Category: Tips

In one large sweat-testing dataset, endurance athletes lost an average of 51.7 mmol of sodium per hour. That works out to roughly 1.2 g, close to half a teaspoon of salt, soaked into your singlet before most of Kuala Lumpur has had breakfast. Stretch that over a three-hour Sunday long run and you are near 9 g of salt.

Most runners hear that and reach for salt tablets. For many of them, that is the wrong reaction. The loss is real, but whether you need to replace it during the run comes down to two things you can actually measure.

Where the 1.2 g comes from

The number comes from the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, which pooled data from 1,303 athletes tested between 2000 and 2017. Endurance athletes in that group sweated about 1.28 litres an hour on average. One mmol of sodium is 23 mg, so their average hourly loss comes to about 1,190 mg.

The average hides a big spread. The standard deviation on that sodium figure was 27.8 mmol an hour, so one standard deviation around the mean spans roughly 550 mg to 1,830 mg an hour. That is more than a threefold difference between runners who would both count as normal.

Endurance athletes were among the biggest losers in the dataset. Only American football players lost more sodium per hour, at 55.9 mmol. Footballers, basketball and baseball players all lost less, mainly because they sweat less per hour and stop sooner.

What Malaysian humidity changes

Heat makes you sweat. Humidity makes that sweat less useful. Sweat cools you by evaporating, and thick, wet air slows evaporation down. Researchers at Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang described it in a 2019 study: in humid air, sweat drips off the skin instead of evaporating, so much more of the fluid you lose does nothing to cool you.

The same study tested nine well-trained runners who were not heat-adapted, in warm-humid and warm-dry conditions. After an hour of running, they lasted 9.1 minutes in the final all-out test in humid air, against 12.7 minutes in dry air. Drinking water during the run did not reduce their thermal strain in either condition.

Those runners were not adapted to heat, and that matters, because adaptation works in your favour. In one lab study of eight men exercising in the heat for ten days, sweat sodium concentration fell from about 54 to 36 mmol per litre, a drop of roughly a third. The catch is that heat-adapted bodies tend to sweat more, so the total sodium lost can still be large. Training in the Klang Valley does not make you a low-sodium runner. It makes your sweat less salty, but you can still lose a lot overall.

Losing sodium is not the same as needing to replace it

This is where most sodium advice goes wrong. Your body holds a buffer, and blood sodium only drops in particular situations.

Alan McCubbin, an accredited sports dietitian, modelled this directly. He tested sweat sodium from 20 to 80 mmol per litre, sweat rates from 0.5 to 2.5 litres an hour, and fluid replacement from 10% to 90% of losses. The result was blunt. For a football match and an elite marathon, replacing sodium was unnecessary in every realistic scenario. The 160 km ultramarathon was different: runners whose sweat held 40 mmol per litre or more, and who drank back over 80% of their losses, needed to replace at least 47% of their sodium.

The model found that two things drove sodium needs: the share of your sweat loss you drink back, and how salty your sweat is. Duration multiplies both. McCubbin has also written that there is little if any evidence that sodium during exercise improves performance, at least in efforts under four hours.

One honest gap: an elite marathon takes about two hours, while a recreational marathon in Malaysian heat can take five. The race scenarios in the model did not cover that middle ground. The same two drivers still apply, so the longer you are out and the more you drink, the more your sodium plan matters.

The water bottle is the bigger risk

The dangerous form of low blood sodium, exercise-associated hyponatraemia, usually is not caused by sweating out too much salt. An international consensus panel concluded that the main cause is drinking too much dilute fluid, likely combined with hormone signals that make the body hold on to water during exercise. More salt is not the fix. Less fluid is.

The panel’s advice is to drink when thirsty. Early signs include lightheadedness, nausea and gaining weight during an event. If you finish a long run heavier than you started, you drank too much, whatever was in the bottle.

Find your own number

An average is only a starting point. You can measure your own sweat rate with a bathroom scale, which is essentially how the big dataset did it: change in body mass during exercise, corrected for what athletes drank and passed.

