physiology) in the Jones Laboratory at the University of Exeter (UK), where his research studies focused on oxygen kinetics, the determinants of athlete power production, athlete performance, and their relationship to training. Dr. Skiba is the Program Director of sports medicine fellowship at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, in Chicagoland, and is the Regional Director of Sports Medicine for the AdvocateAurora Medical Group, one of the largest in the United States. He is also a team physician for the University of Illinois (Chicago).
How to Prepare for The Races with CTS Coaches AJW, Corrine Malcolm and Michelle Foster | Koopcast Episode 129
01:20:46
This episode of the podcast is a coaching roundtable with CTS coaches AJW, Corrine Malcolm, and Michelle Foster. We go over our experiences training athletes during the last 6-10 weeks leading into a race.
What Physiology Matters for Ultramarathon Performance with Frederic Sabater Pastor PhD | Koopcast Episode 130
01:21:57
Frederic Sabater Pastor is a Postdoctoral Researcherat the Inter-university Lab of Human Movement. His area of focus is running, trail, performance, physiology, and fatigue.
Sleep Deprivation Training for Ultramarathon with Chiara Gattoni PhD | Koopcast Episode 131
01:01:12
Chiara Gattoni is a researcher and strength and conditioning coach. She holds aa BSc in Exercise and Sport Sciences (University of Verona, Italy), a MSc in Sport Sciences and Training Methodologies (University of Verona, Italy) and a MSc in Sport and Health Sciences (University of Exeter, UK).
She completed her PhD program at the School of Sports and Exercise Sciences (University of Kent, UK), under the supervision of Professor Samuele Marcora.
She currently works at the University of Kent as a Research Assistant and Research Associate. We obtained two research grants and worked on a project funded by the Ministry of Defence UK.
Ben Rosario is the Executive director of the Hoka Northern Arizona Elite team. In this episode we discuss what makes a great elite training team and how culture can help drive performance.
Episode highlights:
(12:58) The advantages of training with a team: support systems, training with like-minded individuals, motivation
(32:04) Making elite athletes more accessible: highlighting athlete personalities
(46:16) People-first training models: athlete support, confidence, and the evolution of trail running communities
Borja Martinez Gonzalez is a Research fellow and Adjunct professor at the University of Bologna. After graduating in Sport Science and Physical Education at the University of Leon (Spain) in 2013. He subsequently completed an MSc in Sport Science for Optimal Performance from the University of Kent (UK) in 2015. He successfully passed his PhD Viva in 2022 at the same institution. He joined the University of Bologna as Research fellow (2021) and Adjunct professor (2022). His main research interest is to explore strategies to improve endurance performance, with a focus on fatigue, psychobiology, and sleep.
He has also provided sport science support not only for various athletes competing at international endurance events including Ironman World Championships and Marathon Des Sables, but also teams such as Drone Hopper - Androni Giocattoli Professional Cycling Team, Gillingham Football Club, Honda Team Rally Dakar, and Team England Touch Rugby. He has done some consultancy work for companies, such as ASICS and Scarpa.
Episode highlights:
(33:05) When to use caffeine: boosting caffeine at night, avoiding intake 2-4 hours before sleep
(52:47) Advice to avoid sleep deprivation: caveats on sleep deprivation training, sleep banking, caffeine, and race strategy
(58:51) Just run fast: the impacts of sleep deprivation training on training fitness, experiential benefits, and is it worth it?
The weekend training camp is an essential element of most ultrarunner’s training programs. Coaches Ryne Anderson, Cliff Pittman and host Jason Koop discuss how to set up the most effective training camp possible inclusive of goals, volume and the right timing relative to your race.
Ryne Anderson is a CTS Expert coach located in Knoxville, TN. He has been coaching ultrarunners since 2018 and joined CTS in 2021. Ryne has run and coached numerous athletes with limited access to mountains that had successful races at Bighorn 100, Leadville 100, CCC 100k, and San Juan Solstice 50. Integrating strength and mobility work is vital to an athlete’s overall development, and incorporates running-specific strength work with each athlete he coaches.
Cliff Pittman began pursuing his passion for endurance sports at the age of 11 when his parents signed him up for a community track club. He competed on a national level in both track and cross country through high school, but opted to enlist in the military shortly after 9/11, and delayed college until later in life. After a decade in the military, he transitioned into a corporate career, but continued to train several military athletes preparing for special operations. Cliff continued his passion for endurance sports by training for triathlons and marathons. In 2017, he launched a Life Coaching Practice that enabled me to leave my corporate career. But as he made efforts to grow that business, more and more athletes were seeking his help with their running goals and events. Cliff took this as a sign to align his purpose and efforts with what he is really passionate about – coaching athletes. In 2019, he transitioned to full-time run coaching with a specialty in helping ultra/trail athletes.
Episode highlights:
(45:06) Ideal scheduling for training camps: scheduling around training blocks, scheduling camps based on convenience
(48:38) Boundaries on training camp volume changes: using midweek runs as a benchmark, duration and frequency of runs, using races
(1:03:26) Summary: duration, scheduling, physiological versus psychological benefits, practicing race strategy and nutrition, specificity of mode, volume increases, have goals
Do ultramarathons affects males and females differently? How does this impact performance and training. This episode of the KoopCast explores that question with Nick Tiller PhD and coach Corrine Malcolm. We use Nick’s recent paper ‘Sex specific physiologic responses to ultramarathon.’
Episode highlights:
(22:16) Sex-specific deterioration post-race: lung diffusion capacity and pulmonary edema, clinical significance and performative significance
(31:03) The physiology behind sex-specific differences: women are more fatigue resistant to muscle damage, research required to understand cardiopulmonary differences
(43:09) Implications for athletes and coaches: respiratory issues in athletes during long duration race events and caution against racing frequently
Meredith Terranova is a performance nutritionist to many of today’s top ultrarunners. She has been helping her clients reach their nutritional goals since 2004. Through Meredith’s guidance, her clients have reached goals ranging from losing weight, wellness nutrition, race nutrition, training and recovery nutrition, and others using a real world nutrition approach.
During the course of this conversation we discuss Meredith’s approach to nutrition planning, how to find the right foods for you and her famous ‘gas station’ protocol.
Episode highlights:
(18:20) Compounding variables at altitude: increased need for carbs, intensity, hydration, temperature, processing fuel, pacing
(26:39): Summary of nutrition advice: effort first, hydration second, the Nibble Principle third, practice your routine
(38:28) Logistics and routine: plan your low-altitude training nutrition around your high altitude nutrition and race logistics
John Fitzgerald is a CTS Senior level coach. During this episode we discuss our very different training strategies leading up to the 2022 Hardrock 100.
Episode highlights:
(59:06) Sports psychologist Dr. Justin Ross: accept reality and work back toward optimism, it never always gets worse
(1:10:52) Train for your run-walk distribution: Hardrock is approximately two thirds hiking
(1:21:50) Training outside running: using biomechanics to determine mode specificity
Sian spent over 10 years providing sport science support to athletes and coaches in Olympic, Paralympic and professional sports across high performance environments in Great Britain and New Zealand. She began her career working as a Physiologist with British Swimming in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympics, before obtaining an applied PhD in statistical modelling of sport performance from AUT University while working with Swimming New Zealand.
Sian then took up a strategic role as Performance Intelligence Manager with Paralympics New Zealand into the Rio 2016 Games, managing innovation projects and data analysis systems across all Paralympic sports in New Zealand. She now combines her data analytics and exercise physiology backgrounds with the latest in technology and scientific research, working as a Research Manager in the Product Innovation team at lululemon athletica on the West Coast of Canada.
Episode highlights:
(23:42) Three ways to inform training: training architecture, using past athlete data, physiology
(32:53) Raw data: how to make use of data for training
(43:55) data as confidence: you are more than your watch score, performing well with low wearable scores, getting psyched out before your race
Paul Burgum is a social entrepreneur, Motivational Speaker, Youth Worker and more recently a PhD researcher at Durham University. Paul has developed a successful strategy for achievement that begins from simply taking on his own lifelong demons.
Episode highlights:
(31:52) Results: anger and depression during taper exceed race day morning, psychological taper
(42:48) Ultrarunning as a team sport: crew-athlete interactions, counterbalancing athlete emotions, realistic optimism
(57:40) Knowledge as power: understanding and course-correcting mood swings, taking action
Coaching Roundtable-Avoiding a Crisis of Confidence, Crewing and Training Camp Volume with CTS Coaches Chantelle Robitaille and Ryne Anderson | Koopcast Episode 141
Jason Koop sits down with CTS coaches Chantelle Robitalle and Ryne Anderson to discuss what they learned through the year. We discuss how to deal with a crisis of confidence, crewing and pacing and how to set up the right amount of volume for your next training camp.
