First Lines of Alex Hutchinson's "Endure"

 "The broadcast booth at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, a historic Formula One racetrack nestled in the woodlands of a former royal park northeast of Milan, Italy, is a small concrete island suspended in the air over the roadway. from this rarefied vantage point, I'm trying to offer thoughtful guest commentary to a live-streaming audience of an estimated 13 million people around the world, many of whom have rousted themselves out of bed in the middle of the night to watch. But I'm getting antsy."

- Alex Hutchinson, Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

Hutchinson book examines what goes into the physical and mental limits of human performance. And there's a lot to cover! At times the book feels likes a collection of articles rather than a cohesive narrative. Regardless, learning more about what drives fatigue and what science is discovering  about overcoming it is fascinating. Much of what he presents is on the cutting edge, with many techniques (e.g., electro-jolts to the brain!) out of the reach of an average athlete. I had some good takeaways, including that simply "swishing and spitting a carbohydrate drink" without consuming it provides endurance benefits: 

"...the mouth appears to contain previously unknown (and as of yet unidentified) sensors that relay the presence of carbohydrates directly to the brain. In Tim Noake's central governor framework, it's as if the brain relaxes its safety margin when it knows (or is tricked into believing_) that more fuel is on the way." (p. 190)