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A Spotlight dedicated to the news, as we split the Spotlight show into a news segment and a science segment. Today is the news segment, which covers:

• 3:02 A look back at the New York City Marathon, won by Kenyans Hellen Obiri in a course record, and Benson Kipruto in a photo finish. We talk pacing micro-adjustments, late end spurts and misjudged fatigue and sprint finishes
• 17:44 Joe Klecker ran a 2:10 in NYC, but caught our eye because he planned to take in 175 g per hour of carbs in the form of almost 3 L of fluid. An insanely high intake, but one that he discussed in a recent podcast with The Coffee Club. We talk about that strategy, his experience of it, and how it fits in the new carbohydrate paragigm
• 35:22 WADA are making moves to consider banning Ozempic and drugs like it. Gareth and Ross discuss whether WADA are over-reaching, or whether they need to pay attention to the possible impact of the weight loss drug in sport, with Ross expressing doubts that it has long term performance benefits given how it works
• 44:53 Elite athlete Laura Hottenrott recently raised concerns about the frequency of blood testing doping controls she has been subjected to. We discuss whether that concern is legit, and whether performance might be harmed as a result of frequent blood sampling for doping control?
• 53:00 Gareth wonders how you could go about establishing who the greatest sporting nation in the world are? We discuss how you might weight sporting events and figure out who the ultimate all-round sporting champion is
• 57:27 Gareth's gears are grinding at the short short list for women's track athlete of the year - Femke Bol and Sydney McLaughlin Levrone, neither of whom had the seasons that Melissa Jefferson Wooden or Beatrice Chebet had. We wonder why the better performing, more regularly racing athletes got snubbed?

Links

• The Coffee Club interview with Klecker. It's cued to start on the carbohydrate discussion
• WADA has its eyes on Ozempic - the article with quotes from WADA on the possibilities of banning the drug

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Show notes

In this Spotlight, we kick off with three doping stories in Discourse Digest. Ruth Chepngetich got a three year ban, up from two, then down from four, and keeps the marathon world record nobody believes in. We discuss why her case is so frustrating for sport. Imogen Simmonds has been cleared to compete despite an Anti Doping Rule Violation, after she convinced a panel that her positive test was the result of contamination by her partner during intimate contact. And Oier Lazkano has been provisionally suspended by the UCI for athlete biological passport (ABP) abnormalities that date back to 2022. Ross explains the biological passport principles, why a suspension based on the ABP is so rare, and why it might have taken this long to bring the case against Lazkano.

In Centre Stage (42:23), two papers on metabolic costs of exercise were published last week, with contradictory findings. We first explore a paper that proposes a metabolic limit of 2.5 our basal metabolic rate, and where that study fits into our understanding of exercise and metabolism. Then we consider another paper that contradicts that understanding by refuting the idea that our bodies constrain certain metabolic functions when we exercise in the equivalent of what Ross calls 'physiological austerity'. We try to explain why these studies contradict one another, the importance of energy balance in metabolism, and why there's a bit of truth in both models on opposite sides of the issue.

Our Listener Lens (1:10:12) is inspired by a question from Leon, who asks about using heat as a way to increase cardiovascular stress without overloading his legs. We discuss how heat may be beneficial even without that cardiovascular benefit, why HR may not be the best metric to judge intensity against, and how the approach might be a handy hack, but only part of the approach with a few words of caution.

And Finally (1:20:52), Gareth wonders whether the sub-2 hour marathon is more impressive than the sub-11 hour 100 mile record?

Links

• Sean Ingle's article on Nike's new shoes
• Article interviewing Pontzer about the constrained model
• The Pontzer study on ultra endurance athletes and the metabolic ceiling
• The study that disputes Pontzer's constrained model, arguing instead for an additive effect of exercise
• A discussion on X that eventually brings two authors together to discuss the contradictory findings
• A comment in Nature on the debate and an attempt to find some middle ground

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In this week's show, we tackle intriguing physiological questions raised by listeners, explore whether different types of exercise interfere with one another to undermine training benefits, and run the Spotlight across stories from the sports world.

In Digest this week (10:02):

• One of the great swimmers of the last decade, Ariane Titmus, has retired in her prime, leaving us to ponder the difference between athletes who go early and those who hang on. And cynically, those who switch to The Enhanced Games, which this week announced another former Olympian to its ranks. We discuss the carrot of the Enhanced Games, and how it capitalizes on incentives to entice athletes to join the movement
• We wonder whether tennis players are playing too much, and whether the data support claims made by players like Taylor Fritz, who believe a combination of the calendar, courts and balls are threatening their welfare?
• In doping, 21% of athletes competing for Great Britain at the Commonwealth Games admitted to doping in the previous twelve months. That's only slightly better than the results of the same survey in Spanish athletes, which put the figure at 36%. Ross and Gareth discuss why the true figure is likely higher, and what it means for doping and anti-doping's effectiveness

Our Center Stage topic (45:19) is a paper that explores a phenomenon called "the interference effect", where different types of exercise aimed at endurance or power/strength, have been thought to cancel each other out, undermining the adaptations from training. We explain the origins of that theory, and explore why things are not necessarily as simple as they seemed, with some practical advice for all those who like to mix their training types.

In Listener Lens (1:08:33), Ali Robinson showcases what Discourse has to offer, making a fantastic observation about our most recent guest, cyclist Andrew Feather, and his physiological capacity. He introduces us to concepts of anaerobic capacity, or the W prime, and Ross explains how we can all use this concept (runners too!) to understand our performance limits, and design effective interval training sessions, including a challenge to Gareth to test his capacity and design training.

And Finally, we introduce a paper on a metabolic ceiling that limits endurance athletes, with a promise to explore it in a future Spotlight edition

Show notes

• Taylor Fritz shares views on load in tennis in an X exchange with fans
• Tennis website with data on rally length and ace rate
• Surveys reveal a minimum prevalence of doping in athletes
• The original WADA investigation on doping prevalence, 2011
• Our Center stage paper - the interference effect for power and endurance training

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