Can You Be an Endurance Athlete and Primal?
By now you know I have a biased point of view that rigorous endurance training is antithetical to health. Yes, I competed and loved it for 20 years, so I get the appeal it has for so many, but these days my personal focus is on maintaining the highest level of fitness and health on the least amount of work and sacrifice. I want to play and have fun. Still, I get asked a lot by endurance athletes whether there’s any chance they can continue to compete at a high level while eating and training Primally. I used to think it probably wasn’t feasible if you wanted to be world class, assuming as I did (erroneously) that you just couldn’t overcome the need for copious amounts of carbs on a daily basis without crashing and burning. However, recent research into the concept of “train low-race high” (vis a vis glycogen) and modified approaches to low level aerobic training that focus largely on reprogramming genes to more preferentially burn fat AS WELL AS the use of techniques like HIIT and barefoot training now all seem to show that training and eating Primal could not only maximize performance, but extend your career. If that’s your choice and if you approach it carefully (like Gold and Silver Olympic medalist Simon Whitfield). Since the book came out last June, I have heard from several elite athletes who have not only adopted Primal styles but have improved their performances (and reduced injury, and decreased body fat). Today I thought you might be interested in this “testimonial” from my good friend Jonas Colting (of last week’s Cocoa and Coconut Snacks), a long-time professional triathlete who has gradually incorporated Primal techniques into his training style.
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As to the main question I would say that I’m living as primal as I can, given my profession. I’ve always been a huge advocate for developing health along with fitness but I’ve also accepted that professional endurance athletics (triathlon) is not a health contest per se. In its rawest form pro triathlon is a contest in resilience, pain and fatigue with a lot of stress on body and mind.
Naturally, my training load is way and beyond what’s recommended in the “Primal Blueprint” and I’m surely guilty of being a chronic cardio participant. However, a big part of my distance training would be on the intensity level of that which a normal person would have on a hike or similar. I’m not spending an inordinate amount of time in a carbo burning or lactic acid laden state which so often is the case among many endurance athletes. Rather, after 25 years of endurance training my fat burning capacity enables me to stay primal even at relatively high efforts and speeds.
I’m from a swimming background and now favor rather intense sprint- and stroke challenging workouts to get the most from time in the water. Running is otherwise my favorite discipline of the three and especially in the forest and on the trails with an asymmetric and varied stride that promotes overall strength and a stride with a full range of motion, hence not requiring as much stretching post running.
Over the years I’ve been working a lot on functional strength and posture through various programs and have over the recent years taken this a step further by developing the “Primal Walk”, done in the forest with a mix of barefoot walking in the Vibram shoes and primal strength exercises such as lifting, pulling, pushing, squatting, throwing, hitting, sprinting and so forth.
(click to enlarge)
I always run in very thin shoes and low to the ground and will increase my barefoot running even more with regular runs in the Vibrams, besides doing the Primal Walks.
Nutrition wise I do eat some carefully chosen processed carbs, which is inevitable given the high amount of exercise I’m doing. However, it’s a far cry from the standard among Swedish nutritionist that recommend athletes to eat 10 grams of carb per kilo of bodyweight which for me would mean amounts in excess over 800 grams per day, levels that could be described as downright toxic in my estimation!
I eat loads of eggs (I love the banana-almond butter-egg pancakes featured on MDA), red meat, salmon, avocados, leafy greens, nuts and seeds. I eat sparingly with dairy but I´m generous with butter and drink some whole fat milk as well as some occasional yoghurt. I´m a big fruit eater with my favourites now being pomegrenate, blueberries, mango, citrus and bananas.
I also eat a fair bit of raw foods as in red meat, eggs, fish, milk straight from the farm. I eat some bread, mostly because I’m not really sensitive to gluten and bread is quite easy for me to digest. I can have a bowl of pasta sometimes as well as veggies like potatoes, carrots, red beats and turnips. I love sweets and pastries but mostly refrain from eating them but I’m weak for temptation so I’m terrible at hotel buffets and parties but I’m not into making life hard for myself. I’ll use self control when it’s necessary but I also know when to relax and purely enjoy the taste and feel of a savory dessert or treat.
I stay way clear from the typical athletes’ addiction to sports nutrition like bars, powders, gels and drinks which in most cases really is just candy in a more sophisticated package. I do use some electrolyte drinks on long and hot sessions and obviously for races all rules are off. When applying a “train low-race high” philosophy it would be foolish not to maximize both fat burning and carb utilization. For really long sessions or on the run portion of triathlons I find that Red Bull or soft drinks works wonders with the simple formula of sugar and caffeine.
