Each week, I comb through the latest endurance, sports science, psychology, and coaching research. So you don’t have to. Don’t worry, this is a nerdy passion. I try to distill it into plain language, practical takeaways, and reflections on what it means for the kind of running I do here at Waybound: thoughtful, purposeful, human. No hype, no clickbait. Just notes, honest questions, and my usual healthy dose of criticism and skepticism. Perfect for trail runners and overthinkers.
This week’s research roundup July 7 – July 15, 2025
This week in endurance research: ever wondered if your poles are really pulling their/your weight, your recovery boots are just placebo socks, or your caffeine habit is performance-enhancing or just personality-defining? We’ve got answers, kind of. From Garmin-powered injury math that dunks on the 10% rule, to pole-wielding uphill zombies and hot-tub cycling dreams, this batch of studies tackles everything from pregnant powerlifting to gut-wrenching gel debates. Also featuring: mental fatigue, heat training without the heat, and a love letter to compassionate coaching that AI can’t fake. TL;DR: More lifting, less panicking, keep the coffee, and maybe stop doubling your long run on a whim.
This week’s research titles
– How much running is too much? Identifying high-risk running sessions in a 5200-person cohort study
– The Effects of Recovery Techniques on Clinical Outcomes and Biomarkers After Running: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis
– Resistance Training in Pregnancy: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Pregnancy, Delivery, Fetal and Pelvic Floor Outcomes and Call to Action
– The impact of pole use on vertical cost of transport and foot force during uphill treadmill walking before and after a simulated trail running competition
– Mental fatigue accompanied by whole-body surface cooling is associated with the impairment of subsequent endurance exercise performance
– Training in hot water immersion improved exercise performance in hot and humid conditions in recreational athletes – a randomized controlled trial
– A Retrospective Look at Coaching with Compassion: Two Decades of Research and Practice
– Is intensity the most important factor in determining the amount of prior work accumulated that affects cyclists’ acute durability? A systematic review
– Nutritional Strategies for Minimizing Gastrointestinal Symptoms During Endurance Exercise
– Heavy Strength Training Effects on Physiological Determinants of Endurance Cyclist Performance: A Systematic Review with Meta‑Analysis
– Caffeine as an Ergogenic Aid: A Literature Review of Mechanisms of Action, Performance Effects and Safety Thresholds
– The Interaction Between Exercise and Sleep with Heart Rate Variability: Cross-Sectional Study
See also 12 other worthy footnotes of trail and ultra related science news.
How much running is too much? Identifying high-risk running sessions in a 5200-person cohort study.
This massive 18-month study followed 5,205 runners using Garmin data and weekly self-reports to investigate what constitutes “too much” running. The researchers looked at how sudden increases in running distance, either in a single session or over a week, related to injury risk. They found a clear, dose-dependent increase in injury risk when a runner increased their single-session distance by more than 10% compared to their longest run in the previous 30 days. Curiously, traditional metrics like the acute chronic workload ratio and week-to-week ratios showed no correlation, or even a decrease, in injury risk.
Practical takeaways:
– Increasing your run distance by >10% in a single session increases your risk of injury by 64% for a 10–30% spike and 128% for doubling the distance.
– Common tools like ACWR and week-to-week metrics may not protect runners as previously thought.
– Even a 1–10% increase in single-session distance may slightly raise injury risk.
This study is five times larger than most in this field, and it used device-based, session-specific data rather than weekly averages. However, injury was self-reported, and while GPS distance is accurate, it doesn’t account for elevation, terrain, or intensity. And the cohort was overwhelmingly male, mostly from higher-income countries, and required Garmin watches. It’s a smart rebuke to the over-reliance on ACWR and the weekly mileage grind. Coaches and runners often miss the forest for the trees, and this paper points us back to where injury risk often actually lives. Still, the key finding is hard to ignore: spikes in single-session distance are far more predictive of injury than weekly totals.
The Effects of Recovery Techniques on Clinical Outcomes and Biomarkers After Running: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis
This systematic review and meta-analysis examined whether common recovery techniques (like cryotherapy, massage, compression garments, etc.) help runners bounce back after training or racing. It pulled together data from 25 randomized controlled trials, of which only 3 met the bar for inclusion in the meta-analysis due to high risks of bias and inconsistent methods. The most promising finding? Cryotherapy might slightly reduce muscle pain within 24–48hrs post-run, but with very low certainty. Other interventions like massage and compression showed inconsistent or negligible results, and the authors flagged the overall evidence as methodologically shaky and inconclusive.
