KoopCast

View all timestamps and show notes on the KoopCast website.

Episode overview:

(2022 Re-Release)

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

Additional resources:

https://trainright.com/coaches/ryne-anderson/

Ryne on Instagram

https://trainright.com/coaches/cliff-pittman/

Cliff on Instagram

Buy Koop’s new book on Amazon or Audible

Information on coaching-

www.trainright.com

Koop’s Social Media

Twitter/Instagram- @jasonkoop

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

Additional resources:

You can find her book on her website or Amazon.

Papers discussed- Pregnancy and Motherhood in elite sport

Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible

Information on coaching-www.trainright.com

Koop’s Social Media
Twitter/Instagram- @jasonkoop

View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website.

Episode overview:

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.

Information on coaching-https://trainright.com/

Koop’s Social Media
Twitter/Instagram- @jasonkoop

View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website.

Episode overview:

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: [email protected]

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.

Information on coaching-https://trainright.com/

Koop’s Social Media
Twitter/Instagram- @jasonkoop

View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website.

Episode overview:

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

Additional resources:

The ISSN

International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: nutritional considerations for single-stage ultra-marathon training and racing

KoopCast on ISSN positon stand on nutrition for ultramarathon

Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible.

Information on coaching-www.trainright.com

View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website.

Episode overview:

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

Additional resources:

Chiel on Twitter

Ketone ester supplementation blunts overreaching symptoms during endurance training overload

Exogenous ketosis increases circulating dopamine concentration and maintains mental alertness in ultra-endurance exercise

Outside Online’s dumb headline that ketones cure overtraining

Research Essentials for Ultrarunning: https://www.jasonkoop.com/research-essentials-for-ultrarunning

Koop’s Social Media-
Twitter/Instagram @jasonkoop

Information on coaching-
https://trainright.com/

Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible.

View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website.

Episode overview:

This conversation is about how we, as coaches, practically implement heat training strategies for our athletes. You can find previous podcasts on this subject here: https://www.jasonkoop.com/podcast/heat-acclimation-strategies-with-julien-periard-phd

AJW is a coach for CTS and an eminent ultrarunning statesman.

AJW’s bio: https://trainright.com/coaches/andy-jones-wilkins/

Episode highlights:

(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

Additional resources:

Research Essentials for Ultrarunning: https://www.jasonkoop.com/research-essentials-for-ultrarunning

Koop’s Social Media-
Twitter/Instagram @jasonkoop

Information on coaching-
https://trainright.com/

Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning:
Amazon-https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MYVR8P6
Audible-https://www.audible.com/pd/Training-Essentials-for-Ultrarunning-Second-Edition-Audiobook/B09P38S2PR?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-290525&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_290525_rh_us

View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website.

Episode overview:

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

Additional resources:

KoopCast #31 with Stavros Kavouras- Hydration

KoopCast #29 with Shawn Arent- Performance Testing

Research Essentials for Ultrarunning: https://www.jasonkoop.com/research-essentials-for-ultrarunning

Koop’s Social Media-
Twitter/Instagram @jasonkoop

Information on coaching-
https://trainright.com/

Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon and Audible.

View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website.

Episode overview:

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

Additional resources:

An exploration of context and learning in endurance sports coaching-https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspor.2023.1147475/full

Research Essentials for Ultrarunning: https://www.jasonkoop.com/research-essentials-for-ultrarunning

Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible.

Information on coaching-
https://trainright.com/

Koop’s Social Media
Twitter/Instagram- @jasonkoop

View all show notes and timestamps on the KoopCast website.

Episode overview:

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:

Dr. Forbes on Instagram-https://www.instagram.com/scott_forbes_phd/

International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: creatine supplementation and exercise

Research Essentials for Ultrarunning: https://www.jasonkoop.com/research-essentials-for-ultrarunning

Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible.

Information on coaching-
https://trainright.com/

Koop’s Social Media
Twitter/Instagram- @jasonkoop