As anyone who has participated in a marathon knows, the difference between running the thing and racing it is vast.
It is a serious accomplishment to finish 26 miles, but it is a quantum change in accomplishment to run the best marathon you have ever run.
Advanced Marathoning was written to help you accomplish just that.
Advanced Marathoning is a great book, in my opinion, for any runner. It teaches good fundamental running training methods.
Anyone whose goal it is simply to finish a marathon might want to read Daniels instead. as Advanced Marathoning is a book about just that, advanced marathoning.
It may be a little advanced for the beginning or intermediate runner.
If you're still reading however, here is why Advanced Marathoning is one of the best books on the market on the subject of racing marathons:
It was written by experts in marathons Pfitzinger and Douglas
It touches upon all facets of marathoning
The book contains excellent running programs
The paradigm is real world running, not theoretical whitewash
Contents of Advanced Marathoning
There are eleven chapters in Advanced Marthoning. The last three cover mostly running programs.
Chapter one delves into the concept of "advanced marathoning" and lays out the rationale for the rest of the book.
Chapter two I found to be a very good chapter covering marathon running training. Explained are essential needs for a marathon and the bodily systems that need to be trained to run your best marathon.
The reader will find enlightening the sections entitled "When are long runs too long", "Increasing mileage while minimizing the risks of breakdown", and a handy chart with sample long run paces.
Periodization, fundamental to managing your body and pace during a marathon, is explained very nicely.
It is essentially a plan for dividing training into segments, with each one lasting a few weeks. These segments are each dedicated to training specific body systems.
Chapter three of Advanced Marathoning emphasizes the feeding and care of your body.
Nutrition and hydration are explained in terms of critical factors in the diet and breaks down proportions of proteins, carbohydrates, iron and fluid intake.
These subjects are covered specifically for training and the day of the race itself.
Realism is what draws me to this chapter (well the entire book, in fact). An example is the authors' approach to alcohol and caffeine.
Most running advice attempts to apply the strictness of Mosaic Law to avoiding these substances, and that's just not realistic.
Pfitzinger and Douglas, on the other hand, address the real world. They understand that runners do drink a bit of coffee, and will have the occasional glass of wine, beer or spirits.
They take this into account with recommendations about how to modify your habits with these substances as race day approaches.
Chapter four discusses the balance between training and bodily recovery. Some days are hard days, others are easy days.
Over-training is to be avoided, which is also covered in this chapter as well as proper methods for tapering training.
Chapter five is the cross-training chapter of Advanced Marathoning. It discusses what types of cross-training would deliver benefits.
It is an important chapter as marathon running training is very strenuous on the legs. You need some other training to balance that out.
Chapter six explains feedback - in other words, how to track your own progress. For this, it is necessary to think in the long term, just as your racing is long distance.
Here the runner is asked to state the career goals, upcoming race goals, and short-term goals. They of course need to be symbiotic with one another.
If they do not cooperate in their aims, they will be useless as goals. What is meant here is that each builds upon the previous goal.
If the required training is not accomplished this week, the goal for your next marathon is in danger and, in turn, your career goals.
It's a bit like being on a long journey in unknown territory. The goals are your map. If the map on a journey says to turn right at so-and-so point, but you turn at some other point, you are lost.
This is somehow intrinsically understood with maps, but is not understood with goals. This chapter lays the mental framework for the runner to set goals and stick to them.
Chapter seven is all about strategy on race day. This is the pay-off of weeks and months of training, and therefore the main message of the chapter is to know exactly what your are doing during the race.
Think about it in terms of a builder following the blueprint for your new home - you've spent months or years planning your dream house, only to allow the builder to screw things up and make something different than what you had planned.
This doesn't make sense. Neither does planning and training for a marathon only to stop paying attention to your plan on the day of the race.
For example, the most often seen mistake in marathoners is to get out too fast. A minute too fast in the early miles of a race will cost five minutes late in the race.
How do you avoid that penalty if you do happen to get caught up and start too fast?
The authors Pfitzinger and Douglas cover this in this chapter, and you can bet it is advice that you are capable of following if you have done your homework with training.
This chapter is the critical one, but all of the other chapters supply the runner with the tools to make use of it.
Chapters eight through ten talk about marathon running programs. There are 12, 18 and 24 week programs corresponding to 55, 70, and 70+ mile weeks.
There is a good range of running programs and surely something that is appropriate for you.
Even when the programs are not exactly what you want in terms of weeks or mileage, you can tailor them to your needs following the system Pfitzinger and Douglas have set up.
The final chapter covers multiple marathoning. While I personally have always considered multiple marathoning plain old crazy, it does show that Pfitzinger and Douglas are being very thorough and realistic with their book.
They do realize that there are rugged souls out there who run several marathons in a short time frame - as short as 4 weeks, or as broad as 12.
Conclusion about Advanced Marathoning
Advanced Marathoning should be considered required reading for those who are serious and dedicated marathoners.
The advice given is very useful to those who seek to excel in the sport.
For other runners who do not marathon, the book still contains lots of helpful advice.
Want more running gear advice?
Simply subscribe to my newsletter or to my site blog and you are ensured of keeping up-to-date with all the Best Running Gear!
