Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Hello Paleohackers. Sorry for the long question. First I need to give some background on me:

I am currently deployed to Afghanistan with the Army. Prior to deployment I was at my heaviest weight ever, 6'4, 294 and probably a little less than 30% BF. Since deploying in May I've lost 40 pounds, mostly due to watching my diet closely and reducing inflammation, eliminating sugar and starch intake, and increasing quality sleep time. I now weigh 255 and have about 20% BF. Mark Sisson and the Primal Blueprint got me going and Paleohacks.com has kept me going.

My diet is pretty zoned in. I eat two meals a day, lunch and dinner. They mainly consist of cucumbers, carrots, meat (tuna, chicken, or red meat), and large amounts of Olive Oil. I supplement this with large quantities of fish oil, coconut oil, and sesamin oil extract as its hard to find good fats in the chow hall. I also supplement with Zinc, Magnesium, Potassium, Vitamin D (4000 ius), and a multivitamin.

My workout is where I'm having some issues.

I've been doing a cross between the Primal Blueprint's lift heavy things routine, and workouts in Mark Lauren's "You Are Your Own Gym". I generally do full body bodyweight routines 3 times a week, walk every night for 30 mins to and hour, and do sprints once a week. This has been working well for me. My energy levels are through the roof and I'm losing weight.

So what is the problem?

I have an Army Physical Training test in February where I have to run two miles in 17:42. Last I checked I ran one mile in 8:45 and I was dead tired after that. That will not cut it and I'm not about to fail this test. Right now my plan is run for longer distances maybe twice a week, gradually increasing the distance while keeping a fast pace.

Maybe something like this: Sun: Sprints Mon: Rest, Walk Tue: Bodyweight Workout, Walk Wed: Longer Run Thu: Bodyweight Workout, Walk Fri: Longer Run Sat: Bodyweight Workout, Walk

My concern is that I will wear my body out and overtrain and/or not being able to increase the speed fast enough.

Any advice or hacks on how to integrate fast two mile runs into my fairly primal routine? Thank you very much.

flag	asked Nov 11 2011 at 7:13 RobE 285●1●7

peter · Accepted Answer · 2011-11-11 07:29:56Z UTC

You should be fine. Your only talking about <20 minutes running, 2-3 time per week. It works out to be 11km per hour for 3ks (Sorry, I'm Australian, dont know mile conversion). That is not overtraining territory.

My advise, from when I used to be a pretty keen runner, is to run in intervals. I got better at running pretty quick this way. So run at about 14-15kph for as long as you can comfortably, probably about 1 minute at the start, then recover for as long as you need at a really slow pace, around 9km, the slowest that you can jog. Recovery will take about 3-4 minutes, then do the same again. You should be able to run the distance (2 miles) doing this, as most of the pace is really slow. Next time, make sure that your higher intervals go for longer, like 1 minute 15 seconds. Keep building every time. You will get fit pretty quick, and soon 2 mile will seem like nothing.

Daniel Kirsner · Answer 2 · 2011-11-11 07:19:42Z UTC

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You have roughly 3 months. Is the 2 mile run the only component of the test you are worried about?

answered Nov 11 2011 at 7:19

Daniel Kirsner
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	There are push ups and sit ups as well, but those will be very easy for me this time around. I feel as though I'm in good shape, but I hate life if I run longer than a mile. – RobE Nov 11 2011 at 7:22
	If you want to pass the test, you will want to run longer than 1 mile. Email me at Kirsner72@aol.com if you would like me to coach you through this. It's very doable. – Daniel Kirsner Nov 11 2011 at 7:28
	I'll send you an email Daniel. Appreciate the help. – RobE Nov 11 2011 at 9:26

Integrating 2 Mile Runs into Primal Workouts

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