Smart Marathon Training: Run Your Best Without Running Yourself Ragged

by Jeff Horowitz

Old-school marathon training plans ask runners to crank out 70 to 100 miles a week. It's no wonder those who make it to the start line are running ragged. Smart Marathon Training maps out a healthier, more economical approach to training that emphasizes quality over quantity. With more than 75 detailed exercises plus six easy-to-follow training plans for half and full marathons, Smart Marathon Training will get you to the starting line feeling refreshed and ready to run your best race yet. This innovative program eliminates junk miles, paring down training to three essential runs per week and adding a dynamic strength and cross-training program to build overall fitness. Runners will train for their best performance in less time and avoid the injuries, overtraining, and burnout that come from running too much. Smart Marathon Training builds up a runner's body to resist injury. Runners gain the strength they need to run long using functional exercises that target the hips, glutes, and quads. Running is a full-body sport, so this training program also builds a strong core and upper body to avoid injuries that begin above the waist. No one fakes a marathon or half-marathon--everyone has to do the work. But Smart Marathon Training replaces long, grinding miles with low-impact cross-training. Horowitz outlines a cycling plan to complement run workouts, boosting base fitness while saving runners' bodies for their best runs.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Fitness

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2011

Reviews

[Dani (The Pluviophile Writer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review at the Pluviophile Reader: http://wp.me/p3VFNP-4G

4/5 stars.
Paperback, 224 pages.
Read from May 15 to 29, 2014.

I've been running now for about 3 years and I've read, browsed and skimmed a variety of articles, magazines and books on different running techniques and training programs. What I found with so many of them is the excessive amount of exercise that are contained within the recommend training schedules, even ones for the absolutely beginners. I always felt that a 6-day-week training program that mixes 4 or 5 days of running with a variety of different cross training and weights is way too much for a beginner. To me, that spells burn-out and injuries. The first year I started running and training for a marathon I ran 3 days a week and I was utterly exhausted managing just that! The average person has a busy life juggling work and family, which is tiring enough in and of itself, just finding a solid running base before beginning any sort of training is challenging enough. Whether a beginner or not, every runner wants to be successful, injury-free and find a balance with everything in their life and this book finally confirmed everything that I was already feeling about training: less is more.

Jeff Horowitz challenged the idea of running back to back races without injury and has successfully run over 150 marathons and has applied this knowledge in his career as a coach and in this book. The traditional marathon training plans which can have runners clocking in over 80+ kilometers in a week (50+ miles). The premise behind these traditional plans is that in order to better at running you need run and do a lot of it. Horowitz argues that this isn't the case and that you can run a better marathon by running less and making your workouts more efficient. His system focuses making your training dynamic in that each of your training runs have a concise goal and effort scale. For example, The long run: is to expand your endurance and work slow twitch muscles. This is run with the a 60-70% effort while the tempo runs are shorter runs in which you are running near your race pace or a bit quicker and you should be exerting about 80 to 85% effort. He emphasizes how important hills and speed work are to build strength, reduce injuries and work your fast twitch muscles which, will give you the speed to beat your personal best.

"I had to flip the notion that "more is better"...devised a plan that includes three runs a week, totaling no more than 35 miles, consisting of speed and hill work, a tempo run and a long endurance run; core strengthening, strength training, running drills and balance work two to three times a week; and aggressive crosstraining...at least twice per week."

What makes his program unique is that the emphasis isn't on the amount of kilometers you're making each week and he suggests running no more than 3-4 times a week while following quick and easy weight and strength training exercises, cross training (biking is his highest recommendation as it compliments running the most) as well as core and flexibility. He emphasizes just how important and beneficial these exercises are to running. Having a strong core and legs will ensure you will encounter less injuries and will improve your speed while cross training works out different muscles to keep your body from reaching exhaustion but at the same time you're still adding to your overall training. Exercising while exhausted is not only hard, but not wise. You risk injury and you're not doing your body and favors but pushing yourself that hard. Horowitz helps runner's recognize when they're doing too much and to pay attention to their bodies and intuition, which so many training programs ignore.

This book is by far one of the best marathon training programs and it has affirmed that my own ideas about marathon training are good ones. I would highly recommend this read for anyone embarking on a marathon, whether they are beginner or just looking to change up their training scheme.

