Reddit reviews Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

Alex Hutchinson talks a little about this in this book. https://www.amazon.com/Endure-Curiously-Elastic-Limits-Performance/dp/0062499866

If I remember correctly, he talked about tribes who about about 70% of their caloric intake as fat. Turns out those people weren't unhealthy at all, and he went as far as to say they were healthy due to the vitamins and minerals in the fat. Also, the people he was referring to were natives, in I don't recall what country, and had grown accustom to the very high diet.

I don't claim to be an expert on this, but I think I'd rather have a balanced diet.

They have tried it before under very special conditions, conditions so favorable that the time wouldn't even be official, and even in those circumstances they weren't able to do it.


There is a nice documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2ZLG-Fij_4


Also, I suggest reading the book "Endure" by Alex Hutchinson, in which he explores the limits of the human body in such depth that it's astonishing, and makes special emphasis on the Sub-2 Marathon. The conclusion is that it's quite unlikely, but not impossible.


Here's the book in case you want to give it a read, as a runner and in-progress triathlete, I found it so interesting that I went over it twice: https://www.amazon.com/Endure-Curiously-Elastic-Limits-Performance/dp/0062499866

Science

• The Science of Running by Steve Magness, published 2014
  
• Anything by Alex Hutchinson. He has 2 books (one just came out this month) and writes/has written columns in Runner's World, Outside Online, Globe and Mail, among others. His stuff is typically more along the lines of "interesting stuff studies show" not really a global picture of how to train.
  
• Various books by Matt Fitzgerald
  
  Training
  
  
• Daniels' Running Formula by Jack Daniels. The 3rd edition is from 2013.
  
  
• Faster Road Racing: 5K to Half Marathon by Pete Pfitzinger. The 2nd edition is from 2014.
  
• Again, various books by Matt Fitzgerald.

There's an interesting, fun to read book that recently came out that discusses human endurance and the mind-body relationship. One thing the author says is that few actually meet or achieve the fullest physiological potential that our body can do - we usually have a little more to give. When Im doing something physically taxing - OTF or otherwise - I remember that.

Amazon link to book: Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

This was a great read on the topic.


Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062499866/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_xqBADbE9C5WH7

I listened to it on tape during my long runs, highly recommended. The author is a former elite runner and talks about his own breakthrough race in a helpful way:

https://www.amazon.com/Endure-Curiously-Elastic-Limits-Performance/dp/0062499866

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Have fun with your training and racing!

"Our body fat is a perfectly fine source of fuel to use" -- well, depending on what you're doing. Alex Hutchinson covers this exact topic in Endure, his new book, in a chapter on food, fueling, LCHF diets, etc. He talks about Eskimos, polar explorers, and others who have a LCHF diet, and yes, the body can be sustained for a long time that way. But with a study of Olympic-level race-walkers, their "easy" performance was unaffected, but they lost top-end speed, so "more efficient than carbs" is not true in that situation.


Also, worth noting in this context, this scholarly article points out that the traditional Kenyan and Ethiopian diets are 77% and 64% carbs, respectively! I'm no nutritionist, but I've heard those folks are pretty good at running. ;-)


CC: u/thebowerbird

I'm not sure how much triathlons factor into it, but I'm looking forward to Endure by Alex Hutchinson. https://www.amazon.com/Endure-Curiously-Elastic-Limits-Performance/dp/0062499866/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519872786&sr=8-1&keywords=endure+book

Great book on this very topic: https://www.amazon.com/Endure-Curiously-Elastic-Limits-Performance/dp/0062499866

Short answer: a great deal.

Do you like to read? Your story reminds me of some stuff from "How Bad Do You Want It?" and "Endure" - both great books.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937715418/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_ns2pDbGKVMJXZ

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062499866/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_0s2pDbPW4EN5R

there are dozens of books on this subject - at the moment i'm reading Endure by Alex Hutchinson (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Endure-Curiously-Elastic-Limits-Performance/dp/0062499866).

One of the questions posed is why are we able to a) sprint for a finish line despite not being able to run any faster a minute earlier, and b) why are we able to easily run around a few seconds after we supposedly 'emptied the tank'? (exactly like your scenario).

As far as can tell, the answer is 'we're still working on that one...'