Primal Endurance - Anyone Done It?

Easy.Does.It

I've been listening to an Audio Book called Primal Endurance:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Primal-Endurance-Chronic-Carbohydrate-Dependency/dp/1939563089

It basically recommends doing:

1.  Slow runs keeping your heartbeat under 180 - your age.

2.  Sprint training (proper short hard sprint training, as opposed to tempo or fartlek).

The point seems to be to train our bodies to be less reliant on glycogen and use our ketonic (fat burning) system as our primary source of energy.  Or something like that.

It's really for my Missis, she's a fairly decent ultra runner (she's ran 3 this year, including a 100 miler and came first lady in two and fourth in her last).

I could see Primal Endurance working for me (fat 'n' slow), but what about a more accomplished ultra runner?

I'd be interested to hear your views.

LogicScience

I think books like that are all a bit theoretical since it's a bit difficult to actually measure changes in metabolic levels in the body for reliable information. (what references to scientific papers are made for example?)

However, I think I got the gist of it from the amazon reviews and like the  theory. I'd be interested too if anyone puts it into practice. Especially if they had adapted and changed to this training. It's the  kind of theory that I can put into practice for my own training, being a bit short of running hours in a week but signed up for an ultra at the end of January. Also trying to keep my carb intake low for the theory of metabolizing adipose tissue.

I can imagine you are thinking is it a risk for your Mrs Easy to radically change training style to what appears to be less training?

Easy.Does.It

I've just done a fair bit of internet based research (I know, I know) over low carb high fat running and diets.

It's really changed my views on food and general food guidance (they're all wrong).

I know you'll think I'm mental, but a good guy to listen to is Tim Noakes, he's the author of The Lore of Running (I have the hefty dust-gathering tome on a bookshelf somewhere).

He's a sports nutrition scientist who was one of the first to advocate a high carb diet for athletes; the first to produce energy gels.

Then he got type ii diabetes after running something like 70 marathons and umpteen ultra marathons.  So he did a meta-analysis of the data and...

Well have a listen yourself: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL5-9ZxamXc&t=140s

And if you would like to see some of the science, there's been lots of randomised controlled trials here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL5-9ZxamXc&t=140s

I'm a convert.

Easy.Does.It

Apologies, my post is confusing; I never explained that the book Primal Endurance advocates a low carb high fat diet; I just jumped from the running to the diet without explaining.

 

 

seren nos

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/forum/triathlon/low-carb-high-fat-pirates/293260-44.html

a number on here have been doing it to good succesful for a couple of years....and lots experimenting with it.Gone a little quiet on here recently because  a lot of teh chat is over on the facebook page

seren nos

I'm one experimenting and I have been doing it for the last 2 months only

 

Easy.Does.It

Thanks for the link, seren, I'll head over there and have a read.

Mark Barker3

I keep going back to the primal diet. after a few days transition I find I have more energy, more focus and less food cravings.  The biggest problem is family who don't want to buy into the Diet. It is also very easy to fall back off the wagon (where I am right now).