1. Use the toilet, then weigh yourself in minimal clothing before a 60-minute run.
2. Run at a normal training effort and note how much you drink.
3. Towel off and weigh again in the same clothing.
4. Add the weight you lost to the fluid you drank. That is your hourly sweat loss, with 1 kg being roughly 1 litre.

Do it once on a hot, still morning and once after overnight rain. The gap between the two tells you how much your race-day plan should shift with the weather.

Saltiness is harder to measure at home. White tide marks on your cap or singlet hint that your sweat is on the salty side, but they are not a measurement. If you race ultras and see those marks often, a proper sweat sodium test is worth paying for.

When sodium belongs in your plan

Up to about two hours, drinking to thirst: your normal meals cover your sodium. Salty food or drink is a season-to-taste choice rather than a requirement.

From two hours to around five, such as a long run or a recreational-pace marathon at KLSCM, it depends on your numbers. If you drink back most of what you sweat and your sweat is salty, planned sodium starts to make sense. If you drink to thirst, you likely have more room than most advice suggests.

Ultras are where the modelling says sodium genuinely matters, when long exercise is combined with drinking back more than 80% of losses and sweat sodium of at least 40 mmol per litre. Plan your intake per hour, not per aid station.

What this looks like at KLSCM

The KLSCM full marathon cut-off has run to 7 hours 15 minutes, so a large part of the field is out there for five hours or more. That runner is in a completely different position from the two-hour elite the model said needs nothing.

Say you measured 1.2 litres an hour at race pace during training. Over five hours that is about 6 litres of sweat. At 920 mg of sodium per litre, the illustration figure below, the theoretical loss is around 1,100 mg an hour.

That number is not a target to match. Your drinking rate, your food, your own sweat concentration and the length of your race all change what you actually need. What it does tell you is whether you are the kind of runner the research is talking about: long time on feet, heavy sweating, and drinking back a lot of it.

Turning your number into a plan

Each Elec Stamina caplet contains 220 mg of sodium. On its own that figure means nothing. Next to your own numbers it does the work for you.

The arithmetic runs like this. Take your hourly sweat loss in litres from the scale test, multiply it by your sweat sodium in mg per litre, and you have your hourly loss. Without a sweat test you cannot know your own concentration, so use 40 mmol per litre, about 920 mg per litre, only as an illustration. That figure sits above the average, so it overstates the loss for a lot of runners. It is the level at which McCubbin’s ultramarathon scenario made targeted replacement necessary, not a diagnosis of salty sweat.

Then decide what share you intend to replace. The ultra scenario in the model landed near half for salty sweaters drinking back most of their losses. Divide that figure by 220 and you know how many caplets an hour that is for you, and how many to carry for a race that takes eight hours rather than four.

Whatever the maths says, stay within the directions on the pack, and rehearse the plan on long runs at race effort, in the heat you will race in.

Running KLSCM, an ultra, or another long race in the heat?

Measure your sweat rate on a long training run first. Once you know roughly how much fluid you lose an hour, you can build a sodium schedule around your race duration instead of guessing at an aid station.

Elec Stamina provides 220 mg of sodium per caplet, which makes it simple to carry and to count.

References

1. Barnes KA, Anderson ML, Stofan JR, Dalrymple KJ, Reimel AJ, Roberts TJ, Randell RK, Ungaro CT, Baker LB (2019). Normative data for sweating rate, sweat sodium concentration, and sweat sodium loss in athletes: an update and analysis by sport. Journal of Sports Sciences, 37(20), 2356-2366.
2. Che Muhamed AM, Yusof HA, Stannard SR, Mündel T, Thompson MW (2019). The efficacy of ingesting water on thermoregulatory responses and running performance in a warm-humid condition. Frontiers in Physiology, 10, 507.
3. Chinevere TD, Kenefick RW, Cheuvront SN, Lukaski HC, Sawka MN (2008). Effect of heat acclimation on sweat minerals. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 40(5), 886-891.
4. McCubbin AJ (2023). Modelling sodium requirements of athletes across a variety of exercise scenarios: identifying when to test and target, or season to taste. European Journal of Sport Science, 23(6), 992-1000.
5. McCubbin AJ (2022). How much sodium do I need? mysportscience.com
6. Hew-Butler T, Rosner MH, Fowkes-Godek S, et al. (2015). Statement of the 3rd International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Development Conference, Carlsbad, California, 2015. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 49(22), 1432-1446.
7. Hew-Butler T, Loi V, Pani A, Rosner MH (2017). Exercise-associated hyponatremia: 2017 update. Frontiers in Medicine, 4, 21.

