I think I can go faster? I know I can go faster. I don't know what my go fast may peak at. I am 65. I started running 🏃‍♀️ 🤪 18 months ago. Only doing 5km's for now. Current PB is now 29:01. Gold Coast Marathon. 2025 is my year to take out course records in my age category. I accidentally set one this year in April . Only just realised it this morning. What is discussed here is good general advice and I may have been doing most of it without realising it.

INIGO SAN MILLAN is the man! Look him up! By the way, the terms aerobic and anaerobic we now know are absolutely not accurate. It’s ALL “with oxygen” unless you’re doing the most intense intervals of 10 to a maximum of about 30 seconds.

Question , do you have to eat during a Z2 ride, any distance?

I’m a runner and bought The Triathlete’s Training Bible 4th Edition when it came out in late 2016 by mistake. That was the best mistake ever. I think that perhaps because of the title, many runners skip this book. It has made the biggest difference for my running. I bought the 5th edition when it came out last January. Absolutely great book. And best of all, if you run into trouble, Joe answers you on X. As usual, great podcast.

It's an interesting discussion, but the whole persistence hunter bit is just a lot of crap. It would take a long comment to explain, but the caloric mathematics just don't work out. At all. Try to calculate how many calories are in a wild animal, how many calories it takes to do a successful persistence hunt, and then how many people this kill is presumably supposed to feed, and you'll convince yourself rapidly that it makes no sense to live that way. It's true that in Africa, the easiest way to obtain simple sugar was by raiding a beehive--but Africans who still forage are rather adept at acquiring this, and some fossils have had sugar-rotted teeth suggesting that maybe proto-humans ate a lot of honey. But going beyond honey, foraging societies (so-called "hunter-gatherers") under study by modern anthropologists obtain something like 60-80% of their calories from plants, and they HAVE modern weaponry (meaning bows and arrows, poisons, flaked stones, etc.) The vast majority of their diet is starch, not fat and not protein. Maybe slow training is the best way to build a platform for higher-intensity performance, but if it is it's definitely not because humans had to survive by running down other animals all day every day.

See Dr John Douillard's book: Body Mind Sport

Revelatory info on the heart issues. I’m 67 and had a brief AFib episode a month ago and many athletes our age are finding out the reality of many years of hard training. In college we ran every long workout at 6:00 to 6:30 pace, constant fatigue. I learned later from better runners to slow the heck down. I improved. These days I’m a 6:00 triathlete and being smarter.

I started running in May this year and my "slow" runs would be around 6:00/km which would feel pretty easy and could talk and nasal breath only. Just yesterday I went out and didn't let my HR get above 152 and I did 45 minutes at just under 8:00/km.. it felt almost harder to run that slow, and I was really puzzled but listening to this, I do think exercise I've done until this point just hadn't helped build up an aerobic base. Will continue with the slow runs, mixing in some faster paced runs also, and will hopefully see myself run faster at the same HR in the future.

THE TARAHUMARA INDIANS IN NORTHERN MEXICO GET ABOUT 80 PERCENT OF THEIR CALORIES FROM CARBOHYDRATES..... THE TARAHUMARA CAN RUN 500 MILES IN 5 DAYS.... THE TARAHUMARA CAN CARRY A ONE HUNDRED POUND PACK A HUNDRED MILES IN TWO OR THREE DAYS! TRY THAT ON A HIGH FAT DIET

THE KENYAN RUNNERS GET 20 PERCENT OF THEIR CALORIES FROM SUGAR

Hi Can I ask you a question? I started to run 65/70 % of my weekly runs on zone 2 when I started my HR on zone 2 was 110 to 120 now is up to 130 what does mean? Thank you

This comment is way ahead of it's time.

Excellent and very informative interview! 51:30 51:30

I used to do triathlons back in the day, and was overtrained quite often.....I am now 67, and I find myself in this groove where I walk a ton of steps a day and on most days I swim a mile in about 40 minutes......I feel better now than at almost any point in my life. Oh yea, I eat super clean, love to cook, and I also drink a pint of homemade beet kvass everyday. Last night I woke up to morning wood starting at 11:30 pm almost non-stop until 0430 hrs, and at the point it was so uncomfortable I just got the hell up. Horrible problems to have at any age, let alone 67!!!!!!!! I'll take that!

