Review of Mark Cucuzzella's Book: Run For Your LIfe

I just finished reading Dr. Mark Cucuzzella’s new book Run for Your Life, well I finished it a few weeks ago but took some time to get this written up, and think it is a book that needs to be on every runner’s shelf.  No let me rephrase that; it needs to be wherever it needs to be to get read and re-read.  While I have not met Mark in person, hope to one day, I consider him a friend and was grateful when he offered me the book to review.  Truth is I had it on pre-order before he contacted me and was looking forward to reading it so being given this book in no way influenced the review that will follow.  By the way if you want to learn a little more about Mark you can read an interview I did with him.

Always hard, well for me it is, to review a book such as this that contains so much information, and great information at that.  The difficulty is in sharing enough information to let people get a feel for the book but not so much as to re-write the book.  Here is my attempt to give you a taste for this great book.  I am going to do is give a short overview of each section.

Before I do this a little bit about the format of this book.  The book is broken up into 3 sections that deal with Getting Started in Running, Running Itself & General Running Related Info.  Within each of these sections are a number of topics with one of the most useful aspects of this book being the activities at the end of each chapter.  Mark did not just simply supply information and leave it at that, as good as that would be, he also supplies what are called “Drills” which are exercises, things to do, that allow one to put each chapter into action.  Thus, what you have read is then able to move from just being information to being action and then hopefully move into being a habit.  Let me also add that there is a website that is free to access that contains many of the excises and drills you will read about in the book: Run For Your Life

Here is an overview of the book:

Part 1: Before the Starting Line
In this section Mark looks at who we are and how we are built to run.  While I do not hold to the same evolutionary position as Mark that does not change my agreement with the final conclusions that he shares. I simply see the body, and its many parts, as the grand design of God and thus is still a miracle to look at and to see how it all works together.

Mark does a great job of showing how all the parts in the body work together to enable us to move and most of all run.  We were not designed just to sit as most of us, me included, do but to move and be active. Mark also shows how not moving and being inactive as we so often are are affects, negatively, other aspects of out physiology.  Thus moving is critical to living a healthy and vibrant life.  In the last section of the book Mark will touch on this but so much of what we do today leads to inactivity and being indoors when we get the most out of life moving and being in outside.

This section of the book starts with helping us gain an understanding of the body as a system.  The importance of seeing things as a system, as a whole, is important as it allows us to see how interrelated all of our body parts and systems are involved in moving.  Often when talking about running people just want to jump right in with what they can do to get going.  Mark does that in the accompanying drills but the main crux of this first section of the book is to set the ground work as to how the body is supposed to function.  This builds a foundation for what is to follow so that when we work to move as we were designed to do we can do so as the body was intended.

Chapters in Part 1

• Out Bodies are older then we think
• Stand up and Breath
• Walk Before You Run
• The World is Flat If You’re a Foot
• The Springs That Move Us

Part 2: The Body in Motion
Part 2 builds on the initial information and drills provided in Part 1 so as to move to help us get the most out of our bodies, and not just for running.  What is really good about Run For Your Life is that Mark does not simply provide direction so as to run farther and faster.  He goes farther, which explains the title of the book, as he gives direction to live better and enjoy life more - not simply in the area of running.

Running farther and faster is great and I think you will be able to do so from all that is provided in this book and from the information in this chapter.  However, of more importance, and worth, is to be able to live better.  So often in life we speak of the length of life, and thus quantity, but when you look at the public who may be living longer the quality of life is not so glowing and thus they are not really “living.”

I appreciate that Mark did not avoid the often-controversial subject of nutrition and diet.  I use the word diet here not to speak of a particular way to eat but to relate to how we are to eat as a lifestyle and practice. Mark deals with not just how to eat to run faster but speaks to how one can eat to live better.  Again, the idea behind his book is for the reader to live better through a fuller understanding of ones body and how it works and what to do to have them work as designed.

Various areas are covered, as you will see below, in this section with all subjects - from form to rest - being important for one's running and life.  The order of the chapters also work together in a logical order as it starts with style/form and ends with avoiding injuries.  With all the aspects building on each other to work towards a more efficient system that in the end will allow one to indeed avoid the injuries that plague most runners.

