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Unbelievable quote about Killian
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Jouette. A physiologist called him the
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most extraordinary human being he's ever
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studied. What is it? What makes him that
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different physiologically? Today we're
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looking at the science behind Killian
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Jourett. Where's a good place to start
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unraveling this this extraordinary
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physiology? Well, one thing that might
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surprise people is his diet. For a long
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time, a significant period, Killian
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Jouette was actually vegetarian.
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Vegetarian. Okay. That definitely goes
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against some of the uh traditional
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thinking for elite endurance athletes,
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right? The need for animal protein. It
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does. And the physiologist mentioned,
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you know, his earlier diet was more
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typical, maybe pasta, pizza. The change
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could be down to just better
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understanding or maybe access to
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different foods. And critically, Jouette
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was apparently really open to the
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science, willing to follow
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recommendations. That's key. It came up
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during this huge project called the
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Alpine Connection. You're talking 19
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days straight traversing the Alps,
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hitting loads of 4,000 meter peaks, it
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worked out to something like uh 250 to
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300 hours of physical activity. Just
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intense. Okay. And the diet during that?
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Here's the kicker. Zero animal protein
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for the entire 19 days. None. Seriously.
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And what happened? Did you waste away?
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Nope. No weight loss. And maybe just as
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importantly, no gut issues, no health
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problems reported. That is that's
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genuinely startling. It really makes you
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rethink things, doesn't it? It suggests
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pretty strongly that a well-managed
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plant-based diet can support even that
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kind of extreme output, which kind of
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naturally leads us to his gut, his
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microbiota. Ah, the gut microbiome. The
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physiologist seemed obsessed with it.
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Said he knew Killian's microbiota better
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than anyone after what, 20, 25 analyses.
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That's a lot of testing. It tells you
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how important they believe it is. And
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the science is really catching up to
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this idea, right? that a healthy gut is
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just fundamental. Not just for general
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health, but especially for athletes,
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especially endurance athletes. Gut
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problems are a huge limiter. Something
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like 60 to 80% deal with them. If your
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gut isn't working, you can't absorb
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nutrients, you can't get the energy you
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need. It doesn't matter how good your V2
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max is, if your digestion fails you
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halfway through a race, it's that base
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systemic work like the physiologist
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called it, foundational health. Exactly.
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You need that resilience. He even broke
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down the types of bacteria. There are
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mucalytic ones like acromancia and
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ficalacterium. They interact with the
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gut lining help activate the immune
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system. Then the regulatory ones
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bifidobacteria, lactobacilli involved in
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neurotransmitters, hormones, metabolism.
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You find those in breast milk, right?
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They produce things like butyrate.
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Correct. Those beneficial short- chain
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fatty acids. And then you even have
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pathogenic types like E.coli which also
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play a role in immune modulation. It's
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all about the balance, you know, the
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ecosystem. So, how does this play out in
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extreme conditions like the Everest
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acclimatization study they did? High
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altitude, low oxygen. They track his
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microbiota during weekly exposures up to
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8,000 m. Altitude sickness often
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involves nasty gut issues, diarrhea,
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dehydration, can't keep food down. It's
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a real problem up there. And what did
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they find in his gut during that stress?
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This was fascinating. In the third week,
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just before a summit push, when he also
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had some kind of virus and diarrhea, one
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specific pathogenic bacteria species
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spiked by 2,800%. Huge increase. Now,
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the question is, did the extreme
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environment cause that overgrowth or was
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there maybe a slight imbalance already
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that made him more susceptible under
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stress? But either way, it just hammers
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home how central the microbiota is to
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getting sick, to adapting to your whole
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metabolism. Absolutely. And speaking of
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metabolism, let's talk lactate. Ah,
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lactate, the stuff that makes your legs
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burn and seize up, right? The waste
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product. Well, that's the classic view.
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And yes, producing lactic acid during,
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say, a sprint lowers pH and affects
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muscle function. That's where the whole
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lactate threshold idea comes from. We
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use lactate levels to gauge training
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intensity, recovery needed. That's
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standard practice. It is. But the new
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thinking, the really revolutionary part
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is that lactate isn't just waste. It's
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actually a signaling molecule and it's
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fuel. Fuel for what? For other cells,
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especially slow twitch muscle fibers.
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And get this, for certain gut bacteria
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too, like the lactobacillus and
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bifidobacteria we mentioned. The gut
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bacteria eat lactate. Some of them do
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and they turn it into butyrate, which as
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we said is an energy source itself.
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Provides maybe 20% of our energy from
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those short- chain fatty acids. So
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having a good population of those
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bacteria actually helps you recycle
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lactate and boost performance. Okay,
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mine's slightly blown. Is there data on
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Killian showing this in action? Oh yeah.
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UTMB 2022 Ultra Trail Dum Montlanc at
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kilometer 150. That's after like 17
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hours of running. His blood lactate
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measured 19.9 millles per liter. 19.9.
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Isn't that Isn't that what you'd see in
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a sprinter collapsing after a 400 meter
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race? It's an insanely high level for
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that duration. But what did Killian do?
