Customer Reviews

No Need for Speed: A Beginner's Guide to the Joy of Running

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I used to hate running because I wasn't very fast, it hurt, and it was boring. Bingham's book changed all that. I'm 38 now, I still don't love running as much as the author, but his advice and words helped me incorporate running into my life. It also gave me the encouragement to train and run regularly and tell people that I am a runner.

It encouraged me to enter races, not to win, but to get the feeling of being around other runners. Finally it encourgaed me to train for a goal - a marathon. With this book and "The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer" (Whitsett) book I began a solo sixteen week training program to enter and finish a marathon. That was the goal, just to finish and become a marathoner.

I finished the 26.2 miles in just under 5 hours. I was 890th place out of 1100 runners, but I felt like I'd won a gold medal. This book taught me that "you don't have to run fast to be a real runner." I may or may not run another marathon (1/2 marathons are more tolerable), but I will keep running as part of my lifelong fitness plan, because I am a runner.

Bingham's first book "The Courage to Start" is also a great book and I frequently re-read both of his books. In "The Courage to Start" he states, "The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." If you want to start feeling better about yourself and start taking steps to become a runner, there is no better book.

Bingham's book is much more than I expected. I am a 32 year old who has run off and on since high school. Over the last few years I have been prone to injury and decided that I needed to rethink my running habits. What I expected from Bingham was a brief book with some good motivational passages and some practical tips for adult runners.

What I received was a brief book *packed* with great information. His injury prevention section is far superior to the one found in "The Runner's World Complete Book of Running" and so is his beginning runner's workout advice. He also includes highly practical advice and examples for cross training.

If you are not a profesional runner, but an adult with all the responsibilites that go with it (kids, job, spouse, community involvement) this practical book will keep you moving.

He also has some nice motivational material (but nothing to cheesy).

I gave the book 4 stars because of some annoying typos and a few places where his advice doesn't quite make sense (particulary on how to do leg lifts). The fault lies with the editor more than the author.

If you are an adult with lots on your plate who wants to stay physically active, you need this book.

This is a fun little beginners guide to the joys of running. In fact, this just might be the best and most complete book on running since Jim Fixx's mammothly successful book 25 years ago. What I like best about the Bingham's book is that it has something in it for every beginning runner, from the casual jogger to the total coach potato. Each chapter focuses on a special area of the sport: injuries, mileage, women's running, seniors, masters runners, even children developing into competitive athletes.

The title is instructive: there is an emphasis on competitive running, with the focus primarily in 10K road races to the marathon. Several of the elite and most popular marathons are discussed at length, incuding Boston, L.A., New York and Chicago. There are some useful tips on how to increase your weekly mileage, avoid injury, carbo loading before the race and recovery afterwards. Having completed marathons, I can tell you that it's easy to do than you think and once you start completing the 26.2 mile courses, you'll be hooked for as long as your body will hold out.

Running is a joyous activity and one which brings many individual rewards. If you're a serious, addicted runner, you'll love this book, but the beginners will also reap great rewards because the book it geared towards the novice. It's well-written, fun to read and instructive. Highly recommended.

I was working out at the gym but too self conscious to start running. This book motivated me to hit road. I bought running shoes, read the whole book and went running the next morning. Highly recommended, the pounds are falling off already.

Of all the running books out there, from by-the-numbers training plans to dense physiology tomes, none provide the uplift and motivation needed by average "non-athletic" mortals better than the two written by John Bingham. In his newest, Bingham, long associated with his "Penguin" philosophy through Runner's World Magazine, inspires with his personal story. Only this isn't an Olympic athlete's heroic quest, but an average, vice-ridden everyman's transformation from overweight couch potato to athlete. In a conversational, non-preachy tone, Bingham writes for the majority of runners and fitness walkers-- the back two-thirds of every road race.
No Need for Speed contains much useful and up-to-date advice for beginning and intermediate runners and walkers, of course, including equipment, training and technique. Frequent sidebar entries from real citizen-runners also share lessons learned by average joes and janes while morphing into athletes. But by far the BEST thing about this book, and the most encouraging to newer, older, heavier, and/or slower runners, is that Bingham manages to legitimately drape honor and glory to "back of the pack" athletes. You don't have to be lightning-fast or whippet-thin to call yourself a runner. To anyone stuggling to get in shape, survive a road race (or finish it in less than a day), and feel good about being in the game, Bingham's words are priceless.

Although John "The Penguin" Bingham is targeting would-be and beginning runners, his practical and inspirational message is also relevant to experienced runners. Bingham expertly helps would-be and beginning runners make the jump, start running at their own pace with the right equipment, accept their highs and lows in their sport practice, and celebrate their big and small running accomplishments over time. Bingham's message is especially convincing because he had led an unhealthy lifestyle for many years before he discovered the joy of running. Bingham also reminds his core audience that running is a life philosophy that is based on the best possible balance to strike between mind and body. That quest is nothing new. For example, the Ancient Greeks and Romans respectively used the expressions "Nothing too much" and "A sound mind in a sound body" to describe the achievement of a harmonious state. Bingham finally echoes the words of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games: "The essential thing ... is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not triumph but the struggle." As a side note, would-be and beginning runners can also find inspiration in the movie "Chariots of Fire" and Vangelis' memorable accompanying music to keep faith in their performance, whatever it is.

Everytime that I read John Bingham's monthly articles in Runners World, there is new found inspiration. The same is with his books and this newest one has a load of helpful advice and tips. Mr. Bingham has the right attitude about his passion of running and I feel that anyone can wake up as he did at "middle age" and make a decision to choose to change. Change your habits and incorporate exercise in your daily routine.

This book title sums it up, no need for speed,just make the effort and the results will come. So in reading this book, I hope that it will give you that extra push to a lifetime commitment of exercise. Thanks to Mr. Bingham, he has helped quite a few people on the first step through this book and his monthly columns.

"No Need for Speed" by John Bingham is an excellent book for all runners. It has helped me to put into words why I run so I have an answer for all of those people who think I'm crazy. In addition, the chapters on Inspiration happen to be some of the neatest, most motivating chapters I've ever read concerning sports in general.

This is the first work of John Bingham's that I have read, and it was absolutely amazing. He gave me a very realistic, very wise introduction to the sport of running. I tend to overdo things when I get excited about them and burn out after three or four weeks, and thankfully I have a companion with Bingham. His advice has given me the strength and courage to persevere and enjoy the sport of running. A must-read for those beginning to run.

I am an adult-onset runner! This book is so informative. It answers every question you may have as a new runner, and address all your insecurities about running. Bingham also has a sense of humor!