Thus, Part 2 is where the rubber meets the road and where you put into practice the principles of Part 1

Chapters in Part 2

• The Elements of Style
• The Engine That Runs US: Build Endurance
• Move More and “Exercise” Less
• Eating to Got the Distance: Nutrition and Health
• What’s for Dinner: Setting Your Meal Course
• Recovery is Training
• Running a Marathon
• The Runner’s High: The Mind of a Winner
• Outsmart Injuries with Prevention

Part 3: Running is For Everyone
In this last section Mark deals with a variety of subjects such as women, aging, our connection with the outdoors and seeing the importance of our communities.  This part of the book in covering these various topics wraps up all that has gone before it so as to conclude the book covering areas often left out or kept for books of their own.  One area I did appreciate was his focus in the last chapter on communities.

We live in a world were we are all interconnected and in a more and more narcissistic and self absorbed individualistic world this is good to be reminded of.  Also, since running can be, and often does become, a very individual endeavor the idea of community is a good reminder.  When Mark speaks of working in the community he knows what he speaks of as he has done much in his community to change minds and the health of those around him.  Again, running can, and often is, a sport that leads one to be self absorbed so we need to be reminded that this is not to be and instead see how though running communities can be changed.

Chapters in Part 3

• Women are Pulling Away from the Pack
• Young at Heart
• Healthy at Any Age
• The Nature Cure
• Running in Place: The health of our Communities

Appendix
In the appendix Mark provides even more information including a plan for using the drills previously given by breaking them down into four groups: 1) Mobility/Stability, 2) Awakening Your Springs, 3) Strengthening Your Springs & 4) Extras.  These drills are provided in a format that makes them easier to use plan for using them so as to work on your some training plans.  Mark also provides training plans for running a 5k, 1/2 Marathon or Marathon using much of what has been discussed in the book thus further putting into action all that has been discussed

I hope this brief review of Mark's book was helpful and if you have not already order a copy you will do so.  As you can tell I highly recommend reading Run For Your Life, and probably more than once as I need to do.  If you know anyone just starting out running or looking to do so give this book to them as a gift and as a starting point for their journey.  Hey, give it as a gift to yourself – you will be glad you did.

Check out these resources:

• Run For Your Life Website 
• Natural Running Center 
• USAF NRC Efficient Running Training Modules 

Q & A With Mark Cucuzzella

Mark ( 2377 ) 2017 Boston

I want to thank Dr. Mark Cucuzzella, who is a fellow Dr Phil Maffetone enthusiast and has the website as well as being the founder and owner of Two River Treads,   walking and running store, for answering some questions I sent to him.  Being one of the admins at The Maffetone Method FB group I thought it would be nice to have his thoughts on a number of areas.  Mark, who also just competed the 2017 Boston Marathon in 2:56:03 at age 50, has run a sub 3:00 marathon a year for the last 30 years is an avid barefoot runner and all-around great source of information.
Natural Running Center

Mark will be presenting alongside Dr. Maffetone this weekend (April 26-29, 2017) at Healthy Running San Luis Obispo.  According to Mark you can still come! www.healthyrunning.org.  Also Dr. Maffetone shared Mark's story last year.

Now lets get into the interview:

Q: What is your regular diet?  Would you consider your diet LCHF or some version of it?

Definitely LCHF and flux between 50-100g of healthy carbs/ day (sometimes less).  May have an occasional day over this but rarely.  If you download the “real lists” on Real Meal Revolution I am pretty much green list with occasional dips into the orange for good quality fruit and legumes.  Bread and grains almost 100% gone other than a rare treat of thin crust homemade pizza where the wonderful toppings buffer the little bit of homemade crust (which is loaded with olive oil).

Q: What are your thoughts on MET (Metabolic Efficiency Training) and being fat adapted?  Do you think this works for shorter distances as well as long?

The key is about restoring your health, and then your workouts will go well either high intense or endurance.  So if you are insulin resistant (IR)/carb intolerant  you need to be fat adapted for your health.  Phil’s White Paper spells it out. I have some good friends crushing their Crossfit workouts once they figured out they were IR.

http://naturalrunningcenter.com/2017/03/07/burn-fat-health-performance-better-butter-burner/

Q: How do you fuel your training runs & races?  What are your thoughts on fasted runs?