Running a marathon in Berlin or Tokyo is hard. Running one in Malaysia is a different beast entirely. Between the humidity of the KLSCM (Standard Chartered KL Marathon) and the scorching tarmac of IRONMAN Langkawi, tropical heat is a leading reason athletes DNF (Did Not Finish).

In high humidity, sweat doesn’t evaporate well, so your body temperature climbs and you lose electrolytes fast. Water alone isn’t enough — and overdrinking plain water carries its own risk, including low blood sodium (hyponatraemia), which has been linked to serious harm in endurance athletes.

Here’s a 2-part heat strategy: manage sodium on schedule, and give your muscles amino acid support once carbs alone aren’t covering a long, hot effort.

Part 1: Sodium on a schedule with ELEC Stamina

To manage the heat, it helps to treat hydration (water) and electrolytes (salts) as two separate jobs, not one.

ELEC Stamina is a swallow tablet made in China, built for heavy sweaters over long sessions.

• Sodium on schedule: put sodium back on a set rhythm through a long, hot session — it won’t stop a cramp already underway, and cramping has more than one cause.
• Vitamin B1 and B2 are part of the formula alongside the sodium.
• Strategy: 1–2 tablets every 10km with water, per the label.

Part 2: Amino acid support with QC Stamina

Past roughly 90 minutes of hard effort, if carbohydrate intake isn’t keeping up, the body can start drawing on muscle protein for fuel. That’s part of why a race can start to feel “hollow” late on.

QC Stamina (Quick Charge) is protein built for use during the race, not after it.

• Sachet-based amino acid support, light and quick to digest mid-race.
• Strategy: One sachet of QC Stamina roughly at the halfway point of a long race, or every 2–3 hours.

The takeaway

Carbohydrate, fluid and pacing still come first in any race plan. Once those are dialled in, managing your electrolytes with ELEC and your amino acid intake with QC covers the rest of what Malaysian heat asks of you.

Walk into any supplement store and you’ll see walls of BCAA products. They work well for gym training and muscle building. If you’re a marathoner, triathlete or ultra-runner, though, that’s not quite the job you need done.

Customers ask us this a lot: is Katsuo Stamina just another BCAA? No. Both play a role in recovery, but they’re built for different problems.

Quick comparison

What’s the actual difference?

Traditional BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) signal your body to build and repair muscle tissue. That’s exactly what you want for strength training or bodybuilding, where the goal is muscle growth.

Katsuo Stamina works differently. It’s built from bioactive dipeptides — Anserine and Carnosine — sourced from katsuo (bonito), a fish that swims long distances without stopping. These are studied for buffering muscle pH during sustained effort, which is the theory behind delaying the “burn” late in a long race. That’s a different job from muscle growth.

Which one fits you?

BCAAs make sense if your goal is muscle mass, your sessions run under 60 minutes and high intensity, or you’re focused on strength training or CrossFit.

Katsuo Stamina makes sense if you’re training or racing longer than 90 minutes — marathons, triathlons, ultra-running, cycling — and fatigue late in the effort is what’s limiting you.

Can you use both?

Yes — plenty of endurance athletes do. BCAAs post-workout for muscle repair, Katsuo Stamina before or during a race. They’re not competing for the same job, so stacking them is straightforward.

Neither replaces getting your carbohydrate, fluid and pacing right first — that’s still the foundation of any race plan. For endurance athletes training in Malaysian heat, Katsuo Stamina is aimed at a different gap than BCAAs fill, not a replacement for them.