I work closely with Organic Food Bar, and their products are a great option for athletes to use while training or racing.
I use the Damage Control Master Formula and take two capsules of Quercetin/Vitamin C every day and no other supplements.
My first influence that showed me the right way was the books of Phil Maffetone which I read during the mid-90´s, and they promoted the use of good fats and the dangers of sugars, stress and exercising too hard. Following MDA has further widened my knowledge and added to what I believe is the right way to approach eating and exercising and the framework of these philosophies is what I believe is the answer to having a +15 year pro triathlon career without hardly any injuries or illness and a continued improvement and enjoyment.
This is the message I talk, lecture and write about in Sweden.
Jonas Colting, Sweden
37 years old
2 medals, ITU World Championships, Long Distance
2 medals, ITU European Championships, Long Distance
Ironman-winner
2 times winner of Ultraman World Championships, Hawaii
Several times Swedish Champion Triathlon
Swedish Champion, Open Water Swimming
2 times winner of Island to Island, hardest one-day race in Sweden
Only person ever to complete the Swedish Classic nonstop in 25 hrs (3 k swim, 90 k roller-skiis, 300 k cycling, 30 k cross country run) including transports between venues.
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I’d love to hear from all the endurance junkies out there. Is it possible to be both Primal and a triathlete? Share your thoughts and stories in the comment board. Thanks everyone and Grok on!
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Posted By: Mark Sisson
We should start a WoD thread and food log for some of us endurance athletes, I am curious what everyone’s days look like. Specifically how you manage to take in enough energy to be primal and train; I have trouble keeping caloric intake (even though primal doesn’t measure in calories…) enough for training w/o grains.
You can follow me on twitter/twitpic. I post quite a few of my meals and PWO.
I have a different problem though… keeping calorie intake low enough.
Agreed, it’s tough. A central collection of Primal Endurance info would be great.
I based my diet off one part blog browsing and reading about folks like Jonas and about 3 parts trial/error.
I know how I eat/train/race for Multi-day races is way different than Jonas, but also differs from other Primal Adventure Racers I’ve read accounts of (way lower carbs, don’t even touch Gluten and as clean of race fuel as I can find).
I recover super-fast, but also have an issue with keeping my weight constant.
I’ve developed a method of feasting on rest days until I can’t eat any more. Which holds me over well for my next 3-4 days of training.
Matt.
I am no triathlete or marathon runner but I LOVE 5K runs to death!
I starting running in 5K runs last summer – did 5 total. For each one I would always enjoy a large pasta dinner the night before. And, at the biggest one, the fifth third river bank run, they provide a pasta buffet the night before!
Over the past month I have significantly cut out my carb in take (a lot less grains) and I feel better than ever. I am beginning to fuel up on protein and fats as well. This summer should go real well! My best 5K time is 21:02 which comes out to a 6:47 mile pace. Wish me luck this summer!
It’s probably more strength endurance but what about the kettlebells folks who do the V02 Max workouts? Pretty hardcore kettlebell snatching.Can you do that and be primal?
I do Kenneth Jay’s hardcore VO2Max protocols, and am training for a marathon – all the while I eat primally. My only exception is during my long runs, on those I use perpetuem then recoverite, but for everything else it’s primal.
I too would like to see the typical training regime for endurance athletes following the paleo diet. I am currently trying to get over my burn out from high mileage running. I think the cold and monotony are the main factors. I am trying to take on the Crossfit idealogy of short, intense workouts with some sport specific training so I can still run a half or full marathon. Anyone have any personal experience with low mileage running and crossfit workouts and still complete marathons? I love this site, Mark, thanks for the motivation you provided for me to switch!
High mileage is good when you’ve got a particular goal that requires it, but it’s only natural to need a break. Use the downtime to do some other training, build strength or something. I know one runner who takes a break from running every year to do a figure competition, and uses that opportunity to get her body fat down and muscle up.
Nell Stephenson – Ironman athlete Primal/Paleo.
She has a great blog with good recipes:
http://stephenson.typepad.com/train_with_nellie/
Thanks for posting this Mark. The comments from everyone are pretty awesome.
