Posts Tagged ‘book review’

This was a tough book for me to review.  The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Marathon Training by David A. Levine and Paula Petrella required temporarily removing my personal beliefs on marathons (that they’re races you train for because you are a runner) in order to accept the concept of marathons as a “bucket list” item.

My trepidation began on the first page of the introduction when I read this, “If you are tired the next day after a workout, you are overtraining.” Uh oh, this does not bode well…

And on page 6, “When running marathons, men generally find inspiration in the goal of lowering their finish time.  Women tend to focus on the process more, citing reasons like feeling better about themselves and enjoying the challenge.”  I don’t even have a snappy reply for this, it irritates me that much.

Not to say the whole book is full of silliness, there is a good amount of straight info that someone who has never raced will find useful, from explaining what a timing mat is, to gun time vs chip time, to the general subjects found in this type of book (what to wear, nutrition, etc).  It also had a nice, easily digestible section on how the body works, muscles, mitochondria, oxygen, fat vs glycogen, etc.

But things like this give me pause: “The most pervasive marathon misconception is that only elite runners are capable of completing a marathon.” Pervasive on what planet?  Somebody made that up to support the rest of the paragraph because nobody with a working pair of eyes would ever think that’s true.

In the section on hydration during the marathon “…you need to drink every 10 minutes”.  No you don’t.

And this crazy thing “if you are tired the day after a workout you are overtraining” was actually repeated in at least 3 different places.  This tells me the authors don’t know what overtraining is, which makes me question their authority. If you’re tired the day after a workout, you’re not even overreaching.  For the record, overreaching happens before overtraining (which is a serious condition that happens over a period of months) and it sure as hell isn’t something diagnosed from one tired day.  People get tired for tons of reasons that may or may not have to do with exercise.

I also didn’t understand why so many pages were devoted to running form, given the “just get to the finish line” nature of the book.  If you’re going to bring concepts like “stance phase” and “recovery phase” into it, photos should be included. I can only imagine someone who’s never run in their life trying to physicalize that section.

Furthermore, including sections on POSE and Chi Running is truly superfluous, as is telling us Galloway suggests keeping your feet close to the ground while running.  It left me confused on what the authors recommend.  Maybe there is no recommendation but for someone just starting, this has to leave them scratching their heads.

Ditto on the Daniels vs. Lydiard section.  It didn’t make a lot of sense to see this in the context of this book. They talk about some Three Day Plan that I guess we should know about but they won’t name, saying it’s based off Daniels but I’m quite sure Daniels would not approve.

If you just want to finish a marathon with no time goal and you want to do the least it takes to get there, then this book might make sense for you.  Otherwise, I’d be infinitely more inclined to suggest Bob Glover’s Competitive Runner’s Handbook.  It covers all the race distances and is about a subject I hold very near and dear to my heart: Running.

I was intrigued by Chris McCormack’s book I’m Here To Win: A World Champion’s Advice For Peak Performance.  Since I enjoy only one sport and know very little about Triathlons, I thought it’d be a great education while getting to know a most impressive athlete, winner of 12 Ironmans and 7 World Cup Championships among his 200 victories.  I was also excited that the book was going to offer “Championship advice” since I’m a glutton for racing and training tips.

While I learned that “Macca” is truly gifted in his sport(s) to have achieved such an illustrious career, the one thought that popped into my head early on and stuck with me till the end was “what a douche”.

I really tried to remain neutral, thinking “Well, the guy is such an incredible athlete, of course he’s going to tell us over and over how great he is, because he is!” and “I’m just not used to Male Ego type sport books or something, that’s why I’m having a hard time.”  But the more I read, the more I realized it wasn’t my naivete or the fact that I’m female, it’s that he’s petulant, trash-talking and his secret to winning (since he admits his competitors are nearly identical when it comes to talent) is that he uses fine-tuned mental games to bring them down.

As he mentions, he’s a professional athlete, why shouldn’t he use every edge available?  I get that.  But the other guys don’t play that game, a game that starts during an interview, where he’ll compliment his competitor before planting a well-placed seed of doubt by honing in on a weakness, then talking up his own mastery of that very weakness.  He studies his competitors thoroughly to know exactly how to get through as insidiously as possible.

Mental games are also invaluable to his races as he says there were several he shouldn’t have won, but by getting inside his competitor’s head he basically psyched them out enough to win.  I know this sounds laudable and “all’s fair in sport” but the way he tells it, it just makes me dislike him.

As for the “Advice for Peak Performance” that I was looking forward to, the book includes several text boxes scattered throughout with the unfortunate header: Macca’s (W)insights.  One is a list for Avoiding Overtraining and includes “get plenty of sleep” and “listen to your body” and “listen to your coach”.   Another is Dietary Dos and Don’ts that includes “Eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables” and “avoid empty calories”.  Truly brilliant stuff.  (cough)

On the positive note, he includes a 16-week skeleton training program that, if you’re a triathlete, you’ll find interesting.  Also tips specific to the sport.  And I did enjoy his tales of getting into triathlons, quitting his job and turning pro.