For training it’s pretty much all fasted.  I going for long morning run I get up and have good coffee then go.  I’m never hungry or feel depleted during long runs anymore. For long races where performance (not adaptation) is the goal I have a low carb cocktail of UCAN, VESPA, and a packet of Keto OS.  If I can get it on the course I will use UCAN Hydrate (zero cal electrolyte) and Superstarch and a VESPA every couple hours. I think for fat adapted athletes there may be some benefit to a little exogenous ketone salt before the race.  Not much science yet on this and like every strategy we are all individuals who need individual self-assessments in training and racing

Q: What are your thoughts on Carbohydrate Intolerance/Insulin Resistance?  Do you think this is pretty regular occurrence in the general public or a person by person thing to figure out?  Also, how much of this do you think comes from how our food, in general, has been modified or processed?

I see this as the root cause of patients who have obesity, pre DM/DM, Fatty Liver, High Blood Pressure, Coronary Disease, and metabolic syndrome.  This is about 70% of the US population now.  Dr. Gerald Reaven who has published 800 papers should have won the Nobel Prize with the discovery of what he termed “Syndrome X” over ten years ago.  He outlined the cascade of nefarious pathways ignited by IR and hyperinsulinemia.  The foods that accelerate the slow steady march to IR are the sugar sweetened beverages (incl. juice), all process grains, added sugar products, and refined vegetable oils.

Dr. Tim Noakes explains it well in “The Real Meal Revolution” as well Gary Taubes in his 3 best selling books “Good Calories, Bad Calories”, “Why We Get Fat”, and “The Case Against Sugar”.  “New Atkins for a New You” by Drs Phinney, Volek, and Westman is another must read and was the book that sent Dr. Noakes down this rabbit hole.

People need to check their HgA1c, fasting glucose and insulin levels, and well as glucose and insulin levels after a load of glucose (called a glucose tolerance test).  This will give an individual an objective measure.  NMR Lipid Profile can also give you a IR score.

Q: When did you start running barefoot?  How long did it take you to adapt to running regularly barefoot?

Started full barefoot in 2011 when asked to speak on this topic at the Boston Marathon. I 2 months could go on 10 mile runs with no shoes on smooth pavement or grass.  This is not the norm.  I had been full on minimal with a focus on form for a solid 5 years at this point so was essentially there other than adapting the soles of the feet.

I presented this video at the Boston Conference as a demonstration that this was not academic theory, but something anyone could learn safely.

Q: How did you come about with your thoughts on form and barefoot running?

I was always geeked out about the biomechanics from a foundation of understanding the role of spring and fascia.  Dr. Irene Davis has enlightened me on the importance of the foot.  I would read something and then try to feel it while running.  South African Sports Chiropractor Dr. Lawrence Van Lingen has helped shaped my thought with his endless curiosity.  Jay Dicharry and Dr. Ray McClanahan also huge influencers who also treat runners.  I think the video we shot in 2012 for UVA Run Med Conference is still pretty spot on.

Q: What are your thoughts on cadence?  So many have issues, me included, when they try for 180 cadences when running slowly, especially when starting MAF.  Do you think that the 180 number might change as one gets taller?

The cadence is about how your foot functions.  If you have a springy foot like a child the 180 is natural.  If your foot behaves like a hacky sac then it is more difficult.  Just try jumping rope or hopping on one foot barefoot, you will get your answer. If you have hallux valgus your will never have a springy foot.  The foot will collapse and land with a “thud”.  Correct Toes from Dr. Ray have been my lifesaver since I have this condition.

Mark @ the JFK 50 Miler

Q:  With how low your HR was for the first 43 miles or so of the JFK 50, under 100, lots of people were wondering how long it took to get there.  Do you regularly train at your Maximum Aerobic Function (MAF)?  Do you use the standard 180-Age with some adjustments?  If so how long have you been training like this?  I know I have been running for many years so early on since Arthur Lydiard was influential some of my early training was probably at MAF but did not know it.  Do you train in cycles and when do you add speed work and how do you do that?

I started training with MAF HR in 2000 after reading a Maffetone article about Mark Allen.  Ran an amazingly comfortable 2:28 for 3rd place at the 2000 Marine Corps Marathon after about 4 months full MAF. Haven’t looked back since.  I rarely use HR in training now and breathe through the nose. This assures aerobic without needing technology.  I’m a Ludite by nature.  When I do put HRM on I am usually below 130 on an easy/moderate training run.  I keep a strong base year round and a couple months before a main marathon will dial in a longer and quicker 2 hour run to get a feel of race tempo.  This is not “hard”, it’s just a quicker gear. I do drills daily as shown here on these short videos.