Practical takeaways:
– Evidence quality is very low—most studies had small samples, inconsistent methods, and a high risk of bias. Proceed with cautious optimism.
– Recovery methods (massage, compression, vibration, etc.) lack robust or consistent evidence when it comes to post-run recovery. Cryotherapy may offer some short-term relief, but even that we definitely can’t say definitively.
This review is a good reminder that recovery fads come and go, but time-tested approaches like sleep, nutrition, and balanced training loads still reign supreme. Recovery is not a hack, but as part of a bigger picture of adaptation, presence, and body awareness. This paper nudges us to stay skeptical of silver-bullet solutions, and to consider that recovery, like training, needs to be contextual, personal, and supported by strong evidence. The authors did an admirable job tackling a huge and messy topic, but the results mostly confirm what we already suspected: evidence around recovery modalities in runners specifically is flimsy. The paper does well to highlight methodological flaws in existing research, but it also shows how far we still have to go before making strong recommendations.
Resistance Training in Pregnancy: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Pregnancy, Delivery, Fetal and Pelvic Floor Outcomes and Call to Action
This massive systematic review and meta-analysis examined 50 studies with nearly 48,000 pregnant participants to understand how resistance training, alone or in multicomponent programs, affects health outcomes during pregnancy. The findings show that RT is associated with significantly lower rates of gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes, perinatal mood disorders, and macrosomia. However, most interventions were low-intensity and poorly reported, with almost no study meeting current strength-training guidelines for intensity or progression. The effects on pelvic floor disorders, preterm delivery, and birth weight were minimal or inconclusive, and very few studies assessed high-load RT or RT-only protocols.
Practical takeaways:
– Even low-intensity resistance training reduces the risk of gestational hypertension (high blood pressure) (−58%), GDM (diabetes) (−38%), mood disorders (−52%), and macrosomia (larger than average baby at birth) (−33%).
– RT may help prevent perinatal mood disorders, an important, under-addressed dimension of prenatal care.
– No increased risk was found for caesarean sections, instrumental delivery, preterm birth, or fetal growth issues from RT.
This is a timely and important review, not only because I am currently training athletes that are pregnant or are planning to, it’s the first to comprehensively examine how RT affects such a wide range of pregnancy-related outcomes. However, the research it reviews is still wildly underpowered in terms of RT specificity. Only 5 studies used RT as the sole intervention; the rest combined it with aerobic training, muddying attribution of benefits. Only one used objective strength metrics. Nearly all lacked progression protocols. That’s like testing if ultrarunning builds endurance but having everyone walk 5k a week. The conclusions, while promising, are limited by weak interventions. The authors rightly call this out and issue a bold (and much-needed) call for “heavier lifting.” I like this study for sounding the alarm, but I’m still waiting for the research to show up with a barbell and a solid plan.
The impact of pole use on vertical cost of transport and foot force during uphill treadmill walking before and after a simulated trail running competition
An exam of whether trail running poles help reduce energy cost and biomechanical stress under fatigue. 16 Experienced male trail runners completed incline treadmill walking trials with and without poles, both before and after a 31.2 km trail run simulating race conditions. The researchers measured vertical cost of transport (CoTvert), foot force, poling force, and perceived exertion. They found that after the race, using poles significantly lowered CoTvert and foot force compared to walking without poles. Interestingly, even though upper limb force dropped post-race (likely due to arm fatigue), poles still helped redistribute workload and lessen perceived effort.
Practical takeaways:
– Poles reduce energy cost and perceived effort on steep ups and foot loading forces, even after fatigue, potentially lowering musculoskeletal stress in the lower limbs.
– Pole use shifts work to the upper body, but after prolonged use, arm muscles may also fatigue, so practice is essential.
This is one of the more methodologically sound and practical studies on pole use in trail running; the first to assess the metabolic and biomechanical effects of poles under fatigue, simulating an actual race. The within-subject PRE/POST design simulates real-world racing fatigue better than previous treadmill-only studies I’ve seen. The evidence is solid. However, all participants were male, experienced pole users, and no maximal strength data were collected to assess lower/upper limb fatigue more directly. The authors also didn’t test downhill pole use, even though that’s where damage (and benefit) may be most relevant.
