Host Brad Kearns covers a key takeaway from the Primal Endurance book, the list of 7 habits for success in endurance endeavors. In this show, Brad covers the first few habits as follows:

1. Sleep: Sleep comes in at number one. Brad says it’s the next frontier of performance breakthroughs in all sports, especially endurance sports. Quick tips: minimize artificial light and digital stimulation after dark; and awaken each morning, without an alarm, refreshed and energized. If you are training more, sleep more. If you can’t honor the aforementioned maxims, stop training until you can. 

   2. Stress/Rest Balance: Primal-style endurance training allows you to reach for higher highs (breakthrough workouts) and observe lower lows (more rest, shorter, easier recovery workouts, and staying below aerobic maximum heart rate at the vast majority of workouts). It appeals to your competitive intensity by focusing on peak performance and recovery, instead of focusing on the awed notion of “consistency” in this context. 

   3. Intuitive and Personalized: Your training schedule is sensible, intuitive, flexible, and even spontaneous instead of regimented and preordained. Respect your daily life circumstances, motivation levels, stress levels, energy levels, immune function, and moods. This means backing off when tired, but also pursuing breakthrough workouts when you feel great!

Why is sleep so Important? What is so bad about artificial light? How should we “stage” the bedroom? [00:01:00] 

How does one get balance between rest and stress? [00:09:26] 

How can you make your schedule intuitive and personalized? [00:16:21] 

Lights Out:  Sugar, Sleep, and Survival