Train Smarter by Feeling First: Why We Built Athletica U

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That line hit me hard the first time I heard it.

I can still remember sitting in my office at High Performance Sport New Zealand, listening to sprint kayak coach Gordon Walker say those words.

He wasn’t quoting science.
He wasn’t reciting a textbook.

He was laying out a coaching truth that would shape my entire philosophy moving forward.

And he was absolutely right.

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We Walk the Walk

At Athletica, we don’t believe in leading from behind a screen.

We’re out there doing the Velocity workouts with you.
We’re racing.
We’re testing ourselves.
We’re feeling the training loads.

Whether it’s short intervals, long climbs, open water swims, or experiencing heavy training fatigue — we’re in it with you.

Because the best coaching is lived coaching.

And frankly, it shows up in every feature we’ve built into Athletica. From Workout Reserve, to HRV-based load adaptations, to our AI-Coach. We’re making decisions based on both the science and our own lived experience of what it feels like to train, recover, and race.

We Learn by Doing — and Recovering

Even recovery, often neglected, is something we take seriously.

Stephen Seiler, one of the most respected minds in endurance training, once said this on our podcast:

We’ve embedded that philosophy into Athletica. You’ll see it in how we structure rest days, adapt your plan daily, and guide you to recovery when we think you need it.

Because recovery is training.

And if we expect you to respect it, then we must too.

We Don’t Just Cite Research, We Respect Coaching Wisdom

While I’ve spent years publishing papers, conducting physiological testing, and crunching the data, I’ve always believed something deeper:

You’ll see that coming through in every episode of the Training Science Podcast.

We don’t just talk about VO₂max. We talk about how coaches adapt to context in the real world. How elite performers think, plan, adjust, and execute under pressure. And how the best coaches combine evidence with instinct; built from decades in the trenches.

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Whether You’re Starting Out or Chasing Your 10th Ironman…

You deserve access to the best insights.
You deserve to know why your training works — not just what to do.

That’s why we created something new.

Introducing: Athletica U – Certificate 1

An education platform that teaches you best-practice endurance training while you live it.

With Athletica U, you’ll not only watch, listen and learn…
You’ll feel every concept in your training plan.
Because every lesson is built directly into how Athletica prescribes your workouts.

📚 Want to understand base training?
🏃 Go do your Zone 2 Aerobic Development session.

📊 Want to master HIIT training?
📈 Experience it in your upcoming key workout with us on Velocity.

🧪 Curious about critical speed and testing?
🔬 Test yourself and watch your zones auto-update.

This is not passive learning.
This is training smarter by learning smarter.

“I thought I already knew this stuff.”

When the science clicks, so does your training.

Commit for the full year—because endurance isn’t built in months.

🎯 Upgrade to the Annual Plan and unlock Athletica U today.

Train smarter. Learn deeper. Perform better.

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If you’re as curious as I am about what’s possible when we blend AI + science + wisdom, you’re going to love what’s coming.

Paul Laursen, PhD

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