The impact of pole use on vertical cost of transport and foot force during uphill treadmill walking before and after a simulated trail running competition
Mental fatigue accompanied by whole-body surface cooling is associated with the impairment of subsequent endurance exercise performance
This super relevant study explored how the combination of mental fatigue and skin surface cooling affects endurance performance. Nine active young men completed two cycling trials: one after doing a mentally fatiguing Stroop task during cold exposure, and one after watching a video in the same cold conditions. The key finding: while time to exhaustion decreased by 5.7% in the mental fatigue condition, this wasn’t statistically significant at the group level. However, the more mentally fatigued a participant felt, the worse they performed, and this was tied to increased noradrenaline post-exercise, hinting at the role of the sympathetic nervous system. In other words, Mental fatigue before a race, even something like answering emails or a stressful drive, can meaningfully affect endurance, especially in cold or uncomfortable conditions.
Practical takeaways for runners:
– Whole-body skin cooling (e.g., being chilled at the start line) may exacerbate this fatigue physically and cognitively.
– Higher subjective fatigue was linked to greater noradrenaline release post-run, showing a real physiological response, not “just in your head.”
– Even small pre-race stressors can compound with environmental stress to reduce performance, even if heart rate and VO₂ look fine.
This solid psycho-physiological research that tries to bridge an important gap, but the study is underpowered with only 9 male athletes. Their choice to analyze correlations between subjective fatigue and physiological markers is what really elevates this paper. That said, the absence of a thermoneutral condition weakens causal claims. And while they showed mental fatigue impaired performance in some individuals, the variation itself begs deeper questions: Who is most affected? Why? Trail runners often race in cold, chaotic, and stressful conditions. Knowing that these stressors can have subtle but real impacts, even without altering core temperature or HR, is valuable for training and race-day prep. In short, mental strain layered on cold skin can subtly short-circuit your endurance, esp. if you’re already on edge.
Training in hot water immersion improved exercise performance in hot and humid conditions in recreational athletes – a randomized controlled trial
This randomized controlled trial compared 10 sessions of underwater cycling in hot (35°C) versus temperate water (25°C) to test impact on performance in hot and humid environments. Recreational athletes who trained in hot water improved significantly more in a 30-min. time trial in a 38°C, 45% humidity room, gaining ~1.1 km in distance vs. ~0.5 km in the control group. Interestingly, this performance gain wasn’t explained by classic physiological markers of heat acclimation (like sweat rate, plasma volume, or core temps), which didn’t change meaningfully in either group.
Practical takeaways:
– Training in hot water can improve endurance performance in hot and humid conditions, even without classic signs of heat adaptation.
– Hot water training may offer an alternative for athletes without access to hot environments or heat chambers.
– No observed changes in sweat rate or sodium concentration, so don’t assume this will mimic full heat acclimation.
– Lower-body immersion reduces impact, potentially useful for high training loads with less injury risk.
The research introduces the idea that partial, low-impact, water-based heat stimuli may offer performance benefits outside traditional models of acclimation. The design, physiological testing battery, and hot/humid conditions make this study compelling. However (it always has a however), it has key limitations: a small sample (n=24), only recreational athletes (mostly male), and short duration. Also, the lack of physiological adaptation raises questions. The study lacked continuous training load control outside the protocol. The absence of mechanistic insight means more research is needed before prescribing this method widely.
A Retrospective Look at Coaching with Compassion: Two Decades of Research and Practice
This awesome piece is part retrospective, part manifesto, part evidence-based defense of a coaching philosophy that, while sometimes at odds with goal-obsessed or metrics-heavy models, has quietly built a robust scientific backbone. This article looks back on 20+ years of research into “Coaching with Compassion” (CWC), a method rooted in Intentional Change Theory that emphasizes personal vision, emotional connection, and physiological renewal. The authors contrast CWC with “Coaching for Compliance” (CFC), which focuses on fixing problems and meeting external expectations. They present neurobiological, psychological, and organizational evidence supporting CWC’s effectiveness in fostering sustained, desired change. This retrospective ties together many study outcomes to argue that compassion is a performance lever. They consolidate decades of empirical findings into a rigorous, theory-backed evaluation of how compassionate coaching physiologically and emotionally transforms performance, well-being, and organizational culture.
Practical takeaways:
– Coaching that starts with someone’s ideal self (dreams, purpose, core values) elicits positive emotional and physiological states, making people more open to learning, growth, and behavior change.
– Coaching focused on the future and vision activates renewal pathways (parasympathetic nervous system, DMN), whereas problem-fixing coaching activates stress responses.
– Compassion-based coaching also improves the coach’s own well-being.