[Travis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book didn’t reveal some groundbreaking secret or unlock new doors for me, but that isn’t really the point. What Horowitz does deliver is a set of tools that helps runners build confidence from within. He emphasizes trusting yourself, your process, and the work you put in. He also stresses the danger of blindly following any training plan "off a cliff" and pushes you instead to develop your own internal running coach.

"It helps to understand, at a deep level, why you run. Understanding this makes it easier to summon the determination you need to go on when it would be so easy, so tempting, to stop. Why do you keep going? Why did you feel compelled to try something many people wouldn't even consider? When the difficult moments occur in your races, as they surely will, remind yourself why you are there and what it took to get there. Then keep moving forward and earn the finish that you worked so hard for." (p. 148)

Overall, this book reinforces simple but effective tools: Trusting yourself, trusting your training, and remembering why you do it.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book! Here are some of my highlights:
- run your best without running yourself ragged
- runners like running, so they sometimes struggle with the biking or gym work outs, and the main reason is because they like to run! but, you need to do the other stuff to stay healthy so you can run your best.
- 180 steps per minute is the proper cadence
- cross training (biking/swimming) can replace recovery runs in a training plan
- speed training is how you get faster
- you still need to lift weights even if you're just training for running
- work on your form, swing arms straight forward, small, quick steps, engage your core (don't push your belly out), keep your head up, shoulders down, fingers relaxed (holding a potato chip).

Overall, has some good training plans, work out routines, etc.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

CORRECTION TO TYPO IN THE TRAINING PLANS: Please note the following correction to Speed Workout #14 on pages 177, 179, and 181. I emailed the author Jeff Horowitz and he responded promptly and kindly that I had indeed discovered a typo. The speed workout as originally written would be 18.25 miles, which would be excessive for any speed workout, much less one in taper. It is supposed to be about 10 miles total. For speed workout #14, do 1-mile warm-up, the intervals below, and 1-mile cool-down:

14. 4 x 800m
with 400m recoveries
(10K race pace)
Repeat 3 times

This book is excellent for the intermediate to advanced runner (or triathlete) who enjoys running three days a week and cross-training on the bike another two days a week, plus strength training and drills mixed in with those workouts twice a week. I chose the intermediate marathon training plan, which had me putting in 8-10 hours a week. I enjoyed substituting some 50-60 mile bike rides for long runs -- the plan called for 3 20-mile runs plus a few long bike rides. I also appreciated the emphasis on strength training, including photographs and descriptions of how to perform the exercises (note that I supplemented these with Quick Strength for Runners: 8 Weeks to a Better Runner's Body). This plan was challenging in that it had me running 27-34 miles per week, packed into 3 runs. It takes a lot of planning to be able to do 8-10 mile runs during the week, along with 20-30 mile bike rides. Although there are varying plans for varying levels of runners, the more advanced plans are certainly a serious time commitment for a serious athlete. I've never felt stronger as a runner (I've been running for 3 years and my next race will be my fourth full marathon).

I found this book to have a philosophy similar to Runner's World Run Less, Run Faster: Become a Faster, Stronger Runner with the Revolutionary FIRST Training Program, which I also liked. However, I prefer this one due to the aforementioned substitution of long bike rides for some of the long runs (whereas Run Less, Run Faster has plans that call for five 20-mile long runs, which bored me and burned me out a bit).

[Kim]

I really enjoyed this book. Lots of great info which lays out both the "how"s and the "why"s of training foundation. I'm glad to have a clearly laid out training schedule which places a solid emphasis on crosstraining. My only complaint on the book is that I wish it also included metric conversions in the charts.

[El · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent book on running. Premise is you can avoid injuries by less running, more cross-training, specifically cycling. However, I do not like to bike, so I am not going to follow his recommendations. It is why I run - I dislike biking. So if you dislike biking, don't buy this book. Just rest more.

[Denver · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book with lots of valuable information. In particular the schedule is clear. One failing is that while it may say to do a hill workout on a givenn day, the hill workouts are not explained in very good detail.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good approach to distance-race preparation. Lots of time training, just not as much time running. Not a novice's resource. And not a ton of help if you'd rather cross train in the pool instead of on the bike.

Still and all, I'll probably use his program to train for my next half or full.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smart and dead on!