HOW TO USE THIS
You two asked for a brief to work from — this is it. It is deliberately not a script. You're the experts and you play yourselves; a read-aloud script would kill exactly what makes these films worth making. What this gives you is the structure and the psychology: your film's angle, the single new thing to land, the five-beat shape to hit, and your keywords — so you turn up, know the job, and deliver it your way.
Films are assigned to a lead speaker by where your credentials bite hardest, with a note on where the other of you can co-present. Swap freely if a topic sits better with the other — the brief works either way.
**The One Thing to Remember About the Audience**
You can't teach the 1% — they'll resist it. You can only give them an edge they feel they found. Elite athletes, their coaches, their nutritionists. High knowledge, high skepticism, low persuadability. Every beat below serves one job: make them feel MORE expert, never less.
The five marks — your delivery texture
Run these through every film, not as a checklist but as how it feels. (Full detail lives in the audience dossier; this is the working reminder.)
| MARK | IN ONE LINE |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Their vocabulary — oxidation, dual-source, gut training — said with certainty. |
| Gains | Every point framed as an obtainable edge — the 1% left on the road. |
| Temptation | Open a loop early, hold it, pay it off with the science. |
| Science Says | Your room — "in our lab," "across five Tours." You are the proof. |
| BEAT | WHAT TO DO | THE LEVER |
CSO · Professor · 240+ peer-reviewed papers · 5 Tour de France wins with Team Sky
Your edge: the deep physiology and the evidence base. You are the definitive 'why it works' voice — the one who can say 'the data shows' and mean the whole field.
James leads the films where the authority lives in the science itself — the mechanism, the evidence, the physiological ceiling. Lead with the room and the data; let the depth do the work.
FILM — Marathon: training the gut, not just the legs (JAMES leads)
| Element | Details |
| The one new thing | 80–120 g/hr is the modern target — but the body can't use it unless the gut is trained to absorb it. The dual-source ratio and the gut-training block are the invisible work behind a strong final 10k. |
| Hook to open | "You can carry all the fuel in the world. If your gut can't take it, it's dead weight." |
| Your proof to lean on | The physiology of dual-pathway absorption; the lab and Team Sky evidence base. One vivid rider case beside the number. |
| The gain to name | The negative split everyone talks about and almost nobody executes. |
| Co-present note | Marc can join to add the applied layer — how this looks in a real training block and taper. James = why; Marc = how it's done. |
| Element | Details |
| Hook to open | "The half is the distance you can't wing — and almost everyone tries." |
| Keyword to own | Running economy under a declining glycogen curve. |
| Your proof to lean on | Oxidation-rate research; the physiology of glycogen depletion late in a sustained effort. |
| The gain to name | Arriving at 18k with the tank to race, not survive. |
| Co-present note | Strong solo for James. If co-presenting, Marc takes the practical "how to rehearse this pre-load in training." |
GB Cycling · INEOS Grenadiers · PhD with Team Sky
Your edge: applied, in-the-field practice. You are the 'how it's actually done at the top' voice — the practitioner who's built and rehearsed these systems with real athletes under real pressure.
Marc leads the film where the authority lives in applied practice under pressure — building a system that survives contact with the real world. Lead with the field: what actually happens when a plan meets a race.
FILM — Ultra: the system that survives contact (MARC leads)
| Element | Details |
| The one new thing | The ultra isn't a fuelling plan, it's a system that has to survive terrain, heat, gut revolt and palate fatigue over 5–15 hours. The edge is adaptability — a personal, rehearsed protocol that flexes when the race stops cooperating. |
| Hook to open | "Every ultra plan is perfect until the stomach says no. Then what?" |
| Keyword to own | Gut tolerance as the true limiter — not legs, not lungs. |
| Your proof to lean on | Real athlete systems you've built and rehearsed; how elite protocols adapt mid-race. The practitioner's room. |
| The gain to name | The difference between a finish and a DNF, decided by a system you rehearsed. |
| Co-present note | James can join to anchor the physiology of gut training — why tolerance is trainable. Marc = the system; James = the science under it. |
| DON'T | BECAUSE |
| Open with a definition or a product. | They assume they know it and scroll. Open with the loop. |
| Hedge — "maybe," "some find." | They came for certainty. Say what the science says. |
| Teach the basics. | Reads as condescension to an expert. Start where they already are, go past it. |
| Lead with your titles. | Asserted status triggers status-defence — they hunt your error. Let the room and the work carry it. |
| Cover everything. | One new idea, fully landed, beats five half-covered. Depth is the expert signal. |
Open the loop. Grant their expertise, then step past it. Teach one thing deeply from your own room. Anchor it as what athletes at this level do. Close on a small test and the gain left on the road. One new idea per film, landed cleanly, in your own voice — that's the whole brief.