289 of 330 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Funny and inspirational, but disagree with her training schedule, February 2, 2008
This review is from: The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women: Get Off Your Butt and On with Your Training (Paperback)
I loved Dawn's tone and writing style, and this is a very inspirational book and I recommend it to all women interested in running a marathon get it, but with one reservation - I have issues iwth the training schedule included in her book.
I'm truly concerned that she advises that a complete novice who doesn't even own running shoes could attempt a run a marathon with only four month's training. This is a recipe for potentially serious injury. And she provides an example of this herself -- she develops major knee pain, including at the beginning of her marathon before she even began running. Her actual marathon experience is one of someone who trained too quickly; at mile 13, she began to experience severe pain and had real trouble finishing among the "walking dead" at the back of the pack.
I trained to run a marathon in 2002 and I had four months to train, but I was jogging regularly and had been a long distance cyclist for several years. But I injured my back and tendons in my legs on my schedule. A doctor told me that this because my training was too consolidated.
I highly recommend this book if you're considering running a marathon, but if you are indeed a novice do three things before attempting to train:
1) Follow her advice to have a thorough medical checkup, although I will add that it's ultra helpful to find a doctor who is familiar with sports medicine
2) get a real-life coach/experienced marathoner to talk to before you beginn and ideally to supervise your training; you can talk to people at running speciality stores to find a good person and
3) check out a number of other marathon training schedules, such as Hal Higdon's novice schedule (which is a 7 1/2 month program) and another by coolrunning.com called "from couch potato to 5k) as well; it's another potential training program for beginners. (You can find both through Google.) Give yourself lots of time to train and ramp up slowly.
I just ran a marathon, and I was supervised by a university track coach. He designed a program that required me running regularly for six months before the half marathon, and an additional four months for a marathon, to which I added another month. Yes, 11 months. But I had a GREAT marathon experience - injury free, pain free and with a quick recovery.
But I have to say that her entertaining, straightforward advice about sports bras, great shoes, the importance of journaling and the miracle of Bodyglide makes this a very good book for beginners. Just research other schedules that work for you before you hit the pavement.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Should come with a warning label!, July 25, 2011
This review is from: The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women: Get Off Your Butt and On with Your Training (Paperback)
The author should be ashamed of herself for giving such horrible advice to the unsuspecting novice runners who will purchase this as an actual training guide!
With a training schedule peppered with such sage tips as: Masking your pain with over the counter medication - "Yes, Advil is a major food group" and Over training - "If it hurts to get out of bed in the morning, then you know you are training correctly" coupled with delightful adolescent remarks like: "...oh CRAP you have to run twelve miles next week", you're sure to be headed down the wrong path.
Some may find her irreverent writing style humorous, but the wealth of bad advice offered up in the first chapter convinced me to get RID of this book and focus on another written by professionals who actually gave cogent advice for training for your first marathon.
IF you buy this book, buy it for the joke that it is. If you are honestly looking for advice on training for your first marathon, look elsewhere. I'm currently reading and thoroughly enjoying The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer:
The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
NEVER EVER advocate self-diagnosis!!, March 2, 2010
This review is from: The Nonrunner's Marathon Guide for Women: Get Off Your Butt and On with Your Training (Paperback)
This book was definitely funny and an easy read. Motivating, though? Not so much. After the 47th time hearing about her horrible, aching kneecaps and how much pain it was and how horrible training was and how much she hated it... Well, I wasn't so interested in a marathon (which should be the entire basis of the book, to motivate you to run a marathon!). It's a very good thing I was well on my way with my half marathon training when I read this book, otherwise I would've scrapped the whole thing altogether!
There were _several_ points that made me laugh out loud, and a couple pages I marked because they were worth rereading! But the thing that really disappointed me was that she actually advocated looking up your symptoms/aches/pains/injuries on the internet and self-diagnosing/treating!! Now, I know we ALL do it, but I just found it completely irresponsible of her and her publisher to actually TELL you to do that, where they should have been saying "SAVE YOURSELF A POTENTIALLY GREATER INJURY: GO TO A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL!!!" The act of publishing the book immediately made her somewhat of an "expert" and NO expert should EVER suggest just looking it up on the internet!
With that said, it was worth my reading as an already established runner. It was an enjoyable (for the most part) read, but definitely not something I would actually recommend to new runners or those that don't already have a solid support-group of other experienced runners around them that are willing to help motivate.
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