Under Construction

Introduction

This is a statement of my training philosophy, it is neither a statement of fact nor a review of the scientific literature. To be frank, much of what I say here is my opinion based on my experience. Although there is scientific evidence to support much of what I'm going to say here, many of my statements are impossible to "prove" on any practical level, and I will make no serious attempt to do so. Should the reader wish to discuss this topic in more detail, please feel free to contact me.

Human Evolution as a Guide

Any serious attempt to develop an effective methodology for promoting health and fitness must be reconcilable with our best understanding of human evolution. This is not always an easy thing to do, because there is still much that is unknown about human evolution. As a result, depending on one’s assumptions about subject, it is very easy to come up with widely differing opinions on what humans evolved to do and to eat, and how to harness our evolutionary past to promote health and fitness in a modern context.

It is also important not to think about human evolution in overly simplistic terms. Unfortunately most people are not well educated on evolutionary theory, and only have a superficial understanding of this subject. And when I use the word superficial, I’m probably being generous. There are a lot of reasons for this. One reason is that the education system in the United States is in crisis, and even when it wasn’t, this subject was generally never taught very well if at all. Another is that many people have religious beliefs that cannot be reconciled with the theory of evolution, and a good number of these people are so offended by the idea of evolution, that they refuse learn anything about it, choosing to dismiss it rather than understand it.

Whether or not one believes in evolution, one thing is certain, attempts to apply the principles of evolutionary theory to physical fitness, general health, and to medicine have been extremely successful.

Below are links to my blog. These blog posts will give the reader a good understanding of my training philosophy.

• Theory
• Technique
• Training
• Errors in Training
• Errors in Technique
• Barefoot Running
• Running Shoes

If you want the condensed version, here a list of the basic principles of my training philosophy for those of us who are not gifted runners, and do not necessarily have a lot of time to train.

General Rules

• Learn to run with good technique.
• Avoid wearing modern running shoes, if and only if your technique is good.
  
• Give your body time to adapted to changes in technique.
• Don't run when you need rest.
• Cross train for a well rounded fitness profile (I don't just mean adding long distance biking and swimming to your routine).
  
• Harness our evolutionary past.
• Eat a "Paleo like" diet.
• Eat natural unprocessed foods.
• Minimize eating grain based foods and sugar
  
• Do not become a vegetarian, unless you do so for reasons of conscience or religion.
• Identify the level of commitment you are willing to make, and how much time you are willing to spend training. 
  
• Train in a way that will make the most of your level of commitment, and the time you are willing to spend training.
• Don't make your first goal a marathon or ultra-marathon.
• Do not try to change your technique while training for a race or during a competitive season.
  

If you are trying to get faster

• Every run should have a purpose (building speed, stamina, or endurance).
• Do not over emphasize one aspect of training.
• Do not over train. If you need rest, then rest.
• Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has different strengths and weakness, and may respond more to some forms of training more than others.
• Generally intensity is more important than volume, but volume is still important.

To be continued…