Episode highlights:
(3:12) Chantelle’s lesson: stresses from missing training, focus on what you achieved
(20:38) Ryne’s lesson: planning with your crew, designate a crew chief, don’t be a hero
(31:17) Jason’s lesson: use training camps to their fullest, athletes can handle high workload
Coach Koop sits down with coaches Stephanie Howe PhD, AJW, Darcie Murphy and Ryne Anderson to discuss what they are doing with their athletes’ transition phase.
Episode highlights:
(10:03) Unstructured training: psychological recovery, fear of detraining, quantifying maintenance
(33:36) Working your weaknesses: physical therapy, use geography to your advantage
(45:33) Incorporating SkiMo: racing year-round, the importance of recovery, impact and cross-training traps
Additional resources:
Koop’s blog on off season- https://trainright.com/off-season-for-ultrarunners-setting-up-your-transition-phase/
Coach Jason Koop speaks with Dr. Justin Ross on mental skills for ultrarunners. How can ultrarunners use awareness, focus, and concentration to improve their performance? How does optimism play a role in training and on race day? Does the meaning we attach to numbers like pace and vertical have an impact on how we view performance? We talk about what ultrarunners can do TODAY to improve their mental skills. I found this conversation fascinating and immediately actionable.
Episode highlights:
(8:54) Why develop mental skills: your mind is integral to your training, parallels to coaching
(20:25) Anxiety: watches, be aware of the meaning you derive from data, managing cognitive load
(31:37) Avoiding the DNF: developing your whys, don’t quit sitting down, waypoints
Dominic Guinto is the Director of Athlete Services for CTS. His role is dedicated to finding the right solution for endurance athletes across the world.
Episode highlights:
(28:00) The best athlete feedback: why do you want a coach, expectations
(34:05) Long term athlete-coach relationships: finding a coach that the athlete believes in
(1:00:40) Coach mentorship: the importance of collective experience in professional development
Claire Bernard Miller, DPT on common issues amongst runners, how our feet are more important to preventing injuries than we know and why we should all seek pelvic floor physical therapy.
Episode highlights:
(21:15) Common injuries: proper pronation and supination, forefoot injuries from narrow toe boxes, Achilles tendinitis, kinetic chain
(24:25) Good foot health: foot intrinsics, strength, exercises
(49:20) Recovery from pregnancy: recognizing the challenge, taking care of your body, getting back to running
Stephanie Howe, Corrine Malcom & Sarah Scozzaro take you through their personal experiences with injuries. Learn how they navigated through the injury process and their time away from running. They share what they did well and what they did not so well, along with what they learned going through this process. As coaches, they discuss how their personal experience makes them better coaches and can help athletes navigate this difficult time.
Episode highlights:
(7:08) Diagnosing stress fractures: you may not have pain, listening to your body
(37:56) Fear of fitness loss: detraining happens over 4-6 weeks, recognizing sources of anxiety
(52:35) Eating during recovery: eat well on off days, you need extra nutrients to heal, what food to cut out
Jessie discusses her rise in cross country skiing to become the most decorated US cross country skier in the history of the sport, what her training is like, why she loves being a professional athlete, and how the US women have shattered the glass ceiling in cross country skiing. We also talk about her eating disorder and how it changed her life path when she sought out help. Lastly, Jessie talks about being a winter athlete in a changing climate and the importance of her work with Protect Our Winters, an organization focused on climate legislation for the Outdoor State.
Episode highlights:
(20:44) Building a strong women’s team: camaraderie, mutual support, sportsmanship
(38:56) Nutrition and injury: micronutrient deficiency often leads to injury, food is good, toxic diet culture, you need more calories than you think
(50:11) Protect Our Winters: informed advocacy, using your voice, avoiding placing blame on individuals, making change
Kaci Lickteig, known to many as the Pixie Ninja, is one of the most popular personalities in Ultrarunning. Her incredibly positive spirit is infectious. In this episode, you will learn all about her 8 Western States finishes, her challenges with injuries over the years, and her incredible relationship with her coach, Jason Koop.
Episode highlights:
(18:08) Western States 2017: challenges, stress, deciding not to quit, “get in the boat”
(24:56) Kaci’s experience with injury: running with a torn hamstring, getting surgery, crutches to 100 miles in six months
(40:05) Kaci’s relationship with Western States: personal experiences, why the race is so special
Still in his 30s, Dylan Bowman has enjoyed a remarkable ultra-running career. During the past 10 years, Dylan has had ample experience being coached by Koop. In this episode, he shares some of the ups and downs of the past decade and looks ahead to a promising future in the sport.
Episode highlights:
(18:06) Deconstructing the DNF: satisfaction and goal setting, motivation, health, respecting the race
(29:08) Koop’s guidance for DBo: international racing, gaining experience, testing yourself
(40:35) Feedback in athlete-coach relationships: listening to your body, Ultra Trail Mount Fuji anecdote, communicating with your coach
In this episode, AJW speaks with two of America's most popular Race Directors, Candice Burt and Jason Green, to discuss the current state of the sport and their thoughts about what they hope ultrarunning will look like in the next decade.
Episode highlights:
(24:14) Community over competition: sharing inspirational stories, celebrating the final finishers
(32:17) Jason on planning for the future of ultras: the commercialization of ultramarathons, appreciating the personal connection
(46:56) Candice on environmental responsibility and inclusivity: runner and crew education, leave no trace, dealing with human waste on the trail, performing double sweeps on trails
Stephanie Case is a well-known figure in trail/ultra running, not just for her success in crazy, tough races (Tor de Glaciers, Hardrock, The Barkley Marathons), but for her outspokenness about women’s rights. Stephanie spearheads tough conversations concerning inclusivity for women in our sport- pregnancy deferrals, quotas for women in races/lotteries, and more. If she couldn’t be any more admirable, Steph also works in conflict zones as a Human Rights Advocate.
Episode highlights:
(26:39) Free to Run: creating female leaders in areas of conflict through visibility in the outdoors space, creating societal change in patriarchal societies
(31:56) Gender inequality in ultras: microaggressions, reasons for including the top 10 women at UTMB, providing for women’s health at races, there are more barriers for women
(59:05) How race directors can promote inclusivity: offering women’s products and childcare stations as symbols of an inclusive space
In this episode, AJW speaks with three legends of ultrarunning, John Medinger, David Horton, and Scott Mills, to discuss the current state of the sport and their thoughts about what the future holds for the next generation of Ultrarunners.
Episode highlights:
(26:57) Scott on Western States in 1982: waist belts, running with Aunt Jemima bottles, power bars, aid stations, how access to runner support leads to faster race times
(35:46) The Barkley Marathons: “impossible” pre-1995 Barkley format, learning the Barkleys year after year, difficulty in comparison to Hardrock, David’s role in the final lap directional rule
(58:07) Small races in America: run your local races, differences between the U.S. and Europe
Øyvind is the director of the Centre for Elite Sports Research at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology
His research aims to improve the understanding of sport performance, by investigating integrative physiology and biomechanics, the effects of strength and endurance training, as well as the utilization of new technology to gain further understanding of these aspects in real-life environments. He also teaches these topics in Bachelor, Master and PhD courses, as well as the top coach education program.
Episode highlights:
(31:46) Quality over concentration: an argument against block periodization, examples
(41:02) Koop on targeting athlete weaknesses: takeaways for elite and non-elite athletes
(54:12) Øyvind’s takeaways for athletes: caveats, learning how to optimize key sessions
Herman is a professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, where he focuses on the evolution of human energy expenditure and metabolism. He is also the co-founder of the Human Evolutionary Ecology Lab, where he and his team study the effects of diet, physical activity, and modern environments on human health and disease.
Herman’s latest book, "Burn: The Misunderstood Science of Metabolism," explores the latest research on metabolism and challenges long-held beliefs about weight loss and metabolism. His work has been featured in numerous publications and media outlets, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and NPR
Andrew Best is a biological anthropologist and Assistant Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts; he is also a respectable endurance athlete in his own right. Ancdrew is currently conducting a research project on ultramarathon and ultra endurance athletes that further tests the limits of the human metabolic scope.