I second the praise of trail running. It is just so fun (even when it turns into trudging up steep hills). We did a 10 mile loop last weekend that included climbing up and down over boulders, and playing mountain goat over the rocky trail. I felt like a kid again, smiling and laughing with joy. The previous weekend we did a trail marathon, and I tried to explain to a friend there that she needed to eat more fat and stop burning so much sugar for fuel, and her endurance would improve. For endurance recovery, I feel more protein and fat, together with veggies, is better, though I’m not afraid to throw a small amount of beans or corn into the mix. I have used mashed potatoes mixed with chicken broth as race food (it went down very well), roast beef, ham, tamales, nuts, dried fruit, as well as electrolyte-type drinks, though coke and potato chips are good for a while too. For long events, real food is great. I’ve never gotten the debilitating nausea that is common when depleted. But everyone is different, so you have to keep experimenting until you find what works for you.
Mark – very timely post. I am just experimenting with more endurance-like activity after reading Born to Run, and this has given me some inspiration. I think for us mortals, with modest aspirations, it’s possible to find a fantastic balance between long and short workouts without compromising the types of event we compete in or the diet we eat. I ran the hills for 3 hours on Sunday without needing any food or going into the chronic cardio zone. It was great. And I didn’t need to eat a bowl of pasta when I got home
Just have to say that the swedish gold medal winner, Björn Ferry, in sprint 12,5km biathlon race in Vancouver won on a low carb hi fat diet.
I use coconut water in fruit smoothie for electrolyte replenishment. You can also make your own sports drinks healthfully. I got my recipe from “Thrive” by Brendan Brazier. I am not vegan but still found his book very helpful for endurance training.
I haven’t tried the primal diet yet, but I’ve tried low-carb diets in the past, such as the CKG and I didn’t like the lack of carbs when running long distance or playing rugby. I’ve now adjusted my diet to include wholesome carbs and it sounds like a lot of people here will agree with me – like anything else, each person has his own formula for success and what works for him. I think I’ve figured mine out for now at least.
Do you think Jonas’ performance would improve more if he eliminated bread, pasta, lots of fruit, or is it needed for the activity he is training and competing? Could he get through a triathlon on jerky and nuts, or does he need copious amounts of fruit and other carbs?
And this guy just won an olympic gold medal. In biathlon. And he says he is “low-carbing”.
http://www.svd.se/sportspel/nyheter/bjorn-ferry-manga-som-stottat-mig_4277511.svd
He said in an interview. We celebrated with eating “semlor”. I ate the cream…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semla
Great post — I’ve been WAITING for this exact topic to be addressed at length, as (before I was better educated) I simultaneously decided to train for a marathon and go low-carb. Initially, it looked like I’d chosen two conflicting goals, and I’ve been tearing my hair trying to decide which goal to go for first! With some additional research, I’m proceeding with both in a balanced, realistic way. So thanks for the post — hopefully this is just the beginning of more to come on this revolutionary topic. Thanks!
After eating a more primal diet, I have increased my speed dramatically for evening runs. However, I’m having trouble with morning runs. I just run out of gas. Should I eat a higher carb meal the night before or eat some right before the run? I usually eat meat and veggies the night before. During the day it’s doesn’t seem to matter too much. I can go for a run after eating some eggs or have similar results if I haven’t eaten for 2-3 hours. Any suggestions?
I am also curious about this. How do you keep from crashing the following morning without getting up super early for a plentiful meal.
Every Saturday morning I get up at 6.30am so that I can get the fuel I need before my long run (usually banana and maybe porridge – not perfectly primal but its my endurance compromise
However for my short runs to work in the week, I get up have a black coffee and feel very alive for the full 5 miles. I suppose any further and I would start struggling but going for an intense run in this fasted state I find effective. We all work differently so maybe you have to phase this in slowly/reprogram your genes as Mark would say.
I’ve learnt from marathon training not to overeat the night before a long run…just fuelling sensibly and often the days leading up to the run causes the cells to become turgid with energy and fluid!
I carbo-loaded with mashed potatoes, steak and a green veggie for dinner the night before. The morning of the long run, I ate (45min prior): a heaping tablespoon of almond butter, cottage cheese, 3/4 of a banana, coffee and a teaspoon of chia seeds. This was definitely a great combo and I felt great at mile 11!
I also drank lots of water.
The week prior, I ate zero carbs and had to stop and walk twice on a 9.5 mile run.
Thanks for sharing your experience. Interesting food choices. I would usually stay away from red meat the night before due to slow digestion and you also took quite a lot of hit fat food on the day. It shows though that it is each to their own – know what works best for your own digestive system
Very grateful for bringing the primal compromise issue for endurance athletes back to MDA – so thanks Mark!
