Welcome to my blog which is focused on the interaction between science and performance with particular reference to the sport of triathlon. Briefly, I began my journey as a triathlete in 1980 following the unhappy demise of my collegiate water polo career. I began my dance with sport science and performance with the reading of Doc Counsilmen’s Science of Swimming years earlier as a 15 year old, which led to the writing of training programs for my mother’s high school swimming teams. That dance has continued until today.

I might best illustrate my feelings about this topic by relaying a story – a tactic I also use quite frequently in the classroom. About 1980, one of my professors in the exercise and sports science program at the University of Arizona informed us in class that the available research ( https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/pdf/10.1055/s-2008-1034623.pdf ) suggested that the real time oral uptake of glucose would have no impact on extended endurance performance because the exercising muscles rely exclusively on the breakdown of glycogen. I took this to heart and informed my bike racing buddies that bringing along food was not necessary on our long rides – typically 60-80 miles over 3-4 hours. One of my cycling buddies, Michael McAlpin, who lived largely by his wits and life experience, laughed and said “That’s fine George, I’ll be happy to take your food off your hands”. Of course I don’t have to tell you that I learned this life lesson the hard way by crawling home from an unexpectedly hard 60 miler out through what is now Oracle, Arizona; bonked and begging for food at gas stations along the way.

Does this mean that science has no benefit to performance? Not in my view – otherwise I would not have spent the rest of my adult life pursuing this linkage as an athlete, coach, researcher and teacher. What it means to me is that we learn about performance mostly from those willing to experiment in the real world, with science coming along later to explain why something did or did not work, although occasionally the process is reversed. Interestingly enough, when some invalid practice is institutionalized (like stretching as a way to prevent injury and run faster), it often takes considerable published science before we discard the notion.

I also have to note that my professor, who was a first rate scientist, was simply relaying the interpretation of a limited research methodology on this topic which was available at the time. In this case the study he was most likely referring to examined the effect of of oral glucose in highly trained cyclist over 120 minutes. Of course the lack of effect was simply because highly trained cyclists have very high glycogen storage and can readily complete a few hours of comfortable riding without noticing the effects of reduced muscle glycogen, whether they take a feeding or not. Now, years later, hundreds of published studies clarify the concept that the uptake of oral glucose during extended exercise has a a positive impact on endurance performance, although increasingly we are also learning that doing so during the training process may be less helpful, and possibly harmful to our hormonal and oral health.