"Both athletes are coached by Scott Johnston of Evoke Endurance, co-author of the now-iconic book, "Training for the Uphill Athlete." Johnston's roots are in alpinism and mountain sports like ski mountaineering, which makes his success at coaching athletes for one of trail running's premier long-course events especially notable. Central to his coaching is a distinctive emphasis on fatigue resistance, also known as muscular endurance. Johnston believes fatigue resistance is the single biggest determinant of ultra-distance performance, more than VO2max or lactate threshold."
"Muscular endurance (ME) is your muscles' ability to sustain repeated contractions or effort over time. Think of it as how long your legs can keep climbing, descending, or pushing on the flats before they give out. Fatigue resistance is related but slightly different and is defined as the ability to delay the point of muscular breakdown. It's not just how long the muscle can keep working, but how well it can resist the gradual d"
Tom Evans won the 2025 UTMB overall in 19:18:58 while Ruth Croft won the women's race in 22:56:23 after taking control in the final third. Both athletes are coached by Scott Johnston of Evoke Endurance, whose mountain-sports background informs a coaching emphasis on fatigue resistance. Fatigue resistance, framed as muscular endurance, describes the ability to sustain repeated contractions and delay muscular breakdown so pace and strength are maintained late in ultras. Johnston prioritizes training that targets muscular fatigue limits rather than focusing primarily on VO2max or lactate-threshold metrics. That approach aims to keep athletes strong when others slow.
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