Introducing The Primal Endurance Podcast!

Back in November of 2013, we published our first Primal Blueprint Podcast, and have since published a total of 69 weekly feature-length episodes, along with over 100 audio recordings of Mark’s Daily Apple articles. Check out each of the feature-length shows here at the Archives. We started this venture on a whim, noticing that podcasting was becoming pretty popular. Since then, podcasts have become one of the most prominent emerging media forms in our high tech world, and the Primal Blueprint Podcast and the Mark’s Daily Apple audio narrations have become a major element of our publishing efforts.

Articles abound about the amazing podcast advertising power of reaching a niche audience, the convenience of getting podcasts on demand through mobile devices, and the increasing ability of the consumer to completely customize their informational and entertainment experience. It’s seriously cool stuff, especially in comparison to the recent past when our mornings were commandeered by over-the-top radio deejays (different one in every city, except they weren’t that different…) serving up low brow fodder and tons of annoying commercials.

Today, we walk around with thousands of hours of highly customized audio programming in our pockets, ready to entertain us whenever we can lend an ear. This is particularly cool because our eyes often get overbooked reading stuff on screens, but we have abundant free time during work commutes or exercise sessions to listen to audio programming. I’ve heard from many podcast listeners who admit that they often fall behind in their reading of Mark’s Daily Apple posts, but how the audio recordings of the relevant posts allow them to easily keep pace with my ambitious efforts to publish fresh, relevant daily content.

On the flip side, I feel like podcasting is a way for me to dispense my expertise and life experience in a manner that is fun, entertaining, relatively easy and low stress compared to writing a book or even a blog post, and also effective for the listener to obtain information through a different portal than just eyes on a printed word. I feel like the digital age has created a growing body of busy folks, young and old, who just can’t be bothered to read much, but are very willing to listen. I’ve also heard from folks who are computer-phobic, and others who are vision challenged, who appreciate the podcast as a way to immerse in the primal movement without having to read anything!

This brings me to today’s announcement of a spin-off podcast dedicated to matters of endurance training and racing, the Primal Endurance Podcast. The decision to launch a new channel was inspired by the November 2015 planned release of the book Primal Endurance. I have been working hard on this project with Brad Kearns for a long time, and we are particularly passionate about Primal Endurance becoming a movement instead of just a book—a catalyst to reshape the disastrously flawed conventional approach to endurance sports.

In the decades since old timers like Brad and I left the racecourse, participation in endurance sports has skyrocketed. Back in the day, if I happened to see an occasional cyclist pass through Malibu on Pacific Coast Highway, odds are I knew who they were. Today, on any random day and at any random time, you are certain to see a steady stream of individuals and packs of cyclists busting out of the city and headed for the many awesome canyon roads in the Santa Monica Mountains that originate in Malibu. Ditto for runners out on the trails, or the distinctive round white automobile stickers that say “13.1”, “26.2”, “70.3”, or “140.6” (for the uninformed, that’s the distances of half-marathon and marathon running races, and half-ironman and ironman triathlon races). Brad, who has a particular affinity for covering his car with crazy stickers, found a gem on the Internet that reads “2.62” – a little dig at the arguably pompous act of informing the world of the race distances you like to cover.

Can you spot the snarky sticker? How about the montage of the self-portrait from Primal Blueprint Production Manager and underground artist Farhad Mostaedi?

On that note, I admit that I’ve pulled no punches about my serious concerns over the prevailing Chronic Cardio approach, and the assortment of health problems resulting from an overly stressful approach to endurance training. The Primal Endurance Podcast, book, and a planned series of online multimedia educational products designed for endurance athletes are an effort to facilitate a healthy, balanced, primal-aligned approach to endurance training and racing. Yes, it’s possible to be primal and run marathons or do triathlons! However, it will require a fundamental shift in philosophy for many athletes stuck in the carbohydrate dependency paradigm, and ascribing to dated endurance training protocols handed down over generations from dummy forefathers—like me, like Brad, and like most serious athletes who put up big miles and long hours at the expense of health.