I could have done with less lists throughout the book, though, as he runs down each season’s wins along with how many flight miles accumulated, days away from home, etc.  Especially since there’s a thorough list of his wins at the back of the book in a Career Summary and yeah, we figure you travel a lot, you’re a pro athlete.

I fully admit that it’s probably my own preference for a tad more humility that colors my opinion of I’m Here To Win.  Plus the fact that I’m not a guy surely doesn’t help (I bet men will “get him” way easier than me).  But I yam what I yam and I didn’t care too much for this one.

As mentioned a couple weeks back, I received a copy of Run Your First Marathon by Grete Waitz and Gloria Averbuch to review on the blog. The timing is very sad since Grete passed away from cancer only a few short weeks ago.  I actually teared up after the first few pages because it’s there that she refers to herself as a “cancer survivor” which is a heartbreak to read.  But at the same token, it was wonderful to hear her throughout the book, the writing is so personable and supportive that you can truly feel her passion for the sport and her need to share it with the world.

I won’t give you her whole bio but her introduction to the US was a truly surreal story.  She came here in 1978 to be a rabbit (pacer) for the New York City Marathon. This was to be her running swan song as she was going to retire from the sport right after.  The portion of the race she was responsible for leading was the first 12 miles which incidentally, was the distance of the longest training run she’d ever done in her life.  Ever! And you know what that crazy gal did?  She won the damn race! And set a then-world record with a 2:32:30.  The announcers and press didn’t even know who she was when she crossed the finish  line – all they knew was her bib number!  This is the stuff fairy tales are made of.

Now I have to be honest, the book is aimed at extreme beginners, it includes a run/walk program to get sedentary folks into the running realm.  There’s also a simplistic marathon training plan but it’s as basic as they come starting at 14 miles a week and peaking at 37 with no workouts.  The whole idea of the book is to get you to finish a marathon rather than race one.

I’m not saying it’s empty reading by any means, it’s chock-full of classic information for someone who doesn’t know anything about the mysteries behind marathoning.  And like the Kara Goucher book I reviewed a few weeks ago, what I like best in this one are Grete’s personal stories and anecdotes from her running career.  She’s also got a real honesty about her; for example, she shares that she had some, er…nasty GI problems in two of her races but because it was win or lose, she had to keep going.  I have a few racer friends still trying to figure out those problems so it’s cool to see that even some Elites tackle similar troubles.

The book covers the usual areas: training, nutrition/hydration, mental, injury, shoes, the race itself and also includes some excellent candid color photos of racers in all shapes and sizes during the NYC marathon, as well as additional photos of Grete doing stretching exercises.

So my thoughts on the book are this: if you’re one of my regular blog readers, you’re most likely more advanced than the person this book is aimed for.  However, if someone you know is thinking of doing a marathon and needs a basic primer that is not technical but is fun to read and full of solid tips from an amazing marathoner, than this would make a great gift.

Not that I want to dissuade anyone from reading it, you won’t find Grete’s wonderful point of view in any other how-to marathon book, but if you’re looking to race a marathon (as in, focusing on a goal time you want to achieve), you’d be better off with Pete Pfizinger and Scott Douglas’ Advanced Marathoning.

As mentioned previously, I received a review copy of Kara Goucher’s Running For Women and am surprised to say…I actually like it!  Admittedly, I was predisposed to disliking the book because:

1. It’s not a training book written by a coach – those are generally the only types of running books I read

2. I was afraid it would be the same old regurgitated stuff you can find anywhere on the Net

But no, even this cynical running webhead found it to be an entertaining and fun read with some useful tidbits.

My favorite part of the book, hands-down, are her personal accounts scattered throughout.  I loved reading about how nervous she was the first time she ever ran with Paula Radcliffe on a casual training run or when she was injured and gained 30 lbs then had to make an appearance at the Footlocker XC championships feeling like a fat cow.  Tales like that make you realize Elites go through some of the same crap we do. And of course, her progression from a gawky school girl to becoming a star marathoner is very tasty stuff,  indeed.

The book is also peppered with little femme tips/tricks that I got a kick out of, like her method with deodorant, washing hair between workouts, buying mens shoes instead of girls so you’re not stuck with the stupid colors, etc. There are also question/answers sprinkled throughout that aren’t your usual fodder, like whether having sex before a race will affect your performance (Kara’s tried it both ways and found no difference…yay sex!).

I also found some of some of the racing and mental tips she included to be genuinely useful.  There’s something about reading a great athlete’s personal handling of different elements within running and racing that transcends the generic “Runners should do x, y and z”.

Granted, the general training stuff in this book is geared towards less-advanced runners but the way it’s written, in short paragraph chunks, makes for easily-digestible reading without too much time spent talking about the basics.

So while it’s not at all in the same league as a true training book like Jack Daniel’s Running Formula or Brad Hudson’s Run Faster, Kara’s personal anecdotes and useful tips/advice make this an entertaining read and a worthy purchase for your running shelf.