Q:  I have seen you mention that you do strides daily, can you explain the reason and how many, how long and how fast they are?

I do strides as a form of neuromuscular training.  Lydiard called these “alactic sprints” The goal of training is to gain endurance and speed without running “hard”. I do 4 to 6 of maybe 50-80 yards on grass.  I aim for fast turnover as fast as I can go on the last couple.  Again they are so short this is not hard or acidotic.  When done all joints are mobilized and sets me up to recover optimally.  Just do not return to 6 hours of sitting after these sessions.

Q: Will wearing regular running shoes occasionally, and even on a more regular basis, impede progressing towards a more natural running form?

In my opinion yes.  Mix up the surfaces and paces of your runs but stay as minimal as possible for the proprioception and optimizing foot function.  If you need a lot of cushion to recover you are training too hard. Better to do easy runs and recovery ridiculously slow using the body as designed vs using an adaptation (structured and over-cushioned shoe). After several months/years your body will tell you what is best, and I’ve never seen anyone who starts down this path go back to the big bulky shoes.

Q: Do you train exclusively barefoot, or w/sandals, or do you wear conventional running shoes as well?

At this point almost all my running barefoot or sandals (with Injinji socks if cold).  Hard to explain but there is a feeling of freedom in the sandals.  I have thin sandals for smooth terrain and thicker ones for trails.  Weather proof  Vibrams are great in the snow. Now that it is spring weather the shoes are coming off again.  For runners entering the space a firm level training shoe with some protection is a good entry in and may be the ideal long term place to be.  At Two Rivers Treads we carry Newton, Altra, Topo, Merrell, ON, NB Minimus, Inov8 and some others which our customers really enjoy and I stand behind.  The lifestyle shoe is critically important and make this your covert foot strengthening system.  The brands VivoBarefoot, Lems, and OESH have some great minimal shoes for all occasions. Support small business and shop with us online!

Q:Are there plyometric or other drills and exercises you recommend to help injury prevention and if so how often?

I do light plyos almost daily as part of my runs. The whole routine of skips, plyos, burpees, mountain climbers, and short sprints is a 10 minute investment for the present and the future. The drills shown on prior question are all a form of plyometric. Episode 3 on this page also has some good light plyos.  Doing them with my kids!

Q:Along those same lines, do you advocate foam rolling or any other work to relieve tight calves or hip flexors ?

I have a morning routine with a roller for quads and calves and movement exercises for hip mobility.  This needs to be individualized for each runner and has to be so simple that it becomes an ingrained habit.  When the coffee is brewing I’m on the ground with the dog doing my morning routine.  This is good attention time for my dog too. To her its 10 minutes of pure love as she gets some good belly rubs.  I do not roll aggressively, just easy massage with breathing.  Your muscles should feel supple between your fingers, a cue your fascia is healthy.  Healthy diet and not overtraining is more important than rolling in my opinion.  It’s best not to create damage in the first place!

Q: Lastly for those of us in our more “mature” years how has your training changed as you have gotten older? What percentage of your training is spent on preventative maintenance and prehab to maintain flexibility and joint mobility? While you have touched on some extra drills and exercises are there any things you have found specific to people as they age that you recommend?

Great question.  It used to be 100% run, rush, pile in lots of quick carbs, and get back to work.  My mileage maxed out at about 70-80 miles per week in college and later in my 20 and 30’s when I was running faster marathons and getting close to Olympic Trails standard.  I wish I knew half of what I do now as I was trying to run the Trials standard of 2:22.  Managed 2:24 twice but always hurt myself in the process.

Now it is about 70% running and 30% strength, drills, and mobility.  Total running volume now at most is 50-60 miles a week in a 2 month marathon build.  Like many overextended people, I have learned the hard way to make sleep more of a priority.  Engaging and helping those in my community find health through better diet and easy aerobic activity also keeps me honest to the principles and makes me want to go to work every day.  When we get older it’s about “purpose” , not one’s individual goal of a PR in some race.  I think I have found my purpose through communities like this one following the principles of my good friend and mentor Dr. Phil Maffetone who to me is truly “Yoda”.  So keep passing it forward.

Thanks again to Mark for his answers and I encourage everyone to go to his website the Natural Running Center and this post is also up on his site as well.