Mo Farah is having a stellar year. The Olympic gold medallist runner set a two-mile indoor world record in February and followed up with a European half-marathon record in March. Want to know what鈥檚 powering his performance? No fancy training regime or super supplement, just old-fashioned rivalry.

Yup, . And studies have shown harnessing the power of a rival will help you achieve your strongest performance yet, just like Farah. In fact, an itch to beat that guy is an even stronger performance enhancer than competition alone, argues from NYU Stern.

from a U.S. running club. After identifying pairs of rivals, he studied their results.聽 The effect of racing a rival showed improvement by as much as five seconds per kilometre. That鈥檚 enough to shave 50 seconds off your next 10K.

鈥淭he goal shifts from winning to wanting to beat the other person because of who they are and because of your relationship鈥攊t goes beyond the ordinary competitive spirit,鈥� he said. The result: an elevated mental game. 鈥淭hose tightly-decided contests take on greater significance鈥攖hey generate greater emotional reactions,鈥� says Kilduff.

Ironman and ITU World Champ triathlete, , agrees. His career was fuelled by rivalries with fellow Ironman world champs Normann Stadler and Craig Alexander. 鈥淎 rival threatens to take something you that you have, or want,鈥� McCormack says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e powerful because you know they can beat you.鈥�

But getting a rival is not as simple as picking out some random guy in a blue shirt to race against. 鈥淣ot every competitor will be a rival,” Kilduff says. 鈥淎 rival is someone you have a relationship and a history with.鈥�

More specifically, Kilduff believes the best rivals are are similar; they鈥檙e around the same age and have the same background, which leads to more self-comparison.

They鈥檙e also evenly matched鈥攕o close it鈥檚 frustrating. That rings true for McCormack; his greatest rival during his Kona years, Craig 鈥淐rowie鈥� Alexander, was his old training partner, whom he knew intimately.

Don鈥檛 have a regular training partner, or train alone? Never fear! The power of rivalry is at the heart of several of today鈥檚 sports apps, so you can harness it virtually. If you have ever received 鈥檚 鈥淯h oh!鈥� course record stealing message, you鈥檒l be familiar with the motivating rage of virtual rivalries; newcomer , the indoor-cycling game, works by pitting you against friends; and gets the whip-cracking in a similar way, pitting you against a computer runner who鈥檚 just a little faster than you.

Of course, there are always fitness classes, too. spin classes let you and your classmates transmit your stats, like RPMs and resistance, to a central board everyone can see. And who among us hasn鈥檛 peeked at the treadmill stats of the runners to our sides? Treadmill classes at the let you do just that.

Beware, though; rivalry isn鈥檛 all PRs and transcendent performances. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to keep it positive,鈥� says The North Face Athlete and two-time USATF ultrarunner of the year, .

Just like rivalries can pump you up, they can tear you down if not kept in proper perspective. 鈥淲henever I鈥檝e run against true, spitting rivals, I can鈥檛 say I ran my smartest race,鈥� Semick says. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e not thinking strategically, you鈥檙e in this negative headspace and you鈥檙e not in the flow.鈥�

McCormack agrees that a rivalry can be all consuming and force errors. 鈥淚n my younger days I鈥檇 work too hard on the bike to show I was strong or run too fast to show him I was fast,鈥� he says. 鈥淢ore times than not he would catch me at the end.鈥�

Rivalry increases physiological arousal, so it may benefit performance in routine, well-practised activities better than new, precision-based tasks. 鈥淚t鈥檚 possible a professional archer [or triathlete or runner] would benefit from rivalry as they鈥檝e got their craft so well honed, but for someone else who鈥檚 taking on the complex task for the first time, it could have a detrimental effect,鈥� said Kilduff.

Kilduff鈥檚 most recent research also shows rivalries may take your eyes of the prize 鈥� literally. 鈥淥ffered a choice between two pay offs, either receiving $15 while your rival receives $20, or receiving $10 while your rival receives $8, empirical studies I鈥檓 doing show most people will trade absolute financial outcomes to maximise the extent to which they can outperform their rival.鈥�

The results have led him to investigate whether rivalries may underpin unethical behavior鈥攚hich in sport could lead to cheating or doping in a quest to give your nemesis the bird.

So to avoid the pitfalls of rivalry and revel in its advantages, the experts have a few tips: Keep it positive. Never train against a rival. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 let your emotions get in the way on training day鈥攜ou need to stick to your plan,鈥� Semick聽says. 鈥淣o one鈥檚 won anything by winning a training day.鈥� And finally, the best rivalries are with friends, or 鈥渇rivalries,鈥� as Semick calls them. 鈥淩acing against a friend, that鈥檚 when you鈥檙e really feeling good,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou may want to win, but you don鈥檛 ever feel like you鈥檝e lost.鈥�

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Trudging up the Colorado Rockies, knew something was wrong. An elite ultrarunner, she was used to stomach troubles. But this was different.

