On Wednesday, February 11, 2004, at 05:39  PM, Lurisia Dale wrote:
>
> My my, boys.  Please settle down.

I didn't intend to sound snide or argumentative, just pointing out that
my personal experience doesn't agree with yours.

> First off, Tom, if you consider 10K to be long
> distance, or to be an intense workout, you should not
> be calling yourself a long distance runner.  I run
> 7-10 miles at least 6 times a week, and yes, you can
> run a 10K now and then if you are on a very low carb
> diet.

It isn't nearly as long as I ran as a teen in HS or college cross
country, certainly, but I do train long fairly intensely about three
times a week, with short runs another couple of days. My typical long
run is 70-90 minutes, with bursts and pace work. I am quite competitive
in my age group. You might find as you get past your peak years that
daily workouts at high intensity are less viable a strategy. My best
race last year was 38 minutes for the ten K. Not world class, but
pretty good for a guy who has only been training for less than two
years. That race was on low carb. Other races with carb loading were
only a little slower.

One very interesting thing about running low carb is that I never seem
to run out of energy on a run. I do get tired of course, but never feel
like I do when running on a high carb diet, where I would suddenly go
flat. I haven't run a marathon since high school, no interest, but I
think I could train for one and run it without too much trouble.

  I had been seriously injured in college and wasn't able to run much
for 20 years. Paleo, some aspect of it, allowed my body to recover
enough to begin intense training again. Whether that was the low carb
aspect of it, or the change to a low grain diet I don't know. People
claim that low carb reduces stress and injuries. It certainly seems to
for me.

>   But I have also run the New York Marathan every
> year since I was 24 (I am now 31), and I assure you
> that you cannot do that on a very low carb diet.  This
> is not just my opinion.  All marathon runners carbo
> load before long races.

Hmm. I am not sure about "all", but sure, most do. It is the current
paradigm. Maybe I can train up and try a marathon later this year, and
get back to you with the results. I am interested in your results. What
sort of diet do you eat, and what times do you achieve? Do you follow a
paleo type diet with high carbs? If so, what is your carb source?
Fruit? High carb paleo is not hard to do.

> As for you Chuck, the only thing I "backtracked" was
> admitting that the jury is still out on the dangers of
> long-term ketosis, as far as scientific studies are
> concerned.  However, the fact that cutting fruits and
> veggies is unhealthful,

There is no reason to cut many veggies and fruits on a low carb diet.
This is a common slander of low carb, but simply not true. I think that
many paleo eaters actually eat more fruits and lots more veggies than
average, but are still "low" carb. However, starchy vegetables like
potatoes, yams etc are limited. I eat several pieces of fruit or
berries every day, and lots of veggies. Atkins induction period, with
as close to zero carbs as possible, is not many peoples' idea of paleo
eating. The "low carb = low veggies" argument is a straw man.

By the way, it is nice conversing with a strongly opinionated person. I
hope you stick around and keep us filled in on your results. How long
have you been doing paleo?