‘m currently preparing for the London Marathon 2010 and am stil keeping a relatively healthy diet. Though it has been a bit of a shock to get used to using faster digesting carbs and other energy sources I would typically stay clear of. Even pasta has snuck back in on the odd occasion. So after reading so much support for primal endurance eating…I’m not so sure that it is ok to loosen up your diet when you are burning an unusually large number of calories. But yesterday I ran a 20 mile plod through bogs, rivers, and huge hills. The drinks stations had jelly babies and I don’t think I could have got through without that sugar! I have trained whilst fasting for 5k runs and 45 minute gym sessions and I agree these workouts go very well. So I think I have ‘reprogrammed’ my genes to some extent but need to work a bit mor eat the long distances. In light of all that has been said above, I will try to minimise the sports drinks etc to use on race day alone.
http://www.trainingbible.com/pdf/Paleo_for_Athletes_Cliff_Notes.pdf
I don’t get it. I am a training for my first sprint triathlon and have been eating paleo since day one. I get plenty of carbs from fresh & dried fruit esp. cherries & raisins. I can’t live w/o my pistachio/cherry/walnut/raisin trail mix combo. there is even a primal-ish sports gel called Stinger that is a honey base. isn’t honey paleo? I have super duper energy all the time, even while training. Aren’t we referring to, more specifically COMPLEX carbs here? are they that necessary to endurance sports? please give me some references
oh, i forgot to add that i drink coconut water to replace gatorade. it’s better anyways.
Thanks for sharing your primal preferences Keegan. I would like to start using coconut water myself.
I LOVE to run. No more 30, 40, 50 (at one point 80) mile weeks for me since being paleo, but I will do 3 and 4 milers a few times a week. I was sluggish at first–still am, since I have very little carbs each day and no fruit–but am getting fast again, so it still falls under chronic cardio I believe.
It does makes you hungrier too — hopefully dumping down meat and fat is okay!
I’m sure that your body will adapt and become very efficient as burning fat for fuel – which is great!
In training for my second London Marathon right now and the high mileage is taking its toll on the joints. I must be mor disciplined about getting offroad!
As for fuel, I am using carbs in and around my training but try to stick to less refined sources such as porridge / brown rice. I will have to make the clean break for my next marathon I think though and put faith in protein and fat too…
I’m interested in how primal diet affects fighters, especialy MMA – can’t seem to find much consistent info. Seems like a slightly modified primal diet is quite common in the fighter community though.
Does anyone have any expirience? Being that fighting demands endurance, ability to sustain strenght effort and the ability to explode with maximum effort, how would going all primal affect such performance ?
That’s a good question Perun –
I can only really speak from weights/endurance experience, in which I find that primal living only helps in my performance.There is a period of transition though, and I have found that now my body is an effective fat burning unit – it is happier to look to other sources than processed carbs for its energy.
Fights can be stop-start I suppose but very tiring so tricky to say that your body would have time to tap into its fat reserves for energy..I guess you would have to experiment a bit.
A technique I have been working with is to do about half my training sessions in ketosis condition. The idea is that the muscles adapt to using fatty acids then glucose for competition, if available is like rocket fuel. This has worked for some folks doing inter-island paddling and other endurance activities, but I have not found out yet if it is effective for the very different demands of a fight.
HI guys, really enjoyed reading all the posts. After several years of hard sport, mainly tri and cycling without losing any weight, I decided just around Christmas 2010 to go low carb and see what happened, adding to my diet 1000mg of carnitine as my blood results showed a minor deficiency. Well, I lost 10kg (that’s approx 22 pounds) in 2 months, while truly enjoying my food! I am now with a BMI of 22 and really happy about it. For breakfast I have mostly that thick Greek yoghurt with fresh fruits like mango, strawberries and a decent helping of nuts. With the “excuse” of no carbs and free proteins at lunchtimes I simply go for 2 pieces of chicken breast or salmon steaks etc etc with green salad. For dinners I make mostly soups featuring cabbage, onion and only occasionally some broccoli.
