Murphy T. J. - Unbreakable Runner: Unleash the Power of Strength & Conditioning for a Lifetime of Running Strong

Copyright 2014 by T.J. Murphy and Brian MacKenzie

This book is intended as a reference only. The information it contains is designed to help you make informed decisions about your own health and fitness programs. It is not intended as a substitute for professional medical or fitness advice. As with all exercise programs, you should seek your doctors approval before you begin.

All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America by VeloPress, a division of Competitor Group, Inc.

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ISBN 978-1-937715-14-4

eISBN 978-1-937716-62-2

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Cover design by Scott Erwert

Cover photograph, exercise photographs in , and Brian MacKenzie author photograph by Christopher Bishow

T.J. Murphy author photograph by Scott Draper

Version 3.1

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Dedicated to Kelly Starrett; Barry Sears; Nicholas Romanov; and especially my coauthor, Brian MacKenzie, whose steadfast courage in applying clear thought and experimentation to solve old, deep-rooted problems is as inspiring as it is appreciated.

T.J. Murphy

I dedicate this to every athlete, every coach, and every person who has reminded me that change and an open mind are the only way we advance anything. It is with great conviction that I know this is not the only way to train. My only purpose has been to be a messenger and to tell the truth about what weve learned.

Forever a student.

Brian MacKenzie

In my home office, I keep a file cabinet and bookshelf that together serve as a central repository for what I consider indispensable information regarding my running and athletic performance. Its a sacred place where I catalog the various books, reports, and studies meticulously gathered from the world of sports science. As my wife described in a chapter she authored in my book Run!, I can get pretty swept away in detailing the nutrition and gear strategies that go into an obstacle race or a run across the continent. I love it allits what I live for.

This storehouse of information represents my passion for being a student of the vast amount of work that goes into the before part of racing and preparing the bodyand the mindfor the rigors of endurance competition. How can I fine-tune my diet toward optimal health? How can I use strength training to maximize performance and prevent injury? What can I do to improve my running form and efficiency? What is the best way to train for varying distances and varying conditions? What sort of gear and acclimatization strategy are optimal for the subzero cold of the South Pole or the blazing heat of Death Valley?

The reward comes on days when things flow perfectly, when the miles unfold in sync and all goes smoothly and according to plan.

But perhaps an even more valuable payoff for my obsession with the ancillary topics related to human performance comes on those days when things dont go according to plansuch as when your body starts rebelling in the first 30 miles of a 3,000-mile Run Across America. Thats when you really learn about what your body needs, whether its a particular kind of food, a more targeted hydration and electrolyte replenishment plan, or improved stability and strength. With each problem that arises, I think back to the data Ive collected, and I try to recall the relevant advice and information that Ive read. Much of my success in running has been due to my ability to apply this information to get back on track.

My passion for absorbing as much knowledge as possible about the art and science of distance running has, without a doubt, been crucial to an increasingly long, injury-free ultrarunning career. In a sport widely known as a pursuit in which feet, knees, and hips routinely get chewed up, my record is something of an oddity. Ive been able to keep running mile after mile without issues, and I credit my willingness to sometimes do things differently, to experiment with training, in order to get the absolute best out of myself.

To some people I might seem obsessive, but there are others who share my passion for understanding the act of running and for constantly seeking to improve. Brian MacKenzie is one of these. For a new generation of runners around the world who have taken up CrossFit and CrossFit Endurance, Brian has been a godsend. His hunger for knowledge has been insatiable since he himself started chasing the dragon, as he likes to call the beast that is long-course endurance racing. Whether hes competing in ultramarathons or Ironman triathlons, Brian has feverishly tinkered with the many variables that go into the craft, from diet to minimalist footwear to the use of strength conditioning as a way both to improve performance and to ward off injury.

Brians strategies and coaching methods are employed at CrossFit gyms and other training facilities across the planet. His rigorous process of testing and evaluating new ideas, and interesting combinations of new ideas, has opened doors to coaches and runners, offering proven solutions to a myriad of problems that persistently vex runners of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds.

Thanks to the pioneering work of mavericks like Brian, the running world is increasingly tuning in to the merits of high-intensity strength training and progressively making diet and nutrition central components of an athletes overall life. The image of the distance runner as a lone figure who simply logs tons of miles while carboloading truckloads of pasta is fading fast. The world has progressed.

This book represents Brians current thinking on how best to become an unbreakable runner. And dont we all want to be that? It is a valuable tool that is now indispensable on my bookshelf and has helped me immeasurably in my preparation for the next adventure.

May the journey never end!

DEAN KARNAZES

New York Times best-selling author-athlete Dean Karnazes once ran 50 marathons in all 50 states in 50 consecutive days. Named by Time magazine as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People on Earth, Dean lives with his wife and family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The first time Brian MacKenzie and I corresponded, it wasnt pretty. We wanted to kill each other.

I was editor in chief of Triathlete magazine, and I had a freelance writer working on a story about MacKenzie and the controversial training program he had founded, CrossFit Endurance (CFE). Depending on whom you listened to, it was either the best training innovation since the interval workout or a fatal virus out to destroy all that was pure and good in running.

As I started to sense how polarizing MacKenzie and the program were, I took a few steps back. In the magazine world, more complicated stories sometimes get pushed to a later issue, or they sometimes get killed completely and never run. We decided to push this story to a later issue so we could take our time with it. Wires got crossed, and although I had only delayed the story, it was MacKenzies understanding that Id killed it.