Maxim Belyaev

21 articles

science running nutrition health training marathon

Author's articles

SARMs in recreational athletes: a five-year ban for three substances, and only 52% of products that contain what the label says

On 11 September 2026 USADA handed a five-year ban to a 49-year-old recreational triathlete: a sample taken at an ordinary city race contained ostarine, ligandrol and exogenous testosterone. A good moment to work out what SARMs are, why nobody has ever shown an effect of theirs on endurance, and how they end up inside people who never deliberately took anything.

supplements health science

Maxim Belyaev•Sep 21, 2026

Meniscus after a marathon: +38% extrusion on ultrasound in 100 runners and a return to normal by day four

Orthopaedic surgeons from Hokkaido University scanned the knees of 100 amateur runners before the start, right after the finish and on each of the next five days. The medial meniscus shifted outwards by an average of 0.44 mm, stayed there for three days and was back in place on the fourth. The shift was larger in runners who were heavier, ran more and loaded the inner side of the knee harder.

running marathon injury-prevention

Maxim Belyaev•Sep 14, 2026

Carbon does not run out of steam along with your calves: 64 runners, fatigue and 4% of economy that stayed put

The popular theory says super shoes stop helping over the final kilometres, once the calves give out. It was tested head-on — the ankle was fatigued by 6.5% of its power and economy was measured again. The advantage was unchanged.

running marathon gear

Maxim Belyaev•Sep 1, 2026

Mouthwash switches off beetroot juice: the tongue bacteria nobody thinks about

The nitrate from beetroot is turned into nitric oxide not by your body but by the bacteria on the back of your tongue. A chlorhexidine mouthwash abolishes that conversion in saliva completely and sharply blunts the rise of nitrite in the blood. Humans have no enzyme of their own for this reaction.

nutrition supplements science

Maxim Belyaev•Aug 24, 2026

The marathon wall: VO₂peak drops 6% before you even reach 30 km

Marathon runners ran for 90 minutes and then repeated their lab tests. Peak oxygen uptake fell from 56.7 to 53.4, and speed at lactate threshold from 12.8 to 12.1 km/h. This is durability — the quality your testing protocol never measures.

running marathon training

Maxim Belyaev•Aug 18, 2026

Citrulline malate: 30 studies, 644 people and a very cautious conclusion

A fresh meta-analysis gathered the entire evidence base on citrulline malate — and rated its certainty as «low to very low». Here is what that means for anyone who already bought the tub.

nutrition science cycling

Maxim Belyaev•Aug 7, 2026

Jet lag at an away race: why eastward is harder than westward

Flying across time zones costs roughly one day of adaptation per zone travelling east — and half that going west. We unpack where the asymmetry comes from and how to plan your arrival around it.

training health science

Maxim Belyaev•Aug 6, 2026

Gut Training: How the Stomach Becomes the Bottleneck on Long Distances

Your legs are ready for 120 grams of carbohydrate an hour, but your gut is not. We look at why absorption runs into transporters, how a glucose-fructose blend gets around them, and what in all those gut-training protocols has actually been tested.

nutrition science running

Maxim Belyaev•Jul 30, 2026

Acute-to-chronic workload ratio: why the “0.8–1.3 zone” will not save you from injury

ACWR has become a standard metric in sports watches, but the meta-analysis is built on football, the confidence interval for the safe zone is enormous, and planning a season around ACWR did not reduce injuries at all.

injury-prevention training running

Maxim Belyaev•Jul 29, 2026

Carbohydrate mouth rinsing: the effect is real, but smaller than the hype suggests

A meta-analysis of 35 studies confirms that rinsing your mouth with a maltodextrin solution does help — but the effect is small (g = 0.18), the certainty of evidence is low, and the classic “only works when fasted” rule has barely been tested at all.

nutrition science running

Maxim Belyaev•Jul 29, 2026

Running power meters: why 'watts' in running, and where they're overrated

Running power isn't the same thing as cycling power: it isn't measured directly but modeled. We break down where the device genuinely helps a runner and where it's credited with excess precision.

training running science

Maxim Belyaev•Jul 22, 2026

Vitamin D and injuries in athletes: what the 2026 data showed

Two thirds of college athletes are short on vitamin D, and every 5 ng/mL drop raises the odds of injury by 13%. Here is who is at risk and what runners and triathletes should do about it.

nutrition health science

Maxim Belyaev•Jul 19, 2026

Endurance That Lives in Your Head: What Brain Endurance Training Is

Mental fatigue raises your perceived effort and makes you quit sooner — at the same heart rate. Let's unpack how to train your “brain endurance” without burning out.

training science running

Maxim Belyaev•Jul 18, 2026

Protein for endurance: 1,8 g/kg and why it's for runners, not bodybuilders

A fresh review in Sports Medicine (2025) rethinks protein for runners and triathletes: it's not about muscle mass but about recovery, mitochondria, and immunity. We break down what that means in servings of chicken, cottage cheese, and fish.

nutrition science running

Maxim Belyaev•Jul 17, 2026

Baking soda as a lactate buffer: where it really speeds you up, and where it does nothing

Sodium bicarbonate is an IOC-recognized supplement, but its effect depends on the race format. We break down where soda buys you seconds, where it does almost nothing, and how to avoid a “gut rebellion.”

nutrition science running

Maxim Belyaev•Jul 16, 2026

Can you swap part of your running for cycling without losing fitness? What a meta-analysis showed

A systematic review of 7 randomized trials compared running and cycling training. It found no difference in VO₂max gains or running performance — we break down what this means for triathletes and recovering runners.

running cycling triathlon

Maxim Belyaev•Jul 11, 2026

The “Norwegian Method”: the double threshold every runner argues about

Two threshold sessions a day and a lactate meter in your pocket — we break down what in the “double threshold” is backed by science, what stayed pure hype, and how an amateur can try the method cautiously.

running training science

Maxim Belyaev•Jul 8, 2026

Calcium for runners: not just about bones, but about every stride

Why an endurance athlete needs calcium beyond strong bones, how much is required, and how to avoid a stress fracture out on the course.

nutrition health science

Maxim Belyaev•Jun 27, 2026

How the gut absorbs water, salt, and carbs: the physiology of endurance nutrition

Why sodium helps you absorb water, why you should mix glucose with fructose, and where stomach trouble on a long race comes from — a breakdown of the physiology of absorption.

nutrition hydration health

Maxim Belyaev•Jun 15, 2026

Potassium for Athletes: Requirements, Blood Pressure, and Recovery Without Pills

Potassium is the main intracellular electrolyte — one we think about less often than sodium and magnesium. We break down how much you need, its role in blood pressure and recovery, and why food is almost always better than supplements.

nutrition health hydration

Maxim Belyaev•Jun 3, 2026

How Much to Drink on a Long Workout: A Formula Without Guesswork

'Drink more water' is advice about as useful as 'run faster.' How much is more? A liter? Three? Let's calculate specifically.

hydration running training

Maxim Belyaev•Nov 14, 2025