Description: Today’s episode, hosted by Elle Russ, is chock full of reflections, history, and tips based on host Brad Kearn’s earlier career as an endurance athlete gone primal. The perils of chronic cardio are now a well-known fact within most primal circles these days, but there was a time when pretty much every top performing athlete was on the chronic cardio bandwagon. And it wasn’t until some of its biggest adherents (people like Mark Sisson and Brad Kearns) started scratching their heads after getting burned out by the process that a newer, healthier approach to endurance training has started to take form. But that took a lot of reevaluation of the fundamental concepts, motivations, and assumptions of endurance training as a practice.

So tune into today’s show as Brad discusses the ins and outs of the endurance community, performing as a triathlete, meeting Mark Sisson for the first time, the health risks of running your body ragged through endurance training, and the new ways endurance sports can be done in a way that’s more in line with promoting health instead of injury.

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Show Notes:

• How did Brad get into the endurance community in the first place? [02:00]
• The story of the injured runner to the triathlete. [07:25]
• How winning the Desert Prince Biathlon was Brad’s big start. [09:24]
• Developing into a professional triathlete. [11:40]
• Desert Princess Duathalon was the first real success and the beginning of a struggle. [13:40]
• How did Brad get together with Mark Sisson? [17:00]
• How should you deal with competition? Isn’t winning important? [21:57]
• How much training is too much training? [28:40]
• What has science learned about heart problems in endurance athletes? [30:00]
• Ten years retired from doing triathlons, Brad wonders how fit he really is. [37:30]
• After converting to a primal lifestyle, how long does it take to feel the full effects? [42:20]
• A recurrent problem: people going beyond the cutoff point on aerobic max. [48:43]
• What’s an optimal level of carb intake for highly active individuals? [54:13]
• What should it look like if a person were training for a marathon these days? [59:59]

Selected Links from the Episode:
A Case Against Cardio
Dr. James O’Keefe
Dr. Phil Maffetone
Timothy Olson
Primal Endurance

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