Performance
Our actions and our advice

Sports
performance
can be a ranking,
a distance,
a time
or a result.

La mort subite du sportif, Ultra sports science, ultra-endurance, fondation

Performance in terms of science: From man to materials there are many research topics.

All the determining factors of performance must be known and integrated into the training process for maximum performance.

How to put the weight in your bag, compare the effort in cycling and running, Vo2 tests, running economy ...

We fund medical studies in sport
to better prevent & act.

Our medical research

1. Equipment: Comparing different backpacks in ultra runners

Study: A comparison of economy between two different backpack designs for runners.
Sport universe: Ultra running
Who: Volker Scheer, University of Paderborn Germany
Partners: Ultra Sports Science
Study: Completed
Conclusion: We compared the economy of two backpack designs (back/front or back only) in recreational runners, running with different backpack loads over time. Running economy was significantly lower for the back/ front design after 20 min of running, suggesting this backpack design to be more economic in longer runs.

Article / DOI (EN)

Article (ES)

Article Esprit Trail (FR)

2. The effect of the slope

Study: Running - effect of the slope
Sporting universe: Running
Who: Prof Gregoire Millet
Partners: UNIL Switzerland University
Donor companies: UNIL Switzerland
Study Completed

Etude Effet de la Pente (EN)

3. Exercise testing

Study: Predicting competition performance in short trail running races with lactate thresholds
Sport universe: Trail-running
Who: Volker Scheer MD, University of Paderborn Germany
Partners: Ultra Sports Science Endowment Fund
Donating Companies: Ultra Sports Science
Study Completed
Conclusion: Lactate thresholds can be of value in predicting trail race performance and aid therefore in designing valuable training plans. Race performance times correlated in 84% with an XS trail run. A subgroup analysis showed higher correlations with race performance for slower than faster runners.

ARTICLE Lactates performance (EN)

ARTICLE Lactates performance (ES)

4. Running economy

Study: Changes in running economy during a 65 km ultramarathon
Sporting universe: Running
Who: Volker Scheer MD
Partners: Ultra Sports Science
Donor companies: University of Paderborn Germany
Study completed
Conclusion: O2 cost and Cr increased significantly pre to post UM in all testing conditions as well as during the uphill testing throughout the UM. This is the first study to demonstrate a consistent increase in O2 cost and Cr among a range of different slopes, at individual running speeds and race-specific slopes giving further evidence that these measures of RE increase in UM running

ARTICLE Running economy (EN)

5. Exercise testing in trail runners

Study: VO2max test in trail runners: is there a specific exercise test protocol?
Sporting universe: Trail-Running
Who: Volker Scheer MD
Partners: Ultra Sports Science
Donor companies: University of Paderborn Germany
Study Completed
Conclusion: The main findings of the current study were that the trail test elicited a higher VO2max compared to standard horizontal exercise tests in highly trained trail runners, mirroring the higher specificity of the trail protocol. Additionally, the trail test was the preferred choice of trail runners, and we recommend further evaluation in practice.

ARTICLE / DOI (EN)

ARTICLE Test VO2max traileurs (ES)

6. Use of CBD in ultra athletes

Sporting universe: All sports
Who: Mary Showstark, Luke Counterman, Jeena Fuller
Partners: Medical board UTMB and Dotation funds Ultra Sports
Donor companies: Yale University
Study Completed

Poster final (EN)

Prevalence final manuscript (EN)

Education / Our advice

Athletes & Coaches

We recommend using backpack models with rear / front loading. Among the exercise evaluation tests the lactate measurement is a good test for trail runners and helps to prepare for competitions and can help predict running performance.