The Endurance Science Podcast with Matt Carpenter

Matt Carpenter returns with a refreshed Endurance Science, following his science-led build towards the London Marathon, six months away. This week is about durability: why your fitness numbers can fade as a run goes on, and how to train for it.

Matt shares how his second training block is going: a 24k long run, a record 70k week, and a seven-hour "as far as you can" run coming up. He then explains the research behind durability, including how running economy drifts over long efforts and how long runs can halve that decline. He also covers four evidence-based pillars: volume, long runs, strength training and carbohydrate intake. You'll leave with practical steps for your own training.This episode uses on-screen training data.

Send feedback and questions, and join us next week for the Reason to Treason recap.

In this episode I go through the science behind the data that Strava and your smart watches is giving you, and give my take on what data is useful, what's rubbish and what you should interpret with skepticism.

https://www.strava.com/athletes/10072190

https://www.justgiving.com/page/matthew-carpenter-6

In this episode I discuss the main focus on my current training block, the races I have planned leading up to London Marathon and how to periodise your training over long periods of time.

https://www.justgiving.com/page/matthew-carpenter-6

The Science of Endurance is back and better than ever!

New weekly series following my Journey to London Marathon 2027, where I'll be using my own training to talk about the science behind training, nutrition, supplementation, shoes and more, all in a bit to help you run faster, run better and understand the science behind how we train.

I'll be running London 2027 for Hospice UK, a fantasitc charity that supports people at the end of their lives. Any donations along this journey will be hugely appreciated - and thanks for tuning back in!

https://www.justgiving.com/page/matthew-carpenter-6

For years, rapamycin has been hailed as the closest thing we have to a real longevity drug, taken by biohackers, prescribed by telehealth clinics, and promoted across the wellness internet.

The first proper randomised controlled trial combining it with exercise in older adults just dropped, and the results are a wake-up call about how we treat supplement hype.

In this episode, i discuss a major topic of my PhD, exognoeus ketones. Is the hype worth it? What does the research say? Do ketones really replicate altitude training? All are discussed in this episode.

References:

https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/ajpendo.00264.2022

https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1113/JP284346

In this episode, I dives deep into the science of caffeine, revealing how understanding its mechanisms, dosing, and timing can help endurance athletes maximise their performance safely and effectively.Main topics:

• The science behind how caffeine enhances endurance performance
• Optimal caffeine dosing strategies (3-6 mg/kg) and the effect of individual differences
• Timing of caffeine intake before and during races for maximum benefit
• The history of caffeine's status in anti-doping regulations and its legal use today
• Differences between coffee and pure caffeine supplements
• Practical tips for training and race day caffeine use
• The importance of personal experimentation and understanding individual responses

For as long as I can remember, I was told that lactate was the enemy, the toxic waste product that made my legs burn and forced me to slow down. It turns out almost everything I believed about it was wrong. In this episode, I trace the remarkable story of how lactate went from metabolic villain to one of the most important molecules in exercise physiology. I start with George Brooks, the UC Berkeley professor who spent four decades building the lactate shuttle theory, the idea that lactate isn't waste but a fuel, a gluconeogenic precursor, and a signalling molecule that shuttles between cells, tissues, and organs.

Then I dig into a stunning 2023 paper from Craig Thompson's lab at Memorial Sloan Kettering that takes the story even further: lactate doesn't just feed the mitochondria, it activates the electron transport chain without even being metabolised. It's a messenger that tells your mitochondria to produce more ATP, suppresses glycolysis, and shifts your energy system toward oxidative phosphorylation.

I explore what all of this means for how we think about the lactate threshold, pacing, interval training, recovery, and even immune function. If you've ever pushed into that burning zone on a hard run or ride, this episode will change how you think about what's happening inside your body.

References:

Cai, X. et al. (2023). Lactate activates the mitochondrial electron transport chain independently of its metabolism. Molecular Cell, 83, 3904–3920.

Brooks, G.A. (2018). The Science and Translation of Lactate Shuttle Theory. Cell Metabolism, 27, 757–785.

Brooks, G.A. et al. (2022). Tracing the lactate shuttle to the mitochondrial reticulum. Experimental & Molecular Medicine, 54, 1332–1347.

Hui, S. et al. (2017). Glucose feeds the TCA cycle via circulating lactate. Nature, 551, 115–118.

Leija, R.G. et al. (2024). Enteric and systemic postprandial lactate shuttle phases and dietary carbohydrate carbon flow in humans. Nature Metabolism, 6, 670–677.

Brooks, G.A. (2023). What the Lactate Shuttle Means for Sports Nutrition. Nutrients, 15(9), 2178.

Get equipped with essential tools to critically read and evaluate research claims, especially in the world of sports science and endurance performance. This episode unpacks the pitfalls of predatory publishing, how to spot misleading studies, and the importance of understanding the broader body of evidence to make informed decisions.In this episode:

• The importance of not relying on single studies; why a body of research and systematic reviews are critical for true understanding
• What predatory publishing is, how it misleads athletes and consumers, and how to use Jeffrey Beals’ list as a resource for evaluating journal credibility
• Red flags in research papers: lack of transparency, superficial peer review, misleading impact factors, aggressive solicitation tactics
• How social media and marketing exploit poor quality studies and cherry-pick data to promote supplements and gadgets
• Practical steps to critically evaluate research: checking study design, conflicts of interest, replication, and alignment with meta-analyses
• The hierarchy of evidence, from anecdotal reports to randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews, and why multiple replicated studies are necessary
• The myth of “magic” supplements and why one promising study doesn’t prove effectiveness
• How to distance yourself from misinformation and make evidence-based choices in endurance training and nutrition

In this episode I answer questions that you've sent in, covering nomio, beetroot juice, bicarb, collagen and training-based questions, as well as a big announcement towards the end!

Please leave a rating if you're enjoying the podcast!

Q&A's will be monthly, let me know any questions you'd like covered.

See you next week.