– Peer coaching and cultures of development can scale these effects, offering sustainable alternatives to one-on-one performance coaching.
Real change begins not with fixing flaws but with amplifying purpose. Amen. The physiological renewal aspect of CWC is especially relevant for endurance athletes juggling training stress and life. Coaching needs to heals, not just drive. Still, the distinction between CWC and CFC is powerful but perhaps oversimplified; many coaches fluidly use both. The best bit? That AI bots may eventually replicate CFC but are unlikely to replicate the relational, emotionally resonant depth of CWC. The future of compassionate coaching may be human plus tech, but never tech alone.
Is intensity the most important factor in determining the amount of prior work accumulated that affects cyclists’ acute durability? A systematic review
Durability has become a buzzword in endurance performance (esp. with the increasing use of power meters and real-time fatigue metrics). This review brings some clarity to what durability actually is, and how to measure and train it. The review looked at 21 studies to answer a deceptively simple question: is how hard you ride more important than how much you ride when it comes to fatigue and performance decline in cyclists? The answer is a clear yes. High-intensity efforts (above critical power or FTP) caused significant power output reductions (often 10–20%) with far less accumulated work (as low as 2.5–7.5 kJ/kg) compared to lower-intensity riding. The authors argue that using kilojoules alone to monitor fatigue is inadequate because it ignores intensity, and they propose using better-integrated metrics like TSS or TRIMP.
Practical takeaways (translated to running):
– Intensity trumps volume: hard efforts fatigue you faster, even if they’re short. Running above your threshold pace (like during intervals, steep climbs, or racing) causes more performance decline with less total effort than cruising at a steady, easy pace.
– Short, hard efforts hurt late-race performance: doing high-intensity work early in a long run or race (think hill surges or racing the first 10K) can lead to bigger drop-offs in performance later, even if your overall mileage or time isn’t massive.
– Track effort, not just volume: Logging distance or time alone won’t tell you how fatigued you are. Use heart rate, RPE, or effort-based tools to capture how demanding your runs really are.
– Durability is trainable: more experienced or fitter runners can handle higher-intensity work with less performance loss. This means you can build resilience over time (e.g., strides or tempo at the end of a long run).
The implications ripple far beyond road cycling. Training is about how your body responds to specific kinds of effort over time. Especially in ultras where back-half performance matters most, integrating intensity-aware fatigue tracking could be a game-changer. The paper makes a strong case for redefining durability not as a function of “total energy spent” but rather as “the ability to resist high-intensity degradation over time.” This is a valuable shift. However, the review also highlights the field’s current messiness: terminology overlaps, heterogeneous methods, and a reliance on elite samples. More work is needed on real-world metrics that balance lab precision with practical utility.
Nutritional Strategies for Minimizing Gastrointestinal Symptoms During Endurance Exercise
It’s good to have a study that evaluates the most recent evidence across multiple strategies (and nice that is perfectly syncs with my recent post). This systematic review digs into how endurance athletes can reduce gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms through nutrition. It grouped findings from 29 studies into five strategies: gut training, carbohydrate (CHO) solutions and ratios, low-FODMAP diets, hydrogel CHO products, and probiotics. Gut training (regularly ingesting carbs during runs) and optimized CHO intake (especially glucose-fructose mixes) showed the strongest potential to reduce GI distress. Low-FODMAP diets helped but are restrictive. Hydrogels? Meh, no clear benefit. Probiotics? Mixed bag. Bottom line: there’s no magic bullet, but thoughtful, individualized strategies can improve both gut comfort and performance.
Practical takeaways:
– Regularly consuming CHO during training (esp. at race intensity) improves tolerance and reduces GI symptoms.
– The combi of mixed sugars (glucose + fructose) enhances absorption and reduce symptoms compared to glucose alone, esp. in 2:1 or 1:0.8 ratios.
– A short-term low-FODMAP diet may ease symptoms for sensitive runners, but its long-term use could be nutritionally limiting.
– Despite the marketing, hydrogel drinks didn’t consistently reduce GI symptoms more than standard CHO drinks.
– Probiotics: promising but unclear. Some strains show benefit in reducing nausea or symptom duration, but results are inconsistent across studies.
It always a good reminder that the goal isn’t to find a one-size-fits-all fix, but to develop body awareness, adaptability, and a relationship with food that supports performance and well-being. However, the heterogeneity in study design (e.g. different definitions of GI symptoms, wide participant profiles, small sample sizes in many studies) means we still lack robust, generalizable guidance on some interventions (e.g. probiotics, hydrogels). There’s also a research gap on female-specific responses and long-term effects of dietary strategies like low-FODMAP.