Lactic acid isn’t just waste your body needs to flush out. It’s mostly lactate, an energy source your body can burn or recycle — the burn you feel late in a race comes from your muscles producing it faster than they can process it, not from lactate itself being toxic.

Every endurance athlete knows the feeling. You’re at the 30km mark of a marathon, or the final leg of a triathlon, and your legs start to feel heavy — like they’re filled with lead. For decades that burning sensation got blamed on one culprit: lactic acid.

Lactic acid isn’t the enemy

Older sports science treated lactic acid as a toxic by-product to flush out. That view has shifted — lactate is a genuine energy source. The problem isn’t that your body produces it; it’s that during hard, sustained effort it can produce it faster than it clears it. When that backlog builds, hydrogen ions accumulate, muscle pH drops, and you get that familiar burn.

Where Katsuo Stamina fits

Katsuo Stamina is built from Migratory Fish Extract, specifically a peptide containing Anserine and Carnosine, derived from katsuo (bonito) — a fish that swims long distances without stopping. These are studied for buffering hydrogen ions in muscle, which is the working theory behind stabilising pH and delaying the burn during sustained effort.

It’s aimed at that mechanism specifically — not at masking fatigue the way a stimulant does. No caffeine, no sugar.

How to use it in a race

• Pre-race: 4 tablets 30 minutes before the start.
• During the race: 4 tablets every 90–120 minutes, per the label.

It’s a peptide supplement aimed at lactate buffering and recovery — not a hydration product, and not a substitute for getting your carbs, fluids and pacing right first.

[Shop Katsuo Stamina Here]

Past about 90 minutes of hard effort, if carbohydrate isn’t keeping up, your body can start drawing on muscle protein for fuel. QC Stamina is a sachet of amino acid support built to be taken during the race itself, not after it — light, quick to digest, and easy on the stomach.

Why protein during a race, not just after

Long-distance running or cycling causes metabolic stress and micro-damage to muscle protein. Consuming protein supports the repair process and helps you adapt to the training load.

When carbohydrate stores drop — typically past around 90 minutes of sustained exercise — the body can start using amino acids from muscle tissue for energy instead. Providing protein during the event helps reduce how much of that happens.

General sports nutrition guidance puts daily protein intake for endurance athletes around 1.8 g/kg body weight, with higher needs (around 2.0 g/kg) on low-carb or high-intensity training days. Post-exercise protein, roughly 0.5 g/kg, supports recovery and repair on top of that.

What makes QC Stamina different from a recovery shake

• Built for race-day use, not a post-workout shake — light and quick to digest mid-race.
• Helps sustain muscle output during long efforts when carbs alone may not be enough.
• Portable sachets — one every 2–3 hours — built to sit easily in a drop bag or race vest.

It’s protein aimed at a specific job: keeping amino acids available during a long race, once your carbohydrate intake is already covered. It doesn’t replace getting carbs, fluids and pacing right first — those still come first in any race plan.

QC Stamina fills a specific niche: protein support during long endurance efforts, built to digest easily on the move.

Running an ultra trail race in Malaysia’s hot, humid conditions is no joke lah. It’s not just about being fit – you need smart preparation, mental grit, and some creative strategies. While standard training advice is good, sometimes you gotta think out of the box.

In this article, we’ll share 31 tips – some normal, some cham – to help you conquer a humid ultra in Malaysia. From getting used to the heat to staying hydrated, fueling up to cooling down, these tips will give you an edge when things get tough.

So if you’re ready to level up your humid ultra training, read on for 31 unorthodox tips to help you tahan the heat and humidity.

Training and Preparation

1. Simulate race conditions by training in a sauna or steam room.
2. Run in the hottest part of the day during your training runs.
3. Wear extra layers to mimic the effects of heat and humidity.
4. Carry a spray bottle and mist yourself during runs to stay cool.
5. Train during rainy days to get used to running in heavy rain and mud.
6. Practice running in wet shoes to prevent blisters and discomfort.
7. Do HIIT workouts to boost your endurance and heat tolerance.
8. Train on different terrains like beach, jungle, and hilly areas to prepare for various conditions.

