The Athlete's Compass

Could Your Breathing Be Limiting Your Endurance?

Could the way you breathe be limiting your endurance performance? Breathing is something every athlete does, but few consider it something they can train. In this episod

A Beginner-to-Pro Guide for Faster Triathlon Transitions

What if you could improve your triathlon time without getting fitter, buying expensive equipment, or adding another workout? In this episode of The Athletes Compass, Paul

What It Actually Takes to Go Sub-9 at Kona with Luke Evans

What does it really take to race an 8:58 Ironman at the World Championship in Kona? In this episode, sports scientist and coach Paul Laursen catches up with athlete Luke

The Half of Endurance Training Most Athletes Ignore

Physical fitness gets you to the starting line, but what helps you perform when pressure, doubt, and discomfort take over? In episode 150 of The Athletes Compass Podcast,

The Biggest Nutrition Mistake Aging Athletes Make

Are you fueling your training for the athlete you are today—or following the nutrition advice that worked 20 years ago? In this episode of The Athletes Compass, hosts Pau

The Hidden Endurance Secret of Hill Repeats

Hill repeats can provide endurance athletes with a powerful mix of strength, speed, neuromuscular, and cardiovascular benefits without requiring frequent all-out sprintin

Run Faster Without Running More

Episode SummaryWant to run faster but don’t have time—or the recovery capacity—to add more mileage? Paul Warloski and Dr. Paul Laursen explain how runners can improve per

How to Improve Your Running Economy

Two runners can have similar fitness and VO₂ max numbers yet perform very differently. One reason is running economy—the metabolic cost of maintaining a given running spe

Why Your VO₂ Max Isn’t Rising

VO₂ max is one of endurance sport’s most closely watched metrics, but what does it mean when the number refuses to rise? Paul Warloski and Dr. Paul Laursen explain why a

Why Stopping Was My Best Decision: 1,000km Across France with Jens Wachter

Endurance athlete and Athletica user Jens joins Paul Warloski and Dr. Paul Laursen to share the story behind Project Trans France, his ambitious attempt to run roughly 1,

Norwegian Method vs Polarized: What’s Better?

The Norwegian method has become one of endurance sport’s hottest training topics, thanks largely to elite performances, double-threshold sessions, and lactate-guided inte

How to Find Your Zone 2 Without a Lab Test

Episode SummaryZone 2 gets talked about constantly in endurance training, but most everyday athletes don’t have access to lactate testing or a metabolic lab. In this epis

Do Hills and Sprints Cancel Your Zone 2 Benefits?

Does a short climb, town-line sprint, or brief surge above Zone 2 undo the benefits of an endurance workout? Paul Warloski and Dr. Paul Laursen explain why the answer is

When to Perform High-Intensity Intervals

Should endurance athletes complete high-intensity intervals while fresh, or place them later in a workout after accumulating fatigue? Paul Warloski and Dr. Paul Laursen e

How Much HIIT Do You Actually Need?

High-intensity interval training can produce rapid improvements, but repeatedly pushing to maximal effort may undermine recovery, consistency, and long-term progress. Pau

Supplements That Actually Work for Endurance Athletes with Dr Jose Antonio

Dr. Jose Antonio, co-founder and CEO of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, joins Paul Warloski and Paul Laursen to separate effective sports supplements from

Why You Get Sore 48 Hours After Exercise and How to Fix It

Why can a hard workout feel manageable at first, only to leave you struggling with stairs two days later? In this episode of The Athletes Compass Podcast, Paul Warloski a

Why 50% of Girls Quit Sport (and How to Stop It)

In part two of the conversation with Dr. Julia Casadio, the team explores why so many adolescent girls leave sport during their teenage years and how coaches, parents, an

Heat Training for Female Athletes: How to Adapt and Perform

In this episode of The Athletes Compass Podcast, Dr. Julia Casadio explains how athletes can use heat training as a powerful performance tool, especially when preparing f

How Sleep Timing Impacts Recovery, HRV, and Endurance Performance

In this episode of The Athletes Compass Podcast, Dr. Kristen Holmes, Global Head of Human Performance at Whoop, explains why sleep-wake consistency may be one of the most