Getting Real About Running: Expert Advice on Being a Committed Athlete [Paperback]

Gordon Bakoulis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 2002

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE

In more than twenty years as a runner and a coach, top marathoner Gordon Bakoulis has tackled almost every problem a runner can face. Now in her accessible, inspiring new book, Bakoulis becomes your personal coach and mentor, preparing you to meet the exhilarating challenges of running. She discusses everything a runner must know, including:

SETTING UP A PROGRAM: Three-month, six-month, and one-year training cycles; the importance of rest and downtime.
CHOOSING EQUIPMENT: Foot types and finding shoes that meet your unique biomedical needs; the latest apparel for hot-and-cold-weather running.
COMMON INJURIES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM: Runner?s knee, heel spurs, shin splints; the benefits of stretches, massage, and yoga.
FUELING YOUR BODY: Diets for different lifestyles and fitness levels; easy, nutritious recipes.
THE SCIENCE OF RUNNING: the ?hard-easy? approach to training.
RUNNING WITH (AND FOR) YOUR HEAD: How running can make you feel more sane and alive, with mantras used by champions.
CHILDREN WHO RUN: An illustrated discussion of the special concerns of runners from 6 to 18.
RUNNING AND AGING: Advice for runners over 50, with profiles of senior runners.
PLUS?Pace charts, mile/kilometer conversion, and running resources and organizations.

Getting Real About Running gets down to the real nitty-gritty of this most satisfying of sports. Here?s a book that?s worth its weight in gold medals!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Whether you're a beginning or experienced runner, Getting Real About Running offers "information, inspiration, and guidance to assist you in a running lifestyle that works for you," promises Gordon Bakoulis, and she delivers. Many running books just help you get started, but this one helps you graduate from "running" to becoming a "runner." Bakoulis offers specific training programs for different needs and goals, and fills this book with information runners want to know about: the science of running, training cycles, rest, shoes, avoiding injuries, maintaining motivation, sports nutrition, performance-enhancing drugs, racing, cross-training, and mixing running with parenting and jobs.

Author of several running books and former editor-in-chief of Running Times magazine, Bakoulis is one of the top master (age 40+) competitive runners in the United States. Just as important, she loves running and the camaraderie of runners. Her expertise and practical training advice, coupled with her warm, engaging style and obvious love for her subject, will make you feel like you have the ideal running coach and partner. Getting Real About Running is recommended for runners of all ages and levels. --Joan Price

From the Inside Flap

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE

In more than twenty years as a runner and a coach, top marathoner Gordon Bakoulis has tackled almost every problem a runner can face. Now in her accessible, inspiring new book, Bakoulis becomes your personal coach and mentor, preparing you to meet the exhilarating challenges of running. She discusses everything a runner must know, including:

SETTING UP A PROGRAM: Three-month, six-month, and one-year training cycles; the importance of rest and downtime.
CHOOSING EQUIPMENT: Foot types and finding shoes that meet your unique biomedical needs; the latest apparel for hot-and-cold-weather running.
COMMON INJURIES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM: Runner?s knee, heel spurs, shin splints; the benefits of stretches, massage, and yoga.
FUELING YOUR BODY: Diets for different lifestyles and fitness levels; easy, nutritious recipes.
THE SCIENCE OF RUNNING: the ?hard-easy? approach to training.
RUNNING WITH (AND FOR) YOUR HEAD: How running can make you feel more sane and alive, with mantras used by champions.
CHILDREN WHO RUN: An illustrated discussion of the special concerns of runners from 6 to 18.
RUNNING AND AGING: Advice for runners over 50, with profiles of senior runners.
PLUS?Pace charts, mile/kilometer conversion, and running resources and organizations.

Getting Real About Running gets down to the real nitty-gritty of this most satisfying of sports. Here?s a book that?s worth its weight in gold medals!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1 edition (March 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345447271
• ISBN-13: 978-0345447272
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #760,228 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review for Kindle edition, April 13, 2008

By 

Laura M. Burgess "Kindle Fan" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Getting Real About Running: Expert Advice on Being a Committed Athlete (Kindle Edition)

If you are interested in begining a jogging or running program this is a very good book to have. If you are already a runner the Kindle editon of the Runners Handbook might be a better on going resource. But back to this book, if you are a new runner this book is great. It gives you a step by step book to building a product. I used to run, have run 1/2 marathons and a marathon in the past, but got away from it with marriage. I bought this to get back into it, and avoid injury. I like it because it is always with me, in my bag, I book mark the workout plan I'm on, and I'm off to go. Just sit in the car, look up my workup for the day (I even put notes on how the workout went in the book- heck it's my book!). It is formatted well for Kindle, no issues. Also I like it on Kindle specifically. I used to have to carry my running books in the car, glove box, oh where is it, issues. It is on the Kindle, the Kindle is in my bag, no issues. Also as I moved on to the Runners HandBook I can still do a search and look up nutrition, stretching whatever on the Kindle and I get choices from both books. This is one book I think is more useful on the kindle then in print.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The PERFECT book for the beginner AND VETERAN runner!, May 9, 2002

By 

Joel L. Gandelman (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Getting Real About Running: Expert Advice on Being a Committed Athlete (Paperback)

I LOVED this book which was a complete departure for me (I usually read books on entertainment, politics and various spiritual subjects)but I was in a bind: I wanted to learn how to run, and got all kinds of warnings from friends and relatives about how it could be dangerous. Meanwhile, the books I looked at either were too easy or were written for people who've run for a while. These books assumed the reader knew not just the basics or running but WHY -- besides the obvious physical advantages -- people run.

In Getting Real About Running, Gordon Bakoulis, a world-class marathoner, has put together a well-written, fun-to-read book that has it ALL.

From the outset of this incredibly complete book (it's a cliche, but if you buy one book buy THIS ONE) the author explains the various reasons WHY people run, the kind of running "high" people feel, the beauty involved in running, and why people who run make it a part of their whole lives. And Bakoulis uses essays by people who explain it.

It also gave me the perfect beginner walk-run schedules, plus mantras used by champions, what I'd need (equipment and physically), the dangers to avoid, the kinds of events that involve running, the pros and cons of running with others (events and/or clubs), diet dos and don'ts and specific strategies for avoiding injury.

The book's design is topnotch. It boasts not only the usual white pages, but other "sidebar" topics and illustrations on grey-colored pages. And, above all, Getting Real About Running is chock full of information, fascinating quotes, anecdotes, scientific data and specific programs that helped educate me very quickly and enjoyably.

What did it do for me? I now do some running and was also motivated by it to rejoin my old fitness club. And is this glowing review due to knowing the author or even knowing anything about running? Nope -- and nope. I chose this book strictly on a hunch, I'm a full-time ventriloquist (check out my reviewer profile) -- and the most energetic running I did as a kid was chasing after the Good Humor ice-cream truck.

FOOTNOTE: A friend knew I was thinking about running and recently gifted me this SAME book.

4 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars If this is the 1 st running book that you read ..otherwise, June 7, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Getting Real About Running: Expert Advice on Being a Committed Athlete (Paperback)

This book has nothing new to offer but rather it consists of mostly general and repeated information that you have read about from other running books. Buy and read book like "explosive running" which provides a new level and different prespective of data and information.