Pacing and Effort

9. Run at a ‘lepak’ pace to manage your effort and save energy.
10. Run by feel, not pace – your body will tell you when to slow down.
11. Take walking breaks to lower your heart rate and core temp.
12. Adjust your goals and focus on finishing rather than time.
13. Embrace the suck and accept that it will be tough.

Hydration and Electrolytes

14. Monitor your urine colour – if it’s dark, drink more water.
15. Drink small amounts frequently rather than chugging at aid stations.
16. Carry electrolyte tablets and take them with water.
17. Freeze your water bottles for a built-in cooling system.
18. Drink coconut water for natural electrolytes and carbs.

Fueling and Digestion

20. Eat smaller amounts more often to avoid GI distress.
21. Experiment with liquid calories like gels and drinks.
22. Avoid high-fiber foods that can cause bloating.
23. Bring your own favorite snacks in case aid stations lack variety.
24. Munch on salted peanuts or keropok for a quick sodium and energy boost.

Cooling and Protection

25. Wear a wet bandana or buff around your neck.
26. Wear a hat with a brim to shade your face and neck.
27. Use cooling sleeves to protect your arms and keep them cool.
28. Pour water over your head, back, and chest at every opportunity.
29. Wear light, breathable fabrics that wick sweat.
30. Use a combination of sunscreen and UV-protective clothing to shield yourself from the intense Malaysian sun.
31. Wear polarized sunglasses to reduce glare and eye strain.

Extra Tips for Rainy Days

32. Wear a lightweight, waterproof jacket to stay dry without overheating.
33. Use anti-chafing cream to prevent skin irritation from wet clothes.
34. Carry spare socks in a waterproof bag to change if needed.
35. Watch your footing on slippery trails and wooden bridges.

Remember, every runner different one, so try different things during training to see what works best for you. With the right mix of normal advice and unorthodox tactics, you’ll be ready to tahan your next humid ultra trail race in Malaysia.

If you’re an advocate of injury-free running, you likely place a high value on warming up before your run and cooling down afterward. However, this alone is not enough. You might also engage in interval training to further improve your abilities, but there’s a chance you’re not executing interval training correctly.

Therefore, it’s worth ensuring a proper understanding of interval training and “recovery intervals.”

It’s well known that the benefits of interval training lie in the recovery intervals. Recovery intervals are defined as recovery periods following high-intensity training, allowing the body to prepare for the next about of high-intensity exercise. Recovery intervals can involve slow jogging, brisk walking, or resting, and their purpose is to help the body recover to maintain or improve performance in subsequent exercises.

When discussing recovery during interval training, three variables need to be optimized:

1. Recovery time
2. Mode of recovery
3. Activities during recovery

To answer these questions, consider the following factors:

• Who is training?
• What type of training is being performed?
• What is the training goal?

Today, we will discuss this important topic of interval training!

Interval Training Structure: Repeats and Recovery

In “interval training,” the “interval” refers to the recovery periods between fast runs, and “repeats” refers to the specific durations of fast runs separated by specific paces.

“Repeats” represent the fast-running parts, while “recovery intervals” represent any distance and time between them.

When designing training schedules, recreational runners are recommended to structure recovery in two ways:

• As a set distance (e.g., 16 x 200m with 200m slow jogging recovery)

Choosing the correct recovery length is a broad topic that covers all possible situations and outlines the fundamental science behind what happens during recovery so you can make more informed decisions in your training.

Generally speaking, interval training can be divided into two categories:

1. Repeats performed at intensities above your lactate threshold or critical speed
2. Repeats performed at intensities close to or slightly below your lactate threshold or critical speed

Recovery Time for Repeats Above Lactate Threshold or Critical Speed

When running speed exceeds the lactate threshold (MLSS) or critical speed (CS), your body is in a state of metabolic instability (e.g., oxygen uptake gradually increases to VO2 max, heart rate gradually rises to max heart rate, and blood lactate steadily rises).