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He launched an attack, broke away, and
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won the race. He used it. His body
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didn't see it as poison. It saw it as
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fuel. Precisely. It points to this
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incredible metabolic flexibility. It's
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not just about carbo loading. It's the
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ability to efficiently use everything
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glycogen, fats, lactate, even ketone
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body ketones too while taking in carbs
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and producing lactate apparently. So the
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physiologist mentioned his blood work
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showing high cholesterol, high
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triglycerides and ketones present
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alongside that massive lactate level. He
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was tapping into multiple pathways
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simultaneously. That's next level. and
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then he recovers and runs another
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intense race soon after a fast uphill
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race like Sier and all in just three
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hours. It shows that this flexibility
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isn't just a race day trick. It's built
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from that fundamental base systemic
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level, including importantly that
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healthy gut microbiota we talked about.
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So going back to the Alpine Connection
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project, did they look at his microbiota
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during that 19-day noan animal protein
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effort? They did analyze fecal and oral
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samples and the results were again
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pretty remarkable. Significantly higher
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levels like five to 10 times higher than
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the average person of those buty
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reproducing bacteria and other
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beneficial fermentative types and
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incredible diversity overall. Plus they
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found higher levels of what you might
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call ancestral bacteria like ravotella.
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These are linked to fermenting fiber but
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they're often reduced in modern western
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populations because our diets have
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changed, lost diversity. It paints a
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picture of a really robust, resilient
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gut ecosystem. It does. And it also
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serves as a warning maybe how modern
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diets, antibiotics, they can really
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knock back beneficial bacteria like
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bifido bacteria. And once they're
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depleted, it's hard for them to get
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reestablished because other bacteria
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have taken over that niche like bofilm
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in a pipe. You the established ecosystem
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resists change. It makes you cautious
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about say super specialized race diets
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if they come at the cost of long-term
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gut health. That's a key point. You
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don't want to sacrifice that foundation.
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So this metabolic
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flexibility, it's not just about going
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full keto. Then how does he seem to
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achieve it? Doesn't seem to be strict
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keto. No, it's more about applying the
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right kind of stress, the right stimuli
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at the right time. Things like fasted
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training could play a role or
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strategically delaying when you eat
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after a workout. You're basically
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tapping into that physiological state
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created by the exercise to enhance
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adaptation, forcing the body to get
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better at using stored fuel, fasting,
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heat, hypoxia, supplements, it depends
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on the context. Absolutely. And you have
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to be careful. For example, we know
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intense endurance exercise itself can
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temporarily increase gut permeability,
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leaky gut essentially. Right. Now,
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combine that exercise induced leakiness
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with slugging down ultrarocessed sugary
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gels full of additives during a long
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race. That could be a bit of a perfect
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storm for gut problems. You hear about
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that all the time, the dilemma of
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needing fuel, but the fuel causing
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distress. Exactly. So, the approach
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seems to be about training the gut,
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training the body with uh difficulties
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as the physiologists put it, using
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nutritional strategies in training, not
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just saving them for race day. making
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the body more efficient so it's less
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reliant on constant external fueling.
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Killian apparently often trains fasted
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which likely contributes to this
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efficiency. And during UTMB his strategy
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wasn't just slamming simple carbs. What
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else was he using? It included lipids,
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fats, and also lower glycemic, more
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fermentable carbs during the less
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intense parts of the race to feed the
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microbiota. Seems like it support the
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gut bacteria, maybe encourage that
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indogenous glucose production via the
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short chain fatty acids they produce.
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It's a slower, more sustainable energy
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release. Interesting. Did they mention
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things like MCT oil during races?
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Apparently, not during races. Maybe
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sometimes in recovery combined with
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anti-inflammatory foods. And another
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surprising thing, no caffeine during
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competition. No caffeine for an
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ultrarunner. That's unusual. It is. It
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kind of fits with this theme of relying
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on his innate biological capacity
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optimized through training and lifestyle
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rather than external stimulants. Which
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brings us beyond just the pure
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physiology, doesn't it? There's the
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whole person, his passion, his
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lifestyle. Definitely. He grew up in the
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mountains. Training seems driven by
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personal challenge, not rigid schedules.
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It's a holistic picture. And his injury
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record pretty low for someone operating
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at that intensity, right? Although there
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was that knee fracture. Generally low
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injury rate, though that fracture was
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likely traumatic, you know, an accident.
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But there's even a potential gut link
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here between gut health and
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muscularkeeletal injuries. How
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inflammation, systemic inflammation,
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which can be driven by gut issues,
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dispiosis, endotoxmia, which is toxins
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leaking from the gut. That inflammation
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can worsen pain perception and hinder
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tissue repair and recovery. So, a
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troubled gut could make you more prone
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to injury or slower to heal. All disease
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begins in the gut. Modern science is
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adding layers to that, understanding the
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gut immune axis. So if you're treating
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an injury or just optimizing training,
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you really need to consider gut health
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as part of the picture. It seems
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increasingly vital. Think about when
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you're sick, you naturally lose your
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appetite, right? That might be the body
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trying to reduce the load on the gut,
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maybe limit that permeability and toxin
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leakage. Whereas our habit is often to
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force ourselves to eat, maybe making
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things worse. Okay, so wrapping this up,
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Killian Jornet, his incredible
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physiology seems to be this potent mix
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of things. Super efficient lactate use
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like turning waste into high octane
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fuel.