While the Primal Blueprint laws advocate a less extreme approach to building endurance – hiking, lots of daily walking and low level cardio (combined with high intensity strength and sprint sessions to be full on primal, of course), I realize there are a great many people captivated by the exciting challenges of the day, such as marathons, half and full iron-distance triathlons, and ultramarathon trail runs. The Primal Endurance Podcast will hone in on the diet, training, and lifestyle topics of particular relevance to those pursuing these ambitious goals. And while my days on the starting line have passed, it’s an incredibly exciting time in the world of endurance sports. The grassroots ketogenic endurance training movement offers a glimpse of possibly the greatest endurance performance breakthroughs in our lifetime. Imagine—athletes setting records fueled by fat instead of sugar—eating less, weighing less, going faster, experiencing less oxidative damage from hard training, and recovering faster. That day is here, and you will meet many of the pioneers in this low-carb endurance movement on the podcast and in the book.

The podcast graphic is also going to be the book cover. People liked the design but commented that “it looks like you aren’t really running.” I guess because I was standing up so straight. Well, they haven’t seen the Great Malibu Sand Dune! There is no other way to get up the thing than stand tall and drive the knees high, like an Olympic sprinter! Here’s a backstage video from the day of Leslie Klenke’s cover shoot, the exhausting cover shoot! Leslie was merciless in asking for multiple takes up the hill to get the perfect shot. Anything for my readers…

We have already recorded numerous fantastic shows with interesting guests offering novel and memorable commentary that is both entertaining and practically valuable. As with The Primal Blueprint Podcast, we plan to keep things fresh and interesting, rotating in different hosts, guests, formats, and lengths so you can pick and choose what you like from our published offerings. Some leading voices in the endurance world have already agreed to be recurring guests, including the legendary aerobic training pioneer Dr. Phil Maffetone (author of The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing and coach of all-time greats Mike Pigg, Mark Allen, and Tim DeBoom), and former top pro Andrew MacNaughton (winner of over 20 pro events from ’86-’93, arguably the finest pure climber ever in triathlon, and reigning national Xterra age group champion and Wildflower 50+ age group record holder, who offers a most refreshing and unconventional approach to coaching and training at his TheAthletesPotential.com).

While my team and I have all kinds of great ideas and exciting plans for the show, we are more concerned with what you want, and look forward to any and all feedback you are willing to share. What are favorite topics, show formats, and guests? What are the biggest challenges you face trying to balance endurance goals with hectic daily life and your interest in primal living? What questions would you like answered on the air? (You can submit all your questions via email.) Get ready for a wild ride at The Primal Endurance Podcast! We have just launched the channel and already jam-packed it with great content!

Click here to visit the iTunes subscription page

Click here to visit the Stitcher subscription page

Help Spread the Word! – Free Barefoot eBook for Your iTunes Review

We need your help spreading the word, and we’ll give you a fabulous free gift for taking a bit of time to write a review on iTunes (populating a channel with reviews is known to be one of the best ways to elevate rankings and listenership.) So, after listening to a few of the great shows that are already up there, chime in at iTunes. After you post your review, click here to access our form, telling us what you published in your review and providing your email address. (The form and this offer expires on Sunday, May 31, so act fast!)

After you submit your form, we’ll email you a copy of my acclaimed new eBook, The Primal Blueprint Definitive Guide to a Barefoot-Dominant Lifestyle. This is no flimsy pamphlet; it’s a comprehensive take on the burgeoning barefoot topic, 34 pages in length with great illustrations and practical advice. This eBook provides a detailed plan of action to help you transition safely and successfully to a more barefoot life, without suffering from the injuries that everyone seems to be so concerned about when you make unwise and abrupt footwear changes. It’s not for sale anywhere; it’s only available when you participate in promotions like this. I really appreciate your efforts to give our new podcast a good listen and share your thoughts with the world!

SOURCE: Mark’s Daily Apple – Read entire story here.