Science of Ultra Podcast: Five must-listen-to episodes

Last week I sat down for an interview with Dr. Shawn Bearden of Science of Ultra. Lace up, pop in your ear buds, and stream it via iTunes, Google Play, IHeart Radio, or Stitcher during your next hour-long run. Or listen to it here:

I’ve known Shawn since 2014, when he joined me on a guided backpacking trip, and I was delighted when he launched Science of Ultra — the community was in need of science-based information specific to the sport. The bulk of his 60+ episodes are in-depth interviews with academics that study various aspects of running and endurance sports. Coaches and athletes are also frequent guests.

Shawn preparing the best backpacking dinner known to man, Beans & Rice with Fritos & Cheese.

Many mindless miles have passed by underfoot while listening to Science of Ultra. Here are a few episodes that stood out:

#51 | Coaches Corner: David Roche

I’m biased about this one, since I’ve been working with David for about a year and have bought fully into his program. I have posted five interviews with David on my blog. While some of the information between those posts and the podcast is redundant, I felt like the podcast encapsulates well David’s approach to maximizing the success of his athletes.

#31 | High intensity training: Martin Gibala, PhD

If you hope to race fast, you have to run fast, at least sometimes. Intuitively, absurdly high volume at slow paces would seem to be a viable ultra running training program (If you can average 15-minute miles at Hardrock, you’re a stud!), but my experience was that high intensity training took my performances to the next level.

#19 | Fat Adaptation: Louise Burke, PhD

This is a very popular topic among ultra runners. What’s fact, and what’s fiction?

#25 | Running Economy: Drs. Kilding and Barnes

Running economy is one of the most important aspects of performance: At various levels of energy output, how fast can you run? And unlike other holy grails, like VO2 max, running economy can be improved by working at it.

#42 | Optimizing Protein Intake: Luc van Loon, PhD

Whether real or imagined, my intake of protein seems to have a greater and more positive impact on my recovery and body composition than other nutrients. Moreover, on long backpacking trips I find it to be the most challenging nutrient to consume in sufficient quantities.