Episode highlights:
(15:23) The hypothesis: when you exercise you expend less energy to inflammation, stress, hormone regulation
(25:18) Reevaluating performance: energy expenditure may be the limiting factor in ultramarathons, if so training can be structured to target metabolic scope
(51:37) Training applications: strategically exceeding your metabolic ceiling during important moments in training and repaying metabolic debt when it matters least
Dr. Alan McCubbin lectures and conducts research in sports nutrition at Monash University, consults to Triathlon Australia's High Performance Program, and writes for Cycling Tips. He has worked as the dietitian for the Attaque-Gusto cycling team, adventure runner Richard Bowles, several triathlon squads, the Coburg Tigers VFL football club and the Tour de Cure cycling charity amongst others. He has written for Outer Edge Magazine, Trail Run magazine and lectured for Cycling Australia coaches. He has worked with summer and winter Olympians, A-League soccer players, national Taekwondo champions, triathletes, ultra-marathon runners, road cyclists & mountain bikers, boxers and windsurfers. Alan has competed at an international level in sailing, and in endurance mountain biking. Alan recently completed a PhD in sports nutrition at Monash University, looking at the effects of sodium in endurance athletes. He is also the co-host of The Long Munch Podcast, a podcast that answers common nutrition questions asked by runners, cyclists and triathletes.
Alan founded Next Level Nutrition, Australia's first ever online sports nutrition consultancy back in 2010. What was once an unheard of service model is fast becoming the norm in the sports nutrition industry, better servicing the sporting community of Australia with access to state-of-the-art sports nutrition counseling and education, delivered to clients anywhere in Australia via the web.
Episode highlights:
Part one — interview:
(15:14) When to supplement sodium: large sweat losses, high fluid intake, high sweat sodium concentration, example
(45:55) Decision chart for sodium replacement: check out Alan’s flow chart in the show notes, when to use sodium supplementation in training, season to taste
Part two — coach roundtable:
(1:35:28) Lower access to fluids during training: differences in resupplying, loop training, using your vehicle as an aid station
(2:06:00) Duncan’s takeaways: more 4+ hours runs, emphasizing that sodium is per unit fluid, train in varied environmental conditions
Ed Maunder PhD is an exercise physiologist with expertise in metabolic responses to endurance exercise, and metabolic adaptations to endurance training. Ed is a Lecturer in the School of Sport and Recreation and part of the Sport Physiology and Nutrition Research Group at SPRINZ. His research is focused on understanding the physiological drivers of mitochondrial adaptation to endurance exercise, and the physiological profiling of endurance athletes.
Episode highlights:
(13:42) Lactate threshold durability: before and after 2.5 hours of cycling, average decrease of 10%, athletes saw reduced efficiency and reduced energy expenditure, decreasing efficiency is likely even more of a factor in running
(35:37) Training durability: speculation, training specificity to durability, creating stress early during long runs
(44:44) Takeaways: interpreting research on training interventions, arranging training structure intensity-first versus intensity-last, specificity of durability training
What’s Next For The KoopCast? | KoopCast Episode 161
00:16:41
Episode overview:
Coach Jason Koop monologues on what 2023 will bring for the podcast.
Episode highlights:
(2:16) Scientific and coaching content: Dylan Bowman’s Freetrail is great for media coverage and commentary, the niche of the KoopCast is research and coaching
(5:11) What to expect: research deep-dives and coaching roundtables, timing relevant content around the running season, longer format episodes
(12:55) What you can expect from Research Essentials: Koop, Stephanie Howe, and Nick Tiller review research papers and have a roundtable that is written by Jim Rutberg and illustrated
My conversation:
(0:00) Introduction: the new year and upcoming changes to the KoopCast, expressing gratitude, reaching one million downloads, the commitment to no sponsors
(2:16) Scientific and coaching content: Dylan Bowman’s Freetrail is great for media coverage and commentary, the niche of the KoopCast is research and coaching
(5:11) What to expect: research deep-dives and coaching roundtables, timing relevant content around the running season, longer format episodes
(6:11) Commitment to no sponsorship: recognizing that the KoopCast loses money for being free, importance of integrity, putting athletes before sponsors, the role of the KoopCast
(8:05) Research Essentials in Ultrarunning: new research newsletter, most training advice online is superficial clickbait, the collapse of Outside Magazine
(12:55) What you can expect from Research Essentials: Koop, Stephanie Howe, and Nick Tiller review research papers and have a roundtable that is written by Jim Rutberg and illustrated
(14:34) First Research Essentials topics: Vitamin D Supplementation, sleep and nutrition profiles, Vitamin C and E on muscle damage; downhill running, iron metabolism, and artificial sweeteners, stay tuned for more information
(16:00) Outro: gratitude, excitement for the future of the KoopCast, giving thanks
Additional resources:
Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible
Adam Pulford is a Pro Level Coach at CTS and is one of the most sought after mountain bike coaches in the world. He also has served ass the team director for TeamShoAir UCI Professional Factory MTB Team the Twenty16/Twenty20 UCI Professional Women’s Race Team and the Orange Seal Off-Road Team
Episode highlights:
(23:45) Zones are descriptive not prescriptive: avoiding overeager zone prescriptions, instantaneous tests, athlete adaptability
(36:19) Is physiological testing worth it: marginal gains, correlating time to exhaustion between the field and lab tests, physiological testing is best for gauging improvement
(1:07:39) Durability at intensity: making sure zone paces are sustainable to increase volume at intensity, the importance of durability and sustainability in training
Additional resources:
Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible
Renee Eastman is a Premiere coach at CTS as well as the head of CTS’s physiology lab. She has been coaching since 1996.
Episode highlights:
(8:59) Koop’s takeaways from testing: assessing existing physiological and genetic traits, using your strengths and building your weaknesses, ensuring training is effective
(38:46) Interpreting test data: peak VO2, lactate threshold (LT2), heart rate and pace, looking at metabolism over lower intensities, explaining why lactate is at steady-state sub-threshold, lactate is an indicator
(1:17:58) Values of physiological testing: long-term training direction is the main benefit, not zone construction, zones are can be established from training but metabolic breakdown and lactate curve shape requires lab testing, value for elite and beginner athletes
Additional resources:
Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible
Frederic Sabater Pastor is a CTS ultrarunning coach with a PH.D. in Exercise Physiology and experience coaching athletes for a variety of challenges. He is also a Postdoctoral researcherat the Inter-university Lab of Human Movement. His area of focus are running, trail, performance, physiology and fatigue.
Episode highlights:
(32:02) Training differences: road runners 20 hrs/week, trail runners 10 hrs/week, road runners cross train and strength train more, overall road volume is double despite race duration being up to 10x less
(37:11) Why are trail runners stronger: do runners self-select, is trail running innately better strength training, strength training is a broad term
(51:38) Specificity of running economy: train for specificity, changing protocols from road training, strides over technical terrain, differences in strength training
The coaches review the process they go through with their athletes when planning out their seasons.
Episode highlights:
(12:15) Koop on weaknesses and strengths: anchor points, assessing weaknesses and strengths, when were you at your best, when were you at your worst, Abby Hall example, recap
(33:08) Emphasizing anchor points: making the most important training events known to the athlete so they are less concerned when non-essential training is changed to accommodate life, be 100% consistent 80% of the time, be flexible
(48:32) Life cost of racing: too much racing complicates family, employment, cost, travel, these make recovery from long races more difficult, muscle damage, emotional recovery
Additional resources:
Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible
Manuel is an experienced cyclist and coach at TrainingPeaks.com with a degree in Sports Nutrition. His new book, La naturaleza del entrenamiento (The Nature of Training), discusses the nonlinear and complex nature of training.
Episode highlights:
(24:59) Manuel on RPE: RPE is an effective way of weighting and combining training stressors, RPE as a high capacity processor, RPE includes physical effort, motivation, and mentality, fatigue and RPE are related, external metrics are not more effective than RPE for training
(32:59) Measuring improvement: using RPE, wholistic tests are better than measuring variables like VO2max in isolation, nonmeasurable parameters are just as important as measurable ones, examples, painkillers and caffeine
(41:49) Performance variability: probability distribution explanation, deriving worth from performances, lots of data is needed to accurately determine a performance range
Dr Justin Ross is a clinical psychologist in Denver, CO specializing in athlete mental health and performance psychology.
He is a recreational amateur athlete himself, completing 11 marathons, 6 Boston Marathon qualifiers, and is a recent finisher of the Leadville 100 MTB. He's also completed 2 Ironman 70.3 distance triathlons, and too many shorter running, cycling, and triathlon distance races to count.
