Rating: 
Summary: This book became my marathon bible
Review: I read three other books on marathon training and none of them even came close to providing me with this amount of useful training information. I used one of the pre-marathon training schedules and then followed with one of the marathon training schedules. Went from being a non-runner to running my first marathon 8 months later in 4 hrs. and 37 mins. Everything went exactly as described in her book! This book is not just for beginners either.
Rating: 
Summary: Platitudinous & Insipid
Review: 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 Finally, I found that some of the nutrition information was a little outdated (the book is, after all, ten years old).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!
Rating: 
Summary: Basics for the beginning marathoner
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: good (only) for beginners
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Platitudinous & Insipid
Review: Laughably weak effort -- the "running book" equivalent of a 9 hr marathon. The advice is incredibly banal. I bought it used for the postage plus 1 cent and still felt cheated. Unreal that this kind of junk gets published!
Rating:
Summary: Platitudinous & Insipid
Review: Laughably weak effort -- the "running book" equivalent of a 9 hr marathon. The advice is incredibly banal. I bought it used for the postage plus 1 cent and still felt cheated. Unreal that this kind of junk gets published!
Rating:
Summary: Very good tool, but lacks on mileage specifics
Review: Overall, very good. Lot's of helpful advice. My only gripe is that training charts are written in minutes, not miles (author assumes a 10 minute mile). While this is nice from a stop-watch point of view, for those of us who run faster (or in my case, slower) than a 10 minute mile, the book was unclear whether it's more important to focus on time or mileage in one's training....
Rating:
Summary: I did not know....
Review: read this book before you start your marathon preparation. Beginers and experts all stand to gain from it. No more long run after long run slowly building up your weekly miliage. Here we learn to mix in speedwork, swimming , biking, and even weight lifting to substitute for a long run. schedules and charts help your progress.
Rating:
Summary: 26.2 Reasons To Buy This Book
Review: REASON 1: It is written by an Olympic trials marathon qualifier who ran her first marathon non-competitively, just like you. REASON 2: It starts off with real stories of average first-time marathoners whose experiences prove that every mile of the race is worth it. REASON 3: It gives 26.2 compelling reasons why any couch potato will want to catch the running bug. REASON 4: It shows how running a marathon can help rebuild your self-esteem after a disappointing life experience and motivate you to live a fuller life. REASON 5: It explains in simple terms how to build your aerobic base from ground zero to where you can finally embark on the marathon training. REASON 6: It introduces you to the concept of cross-training which will help you prevent boredom and develop a well-rounded physique. REASON 7: It lists specific cross-training activities which are most beneficial for marathon training. REASON 8: It breaks down physical fitness into cardiovascular-respiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, body composition and flexibility and shows concrete ways to work on each component. REASON 9: It gives examples of training logs and teaches you how to keep one, avoid "junkie mileage" and build up your mileage gradually. REASON 10: It contains training schedules for different levels of runners which are based on minutes, not on miles. It is an extra asset for people who do not have access to a track or prefer to run outdoors where it is oftentimes hard to calculate mileage exactly. REASON 11: It teaches you the importance of the long runs for your training and gives advice on how to train your mind for them. REASON 12: It describes the benefits of speedwork and teaches you how to incorporate it into your training schedule. REASON 13: It encourages you to enroll into shorter pre-marathon races so that you can learn to handle all the aspects of a run. REASON 14: It tells you exactly what you should do one month, one week, one day and one hour before the race and explains the concept of tapering. REASON 15: It gives you a comprehensive list of all things you should pack into your marathon bag. REASON 16: It follows you through an imaginary race moment by moment, concentrating on all related mental, physical and emotional aspects of it. REASON 17: It teaches you to be prepared for but not obsessed with "hitting the wall". REASON 18: It encourages you to run your own race. REASON 19: It helps you recover after your marathon by giving concrete advice about the day, the week and the month after. REASON 20: It helps you choose the right running shoes, running wear and accessories. REASON 21: It initiates you into the basics of sports nutrition and shows what foods you should include in your diet to optimize your marathon performance. REASON 22: It teaches you the right way to carboload. REASON 23: It talks about women's participation in marathon racing and about how it affects their bodies, unveiling old myths which hold women from achieving their potential and giving them encouragement and safety advice. REASON 24: It contains a complete guide to marathoning injuries, their prevention and advice on recovery. REASON 25: It teaches you not to overtrain. REASON 26: It has wonderful supplements such as pace charts, marathons around the world and lists of organizations from which you can obtain more information on the desired aspects of training and running. REASON 26.2: This invaluable manual for first-time marathoners gives loads of great advice for only 14 measly dollars! I used this book as my marathon training guide and had the time of my life running the San Francisco marathon this summer!
Rating:
Summary: a valuable piece of marathon training equipment
Review: The book was of great help to me in preparing for my first marathon, the 1999 Pittsburgh marathon, and running it. I would recommend it to anyone how feels ready for the challenge of running the distance. It does a very good job in taking the reader through every stange of the preparation for the marathon, and it has many useful suggestions for dealing with possible problems along the way. One of the best parts about the book is the suggested running schedules, which are varied and allow for much freedom. They are given in total minutes of work-out time instead of total mileage, which reduces the pressure of having to complete a certain distance on training runs, when one is just supposed to be getting used to running long. The sections on nutrition, speed work, and cross training make a great addition to the running schedules, and helped make the training for my first marathon an enjoyable experience. The advice on recovery from the marathon was also very helpful. And it's great for women runners! In short, running my first marathon was awesome, and I believe that following the suggestions of Gordon Bloch's book played a great role in that.
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