In these exercises, the role of recovery intervals is to allow these metrics to return to a baseline so you can repeat the exercise without reaching exhaustion.

The critical speed model is a useful conceptual tool; it suggests that running above critical speed consumes limited “anaerobic” energy reserves. Once these reserves are depleted, you will be too fatigued to continue. For example, running continuously at a 5K pace for 5 kilometers will deplete your anaerobic energy reserves from 100% to 0%.

Now, if you divide the same amount of running into 5 x 1000m with N seconds of recovery, the difficulty of the exercise depends entirely on the duration and intensity of N.

The length of recovery intervals follows an exponential decay process with a half-life. Recovery happens quickly in the first 10 seconds and then slows down.

For example, the intramuscular phosphocreatine (PCr) levels, an excellent indicator of anaerobic energy dependence, show that recovery occurs quickly in the early stages and then slows down.

When conducting high-intensity 300-meter repeats at 1500m pace, a recovery time of three times the repeat length is necessary. However, this recovery speed varies with an individual’s ability.

Recovery Time for Repeats at or Below MLSS

When engaging in high-intensity aerobic exercise (e.g., CS-, half-marathon pace, or marathon pace runs), during recovery intervals, you can choose between two goals:

1. Clear residual metabolic by-products to prevent rapid lactate accumulation
2. Stress the body to improve its ability to convert lactate into an energy source, a process known as lactate oxidation

These are very different goals and therefore require different strategies for recovery interval lengths.

1. Maintaining Control in High-Intensity Aerobic Training

For classic Daniels’ cruise intervals (e.g., 10 x 3 minutes at T pace), it’s possible to briefly exceed lactate intensity during the repeats. Short rest intervals can help clear metabolic by-products and bring the metabolic state back below MLSS.

In this case, due to the short half-life of the exponential decay function of recovery intervals, 1 minute of recovery time is sufficient for runners in good condition. Stronger runners might reduce this time to 45 or even 30 seconds without much trouble. Even for relatively long T pace repeats (e.g., 3 x 10 minutes at T pace), only 2-3 minutes of recovery is typically needed.

2. Increasing Muscle Lactate Oxidation

For half-marathon and marathon runners, advanced techniques involve using fast recovery intervals to put the body in a physiological state where lactate produced can be used as an aerobic energy source.

This requires two conditions:

1. Increased lactate production in fast muscle fibers
2. High carbohydrate oxidation rate capacity in slow muscle fibers

This can be achieved by alternating between fast but fully aerobic pace repeats (e.g., marathon or half-marathon pace) and “recovery” intervals that are still quite fast—only 10-15% slower than the repeats.

This fast recovery is necessary to create a favorable metabolic condition for lactate transport and oxidation during high-intensity activity. Therefore, recovery intervals should not be too slow to burn significant amounts of lactate during the intervals.

This is why top marathon and half-marathon runners use “alternating pace training,” such as 10 x 1k (105% MP) / 1k (90% MP).

Completing a kilometer at a fast recovery pace allows them to spend more time in a state of high lactate transport and oxidation, thus gaining greater training stimulus for these abilities.

What to Do During Recovery?

Four options: standing, walking, jogging, or fast running, with speeds ranging from very easy running pace to quite fast recovery intensity.

1. Standing Recovery
   Most coaches do not recommend complete standing still. Being completely still for more than thirty seconds is inadvisable. Walking takes advantage of the “muscle pump action” to maintain blood flow, which standing lacks.
2. Walking Recovery
   Walking recovery is used when you want to recover quickly without gaining any additional benefits. For example, 6 x 300m at 100% 1500m pace with 4 minutes of walking recovery.
3. Jogging Recovery
   For healthy runners, jogging won’t significantly hinder recovery.

Example: 4x1600m at T pace with 1 minute and 30 seconds of jogging recovery. At T pace, lactate accumulation doesn’t exceed the threshold, making the recovery half-life short enough that 1 minute and 30 seconds of jogging is sufficient.

4. Running Recovery: Easy, Moderate, Fast
   To understand the impact of intensity during recovery intervals, refer to the illustration showing black and white circles representing different recovery intensities.

