"I've learned so much from Richard about marathon running. If you want to run a marathon, or a faster one, you have to read his book!" Haile Gebrselassie, first athlete to run a sub-2:04 Marathon
"Richard's achievements as a world-class distance runner speak for themselves. His success came from a meticulous approach to training and from knowing how to get the best out of himself in his races." Paula Radcliffe, women's marathon world record holder (2:15:25, London 2003)
Written by Richard Nerurkar, Britain's most successful marathon runner of the 1990s, the fourth edition of this classic, invaluable guide will help you get the most from your distance training. From the complete beginner enchanted by the challenge of the London Marathon, to the experienced runner wishing to improve on racing strategy, its authoritative pages reveal a wealth of information on:
structuring an effective build-up and taper training harder without doing too much improving your endurance and pace judgement producing your best on race-day.
This new edition has been fully updated to take account of the latest developments in running science and programme design. Also included are tips on how to choose a good marathon and the pitfalls of bad ones, as well as more insights from Richard and other leading runners.
If you've read another book on getting in to marathon running then this one isn't going to give you much, if anything, more. Loaded with autobiographical anecdotes from mostly elite marathon runners I found it largely irrelevent for somebody contemplating their first attempt at 42.2km. Nerurkar makes up for some of his more indulgent choices however by providing some very interesting charts and tables on training plans and his writing style is largely clear and concise, only straying in to enexplained terminology on the rare occasion. There's a lot of options out there for the marathon trainee to choose from and this book should never be first choice, especially not as the first book they pick up.
Very useful guide. Lots of information for runners of all levels. A book I will definitely be referring to regularly when training for long distances runs.
Not very good. It's full of irrelevant anecdotes about how elite athletes train for marathons, the layout is cluttered and the advice is poor. Too often you see references to parts of the book you haven't got to yet.