"Going Tribal"

Evolution Running, by Ken Mierke

            In my latest reading, Christopher McDougal described the way he was able to fix his running stride. Eric Orton, the crippled man responsible for his substantial change, went about doing so in a very “untraditional” way. He told McDougal that he didn’t have to change his diet- it would change by itself- and he didn’t need to stretch before working out. In fact, Orton went so far as to claim that stretching and yoga actually caused injuries. That was definitely something I had never heard before. In a sense, however, Orton wasn’t really training the author through an “untraditional” method; he wanted McDougal to train in a “tribal” manner- the way that humans had trained for thousands of years.

Eric Orton training

            Orton trained McDougal using Ken Mierke’s “Evolution Running” style. This was based on the Tarahumara’s running style, and focused on developing a shorter stride but moving one’s legs faster and burning fat instead of sugar. It seems kind of strange, but the way to activate this “fat-burning furnace” is by staying under your aerobic threshold. Eric suggested that McDougal do this by running barefoot, like the Tarahumara. Within only two weeks, Eric was sending McDougal off on two hour runs, so it’s quite apparent that this method is very effective.