Notice that resting recovery is faster than continuing exercise. Black circles represent true rest (sitting on a bike), showing that:

1. Recovery is slower
2. Recovery values drop below the baseline

The speed of recovery isn’t depicted, but it’s faster initially and slows down later, with lower overall anaerobic capacity regeneration at higher recovery intensities.

Using Easy, Moderate, and Fast Running Recovery

Incorporate low-load Fartlek-style accelerations in normal easy runs to help your legs feel stronger for the next day’s training.

Example:

• 60 minutes easy run: The entire session lasts 60 minutes, mostly at an easy pace.
• 30 minutes acceleration run: Within the 60 minutes, spend 30 minutes alternating accelerations.
• 30 seconds fast run: Accelerations are 30-second fast runs at around 5K pace.
• Every 2 minutes and 30 seconds: Each fast run is followed by 2 minutes and 30 seconds of easy pace recovery.

This method integrates short bursts of high intensity within a long easy run, enhancing training efficiency while avoiding overtraining. It’s suitable for runners who want to maintain aerobic base while adding some anaerobic endurance.

Example:

• 8km easy run + 3 sets (2.4km at 101-103% marathon pace, 800m easy to moderate recovery)

Running 7.2km directly at 103% marathon pace might be challenging, but running 2.4km intervals below T pace (around 106% MP) shouldn’t significantly tax your anaerobic reserves. Easy to moderate recovery prevents 2.4km repeats from being too fast.

For half/full marathon runners, this can serve as a foundation for more structured training with quick recovery intervals.

Fast Recovery Intervals

Fast recovery intervals are beneficial for elite runners to break through training plateaus. Proper pacing skills are crucial to execute such training correctly. Overtraining by running repeats too fast or recovering too quickly can be counterproductive.

Previously discussed principles of fast recovery intervals create a metabolic state in muscles favorable for lactate oxidation. Running intervals at or slightly below MLSS for long distances (e.g., 1km at T pace or 2-3km at marathon pace) elevates blood and muscle lactate levels.

High-intensity recovery during intervals helps the body transport and oxidize lactate for energy.

Example:

• 8 sets (1km at 105% MP, 1km at 90% MP)

Such training can evolve in three directions:

• Higher training volume (e.g., 10 x 1k / 1k)
• Greater stretch (e.g., 5 x 2k / 1k)
• Faster recovery pace (e.g., 8 sets of 1km at 105% MP, 1km at 95% MP)

Summary

Most of the time, using time-based recovery is optimal. Distance-based recovery is useful for team training or when you want more flexibility to adjust recovery by feel.

After repeats faster than MLSS, the goal during recovery intervals is to regenerate some of the anaerobic energy consumed.

For repeats at or below MLSS, the two goals are either to prevent repeats from being too fast or to mobilize the body’s lactate transport and oxidation mechanisms.

In the first case, short slow jogs are best. In the latter, you should run faster for longer (about 3-4 minutes) at 5-15% slower than MLSS.

Recovery is an exponential decay process with a half-life, so it starts very quickly and then slows down. Short recovery for moderate-intensity repeats and longer recovery for very fast sprints or extended moderate repeats are needed.

Recovery speed depends on your aerobic capacity. For sub-2:50 marathoners, fast recovery intervals below MLSS mobilize lactate oxidation as fuel, a particularly useful skill. This is why top marathoners use recovery intervals only 5-15% slower than their repeats in MP and HMP training, a secret to elite marathon training.

Are you an ultra marathoner seeking to conquer new challenges and surpass your personal bests? Look no further than Katsuo Stamina, the revolutionary sports supplement designed to elevate your endurance, enhance performance, and accelerate recovery. Crafted in the esteemed labs of Japan, this cutting-edge product is poised to redefine your ultra marathon experience.