Episode highlights:
(41:46) Dealing with unexpected challenge: should coaches deliberately create challenges to test mental toughness, Michael Phleps example, additional interval example
(47:11) Executing when it counts: having a mental training plan, shifting from external and broad skills to internal and narrow, psychological flexibility
(59:16) Mental TrainingPeaks plan: application, accessibility for athletes, Justin’s twelve-week plan, overview of skills, caveats, post-race reflection, how to adapt the program to your training
Article Justin discussed on mental toughness- Mental toughness in sport: testing the goal-expectancy-self-control (GES) model among runners and cyclists using cross-sectional and experimental designs
Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible
Neal is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Mental Performance Consultant based in Longmont, Colorado. He provides individual psychotherapy and mental skills training/consultations/coaching to athletes at all levels through out the state.
He has been a clinical social worker since 1998 working in various settings including residential treatment centers, schools, hospitals and private practice, providing psychotherapy for a range of different issues.
After years working as a clinical social worker Neal received a second masters degree in applied sport psychology and continue to receive mentorship from a sport psychologist working towards certification as a mental performance consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology.
When Neal is not working with athletes he is dad, husband, endurance and mountain athlete and endurance coach, have qualified and run the Boston Marathon, a number of 100 mile ultra endurance runs as well as plenty of other adventures.
Episode highlights:
(8:06) The mental skills pyramid: images on the website and the YouTube recording, building up motivation, mindfulness, emotional regulation, self-talk and imagery, focus
(36:39) Self-talk and imagery: recap of the pyramid, self-talk before imagery, find what works for you, avoiding negative self-talk, using the “you” voice, mantras, instructional self-talk
(51:19) Where to employ imagery: imagine the crux of the race, examples for Leadville, imagine what you want to look like, how you want to respond to challenges
Jolan Kegelars is psychology professor and a lifelong athlete with a strong interest in the combination of Sport and Clinical psychology. This interest is situated both in research and applied practice.
His topics of interest include: existential therapy, behavioral therapy, biofeedback, personality testing, performance enhancement, eating disorders in sports and talent development.
Episode highlights:
(40:33) Ultramarathon example: missing nutrition or crew, blinding nutrition during long runs, giving the athlete effective nutrition but poor flavors
(45:43) Pressure training as a mental skills test: developing mental skills between pressure training tests, examples, previous two episodes on mental skills
(55:24) How to use pressure training: identify situations that might challenge you, brainstorm potential solutions, simulate specific aspects, training can be less pressure than the race, incorporate mental skills training, implement pressure progressively, reflection
Dr. Robbie McIntyre graduated from the University of Stirling with a BSc (Hons) degree in Sport and Exercise Science before going on to do his MSc in Exercise Physiology at Loughborough University. He then completed his PhD at Bangor University, where he specialized in preparatory strategies for exercise in hot environments.
Dr. Sam Oliver Reader (Assoc Prof) in Sport & Exercise Science, and Director of the Institute for Applied Human Physiology (IAHP) at Bangor University, Wales, UK. Much of his work focuses on developing strategies to improve the health and performance of those people required to operate in challenging environments, this includes athletes, but also armed and emergency services.
Episode highlights:
(20:12) Mean body temperature: a useful non-localized metric for investigating heat training, ice slushies as an example of localized temperature reduction, challenges of the ice slushie intervention, previous podcast discussing heat training protocols with Lindsay Golich
(24:15) Comfort in hot environments: hot water immersion improved perceptual comfort and RPE, emphasizing that reducing RPE in the heat is key, athletes should feel more prepared
(41:40) Hot water immersion protocol: immersing in 40° C water post-run, increasing duration from 20min, safety, 3-6 days of immersion
Carla is a chartered sport and exercise physiologist and senior lecturer in applied sports psychology at St. Mary’s University, UK She has a keen interest in endurance performance inspired by her work providing mental support at running events. She researches and teaches in sport psychology and also works as a sport psychology practitioner.
Episode highlights:
(23:38) Psychology and nutrition: setting if-then plans, avoiding situations that trigger negative thoughts, plan ahead, putting good intentions into action
(43:25) Switching foci: recapping techniques, understanding attentional foci, realizing which foci are relevant to your situation, examples, avoiding rumination
(1:04:50) Process goals for training: mental strategies, running technique, nutrition, growth occurs during reflection, valuing positive experiences, instilling confidence, quality of motivation
CTS coaches Jason Koop, Andy-Jones Wilkins, Adam Ferdinandson and Ryne Anderson discuss how to avoid a pre race crisis of confidence.
Episode highlights:
(8:30) Viewing training holistically: highlighting the totality of training to build athlete confidence, recency bias
(33:40) Readjusting race goals: setting expectations, creating process-oriented goals, timing the discussion on preparedness
(51:13) Difficulty is nonlinear: athletes transitioning from 50k to 50 miles, you might feel better at mile 70 than mile 50, using training camps to improve confidence in volume jumps
Nicola is an athlete and professor of motor sciences at the University of Udine. His research has recently focused in the areas of steep train running and how poles can improve performance.
Episode highlights:
(44:42) Metabolic results of maximal testing: no energetic differences with or without poles, at maximal effort energetic cost is always going to be maximal and thus the same
(54:41) Results of submaximal testing: the hypothesis that poles decrease effort, in reality all physiological parameters were the same, no clear advisory for athletes, perhaps results would be different if athletes were fatigued
(1:02:30) Saving your legs: investigating if poles reduce lower limb force, utilizing similar maximal and treadmill tests as the previous study, using poles does reduce force required from the lower limbs, additional durability study
Maddy is a 5th year doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the University of South Florida, where she is working with Dr. Diana Rancourt within the DEPTH lab. Her dedication to understanding disordered eating behaviors among athletes began while completing a joint BS/MS degree at Drexel University. Maddy will be transitioning to complete her clinical internship year this July at the UCSD Eating Disorders Center. Currently her research interests include: 1) examining identity as a risk factor for maladaptive exercise behaviors and 2) understanding the role peer exercise norms on the development of maladaptive exercise. Her long-term interests include furthering eating disorder research and treatment by developing identity-focused interventions for use with both athletes and individuals with maladaptive exercise.
Episode highlights:
(15:09) Over-identification: clinical flags, how your athletic identity manifests in your life, maladaptive behaviors to reinforce identity, athletic identity is less likely to cause issues than exercise identity
(24:04) Manipulating diet to improve performance: a slippery slope, attitude towards eating behaviors is more significant than the behaviors themselves, investigating the rigidity, stress, and duration of behaviors
(29:15) Advice for athletes with unsustainable exercise habits: examples of maladaptive behaviors, taking a small step back, building a healthier relationship with exercise, progressive de-loading
Brady earned his bachelor’s degree with honors from Northern Kentucky University and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Florida, where he’s researching the effects of exercise and sleep deprivation on cardiovascular health. His other research interests include low-carb/keto diets, intermittent fasting, and how lifestyle can be used to optimize performance, health, and longevity.
He is a former Division I collegiate runner and is still an “endurance junkie” who loves to rack up miles on a run or bicycle. Brady spends his free time working on his podcast (Science & Chill) or hanging out with his wife and dog at breweries, where he often plays Scrabble. He also loves reading, but the “unread” section of his bookshelf grows faster than the “read” section.
His comfort foods are a spoonful of peanut butter, chili (no beans!), ribeye steak, and dark chocolate (especially when dipped in peanut butter).
Episode highlights:
(46:48) How to choose good supplements: recognize your individual needs, the goal is to treat a deficiency, get nutrients from your diet, supplements are more expensive than real food
(54:20) Individuality and supplements: ergogenic aids versus deficiencies, nitrates and creatine example, not all exercise is the same, not all populations are the same, beet juice example, trained and untrained individuals have different limiting factors, sport specificity, males versus female
(1:08:02) Blended supplements: single supplementation is best, co-supplementation is not well researched, proprietary blends are unknown mixtures
Dr. Scott Forbes is an associate professor in the department of Physical Education Studies at Brandon University and an adjunct professor in the faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies at the University of Regina in Canada. Dr. Forbes is a certified sport nutritionist through the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), and a clinical exercise physiologist and high-performance specialist through the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP). Dr. Forbes has published over 110 peer-reviewed manuscripts and 5 book chapters. His research examines various nutritional (e.g., creatine and protein) and exercise interventions to enhance muscle, bone, and brain function in a variety of populations, including athletes and aging adults.
