Human Endurance

Most running plans save the speed work for last. For ultras, Jason Koop does the opposite.

Jason has coached endurance athletes for 25 years. He is Head Ultrarunning Coach at CTS and has coached Western States winners Kaci Lickteig, Katie Schide and Abby Hall.
In 2024 he coached the entire women's podium there.
He wrote Training Essentials for Ultrarunning and built Koop AI, an AI coach based on his method.

In this Expert Series episode, we talk about:
•⁠ ⁠What his champions have in common (almost nothing)
•⁠ ⁠Why ultra training flips the college model: intensity early, volume late
•⁠ ⁠Why he rarely uses the track, treadmill or bike
•⁠ ⁠How strength work fits around the run load
•⁠ ⁠Fueling: get the basics right, then match carbs to the terrain
•⁠ ⁠Why coaches who embrace AI will win, and who gets left behind
•⁠ ⁠The one belief that changed how he coaches

"You can use AI to help build up your deficits, but not to cover them up."

For coaches, it's a look at how one of the best in the sport plans a season, picks athletes and sees the future of the job. For athletes, it's a reminder that the best took years, not months.

Find Jason at ⁠https://www.jasonkoop.com/⁠
Follow us: ⁠@justbrunathings⁠ ⁠@ifabimaia⁠
This episode is brought to you by: ⁠@augo.training

Your zone 2 at the start of a ride is not your zone 2 at the end. Zones are a model. Feel is the skill.

In this Expert Series episode, we talk with Dr. Thomas Mortelmans, a scientist who coaches. Thomas holds a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Basel and works as a Sr. Scientist at Johnson & Johnson. He coaches cyclists, triathletes, and runners through ESQ Coaching, writes the weekly newsletter The Scientist's Notebook, and is building Gradescale, a training analytics platform based on peer-reviewed models.

We cover:
- Why consistency and progressive overload matter more than zone obsession
- Planning training around your life, not the other way around
- Deload weeks and why some athletes recover faster than others
- Heart rate drift, RPE, and "feel yourself" sessions with the data hidden
- Strength training for endurance athletes, from base phase to race season
- The "10 g of sugar is enough" myth, and when zone 2 isn't the best use of limited time
- What a human coach gives you that AI can't

For coaches: a simple way to adjust load, recovery, and strength work for each athlete.
For athletes: a reason to stop chasing perfect numbers and start trusting how training feels.

Find Thomas on Instagram at @esq.coaching and at gradescale.fit.

Human Endurance is hosted by Bruna (@justbrunathings) and Fabi (@ifabimaia), coaches at Jornada Endurance and founders of augo (@augo.training).

A high VO₂max can be a sign that you are inefficient, not that you are fit.

That is one of several ideas Marco Altini takes apart in this episode.

Marco is co-founder of HRV4Training, an endurance coach, an advisor at Oura, and a guest lecturer at VU Amsterdam.

He holds a PhD in data science and master's degrees in computer science engineering and human movement sciences. He is also Bruna's coach and an advisor to augo.

We start with why he prescribes almost everything by perceived effort and almost never gives a pace or a heart rate. He explains how he brings along athletes who cannot yet read their own effort, and what he actually looks at when he analyses training data, which turns out to be far less often than most people assume.

Then we get into the lab. Marco tests for running economy and substrate oxidation at race intensity, and explains why VO₂max is one of the least actionable numbers in endurance sport, using his own results as the example.

We also cover what changes between a road marathon and a trail marathon, whether you can train for trails without trails, why fueling past ten hours becomes a calorie problem rather than a carbohydrate problem, and where AI genuinely helps a coach.

That last part gets specific. Marco describes using augo to pull up a fueling conversation from months earlier instead of scrolling through workout comments and WhatsApp, and explains why he sees the tool as removing administrative friction rather than replacing coaching judgement.

About augo
augo is an intelligent platform for endurance sports coaching. It combines coach and athlete communication, workout data from Garmin, Strava, Coros, Wahoo, Polar and Zwift, and post-session athlete feedback in a single platform, so coaches can ask a question and get an answer with full athlete context. augo surfaces which athletes need attention today, tracks wellbeing trends over time, and remembers every note, conversation and session feedback.

augo is built to support coaches, not replace them.
Learn more at: www.augotraining.comMore from Marco: marcoaltini.substack.com

Two runners can look at the same race stats, the same distance, the same elevation gain, and finish hours apart. Ido Dassa has spent a decade learning why.
In this Expert Series episode we talk with Ido, a pro ultra-trail runner and CEO of RacePace. He is the Israeli 100 km champion and national record holder, a member of the national trail team, and a The North Face athlete. He has raced backyard ultras, 200K on the road, vertical Ks and technical mountain 100Ks. He also started running at 18, as a smoker who had never played a sport.
We cover what separates trail running from road running, and why importing road pacing into the mountains is how most first trail races fall apart. Ido explains what to look for in a course profile before race day, how he decides when to walk and when to run uphill, the three common hand positions on climbs and what each one actually does, and why technical descents deserve more caution than most runners give them.
We also get into fueling. Ido pushes back on the carbohydrate numbers circulating online, explains why gut training deserves sessions of its own, and describes the 100K where cold, altitude and wet hands stacked up until he pulled out at halfway.
For coaches, his closing point is short: learn the demands of the race first, then build the plan around them.
🔗 IDO & RacePace
⁠https://www.instagram.com/ido_dassa/
⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/find_racepace/⁠⁠⁠
⁠https://www.findracepace.com

👋 HOSTS
Human Endurance is hosted by Bruna and Fabi, coaches, athletes, and co-founders of augo.
Bruna: ⁠https://instagram.com/justbrunathings⁠
Fabi: ⁠https://instagram.com/endurance_fabi⁠

To support this podcast, head over to augo and create an account:⁠ ⁠
⁠https://www.augotraining.com⁠
⁠https://instagram.com/augo.training⁠

Pain shows up late. By the time you feel it, the process has usually been running for months.
In this Expert Series episode we sit down with Martin Kumm, a sports chiropractor who has spent the past five years with WorldTour cycling team EF Education-EasyPost, alongside years working in ice hockey and track and field. He is a lifelong athlete himself, from national level basketball to triathlon to cycling.
We go through the questions athletes ask us over and over. Does a warm up actually prevent injury, and how long should it be? Should you stretch, or are you someone who should not? Is a cool down worth the time? How much strength training do you really need, and what happens to it during a three week race? Are magnesium and creatine worth the money? And now that the research has shifted, is the cold plunge still doing anything for you?
Martin also explains why he can tell whether a professional cyclist played other sports as a child just by asking them to stand on one foot, and why plantar fasciitis you feel in your heel often starts in your toes.
If you coach, his closing answer may change how you plan your season. Stop trying to prevent injuries and start building a robust athlete.

🔗 MARTIN
https://www.instagram.com/martinkumm_cycling/
https://cycling.clinic/ride-ready/

👋 HOSTS
Human Endurance is hosted by Bruna and Fabi, coaches, athletes, and co-founders of augo.
Bruna: https://instagram.com/justbrunathings
Fabi: https://instagram.com/endurance_fabi

To support this podcast, head over to augo and create an account:
https://www.augotraining.com

https://instagram.com/augo.training