Episode 30: Barry Murray, Sports Nutritionist

Barry Murray

I first heard of Barry Murray on the Ben Greenfield podcast, and was fascinated to learn more from a guy who is running (and winning!) ultra-marathons with little to no reliance on GUs or other carbohydrate based fuel sources.

Barry started off as a biochem major and went on to become a chemist. He discovered he didn't like making drugs, and to relieve some of the pressure from that job he turned to training, getting into triathlons. As many folks do, he quickly realized that triathlon success depended heavily on nutrition, but unlike the rest of us he was able to use his background as a chemist to suss out what was actually going on and how to improve it.

Pursuing education further, he got his Masters in Sport & Exercise Nutrition at the University of Loughborough and along with bumping up his athletic goals into the ultra-marathon distance range he jumped into nutrition coaching & advising full time.

Learning from the work of Louise Burke along with Voleck & Phinney, he pieced together his method of turning his body into primarily burning fat for energy, and began to share what he learned with the athletes around him. They saw the benefit not just in burning cleaner but also by not having to eat every 15 minutes they could avoid much of the GI upset possibility that can be a game-ender in an endurance event.

He now coaches elite athletes in both cycling (Tour de France teams) as well as ultra running, and practices what he preaches.

Over the course of the last 4 years he has developed & implemented his method of training & racing in a fasted state for a low to no-carb fueling plan. This isn't the Atkins diet or a no-carb plan, and Barry talks about not just how many carbs to add, but when to add them in and how that contributes to your performance & recovery.

Barry talks about how long it takes to become "fat adapted" (hint: it ain't a 3 week easy fix), when you should take in carbs, specifically a pint of Guinness, and how he came to be one of the leaders in endurance performance nutrition coaching.

If podcasting isn't your thing and you'd rather read about Barry, here's a link to his website, www.optimumnutrition4sport.com

Nik Hawks

Author

Nik Hawks helps run the show at Paleo Treats. Fascinated by humans in all their strange glory, Nik is harnessed in and pulling hard in pursuit of excellence with the rest of the PT Crew. Enjoy!

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