The 30-Minute Runner , now updated and in paperback, takes a simplified approach to training, which is to break down everything into one thirty-minute session per day, a manageable segment for first-time runners and those who may be in decent shape but lead incredibly busy lives.
Everything in the book, including training schedules, techniques, and tips, is put forth purely in terms of minutes spent running, without any goal paces to worry about, mileage to keep track of, or anything to measure other than time spent out on the roads and trails. The book focuses on how to maximize those thirty critical minutes in order to achieve two primary shedding extra pounds and completing a 5K race.
Author Duncan Larkin, a certified Army Master Fitness Trainer, also covers topics like running for new moms, single-parent training, how to prepare to run your first race, race-day tips, how to train while on business travel, and taking it to the next level, running forty-five and sixty minutes a day (10K and half-marathon schedules). In addition to the running-based guidelines, The 30-Minute Runner also offers nutritional advice and core exercises that complement the thirty-minute runs.
Duncan Larkin has tried to shoehorn as much as possible into his life. As a teenager, he was a Ham Radio Operator, Rotary Club foreign exchange student, Taekwondo white belt, linoleum-surface break dancer, often-pinned wrestler, and occasional school politician. As an adult, he's a West Point and U.S. Army Ranger School graduate, World War 1 painter, top-300 U.S. marathoner in 2006, and a father of four. He's almost been sucked out of a plane and was kicked out of his host family's house in Switzerland.
Duncan is the younger brother of New York Times best-selling author Pat Larkin. He's written numerous articles for nationwide periodicals such as Running Times, Marathon and Beyond, and Competitor Magazine online. In 2007, he covered the 100-Mile Himalayan Stage Race--a crazy adventure filled with fever, infection, and other near-death experiences.