鈥淚 was sluggish, I wasn鈥檛 recovering鈥攅ven though I was properly trained鈥攁nd food wasn鈥檛 staying in my system,鈥� she says of her experience during the multi-day Transrockies Run a few years ago. Even worse, hives broke out over her legs, arms and stomach every time she ran. 鈥淗ow do you itch so many itches when you are running?鈥�

Lapierre, now 34, had dutifully fueled her run with gluten-laden sandwiches, muesli bars, and pasta鈥攚ithout knowing she had a gluten intolerance.

鈥淎 food intolerance can be seriously debilitating for an athlete,鈥� says Sarah Weber, RD, LD, a performance dietitian. Around 20 percent of adults have food intolerances, versus just one to four percent who have food allergies.

While food allergies are an immediate, potentially life-threatening immune response to food proteins, intolerances trigger more subtle symptoms that may take hours or days to appear鈥攕ymptoms athletes may be tempted to dismiss as nerves such as 鈥渂loating, gas, constipation, diarrhea,鈥� says Weber. And while gluten has become somewhat of a celebrity intolerance, spawning its own genre of packaged products, it鈥檚 hardly the only one. Athletes have found they鈥檙e intolerant of everything from coconuts to sesame seeds and bananas.

Unfortunately, needing a bathroom break is the least of an intolerant athlete鈥檚 concerns. Battling a sensitivity issue increases inflammation, which can result in achy joints, a loss of energy, migraines, and the feeling of simply 鈥渙verdoing it.鈥�

Our immune systems let loose a special type of white blood cell when we eat foods we can't tolerate. The cells are meant to attack the food, but they wind up causing chronic inflammation in the process.聽

鈥淟ike soldiers on the front line, they help battle the source of inflammation but cause collateral damage affecting the endothelial鈥攖hin inner lining鈥攐f the arteries,鈥� says sports dietitian, . 鈥淭hey constrict and deliver less oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to and from working muscles.鈥� Inflammation can even trigger breathing issues, he says.

Experts have found some foods carry a higher risk of intolerance than others. 鈥淎n athlete鈥檚 diet is often high in FODMAPs, a family of short-chain carbohydrates which are inherently problematic for us to digest,鈥� says digestive disorder specialist Tamara Duker Freuman. 鈥漈hey also draw water into the bowel, causing diarrhea.鈥�

FODMAPs are increasingly blamed for causing irritable bowel syndrome, and include a long list of foods that athletes typically eat, including fructose, wheat, milk, and even broccoli. Fructose in particular, Duker Freuman says, is packed into energy gels and electrolyte beverages, and about 30 percent of Caucasians have difficulty digesting it.

Yet intolerances can also be random. Take lamb, for instance. Through process of elimination, four-time Olympic triathlete found a love of the red meat caused outbreaks of gastro and hives for a short stint during his career. 鈥淒iet is crucial to an athlete, but it鈥檚 not just what you eat, but how what you eat affects you,鈥� says the two-time Olympic medalist. 鈥淏ut as an athlete you don鈥檛 get that training, or at least I didn鈥檛.鈥�

Things have changed. A growing list of professionals are looking into the role of food intolerances in athletic performance and they鈥檙e trying to make diagnoses easier and more concrete than the process of elimination.

Blood tests that look for white blood cell reactions to foods, such as the ALCAT test, have become popular, though they have their share of critics 聽for their diagnostic validity. But that hasn鈥檛 stopped athletes from paying up to $1,148 out of pocket for blood testing. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e an elite athlete, a three to five per cent increase in performance means a lot,鈥� said Samy Puccio, vice president of , which provides food intolerance testing favored by the NBL, NFL, NBA, and NHL.

For the rest of us, the promise of removing inflammation and feeling our best is enough to warrant investigation into our diets. Particularly as we get older; a combination of 鈥渁ge, stressors鈥揵oth physical and emotional鈥攇enetics and other factors can lead to a 鈥榣eaky gut鈥�,鈥� says Weber. The 鈥榣ooser鈥� gut wall lets through partially digested food proteins, which may be the root cause of reactions and inflammation.

The good news: Once intolerances are identified and removed, the body can bounce back. 鈥淪ome cells lining the digestive tract replace in around three days,鈥� says Weber. But full improvement requires healing your guts. 鈥淚t can take months and even longer to regain a fully intact digestive and immune system.鈥�

Though intolerances don鈥檛 affect everyone, ALCAT鈥檚 Puccio believes in the future, we should 鈥渆xpect performance plans where athletes get tested for food intolerances and have their performance quantified, measured and tracked.鈥�

Suspect something in your diet is holding you back? You could fork over $399 and up for an ALCAT test. But perhaps the best, least expensive place to start is to聽keep a food log. It may not be as scientific, but it can still be effective. 鈥淲rite down the symptoms you feel after every meal, then narrow down what鈥檚 provoking you,鈥� says Weber. 鈥淧iece apart鈥� the meal and eat one food at a time, isolating the suspected bandit. Working with a dietitian to conduct an elimination diet will ensure you keep it balanced.

鈥淚f you find your performance lacking, your energy levels have changed, or you鈥檝e got new symptoms,鈥� Puccio says, 鈥渕aybe it鈥檚 time to ask what鈥檚 holding you back from getting to that next level.鈥�

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