I believe that Phil wrote "Everybody is an Athlete" back in the day, and was a big proponent of nose breathing, at almost any zone......huge contribution back then, and even now.

I read somewhere once the average triathlete generates about 10 pounds in mass worth of free radicals per year...just imagine the oxidative damage done if you don't do something to offset that like recovery

The tortoise and the hair: slow and steady wins the race.

66?! I would have guessed 52-4

Can we measure our mental health by how much buffer we have in our speech? Such as “um” and “you know”. I am interested in how our mental health manifests in our physical performance. Not just bones or tendons injuries with professional athletes but how fit is their mental as time goes by.

Ketones are anticatabolic. That said, still a fan.

Lifelong jogger now living in Grannyland-the 10% male portion of same. Never ran a race in my life but always ran. I’m 79 this year and still all original parts. Been increasing my cycling for about 4 years and now try to get 50K per day with a longggg climb about once a week. At first I hated climbing-now I kinda like it. Done right, with proper low gearing it’s a lot like long distance swimming-just not so boring. Lots to see. Cycling on the cheap, is not easy but I haunt the 2nd hands for everything. What the dilettante 39-year-olds buy for 2 or 3 thousand-I get for 1 or 2 HUNDRED. just seasoned with a thick layer of dust for ten or twenty years. The secret is “just spin the damned pedals-that’s why they have LOW GEARS on the bike. At first I tried to keep up with the young studs-bad idea. They’re dumb and strong and they will be sore the next day and lay off for a week afterwards. Probably go to a spa and get a massage for more $$ than I spent on my bike. Don’t worry about heart rate and interval training-Mother Nature makes hills and flat stretches that will test you AND rest you. And for God’s Sake-don’t buy an idiotic electric bike and delude yourself into thinking you’re getting a workout. You’re not getting cardio-you’re GETTING A RIDE. Life isn’t always a race, mostly it’s just being stubborn enough not to care what others think.

Human evolution has meant that fat as been been for thousands of years a energy source used during times of very little food sources in accordance with the seasonal changes or it is utilised on very long walks or treks which humans undertook in pre history.In the winter frustose would not have been a available energy source in the form of fruit because it was not around.Hibernation,humans did hibernate at some point in our evolution,fat was ideal as a energy source.Fat in its real context as a fuel is so misunderstood in humans at a sporting level.

All wrong, wrong, wrong. If you are in ketosis and fully adapted, your body will burn fat and make the sugar it needs for the brain. Your body will not break down protein unless you are actually starving, meaning you don't have any fat reserves. This video should be taken down because it's flat out spreading wrong information about human physiology. Read the research and review papers. See Tim Knoakes' work and reviews. See Bikman's research. There are athletes that don't fuel during full and half ironman races, where managing hydration is the goal. There continues to be so much misinformation being spread about diet, carbohydrates, fat, meat, etc. The natural state of our ancestors is ketosis, and they ate meat and fat. Plants were eaten to prevent starvation; this ability to survive on plants in lean times is a genetic advantage but doesn't mean plants are a proper diet. Plants are toxic naturally to try to prevent animals from eating them. The toxins are a defense. Knoakes: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/feB5m8mGvZvNYn0.htmlsi=eEavaC_l5ZLwxZ9Y

What is the name of the pills he took

Don't agree with the requirement of carbohydrate to facilitate fat burning. It's simply not physiologically accurate.

Mark is clearly saying Keto is stupid, doesn’t make any sense in terms of actual physiological requirements in exercise….Keto is defined as a Fad diet. Carbs are king, always were, always will be in a balanced diet.

