Eat and Run

[5to9]

I recently finished Eat and Run by Scott Jurek. Scott, for those who don't know, is an ultrarunner who has at times been quite dominant in the field. This book followed his life and career, with a strong emphasis on his transition to a vegan diet, and how he believes that improved his performance. The story was told well, and was an easy read, but glossed over what I thought were important topics, in particular his divorce, as there was no discussion of whether or not the lifestyle of a professional ultrarunner was a factor there.

I have always loved running, and while I don’t aspire to ultrarunning, I am fascinated by it. I was also hoping to pick up some ideas that could help me run more efficiently and avoid injuries, which I have a tendency to accumulate. He recommended a higher stride rate, and midfoot striking, but was fairly ambivalent on the minimalist shoes front. There was nothing earth shattering in this book, but I was intrigued to find that he pushes the vegan diet as so critical to his success. Most interesting to me were the recipes for trail food, as I’ve always found energy gels to be effective, but a huge ripoff. It's also interesting to hear his description of some of the mental aspects of ultra racing, which has to be a major factor in his success.

Overall, I thought it was a worthwhile read, and I'm thinking about trying out a few of the recipes.

[slimicy]

Mark Sisson is one of the leading faces of the Primal/Paleo movement, and is an ex-professional distance runner. He argues that endurance running of any sort cannot, in the long term, be healthy (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/about-2/ ... z2sGxW5R6T) You will always get injured because it's an insane amount of stress on your body. He now recommends walking, yoga/mindfulness, weight lifting, and eating a gluten-free whole food diet based around the ancestral health formula.


I can't see training for an ultra-marathon being healthy, and I know vegan diets aren't healthy... humans are omnivores... sounds like a recipe for disaster IMHO.

[5to9]

Mark Sisson is one of the leading faces of the Primal/Paleo movement, and is an ex-professional distance runner. He argues that endurance running of any sort cannot, in the long term, be healthy (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/about-2/ ... z2sGxW5R6T) You will always get injured because it's an insane amount of stress on your body.

I agree that running ultras or training as a professional marathon runner (as it seems Mark did), probably isn't great for your health and mobility. I'm not sure I agree with the claim that endurance running of any sort is bad for you. I've found I only tend to get injured when I let myself get caught up in racing seriously, which I try to avoid now. Casual runs in the less than half marathon range on trails seem to be fine, and make me feel great.

The big problem I see is that the "experts" out there nowadays tend to extrapolate from their own life experiences and make recommendations to the world at large. To be clear, I include Scott Jurek soundly in this camp, and I'm not running out to go vegan and run ultras after reading this book. But almost every health blogger out there makes the false assumption that what works for them will work for everyone.