Hi Andrew.

I have been pretty low carb for some time now.  I don't workout like an Olympian, but then, I don't think all that repetitive motion day in and out is healthy.  I don't buy into the energy drink business or needing immediate glycogen recovery.  In fact, Art Devany says:

" said it before and I say it again now: filling your muscles with glycogen is nonsense. I have pointed out how gene expression is altered by your activity and your stores of nutrients, among other things. And I have argued that body builders and runners and others who rush to refill their muscle with glycogen right after a work out are actually turning down the training response.

Now, here is an interesting article that measures gene expression and it shows that it is turned down when your muscles contain a lot of glycogen. You reduce the magnitude of the adaptive response to exercise if you are in a hurry, as so many body builders and runners are, to replenish your glycogen stores. They are not thinking at all about gene signaling and adaptation. They are in the linear thinking mode and must reason in a simple (dumb) inventory framework. Use up the glycogen and refill it right away."
http://www.arthurdevany.com/?p=301

I think it has 3 parts.  Damn I hope you continue at least low carb.  You are not fit yet, right?  Isn't that what you said?  Give it time.  I do heavy anaerobic threshold busting workouts about 1-2 hours duration, and I have survived.  They are not long endurance feats, but then, are those really the types of workouts we evolved on?

PS.  I didn't answer your question, but I wish you luck finding answers.  Please report back.

A 3-4 mile (a day) run would not even make dent your glycogen reserves. So no recovery necessary. On the other hand 32 km run will if run around your anaerobic threshold will fully deplete glycogen reserves, especially day after day. That would be the real test on zero carb raw carnivore diet. Angelo thinks it's not possible I may agree.

Hey Andrew!

Well, you do what you wish, but I for one would be thrilled if you at least gave zero carb a go for awhile, especially since you've spent months doing it now.  You know, I have been very resistant to the idea of zero carb in my life until very recently.  I think we go through stages when accepting new paradigms (much like stages of grief).  I have been stuck in denial about it for some time (in case you didn't notice  ).  But now that I am lowering plant consumption coming into autumn, I am really loving it, and I am breaking those nagging doubts about the viability of it.  Anyway, so now you are like my hero, okay?  Hee hee, no pressure or anything.  Seriously, I think you can be powerful and endure in training zero carb.  And really, there's only one way to find out. 

Andrew, you can win races zero carb!  You can do it!  Believe it!  (Shoot, if I can learn taekwondo in my 40s, and get pretty darn good, then anything is possible.)  If you doubt it for a minute, you won't ever try hard enough to reach your full potential.  At least that is my experience.  I just say, I can ace this ________________.  Whatever it is you fill the blank in with.

And please keep us in on your anaerobic training and how you feel.  Journaling about this sort of training, and any tweaking of this or that will go a long way towards your success.  Can you post resting and training heart rates and stuff like that from time to time?  Best wishes for some good, hard training and racing success! 

I think you definitely know what you're talking about, lol. I've read some articles that would tend to agree with you. They basically posit that paleolithic man would have been more adapted to short, extremely powerful bursts of energy rather than extremely long, low power trickles (like marathon running). Its far more likely that big game hunting would have followed the former scenario, and most likely not the latter.

Just one comparison between a long-distance runner and a sprinter does it for me. Most sprinters are very well built and seem full of vitality. Marathon runners, by contrast, look kind of meek to me, almost sickly ... and damn skinny.

Anyway, I've read that paleolithic man's exercise regimen consisted of hunting, dancing, and lots of rest in between. I know dancing sounds weird, but some writers believe that it was very common. Maybe good for stress relief, or maybe important for the community's reproduction rate ... who knows.

Some acquaintances of mine went to the Yemen and saw the men dancing around, without their women present, while shooting into the air with their rifles - now, I loathe dancing, but this sounds like more my kind of thing!