How to Train For and Run Your Best Marathon: Valuable Coaching From a National Class Marathoner on Getting Up For and Finishing: Amazon.ca: Gordon Bloch: Books

Product Description

Book Description

From a national class marathoner who qualified for the Olympic Trials--valuable coaching on gearing up for and finishing a marathon. Bloch explains the benefits of cross-training for marathon runners, offers winning strategies specific to individual race courses, and more.

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First Sentence
What is this event known as the marathon? Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

20 Reviews

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Basics for the beginning marathoner, Aug 31 2003

By

vegan runner (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Train For and Run Your Best Marathon: Valuable Coaching From a National Class Marathoner on Getting Up For and Finishing (Paperback)

I'm going to be running my first marathon in June 2004, and this was a great book for acquainting me with the marathon. I especially enjoyed that the first chapter included testimonials from various ordinary people about their first marathon.

Also there is a countdown chapter, telling you what to do in the month, weeks, days, and last day before the marathon; as well as a whole chapter dedicated to the race itself. I found this very helpful because though I have run shorter races the marathon was kind of a mystery to me.

However, I picked up this book expecting to get a little more information in certain areas:

1) Stretching. The author mentions stretching, when to do it, and why it is important, but no advice on technique (pictures or diagrams and/or simple descriptions would have been helpful).

2) Female concerns. A whole chapter is devoted to "Concerns of Female Marathoners" but no mention is ever made of sport bras, and periods are only talked about in conjunction with the concern of missing or ceasing to have them altogether - nothing about running while on your period, etc.

Finally, I found that some of the nutrition information was a little outdated (the book is, after all, ten years old). The author recommends combining foods to get complete proteins, which is an obsolete theory. Vegetarianism is only mentioned once: "Getting complete proteins is a special concern of those vegetarians who do not eat eggs, milk, or dairy products." This has been disproved. The author does not even allude to the scores of elite vegetarian/vegan athletes succeeding in a variety of sports today.

I would recommend this book to a beginning marathoner, if you can get a bargain price, but check out some newer books on the subject.

Have a great marathon!

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4.0 out of 5 stars Good for the beginning marathoner, April 11 2003

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music lover "rigor mortis is my only hope for... (Norman, OK USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Train For and Run Your Best Marathon: Valuable Coaching From a National Class Marathoner on Getting Up For and Finishing (Paperback)

Although I am a first time marathoner, I am an intermediate level runner, and especially enjoy the half marathon distance. I bought this book to train for the marathon, and found it helpful. One thing I did not like was the recommendation to run for minutes rather than miles. I guess I'm enough of a mileage junkie and not good enough at judging pace that I found it disconcerting to have to guess how far I went. Also, that way you have no idea what kind of pace you are on for the marathon itself. The author has made the book easy to read and well organized (except for the training schedules) If you are beyond the beginner level, save your money.

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2.0 out of 5 stars good (only) for beginners, Mar 12 2003

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Alberto (Japan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Train For and Run Your Best Marathon: Valuable Coaching From a National Class Marathoner on Getting Up For and Finishing (Paperback)

If you start running just now and want to run a marathon this is a good book for you. If you already have some running years of experience, and perhaps already ran a marathon, it won't help you. What is written is very basic, very well known to anyone who has already ran for a short time. I wanted help on "how to train for and run my best marathon", I didn't get it from this book.

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Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Platitudinous & Insipid
Laughably weak effort -- the "running book" equivalent of a 9 hr marathon. The advice is incredibly banal. Read more

Published on Feb 7 2004

3.0 out of 5 stars Still Trotting
All in all, this book was an enjoyable, common-sense read. I was a little disapointed because there was little technical advise about training. Read more

Published on Mar 8 2003 by Susannah Hill