Comments about ‘Reasons to Run: McRunner fuels up at McDonalds’

Couldn't agree more. Mileage works better than anything else you can do. Most American runners are WAY too preoccupied with all this extra curricular stuff like weight training, diets, stretching, training programs, minimalist shoes, etc. Consequently, we are slower than everyone else. When you boil it all down, if you want to be a good runner, you need to spend a lot of time running. It's that simple. There's no such thing as a junk mile. Sure, a decent diet will help, but if you haven't put in the miles for a 2:30 marathon, you're not going to suddenly run a 2:30 marathon because you were on some sure-fire runner diet. Look at the Kenyans. They aren't fast because they have some super-endurance gene or because they eat a cave-man diet. They are fast because they had to run ten miles to school and back every day on one meal a day, and then when they grow up they run 150 miles per week. Their culture revolves around running. Ours revolves around sitting in front of the TV watching other people exercise. You can see the results...

As for McDonald's and fatty foods in general: if you are training properly for a marathon, you spend a good deal of time training your body to burn fat instead of glycogen. That's what those long, slow 20 milers are for--not just so you can say you ran 20 miles. Since you spend so much time burning fat, it needs to be replaced just like water, carbohydrates or any other nutrient. I will often make a Sonic run and get a big double cheeseburger with fries and a Coke right after a particularly long run, because I'm craving those nutrients of fat, salt, and sugar. That's not to say that I think eating a cheeseburger every day is good for your performance, but on occasion it is actually beneficial.