Primal Endurance: Escape Chronic Cardio and Carbohydrate Dependency, and Become a Fat-Burning Beast!
Fantastic read. If you are a runner or looking into endurance events, read this book.
Primal Endurance shakes up the status quo and challenges the overly stressful, ineffective conventional approach to endurance training. While marathons and triathlons are wildly popular and bring much gratification and camaraderie to the participants, the majority of athletes are too slow, continually tired, and carry too much body fat respective to the time they devote to training. The prevailing "chronic cardio" approach promotes carbohydrate dependency, overly stressful lifestyle patterns, and ultimately burnout.
Mark Sisson, author of the 2009 best seller, The Primal Blueprint, and de-facto leader of the primal/paleo lifestyle movement, expertly applies primal lifestyle principles to the unique challenge of endurance training and racing. Unlike the many instant and self-anointed experts who have descended upon the endurance scene in recent years, Sisson and his co-author/business partner, Brad Kearns, boast a rich history in endurance sports. Sisson has a 2:18 marathon and fourth-place Hawaii Ironman finish to his credit, has spearheaded triathlon's global anti-doping program for the International Triathlon Union, and has coached/advised leading professional athletes, including Olympic triathlon gold and silver medalist Simon Whitfield and Tour de France cyclist Dave Zabriskie. Under Sisson's guidance, Kearns won multiple national championships in duathlon and triathlon, and rose to a number-three world triathlon ranking in 1991.
Primal Endurance applies an all-encompassing approach to endurance training that includes primal-aligned eating to escape carbohydrate dependency and enhance fat metabolism, building an aerobic base with comfortably paced workouts, strategically introducing high-intensity strength and sprint workouts, emphasizing rest, recovery, and an annual periodization, and finally cultivating an intuitive approach to training instead of the usual robotic approach of fixed weekly workout schedules.
