Articles
Short analytical articles on the evidence behind training and race decisions, newest first.
- (15) Winter Running Kit Must Work When You Stop
Clothing that feels right during an uphill run may offer too little protection during a navigation stop or an unexpected walk home.
- (14) The First Run After a Winter Illness Is a Check, Not a Catch-Up
The useful first run tells you how recovery is progressing. It cannot repay the training missed while you were ill.
- (13) Your Winter Treadmill Run Does Not Need an Automatic One Per Cent
One per cent can approximate outdoor energy cost under particular conditions. It cannot make every treadmill session equivalent to the road.
- (12) Winter Strength Work Should Earn Its Place in Your Running
The gym provides a useful winter training option. Its value depends on transferable adaptations and the running it leaves you able to complete.
- (11) A Smaller Winter Week Can Preserve Fitness Without Preserving Ultra Readiness
A short winter maintenance block can work. The important question is which adaptations the smaller week is actually preserving.
- (10) Compression Boots Can Ease Soreness Without Restoring Your Legs
Compression boots can make tired legs feel better. The useful question is whether that sensation represents restored running function.
- (9) The Greek Yoghurt Recovery Bowl Needs Carbohydrate
A 200 g serving can provide about 21 g protein and just 6 g carbohydrate. When another demanding run is close, the additions do much of the refuelling.
- (8) Outdoor Mileage Does Not Guarantee Enough Vitamin D
A long winter run provides daylight, but it may provide almost no vitamin D. Mileage is a poor proxy for usable UVB exposure.
- (7) Mouthwash Can Disrupt Beetroot Juice Without Proving a Performance Cost
Antibacterial mouthwash can interrupt the chemistry behind beetroot juice. Whether that interruption makes a runner slower remains unproven.
- (6) Cold Ultras Need Hydration Guardrails, Not a Fixed Drinking Rate
In cold weather, you can be losing fluid without sweating visibly and dehydrating without feeling thirsty. But the field data shows the risk cuts both ways.
- (5) HRV Is a Readiness Signal Before It Is a Fitness Score
HRV contains information about training adaptation, but a single number cannot separate fitness from sleep, illness, altitude or life stress.
- (4) Sleep Extension Before a 100-Miler Protects Alertness, Not Judgement
Extra sleep before a 100-miler can reduce starting sleep debt. Its best-supported benefit is sustained attention, not immunity from poor decisions.
- (3) The Ageing Ultrarunner Needs More Protein Than They Realise
Ultrarunning has an older participation profile, yet direct protein-requirement evidence in masters ultra athletes is still missing.
- (2) Polarised Training Is Useful but Incomplete for Mountain Ultras
Polarised training can raise the aerobic ceiling. Mountain ultras also demand durability, downhill tolerance and enough specific work to use it late in the race.
- (1) Your Brain Can Quit Before Your Legs
Cyclists produced three times their exhaustion workload in an immediate sprint. The result changes how runners should interpret task failure.