Heavy Strength Training Effects on Physiological Determinants of Endurance Cyclist Performance: A Systematic Review with Meta‑Analysis
Okay, one more cycling study. This review and meta-analysis examined whether heavy strength training (≥80% 1RM) enhances physiological determinants and performance in endurance cyclists. Across 17 studies and 262 participants (mostly male), the analysis found that while heavy strength work didn’t change VO₂max, power at VO₂max, maximal metabolic steady state, or anaerobic capacity, it did significantly improve anaerobic power, cycling efficiency, and overall cycling performance (time to exhaustion and TT outcomes). These performance gains are likely driven by neuromuscular adaptations (e.g., better rate of force development and fiber recruitment) rather than cardiovascular or metabolic changes.
Practical takeaways for runners:
– Heavy strength training improves cycling efficiency; think of this as a lower “cost” per unit of output. For trail runners, that’s like spending less energy for the same climb.
– It also boosts anaerobic power, helpful for short bursts, esp. useful in technical or tactical moments of a race.
– Performance gains were observed even with no changes to VO₂max or lactate threshold, suggesting efficiency and power matter more than thought for real-world performance.
– Gains showed up after as little as 8 weeks of 2x/week training with 3–4 lower body exercises (both bilateral and unilateral).
Unfortunately, most participants were male, studies were small, and strength training often replaced endurance volume, so apply findings judiciously. It challenges the VO₂max-centric view of endurance and supports a broader, more functional model of performance. This study strengthens prior conclusions that strength training helps endurance performance, not through aerobic metrics, but through neuromuscular mechanisms. This study does well to clarify what strength does and what it doesn’t. It’s not your VO₂ booster, but it might just be your secret weapon for racing well, esp. when your legs are shot and your brain still wants to push.
Caffeine as an Ergogenic Aid: A Literature Review of Mechanisms of Action, Performance Effects and Safety Thresholds
Most of us love it, so here’s a useful review that breaks down how caffeine enhances physical performance, covering molecular mechanisms, its effects on endurance and strength, and its safety limits. It compiles data from 100+ trials to show that doses of 3–6 mg/kg can reliably improve endurance (by ~2–4%) and muscular strength (with small but significant gains). However, it also highlights how higher doses (>7 mg/kg) increase risk of adverse effects like arrhythmia, GI distress, and tremors, especially in genetically or hormonally sensitive individuals. The authors call for more work on individualized dosing and long-term safety, especially in vulnerable populations.
Practical takeaways for runners:
– Doses of 3–6 mg/kg taken ~60 minutes before a race or long run can improve time-to-exhaustion and time trial performance by ~2–4%, esp. in efforts lasting 5+ minutes.
– Caffeine can enhance 1RM lifts (bench, squat, deadlift) and grip strength.
– Your caffeine metabolism varies based on age, hormones, genetics, and whether you take birth control. One athlete’s magic dose might be another’s meltdown (and of course avoid or severely limit use when pregnant or with pre-existing conditions).
So caffeine is powerful, but personalization is non-negotiable. This paper reminds us: caffeine is a tool, not a crutch, and like any tool, it’s only effective if it fits your hand.
The Interaction Between Exercise and Sleep with Heart Rate Variability: Cross-Sectional Study
Yes, another sleep study. This one examined how exercise intensity and sleep duration/quality interact to affect heart rate variability (HRV), a biomarker of autonomic health. Using data from 391 adults (average age 57), researchers found that only vigorous physical activity (VPA), not moderate activity, was linked to better HRV. This positive effect of exercise was observed only in people who slept < 6 hrs per night. Among those, inadequate exercise was associated with significantly lower HRV. For non-short sleepers, exercise level didn’t significantly affect HRV. This suggests that “doing enough” of either may buffer the negative impacts of the other.
Practical takeaways for runners:
– Vigorous activity boosts HRV: hitting at least 75 minutes/week of VPA (think tempo runs or strides) was associated with better autonomic function.
– Sleep matters more when training less: If you’re getting less than 6 hours of sleep, inadequate exercise is more strongly linked to worse HRV.
– Protective combo: adequate VPA and +6 hrs of sleep appear to be a sweet spot for maintaining HRV.
– MPA alone (e.g. easy miles) might not be enough to meaningfully impact HRV, though it still has plenty of other benefits.
