Michael 'The Fruitarian' Arnstein eventually dropped out because of hamstring issues, but his WS100 race report is an interesting read anyway. We learn most from our mistakes and failures, right?
In the video interview below The Fruitarian denies taking any supplements whatsoever (at the end, go to 9 mins). However in the race report, he talks about salt supplements all the time, and mentions taking them on a regular basis when training. Something here does not add up. It's none of my business, but this is probably something he could improve.
A couple of Fruitarian's running buddies did better: Oz Pearlman finished in 19:53 (27th/Men) and Jamil Coury finished also earned his silver buckle with 21:41 (47th/Men).
Check out this video of their 1000lbs fruit and veg stash in Squaw Valley.
There also was an article about Mike in NaturalNews recently: 'Run Faster without Fast Food as Fuel'.
5 comments:
I looked at the Utube again, The key thing that was missing there is - Nerve force and proper sodium balance in his body. There were a few things that he did not anticipate forehand. I realize that this is his first 100 mile run and preparation comes with experience and practice but I also think it comes from really listening to your body and your intuition. I don’t think he is really in touch with his intuition.
I was trying to see what he was eating and what went wrong. He talks about eating a cooked meal and then not feeling so great for the next two days, tremendous loss of energy there.
I also looked at all the stuff he was going to eat during the race and I noticed that there were no leafy greens at all. I saw some butter lettuce and celery but not much of greens, like green kale, not bitter kale, the light green variety, no romaine lettuce and spinach. Even blending some romaine lettuce with Orange juice would have helped him tremendously. May be they did blend some celery with his orange juice, I don't know.
There is a difference between sodium and sodium chloride. The body needs sodium; it doesn't need sodium chloride (common table salt or organic sea salt) Sodium stabilizes water balance in our bodies; it plays an intricate role in nervous system function. Plants contain significant amounts of sodium, and it is by eating the plants that we obtain the sodium we need. Sodium is found naturally in many vegetables and greens.
It was shocking to read that he was taking salt pills during his training. The fact that he didn’t use any on the day of the event must have affected him physically and mentally. It was a big step for him to not take salt pills when he didn’t know the odds. He must have had doubts while running especially when he had cramps. Once you have doubts mentally your performance suffers physically.
He should have trained and experimented with plant salts rather than experiment on the day of the race.
Fruit is great, but what really helps is quality rest, especially for frugivores. The only way to recuperate is through rest. Which is accumulated over time. I don't think he is getting enough rest. And it is a very difficult habit to incorporate on a consistent basis.
He is a good athlete but he is definitely lacking nerve energy. I am glad you posted this clip. It helps me see what others are doing and how they train.
All those dates could have messed his body up. As a frugivore, I can’t eat dates at all. And I personally don’t consider dates a good food source :) although I have to admit I am not a runner.
PS: If you ever come across anyone who is raw and doing weight training and cross training with out taking steroids and performance enhancing drugs please let me know.
Thanks for interesting comments Michelle. We runners are often blind to our mistakes, which may be obvious to others.
When I was on cooked fatty food I used to take salt during exercise and magnesium after. Now as a raw frugivore I don't take any supplements (I take some raw organic honey though). I agree the Fruitarian should lose the s-caps asap and take more salty greens daily - especially before a race like this.
I also noticed these 'fruitarian' dudes seriously lacked salty vegs in their pre-race diet. They only seemed to have some cauliflower (30 mg sodium/100g), iceberg lettuce (10 mg) and tomato (5 mg).
They probably had some juiced celery as well, because that's what they had during the race. I agree celery is one of the best sources (80 mg), but I personally prefer blenders to juicers. I'm afraid juicers lose many essential nutrients?
By the way, according to Nutritiondata.com green leaf (28 mg) and red leaf (25 mg) lettuce are ok sources salt-wise, but for example romaine (8 mg) and butterhead (5 mg) are too low-salt for ultrarunners.
Like you mention spinach (79 mg) and kale (43 mg) are great. Also parsley (56 mg).
I agree sodium (from veggies not pills) + sleep = recovery (nerve energy). However before a big race it's often difficult to sleep enough because we runners are used to running every day and tapering drives us crazy!
Hey what's up with all that talk about dates not being good food? That's bad news for someone like me who has 6 kilos of Medjools waiting in the fridge and the biggest race of the year coming up this Saturday!
Although it's only 110 km (50K less than a 100-miler), I'm honestly pretty nervous already as I've never run that long before. The loop course is in Swiss Alps with 6,904 m (22,651 ft) cumulative ascent/descent - that's way more total climbing than in WS100, due to steeper hills. Do you think I shouldn't take any dates during the race or what?
Sorry don't know any raw weight and cross training athletes, Charlie Abel comes to mind though. He claims to be 100% raw since 2002 and in 2005 he made a video 'How to build muscle on a raw food diet': http://www.archive.org/details/OrganicAthlete_2005_09_24j_Charlie_Abel
I don’t think runners are blind to their mistakes, I think sometimes one can miss subtle clues because one is not really paying attention to ones body.