THE KENYAN RUNNERS GET 20 PERCENT OF THEIR CALORIES FROM SUGAR

Pogacar stopped this zone 2 silliness and became 20% better 😂

THE KENYAN RUNNERS GET 20 PERCENT OF THEIR CALORIES FROM SUGAR

ROB DE CASTELLA WAS ON THE PRITIKIN DIET

FIRST NATHAN PRITIKIN WASN'T A DOCTOR.. HE WAS AN INVENTOR AND AN ENGINEER... A VERY INTELLIGENT MAN! IN ADDITION.. HE LOOK AT THE SCIENCE OF NUTRITION.. HE DIDN'T MAKE THINGS UP OUT OF WHOLE CLOTH THE WAY DAVE SCOTT AND SOME OTHERS DO NOW... HIS DIET WAS BASED ON THE DIET OF THE TARAHUMARA INDIANS IN NORTHERN MEXICO... THE TARAHUMARA GET ABOUT 80 PERCENT OF THEIR CALORIES FROM CARBOHYDRATES... THE TARAHUMARA CAN RUN 500 MILES IN 5 DAYS!..... THEY CAN CARRY A HUNDRED POUND PACK ONE HUNDRED MILES IN TWO OR THREE DAYS!.. THE NEXT TIME YOU MEET SOMEONE WHO THINKS THEY ARE BIG AND STRONG... TELL THEM TO TRY THAT! SO NATHAN PRITIKIN KNEW WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT! HE REVERSED HIS OWN HEART DISEASE!

Interesting to hear Mark's insights on the ketogenic diet. Basically, we still need carbs in order to burn fat during a race / training while merely burning protein (state of ketosis) due to a lack of carbs available is both much slower and not necesserily a good thing in order to maintain one's muscle mass.

Interesting point about SPD cleat instability indoors. MTB is my main cycling modality and I ride on flats pedals, even indoors -- so the thought never even occurred to me, but that makes a lot of sense!

Bible says Moderation in All things

Bible says Moderation in All things

The hard part is I'm 50 so I'm trying to run at 125 or so meaning that I'm not running I'm at a half walk half jog somewhere around 14 minutes a mile and not using running muscles at all

so glad youtube recommended this video,

I feel bad suggesting that that the legend that is Joe Friel could be wrong. There is no way Mark Allen or Tadej P are “only using fat” when working in Zone 2. Nobody is. Yes, a well developed aerobic system will use more fat and proportionally less glycogen at the same intensity, but particularly as as athletes get stronger, fat cannot account for all of the considerable energy demands at their very high Z2 power. I think that what Joe describes as “fat burning” he meant to call “energy produced aerobically”, which is the burning of fat and carbs through aerobic metabolism, as opposed to “glycolysis”, which is the burning of glycogen outside of mitochondria in Type II fibers.

Being doing maf for 9 months. Haven't been able to lower my time. In fact it's been worse. I am committed to it. But mostly have to walk to keep it at 132 or under. Now eating carnivore to see if it will help at all.

Thanks heaps for the insights - Is there a period of adaption where you can only run aerobically or is it enough to do 80% aerobic and speed work?

I do wonder how the modern triathletes will fair, the Brownlie boys spring to mind. Such an intense sport.

Such a great interview - Yes its instructiver to hear Mark Allen speak about his training that brougjt consistancy.and how to reach peak performance over a period of 15 years

So "Zone 2" seems way much older than I thought.

I'm 5 weeks out from a marathon. This hits me right where I live, too much running in zone 3 & 4! It make a ton of sense. I have just enough time to pivot. I'm down with 5 days easy, two days hard, but the easy days have been too fast, leading to a minor feeling of burnout. Thanks for a great post.

Pritikin didn't say bagels and pasta! He was whole food, low saturated fat (lean cuts, skinless chicken)

I’m sure he did his intervals too. He trained in a way that he was fully recovered to smash hard sessions by going easy in-between. If you have all the time in the world to train, that’s how you train.

I hate painful runs, call me useless. Sometimes training very hard has very diminishing returns. Long distance run has to be sustainable. So knowing your pace is very very important. And the central nervous system cannot take it.

Quick question if doing this in the morning should I be having breakfast or run or cycle for an hour and then eat while out?

As an old high school classmate of Mark’s, I can tell you he was fast BEFORE he perfected the training techniques he discussed. In 9th grade (15) he put almost an entire 440 oval into the next fastest runner during our annual Presidents Physical fitness tests. That guy was the captain of the cross country team! And Mark was a swimmer in those days! I can also add that he was as easy to like then as today.

Dr. Ernst Van Aaken taught this kind of training. Low intensity done "by feel". Van Aaken first published his pure endurance training ideas in 1947. Van Aaken Method (1976) is a pretty good book on it. Van Aaken was way, way ahead of his time.