Episode highlights:
(15:33) What is creatine: your body creates creatine, creatine in meat and diet, phospho-creatine rapidly makes ATP, metabolic benefits during high intensity exercise, amino acids
(39:07) Timing creatine throughout the year: creatine could aid adaptation during high volume and low intensity training, improving strength training and bone strength to potentially avoid stress injuries
(48:18) When and how to use creatine: sleep, diet, and consistency of training come first, use creatine monohydrate, loading phase and timeframe of creatine benefits Additional resources:
Andy Kirkland started out as a sports scientist at the Scottish Institute of Sport and now is a Lecturer in Sports Coaching at the University of Stirling.
Episode highlights:
(36:30) The limiting factor of coaching is time: time spent communicating with athletes, time is monetized so this is a challenging factor, allocate time to get to know your athletes
(48:44) Model your coaching process: what do you do as a coach, programming, sports science support, media, admin, see if you have gaps in your process that you can modify to improve retention, AI, coffee shop example
(1:10:03) Multi-sport coaching: curling example, adventure racing example, different perceptions of performance across different sporting cultures, rugby example, see outside your cultural bubble
Lindsay is an exercise physiologist at the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center’s Athlete Performance Lab, and the High Altitude & Environmental Training Center (HATC). She works with USA Triathlon, USA Cycling and other Team USA Athletes in Sport Sciences and Data Analytics towards Olympic success. This episode of the podcast is all about how to train in the heat and at altitude.
Episode highlights:
(24:00) Impact of cooling interventions: 6% delay in critical core temperature, athletes make better decisions when cool, changing strategy rather than training, recap of interventions, simple is best
(44:00) How to prepare for altitude: one of the most common questions, fitness and hydration, come to altitude right before your event or 2-3 weeks prior, Pikes Peak example
(52:50) Pacing at altitude: prepare your biomechanics, practice hiking, be comfortable slowing down, Pikes Peak Marathon example, be prepared
(13:24) Two phase protocols: concentrated heat training 6-8 weeks before an event, maintenance phase, second phase of concentrated heat training pre-race, the traditional heat training model, learning from the first phase, compounding effects, fear of error
(38:40) Athlete experiences: initial shock, ideal temperature ranges, rapid adaptation, test your heat fitness outside, warm-climate athletes
(44:55) Ideal sauna temperature and duration: 180-200 degrees, 25-30 minutes, err on the side of less, more is not better, thermostat anecdote, minimum effective dose of 140 degrees and 15 minutes
Chiel Poffe is a Postdoctoral researcher at KU Leven. His areas of focus are energy metabolism and ketones.
Episode highlights:
(32:56) Practical ketone use: best during high-intensity training, 25g after exercise and before sleep, individual variance, potential improved sleep, muscle recovery, cognitive benefits, cost
(39:38) Ultramarathon study results: complications with investigating performance, reaction time test, no cognitive decline in ketone groups, ketone increase dopamine levels, mechanistic speculation
(45:19) Ketones aid cognition in extreme circumstances: revisiting study design, parallels to the overtraining study, ketones inhibit cognitive decline rather than improving cognition, support from initial ketone research
Dr. Antonio is the chief executive officer and co-founder of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, an academic nonprofit dedicated to the science and application of sports nutrition and supplementation. In addition, he is the co-founder and vice president of the Society for Neurosports, an academic nonprofit with a focus on sports neuroscience. Dr. Antonio earned his Ph.D. and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers as well as over a dozen books. His current areas of research include: dietary supplements (e.g., creatine, protein, etc.), sports neuroscience, and human performance. He is currently a professor at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida.
Episode highlights:
(32:10) Maximize caloric intake during races: 27 hour paddle example, eat whatever you can eat, focus on protein for recovery during training
(44:58) How much protein to intake: training camp example, race-day nutrition prioritizes carbs, spread your protein intake across the day, examples, individuality
(50:29) Increased protein during hard training: 2g/kg of protein for normal training, 1.2g/kg is common but 2g/kg is better but hard to ingest, ISSN recommends 1.6-2.5g/kg
Dr. Scott H. Frey is an internationally renowned neuroscientist, psychologist, accomplished endurance athlete, author, and teacher. Scott helps individuals and groups identify and realize their aspirations. He can be reached at: Scott@CerebralPerformance.com
Episode highlights:
(33:42) Factors that reduce pain tolerance: sleep deprivation, anxiety and stress, limited mental bandwidth, maximizing cognitive reserve, automate your race strategy
(44:49) Time-course for adaptation to pain: physical analogy, relatively acute increased ability to recruit motor units over the short term, chronic adaptations to training, psychology follows a similar trend
(55:48) How to practice mental skills: mental skills for intervals are different from mental skills for long runs, simulate the race environment mentally as well as physically, CerebralPerformance.com
Additional resources:
Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible.
Coaches Jason Koop, AJW, and Neal Palles discuss the takeaways from last week’s podcast with Dr. Scott Frey.
Episode highlights:
(6:36) Adjusting training for life stress: methodologies, acceptance and awareness, using RPE, experiential training and pain, “taper” your cognitive load
(23:46) Koop’s takeaway: your relationship with workout-related pain is malleable, athletes see short-term improvement from intensity workouts that physiology cannot explain, examples, individual variation
(42:53) DNF spiral: the DNF prediction machine, team sports example, hard interventions to break the cycle, examples
Additional resources:
Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible.
How Training for Ultras Can Empower Your Pregnancy Journey with Carla Meijen PhD and Stephanie Howe PhD | KoopCast Episode #184
01:13:41
View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website. Episode overview:
Carla Meijen comes back on the podcast to discuss her newest book Empowered Birth which takes lessons learned during training and racing and translates and reframes them to empower the pregnancy and birthing process.
Episode highlights:
(9:20) Stephanie’s athlete-pregnancy journey: mental and physical pain, the unknown, adapting plans, personal anecdote, pushing through pain
(44:27) Conflicting athletic and maternal identities: athletic journeys evolve over decades, maternal journeys evolve over months, unfair expectations for shifting identity, identity takes experience and time
(50:00) The post-pregnancy athletic journey: bumps in the road, sick toddlers, avoiding expectations of linear progress, tapping into support, the post-baby PB, process goals
The weekend training camp is an essential element of most ultrarunner’s training programs. Coaches Ryne Anderson, Cliff Pittman and host Jason Koop discuss how to set up the most effective training camp possible inclusive of goals, volume and the right timing relative to your race.
Ryne Anderson is a CTS Expert coach located in Knoxville, TN. He has been coaching ultrarunners since 2018 and joined CTS in 2021. Ryne has run and coached numerous athletes with limited access to mountains that had successful races at Bighorn 100, Leadville 100, CCC 100k, and San Juan Solstice 50. Integrating strength and mobility work is vital to an athlete’s overall development, and incorporates running-specific strength work with each athlete he coaches.
Cliff Pittman began pursuing his passion for endurance sports at the age of 11 when his parents signed him up for a community track club. He competed on a national level in both track and cross country through high school, but opted to enlist in the military shortly after 9/11, and delayed college until later in life. After a decade in the military, he transitioned into a corporate career, but continued to train several military athletes preparing for special operations. Cliff continued his passion for endurance sports by training for triathlons and marathons. In 2017, he launched a Life Coaching Practice that enabled me to leave my corporate career. But as he made efforts to grow that business, more and more athletes were seeking his help with their running goals and events. Cliff took this as a sign to align his purpose and efforts with what he is really passionate about – coaching athletes. In 2019, he transitioned to full-time run coaching with a specialty in helping ultra/trail athletes.
Episode highlights:
(45:06) Ideal scheduling for training camps: scheduling around training blocks, scheduling camps based on convenience
(48:38) Boundaries on training camp volume changes: using midweek runs as a benchmark, duration and frequency of runs, using races
(1:03:26) Summary: duration, scheduling, physiological versus psychological benefits, practicing race strategy and nutrition, specificity of mode, volume increases, have goals
Charlie Pedlar, Ph.D. is a researcher at St. Mary’s University in Twickenham, London. He started out as a research assistant for the British Olympic Association based at Northwick Park Hospital. He has since held positions as London Region Lead Physiologist at the English Institute of Sport (primary sport: British Athletics) and Chief Science Officer at Orreco. Charlie was the Director of the Centre for Health, Applied Sport and Exercise Science at St Mary’s between 2009 and 2015. Whilst embedded in high-performance sport, Charlie completed his Ph.D. at Brunel University in 2007 entitled 'Sleep and Exercise during Acclimation and Acclimatization to Moderate Altitude in Elite Athletes, which involved a combination of field data collected during moderate altitude training camps and laboratory data, investigating responses to altitude in the GB national squads for Speed skating, Biathlon, Rowing, Kayaking, and Athletics.
