Better Training for Distance Runners - 2nd Edition

Better Training for Distance Runners
Well written with lots of great ideas for Coaches as well as Athletes. Some on the sections are very tech orientated with alot of science. Take your time with this one and you will get alot out of it.

Smart training requires science
Many reviewers have complained about the scientific and technical nature of this book. There is a reason why many of the top coaches are also scientists, it works. As a coach and distance runner I have experienced a variety of training plans, and have found this one to work the best. Unlike Jack Daniels, this system takes into account metabolic systems being stressed rather than times and formulas. My advice is to read and discuss the book to allow you to process the information and clarify what you have read with others. Unfortunately this might not always be possible. The book is intended for coaches, aimed at teaching them how to create their own workouts based on the scientific principle addressed. If you want to see some workouts and more examples, try looking up articles by Frank Horwill, a former UK national coach, who invented the multi-tier (5-pace) training system. This system is quite similar to that used by Peter and Seb Coe. In fact, Coe is on record as saying, "We have used Frank Horwill's multi-tier system. It's all embracing." You can find some of Horwill's articles here: [...]

For the Serious Runner
If you are a serious runner, this book is for you. It is a very detailed and contains alot of great training ideas for the more serious endurance runner.

Masterful Presentation of Running as Science and Art
I have read dozens of books about training for the distance runner. This book and Jack Daniel's Running Formula are, by far, the two best books for the serious coach or distance runner. I believe they complement each other and reading BTDR after Daniel's Running Formula helped clarify some of the points made in the Daniel's book. After years of running at a highly competitive level and coaching, I really felt like I understood, for the first time, exactly how to design an individualized workout plan for an entire year or racing season with complete confidence. While the first four chapters are not for the feint of heart (especially chapters 3 and 4), they are well worth the effort. Even if you choose not to read one or more of these chapters, the remaining chapters of BTDR can be read on a standalone basis. Chapters 5 - 8 are filled with clear, comprehensive and practical training advice. These chapters do an excellent job of bringing theory and practice together. I also liked the way Martin and Coe drew on the training practices and running styles of various famous runners and coaches from Paavo Nurmi to Arthyr Llydiard to Haile Gebrselassie. (Of course, Seb Coe's training methods are discussed quite extensively since Peter Coe was both father and coach... and Seb was the best middle distance runner of his time.) BTDR also deftly combines a discussion of the art and science of running. If you are a serious runner, this book will likely convince you to periodically take your runners or yourself to a human performance lab to receive periodic testing. The only significant omission from BTDR was a more complete discussion of the effects of altitude training. They don't discuss the benefits of the "living high/training low" (sleeping or living in an hypoxic environment and training at or near sea level). Because the book was revised in 1991, I imagine most of the scientific data on this subject was not available at that time. This discussion would be helpful in their discussion of how to increase hemoglobin and hematocrit. I wish they would update this book one more time to cover some of the scientific advances over the past 15 years.

Platitudes and Biology
I love running and I love books about running. I have degrees in the sciences and am a self-confessed nerd, having read about fifty books on training how to run. Of all of these, I found *Better Training for Distance Runners* to be the most frustrating. There is a degree of scientific complexity matched only by Noakes book *Lore of Running.* Unlike Noakes' book, this one never delivers after slogging through the detailed account of running physiology. There are some isolated bits of information, but the book lacks an integrated perspective on training. For example, Jack Daniels' book *Daniels' Running Formula* provides a step-by-step development of a training regiment that can be adapted for any competitive runner. In this book, after reading through detailed chapters on physiology I came to the chapter on putting together a training schedule. With great expectation I began to read--only to be severely disappointed. The chapter contained scattered accounts of different types of training, no direction about how much or when such training would be advised, and no guide to practical implementation. Coe's comments often seem to be platitudes or simply recalling what his son did in workouts. I'm not sure the authors really understand the cause and effect relationship between various aspects of training and the resultant changes in running performance. I guess that this book might be helpful for experts who already know everything about training and can benefit from some of the biological insights. Not being one of those, I found the book both difficult and vague, resulting in a high cost of reading with very low payoff.