For runners balancing jobs, parenting, 5:00 AM alarms, it’s reassuring to know that high-quality training and sleep can act as compensatory levers. For athletes with sleep debt, it may not just be about “doing more,” but being strategic, leaning into quality. This study is refreshingly nuanced. The team accounts for multiple covariates (age, BMI, chronic conditions, smoking, depression), uses both subjective and objective sleep data, and natural-log transforms HRV data appropriately. Still, it leans heavily on self-reported exercise and doesn’t account for training modality, nor day-to-day HRV variability.
Worthy footnotes
Best of the best: A cohort study of race performance characteristics of eminent endurance cyclists
Jesse Korf, Kathryn Johnston, Yiru Wang, Joseph Baker, International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 2025
Not running related, but a fun study nonetheless. This massive cohort study dug into 5+ million results from over 100,000 cyclists (2010–2024) to define what separates the truly “eminent” riders from the merely elite. Using a Delphi method to define eminence, the study identified 71 athletes who met the mark. Researchers compared single-discipline vs. multi-discipline winners, their career milestones, and discipline-switching patterns. Multi-discipline cyclists hit their third major win about 10 months faster than single-discipline peers and were more likely to keep winning across disciplines over time. Just as cyclists can go from cyclo-cross to road racing, trail runners might shift between ultras, road marathons, and sky races, each adding tools to their toolkit. The emphasis on cross-discipline success also echoes our belief in skill layering: that motor learning across terrain, speed, and style matters. The reliance on race wins as the marker of success might overlook other critical aspects like team dynamics or injury resilience (esp. in cycling, where domestiques often perform without podiums), Still, the statistical power and care in defining “eminent” as something distinct from “elite” is cool. This study is a gem for endurance sport development. It contributes a rare longitudinal, cross-discipline perspective on elite progression and provides a replicable framework for identifying “super-elites” that could be adapted to running. It gently dismantles linear models and overemphasis on early achievement. It doesn’t tell us how to become eminent, but it shows how wildly different the paths can look. It’s a potent argument for late bloomers, polymaths, and unconventional trajectories.
Shin Splints – a Hidden Epidemic Among Runners and Athletes: A Review of the Current State of Knowledge
Ciszewski P., Drelichowska A., Azierski M. Medical Science, 2025
This review rounds up the causes, diagnostics, and treatments of medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS), commonly known as shin splints (an overuse injury affecting up to 20% of runners). It pinpoints key risk factors such as hyperpronation, rapid training increases, poor biomechanics, high BMI, and vitamin D deficiency. It also covers two major injury theories (periosteal inflammation and bone overload microtrauma) and endorses MRI as the gold standard for diagnosis. Treatment is multi-pronged, ranging from rest and NSAIDs to cutting-edge therapies like shockwave and laser treatment. The review is broad but occasionally shallow: while it synthesizes well-established literature, it brings little new insight into prevention or rehab beyond what’s already known. A more valuable contribution would have come from linking clinical outcomes to specific training interventions.
Ethnographic research on coaching behaviour to enhance athlete skill learning: A scoping review
Sarah Taylor, Ian Renshaw, Ross Pinder, Remco Polman, Scott Russell, and Adam D. Gorman, International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, 2025
This scoping review explores how ethnography (a method grounded in immersive, long-term observation) has been used to understand coaching behaviors that support skill learning in sport. Coaching isn’t a one-way street. “Coaching is ‘done with athletes,’ not ‘to’ them.”
Ethnography supports a view of coaching as relational, co-created, and shaped by sociocultural context. From 1661 potential studies, only nine met the strict inclusion criteria: full ethnographic research focused on coach behavior in practice or competition. The authors detail how these studies varied in theoretical frameworks, data collection methods, and depth of analysis, highlighting ethnography’s capacity to reveal context-rich, nuanced insights that traditional observational tools often miss. However, the review also finds that despite its potential, ethnography remains severely underutilized in coaching science. This is a fresh and much-needed study that takes the pulse of a small but growing research niche. It’s especially relevant as coaching science evolves beyond behaviorist roots.
Examination of neuromuscular and tissue oxygenation characteristics during submaximal treadmill running with blood flow restriction
Lubiak et al., European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2025
This study explored whether submaximal treadmill running with blood flow restriction (BFR) could match the physiological muscle responses of maximal running without BFR (as it is transitioning from rehab clinics to performance contexts). Thirteen trained females ran at 70%, 80%, and 90% of their top speed with BFR and at 100% without BFR. Researchers measured muscle activation (via EMG) and oxygenation (via NIRS). Across all tests, results were surprisingly similar, indicating that slowing down with BFR doesn’t reduce the neuromuscular or tissue oxygenation demands typically associated with going full-tilt. In other words, BFR might let runners dial back speed but keep muscular intensity high. An intriguing tool for injury recovery, heat adaptation, or deload weeks.