Episode highlights:
(19:19) Necessary biomarkers to track: full blood count (FBC) aka complete blood count (CBC), ferritin, Vitamin D, nutrition-related markers
(25:30) Standardizing blood tests: timing tests around training and menstrual cycles (continued at 39:41), fasted and rested conditions, guidelines for getting good test data, practicality of standardized blood testing
(54:30) Blood testing and performance: companies don’t know if you are performing well, they can’t tell you what is optimal, retrospective data analysis, health and performance are complementary, athlete intake example
Meredith Terranova is a performance nutritionist to many of today’s top ultrarunners. She has been helping her clients reach their nutritional goals since 2004. Through Meredith’s guidance, her clients have reached goals ranging from losing weight, wellness nutrition, race nutrition, training and recovery nutrition, and others using a real world nutrition approach.
During the course of this conversation we discuss Meredith’s approach to nutrition planning, how to find the right foods for you and her famous ‘gas station’ protocol.
Episode highlights:
(18:20) Compounding variables at altitude: increased need for carbs, intensity, hydration, temperature, processing fuel, pacing
(26:39): Summary of nutrition advice: effort first, hydration second, the Nibble Principle third, practice your routine
(38:28) Logistics and routine: plan your low-altitude training nutrition around your high altitude nutrition and race logistics
Harlan Austin, Ph.D., is a licensed psychologist with national certifications in sport psychology and addiction psychology. With 20 years of experience working in the sport and clinical psychology field, Harlan has worked with individuals focused on high performance, return-to-performance, and leadership development. Harlan has served in many roles, including performance consultant, clinician, program developer, and clinical director. He has lectured and presented at national conventions on the topics of sport and performance psychology, clinical sport psychology, athlete psychological assessment, athlete rehabilitation, and athlete return to sport. Throughout his career, Harlan has had the opportunity to work with professional athletes (NBA, MLB, NFL, Boxing, LAX, Ski, and Snowboard), healthcare professionals, US Special Forces groups, and high-level executives.
Episode highlights:
(14:20) Why athletes are higher risk for addiction: no simple answer, appreciating social context, hard work and celebration, examples, adolescence and sport, letdown in sport
(30:00) Changing behavior to aid performance: meet addicts where they have motivation to change, develop incongruence between addiction and performance
(41:20) The process of recovery: removing the substance is step one, finding out what was going on under the surface is step two, parallels to the athlete mentality, transferable skillset
(2022 Re-Release) Dominic Guinto is the Director of Athlete Services for CTS. His role is dedicated to finding the right solution for endurance athletes across the world.
Episode highlights:
(28:00) The best athlete feedback: why do you want a coach, expectations
(34:05) Long term athlete-coach relationships: finding a coach that the athlete believes in
(1:00:40) Coach mentorship: the importance of collective experience in professional development
Amy-Lee Bowler is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Bond in Australia. Her research seeks to understand the current practice pathways and subsequent dietary management used by sports dietitians when assessing and managing energy availability in athletes.
Episode highlights:
(25:45) Personalization of blood glucose: new study on standard glucose levels in athletes, “metabolic flexibility”, lipid oxidation, tighter glucose control in endurance athletes, intensity, duration, diet, and training level all change blood glucose
(35:41) CGMs for identifying acute low energy availability: subjective assessments might be more valuable, examples
(55:30) CGMs are not tools for athletes: it is difficult for athletes to determine anything useful from the data, examples, currently CGMs must be used with practitioners
Dr. Olivier Girard is an Associate Professor in Human Performance and Research Director of the Sports Science, Exercise, and Health Department at the University of Western Australia.
He spent 20 years in the field of exercise physiology and biomechanics developing and facilitating performance outcome-based solutions for elite athletes (mainly team/racket sports), coaches, and their support teams. In Perth, Dr. Girard leads an environmental physiology special interest group.
Olivier completed his Doctoral Degree (2006) in Human Movement Sciences at the University of Montpellier in France. For eight years, he worked as Research Scientist at Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, a FIFA and IOC-accredited medical center. He was employed at Lausanne University, Switzerland, and Murdoch University in Perth, Australia.
Olivier has published over 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 25 book chapters and has presented his work at more than 180 national/international conferences.
Episode highlights:
(47:32) Timing altitude interventions: pre-race acclimation is high risk-high reward, using altitude to enable harder training requires a second step, Koop’s low risk to high reward process
(56:35) Lesson 5: managing fatigue is key, altitude exposes your weaknesses exponentially, you need to nail the basics
(1:18:29) Intermittent hypoxic training: intervals and resistance training in hypoxia, potential benefits to muscle strength, combining hematological and non-hematological training, live high-train low and high
Iron Metabolism and Supplementation for Ultrarunners with Dr. Alannah McKay #192
00:58:57
View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website. Episode overview:
Alannah McKay completed a Bachelor of Science (Exercise, Health, and Sports Science) at the University of Western Australia in 2014. Subsequently, Alannah completed a post-graduate position within the Physiology department at the Australian Institute of Sport, where she was involved in preparing many Australian athletes before the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic games. Since Alannah has submitted her Ph.D. titled “The Effect of Dietary Manipulation on Iron Metabolism and the Immune System in Elite Athletes,” which was undertaken in partnership with the Australian Institute of Sport, Western Australian Institute of Sport, and the University of Western Australia. Alannah joined Australian Catholic University as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2020. Her research will continue to explore the impact of diet and exercise on a range of health outcomes in athletes, with a specific interest in iron metabolism.
Episode highlights:
(20:48) Iron metabolism and low-carb diets: 3 week ketogenic intervention followed by <24 hours of carbohydrate intake, low carb diets decrease hepcidin, the acute carb intervention did not restore hepcidin, low carb states are when you are at greater risk for iron deficiency
(39:40) What iron supplements to use: ferrous sulfate, 100mg of elemental iron, maltofer, deficiency versus topping off, tailor frequency and dosing, avoid multivitamins
(47:39) Frequency of supplementation: absolute and relative absorption, the more iron you consume the more you absorb, alternate day dosing is well supported, mechanistic reasoning
Mitochondria and Amplifying Adaptation with Professor David Bishop #193
01:15:13
View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website. Episode overview:
Professor Bishop is a world leader in muscle exercise physiology, with over 250 scientific publications. He leads the Skeletal Muscle and Training research group at Victoria University in Australia.
The focus of his research group is to examine how diet, exercise, and genes interact to regulate skeletal muscle adaptations.
Throughout his career, Professor bishop has held many different and important leadership positions within the exercise science community in Australia. He was the youngest-ever president of Exercise & Sport Science Australia (ESSA). He has been named one of the top 25 influencers of exercise & sports sciences in Australia. He has twice been on the Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) panel. He was made a fellow of three different organizations, Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA), the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and the European College of Sports Science (ECSS). Professor Bishop is now a director of the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) and an assistant editor of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.
Episode highlights:
(19:56) Physiological limits to mitochondrial mass: homeostasis and why athletes plateau, mitochondria can never be 100% muscle mass, car analogy and spatial limitations
(43:29) Acute responses to training with low carb availability: cell signaling and mitochondrial benefits at lower intensities, no benefit at high intensities, train low can augment moderate intensity, recovering from low carb takes time
(54:12) Mechanisms of sodium bicarbonate: lactate and hydrogen ions move down concentration gradients, sodium bicarbonate lowers blood acidity by pulling hydrogen ions out of the muscle, applications to anaerobic performance
Brendan is an Associate Professor of Sport and Exercise Physiology and Head of School for the School of Health and Human Performance at DCU. His current research investigates skeletal muscle function and adaptation across the life course, with special interest in the synergy between nutrition and exercise interventions ranging from athletes to older adults. His research group performs human trials involving both acute and chronic interventions for outcomes around performance (physical and cognitive), recovery, and adaptation. It has employed various experimental designs and has been complimented by molecular analysis tools, including transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. Nutrients recently and presently under investigation include caffeine, creatine, omega-3 fatty acids, resveratrol, leucine, protein hydrolysates, beetroot juice, and exogenous ketones.
