Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon: How to Be Your Own Best Coach [Paperback]

Brad Hudson (Author), Matt Fitzgerald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 29, 2008

Do you want to run faster? Are you trying to peak for a particular race? Would you like to find your true running potential? Brad Hudson, former Olympic Trials marathoner and current coach to Olympians like Dathan Ritzenhein, will show you the way in this practical, reader-friendly guide. Hudson is the most innovative running coach to come along in a generation. Until now, only a handful of elite athletes have been able to benefit from his methods. Now Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon shows all runners how to coach themselves as confidently and effectively as Brad coaches his world-class athletes. Becoming your own best coach is the ticket to running faster at any distance.
First you will learn to assess your abilities. Then you’ll learn how to devise a training program specifically geared to you. Filled with easy-to-follow sample training programs for distances ranging from the 5K to the marathon and abilities ranging from novice to advanced, Run Faster is the cutting-edge guide for optimal performance.
With Hudson’s guidance, you can train smarter and more effectively—and avoid injury. And you’ll soon be running faster than you ever thought possible!

Editorial Reviews

Review

Working with Brad for the past three years has helped me get much stronger, allowing me to make it to the next level. Thanks to Brad’s training I can now compete with the best in the world every time I race.” —Dathan Ritzenhein, two-time Olympian

“Brad’s training has elevated my running to heights I daydreamed about as a high school kid. Not only is his training innovative, he’s a phenomenal motivator.” —James Carney, 2008 U.S.A. Half-Marathon Champion

“Brad understands the entire training package and all its components better than any coach I’ve worked with, athletically or professionally. Reading this book can help take you to the next level and keep pushing you up as far and fast as you want to go.” —Sarah Toland, former NCAA All-American, U.S.A. National Cross-Country Team member, and Olympic Trials qualifier for the 5,000 and 10,000

“Brad Hudson’s years of personal elite training experience, combined with his wide spectrum of training influences, has catapulted him into a class of American coaching that has typically consisted of archaic, iron-fisted coaching systems. He has the ability and openmindedness to return U.S. distance running to prominence.” —Casey Burchill, 28-minute 10K runner

About the Author

is the founder and coach of the Performance Training Group, a team of elite runners. He lives in Eugene, Oregon. MATT FITZGERALD has written many training guides for triathletes. He is a senior editor for Triathlete magazine and lives in San Diego, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (July 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767928229
• ISBN-13: 978-0767928229
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.7 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,833 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Sports & Outdoors > Other Team Sports > Track & Field
  • #68 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Exercise & Fitness > Running & Jogging

More About the Author

Matt Fitzgerald is a prolific endurance sports journalist and author or coauthor of more than 15 published and forthcoming books on running, triathlon, fitness, nutrition, and weight loss, including Brain Training for Runners and Racing Weight. Fitzgerald also writes for Competitor, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon and Competitor.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best, August 7, 2008

By 

SimonM (Boulder, CO, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon: How to Be Your Own Best Coach (Paperback)

This is one of the best books ever written on running training. I'm a masters athlete racing mile, 5k and 10k and I think I've just about read them all -- Brad's is the clearest breakdown of what you need to do, and when, that I have ever read.

If you've struggled with Daniels and Noakes (great though they are), this is the book for you. I predict you will finally understand what you are doing!

What I loved about Brad's book is that he can explain thing so simply. In his system/no system he's got 12 most effective training methods and three - yes just 3 - basic types of training. I love it.

System/no system? Yes; the book's plan is kind of interactive. Brad insists that your schedule MUST be individualized. You need to read, absorb, plan, try stuff out -- and adjust according to the feedback you get, not just blindly follow tables of speed and distances. He gives all the tools you need to work things out.

Bear in mind, too, that Brad is not coming at this from an academic/theoretical point of view, but is a highly successful coach currently training Olympic-level runners.

Totally recommended. A caveat for fellow masters runners: the typeface is small and sans serif. It's a 278-page book that should probably be twice that size with a more readable typeface. It's the only book I've read for months for which I've had to dig out my reading glasses!

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bingo!, December 27, 2008

By 

Steve DiNatale - See all my reviews

This review is from: Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon: How to Be Your Own Best Coach (Paperback)

Bingo! At the age of 50, with 21 marathons and somewhere around 400 races under my belt, I thought I had read everything on the subject of running.
I was wrong!
This book really gets to the point on how to improve your running.
As nice as the running books are that discuss shoes and sports drinks, etc, Run Faster is more advanced and to the point.
If there is any one thing that will really help you improve alot, it's HILLS, pay special attention to the Hill Training!
Don't be afraid to experiment with your training.
Buy this book, read it at least twice and do your HILLS!
Well done Brad.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars More Advanced Than You May Want, September 22, 2010

By 

Andy Marx "Andy" (Allentown, PA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon: How to Be Your Own Best Coach (Paperback)

I have been running for two years and have read a few books about running, primarily beginner running books. This book does offer some good advice about training as a whole. But I think it is more geared to the serious and / or competitive runner rather than just the casual runner. For the record I typically run 5k races in the Spring, Summer, and Fall, and my times are generally in the 25-27 minute range.

The approach offered as a whole will help me. I really feel like I'm "training" now rather than going out for a run. Varying the running distances, speeds, and hill / strength training has already boosted my performance after three weeks.

But I just found the whole "adaptive" running thing, that is to run how you feel, to be impracticle. I think it may be good advice for a college athlete or someone with a lot of time on their hands. But if you're a working professional like me, you have about 45 minutes a day to work with. I've got to get certain workouts in on certain days. Also, I'm more of a routined person. I like to do certain things on certain days.

I just found the overall tone of this book to be much more geared toward the true running junkie, the ones who run the 5k in 16 minutes, versus the casually competitive runners like myself. Some of the training recommendations are great, I just didn't have a use for about 3/4's of this book.