Episode 4 - Why VO₂max Doesn’t Win Ultra Races

VO₂max measures your maximum aerobic capacity, but ultra races are not performed anywhere near that intensity. What decides performance is not how big your “engine” is, but how efficiently and sustainably you can use it for many hours.

Ultra success depends on factors like lactate threshold, aerobic efficiency, fueling tolerance, muscular durability (especially for long descents), and disciplined pacing. Chasing VO₂max through frequent high-intensity sessions often adds fatigue without improving race-day performance.

Instead, effective ultra training prioritises sub-threshold work, long aerobic sessions, strength for resilience, and practicing nutrition under load. In ultras, the winners aren’t the runners who can go the hardest. They’re the ones who slow down the least.

Key references:

Joyner, M. J., & Coyle, E. F. (2008). Endurance exercise performance: the physiology of champions. Journal of Physiology.
Bassett, D. R., & Howley, E. T. (2000). Limiting factors for maximum oxygen uptake and endurance performance. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
Seiler, S. (2010). What is best practice for training intensity distribution in endurance athletes? International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance.
Stöggl, T., & Sperlich, B. (2015). Polarized training improves endurance performance variables. Frontiers in Physiology.
Brooks, G. A. (2020). The lactate shuttle theory. Cell Metabolism.
San Millán, I., & Brooks, G. A. (2018). Metabolic flexibility and performance. Sports Medicine.
Vanhatalo, A., Jones, A. M., & Burnley, M. (2011). Critical power: a key concept in endurance performance.

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Episode 31 - Peak Form: How to Reach It and Why You Can’t Stay There Forever

Peak form is not simply about being as fit as possible. It is the point where high fitness meets low fatigue, allowing an athlete to fully express the adaptations built over weeks and months of traini...

28 Elo 22min

Episode 30 - The Plateau Problem: Why Ultrarunners Stop Improving and How to Move Forward

In Episode 30 of The Trail Running Briefing, we explore why ultrarunners sometimes stop improving even when they are training consistently and working harder.A plateau doesn’t always mean you need mor...

21 Elo 16min

Episode 29 - When More Becomes Too Much: Burnout in Ultrarunning

Ultra running demands far more than just mileage. Long runs, back-to-backs, strength work, fuelling, recovery, work, family and everyday stress all contribute to the total load an athlete carries.In t...

14 Elo 9min

Episode 28 - Older, Wiser, Stronger: How Ultra Training Should Change With Age

Episode 28 explores how ultra training should evolve with age without lowering ambition. The central idea is the recovery budget: every long run, hard session, strength workout and race creates stress...

31 Heinä 10min

Episode 27 - The Race You Didn’t Finish: Recovering from a DNF

After a DNF, remember this sequence:Feel it. Separate it. Learn from it. Then move forward.Feel the disappointment without shame. Separate the facts from the story you are telling about yourself. Extr...

24 Heinä 9min

Episode 26 - The fitness that survives: How to Build Durability for 100K and 100-Mile Races

Durability is the ability to preserve your performance as fatigue accumulates during prolonged exercise. While fitness describes what you can do when fresh, durability determines how much of that fitn...

17 Heinä 12min

Episode 25 - Carb Loading: Don’t Start Empty

In this episode, we cover why carb loading is not about eating a huge bowl of pasta the night before a race, but about arriving at the start line with full fuel stores. For trail and ultra runners, gl...

10 Heinä 10min

Episode 24 - The Low Point Is Not the End: How to Survive the Dark Miles

In this episode, we look at one of the most important skills in ultrarunning: managing the low points. Every runner will face dark moments during an ultra, but a low point is not necessarily the end o...

3 Heinä 11min