Brendan received his BSc in Sport and Exercise Science from the University of Limerick in 2003, MSc in Sport and Exercise Nutrition from Loughborough University in 2004, and Ph.D. from Dublin City University in 2008 before completing two years of post-doctoral training with Prof. Juleen Zierath’s Integrative Physiology group at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. His doctoral studies focussed on skeletal muscle adaptation to exercise, and in particular, the continuity between acute molecular responses to individual bouts of exercise and adaptations induced by exercise training, whereas his post-doctoral training utilized animal models and in vitro cell systems to investigate the transcriptional regulation of skeletal muscle development and mechanisms of insulin resistance. He joined the faculty in the School of Public Health, Physiotherapy, and Sport Science at University College Dublin in 2011, where he spent five years before moving to DCU. He is also a Visiting Research Scientist at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, Pensacola, FL, USA, and a Principal Investigator at the National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology at DCU.
Outside of academia, through his sporting career as an inter-county Gaelic footballer with Sligo from 2003 to 2017, Brendan has had a lifelong association with sport, training, and performance at all levels of competition, from grassroots to elite level, and also practices in the field as a performance nutritionist with emphasis on field-based team sports, and endurance athletes.
Episode highlights:
(25:27) The “preferred energy source”: media sources, ketones become the dominant fuel in the brain during starvation, dominant does not mean preferred, ketogenesis is a survival mechanism, exogenous ketones can rescue heart failure
(35:30) Ketones as glycogen sparing: Tour de France background, mechanistic basis, two existing relevant studies, one showed glycogen sparing and one showed no difference, differences in methods, the theory is solid but the proof is lacking
(57:27) Ketones for protein generation study: design, downstream markers from mTOR increase with ketones, protein synthesis was not measured directly but is likely, once again the mechanistic theory is promising but the proof is pending, ketones for sleep
Nick Tiller Research is a fellow at the Lundquist Institute at Harbor-UCLA where he studies clinical respiratory and exercise physiology, and the physiology / pathophysiology of ultra-endurance exercise. He is also a columnist at Skeptical Inquirer Magazine, and the author of The Skeptic's Guide to Sports Science.
Episode highlights:
(20:01) Recap of potential cardiovascular health effects: athletes who train high volumes are not at risk, races and high intensity training are more likely to be problematic, the emergent state of ultramarathon research
(27:20) Respiratory risks of racing ultras: chronically no different than other endurance sports, drops in acute lung function, most are not clinically significant, asthma or other conditions mean you start from a lower baseline and can experience clinically significant problems
(35:23) The renal system: UTMB health policy, banning NSAIDs, duration, heat, altitude, dehydration, and hyponatremia all compound, NSAIDs make everything worse, acute kidney dysfunction in ultras is common and generally non harmful, chronic effects are unknown
Guillaume Millet and Vincent Viet manage the Salomon High-performance program for their elite athletes.
Episode highlights:
(12:57) HPC coaching structure: team sports the U.S., the high performance coordinator, bringing in other experts
(24:30) Building athlete confidence: the process takes time, not all athletes are interested, being careful with the framing of HPC, examples, injury prevention
(44:08) Who should create HPC: example of athlete concerns about the HPC as a screening process within Salomon, recognizing bias, theorizing athlete-driven HPC, data confidentiality
Dr. Fedoruk is the Chief Science Officer for USADA. In this episode, we discuss the landscape of anti-doping solutions and what USADA does to combat doping within the sports they have jurisdiction over.
Episode highlights:
(32:48) Global anti-doping structure: USADA is one of over 100 signatories of the World Anti-Doping Agency, protecting the independence of the anti-doping framework, application to professional sport, examples
(45:40) Therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs): why TUEs exist, medical prescriptions, ADHD example, independent specialists examine blinded samples to confirm diagnoses are legitimate
(56:14) Contamination: supplements, increasingly precise tests pick up on contaminated medication, examples of contamination from pharmaceutical manufacturers and restaurants, solutions, minimal reporting limits, aligning technology and policy, examples
Michael Rosenblat is a researcher and coach with expertise in kinesiology, physiotherapy, and exercise science. In this episode we discuss his three most recent meta-analyses on interval structure, including how to translate cycling intervals to protocols for runners, interval duration and macrostructure, and the relationship between VO2peak and time trial performance.
Episode highlights:
(14:24) Translating interval structure: it depends, direct translation usually works, tendon loading, injury prevention, recovery, metabolic load is probably 1:1
(32:59) HIIT volume: example of 20x1min versus 4x5min, metabolic differences, total session volume does not correlate with improvement, duration of work bout does, maximizing versus optimizing time at intensity
(51:14) VO2max vs. performance: %change in VO2peak does not correlate with %change in performance, Paula Radcliffe example, VO2max plateaus with years of training but performance keeps improving, CTS lab example Additional resources:
CTS coaches Addison Smith and Adam Ferdinandson join the podcast for an insightful coach roundatble. We discuss subjectivity from coach participation in sport, the delicate balance of simultaneously supporting and challenging your athletes, and the importance of being there either in-person or virtually for your athletes before, during, and after events. We round out our discussion with takeaways from the UESCA conference and the developing professionalism of ultramarathon coaching.
Episode highlights:
(20:24) Addison’s takeaway: supporting your athlete while managing expectations and challenging them as athletes, being the cheerleader while also pushing challenge, fueling example
(28:50) The athlete owns their training: a material coaching philosophy, taking the ego out of coaching, examples, your athlete’s training is not your training, changing vocabulary to reflect coaching philosophy
(35:58) UTMB example: Addison on UTMB, feeling like you have a teammate, example of an athlete who lost all their gear on the way to UTMB, impromptu Billy Yang care package, athlete feedback
Dr. Nicolas Berger is a Senior Lecturer in Sport & Exercise at Teeside University’s Centre for Rehabilitation. In this episode we discuss Nic’s new study on the limits of ultramarathon performance, which brings together a who’s-who of researchers in the ultramarathon space to create a framework of performance that will be foundational for years to come. We focus on the myriad of factors that influence performance outside of pure fitness including GI distress, psychology, durability, and the integrative way in which these factors combine to affect performance.
Episode highlights:
(28:26) Stephen Seiler’s chart: physiological improvement plateaus with time in trained athletes but performance does not, performance is multifactorial, during longer duration events multifactorial factors matter more, examples, small changes with big impacts
(43:40) Malleable strategies: recognizing that strategies must change based on environmental factors, example, gastric emptying, cycling example, taking advantage of features of the race
(46:54) Durability: Andy Jones and physiological resilience, how we perceive fatigue matters more than the physiology itself, nerve blocking example
Didn't we all, at some point, feel that prick of regret at a mistake made or a lesson learned the hard way? As your devoted trail and ultra running coaches, we've had our share of missteps over the past year. From seemingly minor issues like failing to thoroughly educate athletes about the World Anti-Doping Agency's rule on IV fluids to more significant ones, we've seen it all. And today, we're pulling back the curtain on our successes and missteps alike to help you avoid the same pitfalls.
Episode highlights:
(2:04) Nicole’s mistake: IV fluids are banned in and out of competition, reasoning, example where an athlete gave themselves IV before a race, the role of coaches as educators
(18:41) Ryne’s mistake: considering weather and training, factoring in heat and humidity to long range plans, key training blocks happen May-July, examples, being proactive with scheduling, using cooling strategies in training
(25:23) Sarah’s mistake: assuming athletes make good recovery decisions, example, forcing athletes to take recovery when they need it
(41:43) Koop’s mistake: accounting for the stress of travel, time zone changes and long-range travel for athletes, examples
Diego Jaén-Carrillo PhD is a postdoctoral researcher at Universität Innsbruck. Weighted vests are a common intervention used by both coaches and athletes, yet the existing research on weighted vests is virtually nonexistent. In this episode we discuss his pioneering study on weighted vests and their potential training applications for running and hiking.
Episode highlights:
(16:41) Research design: incremental speed and gradient test, 5-10% body weight vests represent in-race loads
(21:26) Stride length and stride frequency: both increase with speed, both variables were unchanged with weighted vests, individual preferred stride frequency and stride length
(29:08) Weighted vests for running economy: example ways to train leg stiffness, weighted vests training leg stiffness with greater specificity to running, ~5% bw is reasonable, application across a range of running velocities
Coaching industry veteran and Training Peaks’ co-founder Dirk Friel takes over the KoopCast to discuss the business of ultramarathon coaching. The panel of coaches and coaching business owners includes Jason Koop, Heather Hart, owner/founder of Hart Strength and Endurance Coaching, and Jeff Browning, who owns his own coaching company.