Key Benefits for Ultra Marathoners:

1. Enhanced Endurance for Unmatched Performance:
   As an ultra marathoner, endurance is your greatest asset. Katsuo Stamina works tirelessly to amplify your endurance levels, enabling you to push past limitations and achieve new milestones. By converting lactic acid into energy and preventing muscle fatigue, this powerhouse supplement ensures that you remain resilient throughout your grueling races.
2. Protection Against Muscle Fatigue and Damage:
   The relentless miles of an ultra marathon can take a toll on your muscles. Katsuo Stamina acts as a shield, safeguarding your muscles from damage and reducing the risk of fatigue. With its innovative formula, this Japanese-made product minimizes the buildup of lactic acid, allowing you to maintain peak performance from start to finish.
3. Rapid Recovery for Continued Success:
   Recovery is paramount in the world of ultramarathoning. With Katsuo Stamina, you’ll experience a faster recovery process, thanks to its ability to alleviate muscle fatigue and pain. By reducing CK levels in the blood, this supplement accelerates your body’s repair mechanisms, ensuring that you bounce back stronger after each race.
4. Certified Quality for Peace of Mind:
   Katsuo Stamina stands as a testament to quality and integrity. As Asia’s first sports supplement to receive dual-certification from Informed-sport and Informed-choice, it guarantees a doping-free and safe experience for athletes. With Katsuo Stamina, you can pursue your passion with confidence, knowing that you’re fueling your body with the best.
5. Relief from Leg Cramps for Uninterrupted Performance:
   Say goodbye to debilitating leg cramps that threaten to derail your performance. Katsuo Stamina offers effective relief from leg cramps caused by muscle fatigue, allowing you to maintain your stride and stay focused on the road ahead. With this unparalleled support, you can conquer even the most challenging terrains with ease.

Conclusion:
In the world of ultra marathons, every advantage counts. With Katsuo Stamina by your side, you’ll unlock new levels of performance, resilience, and recovery. Elevate your ultra marathon experience and surpass your limits with the power of Katsuo Stamina. It’s time to redefine what’s possible on the trail.

Being in market for a while and a revolutionary product developed in the Japanese labs with scientific research, Katsuo Stamina has helped many athletes at their quest of improving their performance with various sporting activities.

Katsuo Stamina was developed with these in mind?
• To speed up the breakdown of lactic acid
• To improve endurance
• To prevent muscle damage
• To shorten muscle recovery time

How do one use with the correct dosing of Katsuo Stamina during an activity?

Primarily once we begin our workout, Lactic Acid is formed and over time it will sore our muscles (a natural body reaction) to communicate to our brain that we need to slow down. That’s basically is our body’s own defence mechanism.
Katsuo Stamina helps by flushing out the lactic acid present and also to convert the remaining into energy thereby allowing us to feel lighter with our muscles and continue at the pace/speed where we are going at.

The picture illustration show’s the recommended dosage of using Katsuo Stamina. It is important to note that as with all activities, the recommended to “How to use Katsuo Stamina” begins with a single dosage (in this case 3 tablets, 30 minutes before the start of the activity.
Some consumers often question the need to consume this single dose before the activity and wonder why. When we begin our activity, even before our body could feel the effects of the onset of Lactid Acid, well into 20 minutes, our body will start to have accumulation of Lactid Acid. Although Katsuo Stamina tablets are manufactured for easy absorption, it is therefore advisable to consume them 30 minutes before the start of the activity to cover for the entire duration of the activity .

Following the illustrated chart, the next dosage is to be followed accordingly.

Road Running
• Half Marathon – A single dose (3 tablets) before start
• Full Marathon – 2 doses (6 tablets) before start AND/OR A single dose (3 tablets) before start with midway the 2nd dose (3 tablets)
• Ultra Marathon – 2 doses (6 tablets) before start with 1 dose (3 tablets) every other 20km into the activity.

Trail Running
• Trail Run (less than 15km) – A single dose (3 tablets) before start
• Trail Run (15km to 30km) – 2 doses (6 tablets) before start AND/OR A single dose (3 tablets) before start with midway the 2nd dose (3 tablets)
• Trail Run (above 30km) – 2 doses (6 tablets) before start with 1 dose (3 tablets) every other 15km into the activity.