Ground Gradient Affects Stride-to-Stride Fluctuations and Gait Variability in Overground Walking
Christos Chalitsios, Nick Stergiou, Thomas Nikodelis, European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2025
This study explored how different ground gradients (uphill, downhill, level) affect gait variability in healthy adults walking overground. Researchers used inertial measurement units to track stride-to-stride timing and applied to quantify the magnitude and temporal structure of gait variability. Downhill walking resulted in the highest variability and lowest Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (suggesting more randomness), while level walking showed the most stable patterns. Interestingly, uphill walking triggered the highest heart rate but preserved stride consistency. These results indicate that terrain-induced neuromechanical demands, not metabolic effort, drive variability shifts. In other words, downhill walking increases gait randomness and stride variability; great for neuromuscular challenge but possibly destabilizing. While, uphill walking raises heart rate but maintains structured stride patterns, useful for strength and cardio training with low stride disruption. Gait variability isn’t just about effort; it reflects deeper neuromechanical responses to terrain. This is a new and relevant study because it uses overground walking in real-world terrain rather than artificial treadmill conditions, enhancing ecological validity. The assumption that greater variability downhill reflects challenge rather than dysfunction is fair in this healthy sample, but risky to extrapolate.
Coaching Strategies for Enhancing Athlete Motivation: Insights from Coaches
Barcena-Manongsong & Cañete, International Journal on Culture, History, and Religion, 2025
This qualitative study explored how five experienced coaches in the CALABARZON region of the Philippines keep their athletes motivated. Using phenomenological interviews, it identified core strategies like personalized feedback, goal-setting, and creating athlete-centered environments. Coaches emphasized preventing burnout through individualized attention, flexible training, and consistent communication. The study integrates Self-Determination Theory and Social Learning Theory to explain how autonomy, competence, and relatedness (when reinforced by coaches) can drive long-term athlete motivation and well-being. Dividing long-term goals into manageable steps maintains athlete focus and prevents overwhelm. Coaches watch for demotivation signs like low energy and adjust training intensity, encourage cross-training, or offer mental resets. One-on-one talks, buddy systems, and honest check-ins help athletes feel seen, supported, and resilient. It’s not breaking science, but it’s a solid, culture-rich contribution. But the study is grounded, thoughtful, and full of practical gems. Plus, the coaches’ quotes have heart.
The Role of Organizers in Advancing Sustainable Sport Tourism: Insights from Small-Scale Running Events in Greece
Sofia Gkarane et al., Sustainability, 2025
Another sport tourism research, where this qualitative study explores how organizers of small-scale running events in Greece perceive and implement sustainable practices. Through interviews with 25 organizers across urban, rural, and island settings, the researchers highlight how these local actors see their events as contributing positively to local economies, social cohesion, and environmental awareness. Notably, the paper offers a theoretical framework situating inclusivity as a distinct pillar of social sustainability, an insightful move that centers the lived realities and aspirations of organizers. It’s thoughtful and well-scoped, with rich qualitative data and grounded insights, though its generalizability is limited to similar event contexts. Still, it fills an important literature gap on supply-side actors in sport tourism and offers transferable lessons for event planning in trail and ultra contexts. It offers more than anecdote; it proposes a nuanced framework for sustainable sport tourism. That said, it could benefit from more intersectional analysis: How do gender, migration, or economic precarity affect who gets to organize or access these events? Still, by centering organizers’ perspectives, the authors give us a valuable framework for understanding how small-scale events can punch above their weight in sustainability impact.
As always for me with these studies, I am somewhat more skeptical, and I have to say that the conclusions sometimes overreach. For example, the claim that organizers are central to environmental preservation is partially supported, but no independent verification is provided. Additionally, while the economic impact is emphasized heavily in the interviews, no quantification or economic modeling is attempted, even a basic estimate of visitor spending would have added rigor. Events were chosen through publicly available sources and local networks, likely excluding less-visible or under-resourced events. Organizers may be prone to self-legitimizing narratives—there is no counterbalance from residents who don’t support the events or feel excluded.