Episode highlights:
(13:50) Jeff and Heather’s startup experience: technology and marketing background, taking baby steps, making the move to full-time coaching, transitioning from flexible gig jobs
(57:44) Heather on recruiting assistant coaches: Heather’s experience, admitting assistant coaches, your reputation is on the line, UESCA certification, networking but not actively recruiting
(1:50:23) Jason on coach-athlete ratios: athletes require roughly 1 hour per week, 40 athletes for a 40 hour work week, most CTS coaches are full time, Jason is able to take ~1 new athlete per year
Jim Rutberg is the Content Director for CTS. He has co-authored ten books on training and sports nutrition, including “The Time-Crunched Cyclist” and “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning,” and produced more than 20 full-length indoor cycling videos. He is also the primary author for the Research Essentials for Ultrarunning Newsletter.
Episode highlights:
(31:32) Finding coaching mentors: the best way to progress as a coach, personal example, collaboration and competition
(51:24) Second phase of coaching: growth and expertise, creating a product to innovate in business or sport, variability of duration, personal examples from Rutty and Koop
(1:23:55) Safeguarding you reputation: coaching is a small community, competitors may eventually be colleagues, be someone other coaches want to work with
Jeff Rothschild is a registered dietician, PhD, and research associate at Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand.
Ever been curious about the science behind fueling your athletic performance? Look no further, as we are joined by Jeff Rothschild, a registered dietitian and researcher, who is here to break down the complex concept of carbohydrate periodization for trail and ultra runners. We dissect the misunderstood principle of "fueling for the work required" and dive into how an athlete can manipulate their carbohydrate intake during periods of high intensity or high training loads. Jeff's innovative research on this topic unveils an index for quantifying carbohydrate periodization - a game-changer for athletes aiming to enhance their performance through optimized nutrition.
Episode highlights:
(17:32) Calculating periodization: any metric of training load, daily carbohydrate intake in g/kg, correlation coefficient, reasons for including range and monotony
(36:24) How to track your carbohydrate periodization: track your diet, consistent measures of training load, TSS or CR100, TSS is best, use the spreadsheet in the description, help from Jeff’s app
(43:38) Use cases for carb periodization: predicted TSS for your upcoming workout, adjusting carbohydrate intake based on each day, you can consume more after the workout if the true TSS was higher than expected, examples
Luc van Loon is a Professor of Physiology of Exercise and Nutrition and Head of the M3-research group at the Department of Human Biology at Maastricht University. Luc has an international research standing in the area of skeletal muscle metabolism and has published well over 475 peer-reviewed articles. Current research in his laboratory focuses on the skeletal muscle adaptive response to physical activity, and the impact of nutritional and pharmacological interventions to modulate metabolism in both health and disease.
Episode highlights:
(22:50) Results of collagen research: collagen stimulates neither connective nor contractile proteins in muscle, potential explanations, the benefits of collagen are not confirmed, areas for future research
(42:35) Dietary protein intake: athletes who exercise more consume more food, thus their protein and amino acid intake per kg body mass is already high, recap
(45:57) Sources of collagen: collagen from skin sources are superior, dangers of concentrating heavy metals in bone broth, example of athlete consuming arsenic from salt
Nick Tiller, PhD is an exercise scientist at Harbor-UCLA. He is also the author of The Skeptics Guide to Sports Science, a columnist for Ultrarunning Magazine and the Skeptical Inquirer.
Episode highlights:
(9:09) Science communication: academics fighting back against media claims, Don't Be Such A Scientist, the importance of science communication, examples
(44:48) Identifying bad science: 28% increase in VO2max is a red flag, sedentary versus trained individuals, training and EPO example, unsubstantiated citations, statistical errors, absolute versus relative VO2max, retracting the article
(1:37:10) Inverse relationship between media presence and credentials: fitness influencers on Instagram, being a full-time influencer and capitalizing on sensationalization, science is incremental and rarely sensational
Nidia Rodriguez-Sanchez, Ph.D., has spent her career in the field of sports nutrition and physiology. She earned her BSc in Dietetics / Clinical Nutrition and later pursued postgraduate studies in Anthropometry and Nutrition applied to Sports, which gave her a better understanding of the unique nutritional needs of athletes and physically active individuals.
Dr Rodriguez-Sanchez has worked as a sports dietitian for a Mexican professional football team and as a nutrition advisor for the Gatorade Sports Science Institute Mexico. She also holds an IOC Diploma in Sports Nutrition, and she is an ISAK Level 3 Instructor.
Dr Rodriguez-Sanchez holds a PhD in Hydration Physiology and has completed post-doctoral research in the field.
She is a Physiology and Nutrition Lecturer at the University of Stirling, where she also serves as the MSc Sport Nutrition Programme Director.
In addition, Nidia is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), a Graduate member of the Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register (SENr), and a member of the Physiological Society (PhySoc).
Episode highlights:
(17:53) Theory on hormone cycles and hydration: estrogen and progesterone can impact nutrition needs, performance, brain function, investigating fluid and electrolyte balance
(25:27) Practical considerations for females: no meaningful differences in hydration for female athletes versus males or across different phases of their cycle, no performance differences, avoiding overhydration, cross-cycle variations in core temperature are insignificant
(36:23) Sweat testing: Precision Hydration sweat testing at CTS, sweat testing protocol, menstrual cycle phase does not impact results Additional resources:
Winter Training for Ultrarunning with CTS Coaches Stephanie Howe, PhD and John Fitzgerald #209
01:10:25
View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website. Episode overview:
CTS Coaches John Fitzgerald and Stephanie Howe discuss how to navigate winter training for Ultramarathon.
Episode highlights:
(14:39) Structuring the winter season around races: athletes who peak at different times of the year, longer recovery for athletes with longer race seasons, 4-8 weeks of fun or unstructured training, recognize when you need a break
(37:58) Work on weakness at a time: athletes try to change too many things at once during the winter season, examples, pick one weakness to work on
(59:36) Fitz on returning to running: shifting from non-weight bearing to weight bearing activities, strength foundation, working on running while snow piles up, keeping two runs per week
Neal Palles is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Mental Performance Coach, and CTS Ultrarunning coach based in Longmont, Colorado.
Have you ever felt the weight of failure pressing down on you after a season of unmet athletic goals? Join Coach Jason Koop and CTS coach Neal Palles as we dissect the emotional journey of resilience in the face of athletic disappointment. In our heart-to-heart, Neil shares his eloquent insights from his latest article, guiding us through the storm of DNFs and injuries and charting a course toward using these setbacks as the building blocks for future triumphs.
Episode highlights:
(12:05) Moving past failure: practical example, find what failure means to you, breaking down standards and process goals, reframing failure into a growth mindset, personal Leadville example, taking failure as a challenge rather than a threat
(33:55) Diffusing from stories: recognizing the personal stories we tell ourselves, examples, sources, write the story you want
(42:45) Intentional catalysts: pacers, recognizing you can use help, getting help from friends and family, taking care of yourself, communicating with your tea,
If you are not planning out your season by now you should be! CTS coaches Cliff Pittman and AJW discuss how to set up your season with the right anchor points, how to schedule a B race and how to keep the focus on the things that are the most important.
Episode highlights:
(9:02) Western States classic buildup: Way Too Cool 50k, American River 50, Miwok 100k, Memorial Day training camp
(17:02) Koop’s framework: identifying key goal races, building an ideal long range plan before modifying it to incorporate supporting races, camps, and life circumstances, knowing where to make compromises
(30:00) Recon the crux of the course: challenges with course recon, Western States example and trails blocked by snow, example from the first year of Cocodona, confidence boost
Weight Loss for Ultrarunners with Stephanie Howe, PhD #212
01:19:01
View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website. Episode overview:
Stephanie Howe, Ph.D. is a CTS Pro Coach and nutritionist. She has a Ph.D. in Nutrition & Exercise Science from Oregon State University and a Sports Nutrition Diploma from the International Olympic Committee. She is also the 2014 Western States Endurance run champion. Episode highlights:
(25:43) Weight loss for performance: nutrition for performance and nutrition for weight loss are at odds, keep training volume low, start making changes well before your goal race, hormonal effects of undereating and sex differences
(37:23) Macronutrient breakdown: dependant on goals, maintaining lean muscle mass, increasing protein relative to carbohydrates, using MyFitnessPal
(55:34) Eating as a social activity: diets that limit certain food groups are generally unsustainable, some diets work in the short term due to practical caloric restriction, weight rebound after diets, food should be fun, sustainability of diet is the most important
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