Categories
Pick the constraint you want to improve: sleep, fueling, heat, strength, and more.
Sleep performance research
Sleep affects recovery, alertness, and training quality. Start with routines you can repeat and judge trends over time.
Recovery performance research
Recovery is not passive rest — it’s targeted stress management so training can accumulate.
Endurance performance research
Build endurance with repeatable training, gradual progression, and enough recovery to support the next week.
Strength performance research
Strength work is a performance tool for endurance athletes when it’s specific, minimal, and repeatable.
Heat performance research
Heat changes pacing, hydration, and fueling — and it can be trained like altitude with fewer logistics.
Altitude performance research
Altitude can help, but it’s easy to do wrong: the constraint is quality training at reduced oxygen.
Fueling performance research
Fueling is performance, not just health: the right carbs at the right time change outcomes.
Hydration performance research
Hydration is context dependent: heat, sweat rate, and sodium losses change the plan.
Tapering performance research
Tapering is how you cash your fitness check — without getting stale or anxious.
Injury risk performance research
Running injuries have multiple contributing factors, including previous injury and training history. No single load measure explains individual risk.
Biomechanics performance research
Biomechanics changes can help — but most athletes should start with strength, cadence, and pacing.
Pacing performance research
Pacing is applied physiology: the best plan fails if you spend your budget early.
Supplements performance research
Supplements are optional. Only a few reliably move the needle, and context matters.
Breathing performance research
Breathing interventions can help if they reduce wasted effort and improve tolerance at high work rates.
Monitoring performance research
Monitoring is useful when it changes decisions: training load, recovery signals, and pacing control.
Mobility performance research
Mobility work should be minimal, targeted, and connected to training — not a second sport.
Outcomes
Browse by the outcome you actually care about: VO₂max, running economy, recovery speed.
VO₂max
A ceiling metric: useful, but endurance performance is usually limited by durability and pacing.
Lactate threshold
Threshold is 'how fast you can go for a long time' — where most endurance races are decided.
Running economy
Economy is the cost of speed. Small improvements compound over long races.
Fat oxidation
Useful for long events, but most athletes benefit most from better fueling and pacing first.
Time to exhaustion
A lab outcome that can still guide training: it often tracks fatigue resistance.
Time-trial performance
Practical performance outcome used in many studies: closer to racing than lab-only metrics.
Performance in heat
Heat punishes ego pacing; you need acclimation and cooling strategy to execute.
Cramp risk
Cramping is multifactorial: fatigue, pacing, and hydration context can all matter.
Injury risk
Running injury risk is multifactorial. Consider previous injury, training exposure and recovery together; a load number alone cannot determine your risk.
Recovery speed
Faster recovery means you can train consistently — the real performance moat.
Sleep quality
Sleep quality shapes adaptation. Treat it like a training variable.
Start with a topic
Research summaries with practical starting points, fit, and limitations.
Caffeine for endurance performance: a practical protocol
Evidence-informed protocol: Caffeine for endurance performance: a practical protocol. Practical steps, who it helps, and what to watch out for.
Heat acclimation: a protocol you can actually execute
Evidence-informed protocol: Heat acclimation: a protocol you can actually execute. Practical steps, who it helps, and what to watch out for.
Strength training for running economy: what to do (without ruining your runs)
Evidence-informed protocol: Strength training for running economy: what to do (without ruining your runs). Practical steps, who it helps, and what to watch out for.
Sleep extension for athletes: what changes, and how to do it
Evidence-informed protocol: Sleep extension for athletes: what changes, and how to do it. Practical steps, who it helps, and what to watch out for.
Carbohydrate fueling for long runs: a protocol you can practice
Evidence-informed protocol: Carbohydrate fueling for long runs: a protocol you can practice. Practical steps, who it helps, and what to watch out for.
Tapering for an endurance race: a simple protocol
Evidence-informed protocol: Tapering for an endurance race: a simple protocol. Practical steps, who it helps, and what to watch out for.
HYROX performance research: what aspiring athletes can use
Evidence-informed protocol: HYROX performance research: what aspiring athletes can use. Practical steps, who it helps, and what to watch out for.
Long-course triathlon research: pacing, fueling and readiness
Evidence-informed protocol: Long-course triathlon research: pacing, fueling and readiness. Practical steps, who it helps, and what to watch out for.
How to read a study
- • Start with the training question, not a headline or score.
- • Check the participants, methods, comparison group, and measured outcome.
- • Compare the reported protocol with your current training and constraints.
- • Read the limitations and safety notes before changing training.
- • Make one conservative change at a time and observe your response.
- • Use study pages for source detail and topic guides for synthesis.
- • Stop when symptoms or recovery make the experiment unsafe.
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Use the research in the context of your week.
Review upcoming training after missed sessions, poor sleep, or unusual fatigue.
Keep going
Sleep performance research
Sleep affects recovery, alertness, and training quality. Start with routines you can repeat and judge trends over time.
Open guideRecovery performance research
Recovery is not passive rest — it’s targeted stress management so training can accumulate.
Open guideEndurance performance research
Build endurance with repeatable training, gradual progression, and enough recovery to support the next week.
Open guide