With the start of the spring I have also started longish weekend rides (4 to 5 hours). Most rides have climbs, and the only thing I am changing is to have some porridge before these rides and if I do back to back days I include a small pasta after the first ride but not the last. I find this is working very well. I guess is not a full paleo diet, but generalising a bit I tend to be monday to friday full paleo and weekends only I have some carbs
Lorenzo, the tri season is soon to kick off for me too and I agree with using porridge as an exception to the paleo rule for fuelling long runs and bike rides. The sugary, processed energy market is flooded with fake products which probably do the job but I feel bad if I use them. It is more natural to go for a banana and peanut butter
I replaced the old oatmeal breakfast standby with a banana-coconut custard. Recipe is here:
http://ironmom.blogspot.com/2011/04/is-it-breakfast-or-is-it-dessert-banana.html
It seems to be the perfect way to get a some carbs, protein, and good fats. I have just taken to adding some chia seeds, nutmeg, and cinnamon to it as well. I can make it up the night before a morning when I’ll have an early/long training session and it holds me through the entire time. I did a 3+ mile lake swim yesterday morning and a 10.5 mile run this morning, both of them fueled by nothing more than a serving of this custard. Yumm!
Thank you for this thoughtful post. As a cyclist who recently discovered Paleo, I’ve thought a lot about the natural dissonance between the two paradigms and have started a blog specifically dedicated to cycling and Paleo/Primal.
hi mark
i have been living on the paleo diet for a while now im a road cyclist here in n.ireland the biggest thing i can say about the paleo would be is since i have adopted this diet.
i recover faster without alot of carbs i eat alot of fat for the reason of its now my energy source i sleep better i know longer have the shaky feeling you get after long rides but for me the biggest positive is the lack of lactic acid in my legs even at over 90% max effort its incredible as soon as the body gets used to burning fat as fuel.i would point out its really important to never limit fat from any source including animal fat i eat loads of eggs butter coconut oil beef pork venicen i find on this diet i never run out of energy.
Thanks Mark. Here’s a question for you and any others: I’m adopted a low carb, hi protein diet over the past few months, have trimmed down and feel fine. I’ve always been athletic (hockey, weights, skiing, biking), but have never really been an “endurance” athlete. Well, I’m climbing Mount Ranier in June, which will be one helluva endurance test. We’ve been training in earnest for months and are knocking ourselves into good shape (for 40-somethings). Here’s the question: I suspect I’m going to need some carb loads on my way up the mountain. Any thoughts on that? Should I resume a high-carb diet the day before, until I get back down? Just load as-needed on the way up? Thanks for any help!
(resending with correct email for me) Thanks Mark. Here’s a question for you and any others: I’m adopted a low carb, hi protein diet over the past few months, have trimmed down and feel fine. I’ve always been athletic (hockey, weights, skiing, biking), but have never really been an “endurance” athlete. Well, I’m climbing Mount Ranier in June, which will be one helluva endurance test. We’ve been training in earnest for months and are knocking ourselves into good shape (for 40-somethings). Here’s the question: I suspect I’m going to need some carb loads on my way up the mountain. Any thoughts on that? Should I resume a high-carb diet the day before, until I get back down? Just load as-needed on the way up? Thanks for any help!
I like to ride off road motorcycle races, this weekend is a 6 hour event. I’d like to stay Primal but need some advice on what to eat the day before and what I could easily carry to eat during the event.
Plus what would be good for recovery after the event.
Thanks
Charlie
As a former moto racer, every fruit based carb you can get your hands on. OJ, dates, fruit leather, ripe bananas, grapes, coconut water etc… You’re burning through it at a lightning rate. Failure to do so will leave your arms, hands, and legs like noodles and six hours of people roosting in your face.
After the event eat everything in sight! If you rode hard, your body will be begging for it. Then let yourself slip into the coma like sleep for 12 hours
Resume your “primal” diet the next day.
My experience with a primal living came to be after living on LCHF (low carb high fat) diet. It helped me burn off a lot of body fat and my stamina and alertness peaked.
When I went to grand canyon to hike down and up I also came face to face with the fact that once your body has depleted its fat reserves you do need some additional carbs for strenuous tasks.
On my way hiking up I could feel myself coming closer to hitting the wall. My metabolism had been fat/protein/ketosisized(?) for several months (I did no carbs whatsoever) so I could literally tell when I became absolutely depleted.
I had a some jam and other sweetened stuff and it was amazing to feel how it provided instant energy. It helped me keep a constant pace throughout the hike.
I’m far from a pro athlete but I can totally relate to what Jonas says about how we need so much less carbs than what people normally eat. It is great when your metabolism improves to the point where you can tell what each food you eat does to your body in real time. No more feeling bloated.