Durability as an Independent Parameter of Endurance Performance in Cycling
Barsumyan et al., BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation, 2025
This study explored whether durability (the ability to maintain performance under fatigue) is truly independent from traditional endurance markers like VO₂ max and FTP. Twenty well-trained amateur cyclists performed 5- and 20 min. power tests in fresh and fatigued states (after a 1000 kJ workload at 80% threshold). Performance dropped by ~10% in both tests when fatigued, yet this drop showed no correlation with VO₂ max, age, training volume, or years in sport. The findings suggest durability is its own beast and not a simple extension of the usual suspects in endurance physiology. In other words, VO₂ max and FTP do not predict who holds power better under fatigue, durability must be tested directly. However, the findings rest on a small male-only sample with limited statistical power, and didn’t include key variables like lactate threshold, sleep, or psychological factors.
Physiological and Performance Effects of a High-Intensity Interval Training in University Students
Dan Cristian Mănescu, Preprints.org (not peer-reviewed), 2025
This six-week HIIT study may not reinvent the interval, but it does reinforce what we already know with good clarity and strong effect sizes: you don’t need endless hours to get stronger, leaner, and more powerful. Even without peer review, the consistent findings and solid design make it a useful touchstone for time-efficient, whole-body training, whether you’re a student, a busy runner, or someone trying to do more with less.
How to assess leader capabilities: Applying AI algorithms to evaluate NBA head coaches
Philsoo Kim & Sanghyun Lee, Journal of Sports Analytics, 2025
Not running related, but coaching related, and about AI. This study introduces a machine learning framework to evaluate the leadership impact of NBA head coaches over 24 seasons (1999–2023). The authors trained predictive models on preseason player and team data (excluding coach identity) to estimate a team’s expected win total. The study argues that this approach offers a scalable, data-informed way to evaluate coaching (and potentially managerial) effectiveness beyond traditional win-loss metrics. I view this study not just as a clever model of coaching impact, but as an act of epistemic framing, one that reduces the deeply relational, embodied, and contextual nature of leadership to a residual data artifact: the “coaching margin.” By predicting wins based solely on preseason stats, the model frames leadership as whatever the machine can’t explain. Essentially, an error term. This abstraction risks reinforcing a technocratic logic where only quantifiable outcomes matter, sidelining invisible forms of leadership like emotional labor, team culture, or ethical guidance. It reflects broader trends in AI toward performative objectivity, ghost labor, and portable metrics that flatten human nuance. If deployed in hiring or evaluation, such models could amplify existing biases and erase the systemic conditions that shape both player and coach success. In short, while methodologically solid, the study opens a deeper ethical question: What does it mean when leadership is only visible through its deviation from a machine’s expectations?
Utility of Exercise Duplex Imaging in a Rare Case of Bilateral Iliac Artery Endofibrosis in an Ultramarathon Runner
Noor Fatima, Hamza Hanif, Tram Le, Rachel C. Danczyk, Journal of Vascular Surgery Cases and Innovative Techniques, 2025
This paper is a one-person powerhouse of insight. It illustrates why persistent exertional pain in runners, esp. if it’s weirdly reproducible and unilateral or bilateral, deserves vascular evaluation beyond the standard rest-state tools. It’s also a reminder that athletic toughness doesn’t mean ignoring pain. Sometimes, the most resilient act is demanding better diagnostics. Coaches, take note: not all calf cramps are from overtraining, and not all good ABIs tell the full story.
Effects of Training with Different Set-Repetition Configurations on High-Intensity Exercise Endurance and Acute Recoverability
Wesley Gawel, East Tennessee State University Dissertation, 2025
This dissertation compared two resistance training approaches over a 4-week intervention: one using high-rep, low-load sets (3×10 at 60% 1RM) and the other using low-rep, high-load cluster sets (5×4 at 80% 1RM with 20s intra-set rest). The goal? To see which method better enhances high-intensity exercise endurance and short-term recovery. Both groups improved their endurance time to exhaustion and sprint performance, but the 3×10 group showed slightly more improvement. However, no significant changes were seen in recovery metrics like neuromuscular function or HRV.
Other running related studies
– Intra and inter-rater reliability of manual two-dimensional kinematics analysis of running
– Sex-based performance analysis in Olympic triathlon: swimming, cycling, and running at Paris 2024
– Effect of Footstrike Pattern on Hip Joint Loading During Running
– A Runner’s Edge – The Biochemical Enhancing Effects of Sodium Bicarbonate on Intensity and Endurance in Trained Distance Runners: A Systematic Review
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