Many individuals have come to the conclusion that a raw frugivore diet is deficient or flawed in some way, without realizing that it was simply allowing them to experience the true consequences of under-resting and under-sleeping.
Most people cannot handle these consequences, because reversing the situation requires that one make a commitment to being in bed at a natural hour, somewhere between 7 pm and 10 pm, the time that most would prefer to be seeing a movie, watching television, going out to eat, drinking in a bar, or listening to a band. It requires a big sacrifice to change one’s outlook completely, and to submit to the natural restrictions that nature and the laws of physics impose upon our physiology.
A frugivore, must, therefore, rely upon the body’s only true source of genuine energy: rest and sleep. This requires a disciplined, consistent, well-planned, long-term regimen of a type that the majority of people are simply unable or unwilling to implement. It means, at a minimum, obtaining 9-10 hours of sleep each and every night, for the rest of one’s life. This is non-negotiable, because the laws of thermodynamics and entropy are not willing to bargain with us on the matter. If the body does not obtain this rest, it will not be able to recharge its electrical-nervous system, which it depends upon in order to process and utilize the fuel found in fruit.
Anything less than 9-10 hours of sleep, and the frugivore will find that an ever-worsening depression and malaise will take root, a pervasive physical weakness, and a sense that the body is falling apart. These are all symptoms that the body initiates, in its wisdom, to let us know that something serious is going wrong. For those on cooked diets, these symptoms will not arise, and the lack of rest will not manifest in the same way, because stimulants are being used to override the body’s needs. Without sufficient sleep, the frugivore body begins having difficulty processing glucose, leading to blood sugar disorders. Production of human growth hormone (HGH) decreases, leading to a lack of regeneration on a cellular level. Oxygen uptake decreases, leading to a lack of efficient metabolism of nutrition and waste. Therefore, the frugivore has no choice but to pay into his or her “sleep account” on a daily basis, as deferment to a later date is impossible. ☺
The cooked eater, on the other hand, is on the “pay later” plan. By ingesting cooked food, they are able to shock the body into releasing latent reserves of vital energy to keep systems functioning in a way that disguises the true lack of the body’s needs being met. The artificial stimulation serves as a replacement for the nerve energy that the raw frugivore can only obtain through the recharging effect of sleep.
There is a misconception that food provides energy. This is not true. Food is only the fuel for the body. Energy on the other hand, comes from the body’s ability to use its nerve energy to burn this fuel efficiently. The raw frugivore must obtain this nerve energy through sleep and through abstaining from using spices, as spices severely deplete nervous energy. The cooked eater replaces this nerve energy with the stimulation derived from spices and cooked foods, and is thus able to function for many years while incurring an energy deficit. Just as a car is unable to burn even the highest quality fuel with a dead battery, the human body cannot process sugars properly without a “battery” source in the form of nerve energy.
Most Frugivore Athletes know intellectually what they need to do to succeed ☺ but very few are willing to implement the changes they need to make. That’s why very few frugivores succeed in extreme sports ☺.
I agree with you about juicers. I personally prefer blenders. Dates are super sweet and dry, so I think a combo of:
1) Banana / Celery
2) Banana/Kale (non bitter)
3) Orange/Celery
is much better food source.
I understand that dates are easy to carry and provide a lot of sugar, but it's not normal for the body to deal with such concentrated sugars in such a dehydrated form. Personally I think that on these long distance runs you need to have your support crew bring you fuel in the form of fruits blended with sodium rich greens and water.
If you do eat dates they should certainly be soaked and blended to offset some of the dehydration. Personally I find soaked dates repulsive, but I find eating dried dates on a long run to be even worse.
I admire athletes like you who do extreme sports, but I prefer balance in my own life ☺. Being a consistent frugivore is challenging enough without adding physical and emotional stress as well as the extreme heat while running. ☺ I work out every day but I still need 9-10 hours of sleep to feel great on a day-to-day basis.
Since you are on the frugivore diet please ensure that you have enough sodium, I want you to be successful. Make sure you don't end up depleting yourself. This last weekend you have had some good insights from other athletes. It is very important that you prepare yourself and learn from other people’s mistakes.
Another thing that might help you is for you to run the “loop course” in your mind and feel the whole race before you even attempt it physically on Saturday.
Whenever you have the time, sit down somewhere very comfortable while you are listening to your favorite music ☺ now close your eyes and see yourself running the course from start to finish with ease and great emotional poise. See yourself being consistently fueled, being calm and centered, see yourself making good progress time wise ☺ Don’t just see it but also feel it in your body. Feel your feet flying through the course, feel the joy, the wonder, and the beauty around you, feel your oneness with all things. Every tree, every bush, every mountain, you are a part of it. Go to bed feeling this oneness.
The reason why I liked Kilian Jornet’s interview so much is because that kid was not running to win, he was running because it made him happy. There is a big difference when you do something because it makes you happy. When your heart is involved you are unbeatable. And Jornet won.
May you be very successful on Saturday.
Metha
I met Charlie Abel and his wife in 2005. Thank you for the information. ☺
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