Customer Reviews

Joan Samuelson's Running for Women

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

 

 

Although Joan won an Olympic medal and I've only run two 5k races, I found this book to be very useful and informative. Some of the training drills are new to me, most actually, and I plan on using them. She also has a training schedule for everything from your first 10k to your first marathon. The book even touches on 5k races and the mile. I don't know that I'll ever want to train for a marathon, but the book was interesting and inspiring, with Joan's personal experiences mixed in with experts's advice on everything from stretching to buying the right bra.

I enjoyed the inspirational aspect of Joan's successes and overcoming injury to achieve those successes. This book also motivated me to train harder and use Joan's advice and training programs. She shows us how to balance training with life and be successful in all of it! I highly recommend it to inspire you and take your training to higher levels.

I've found this book to be an excellent basic resource for female runners. I often give it as a gift to runners that I coach, since Samuelson's advice is wonderfully balanced about running and life. While others find it a problem that training advice is mixed with autobiographical info, I found it neither too dry nor too anecdotal. There aren't many good books about women's running--this is one of the best!

Unfortunately, Samuelson's writing skills are far less inspiring that her gold medal win of the first women's Olympic marathon. Her co-writer does little to add clarity and excitment to the work and, instead, just muddies the waters further (the two of them continually alternate writing, switching from the first to third person with no clear segues). Even the information it delivers is old news (advice such as: ibuprofen relieves menstrul cramps). There are so many better instructional books about running.

After having read other books on women's running, I had high hopes for this one. Unfortunately my hopes were quickly diminished. This book seemed to be all about Joan and what she did to become an olympic champion. This may be good autobiographical material but as a guide to starting a running program this book flounders. Not many people starting out are capable of having knee surgery and running a race shortly thereafter. What little useful information was provided seemed impractical and laden with disclaimers such as, just because Joan did this doesn't mean that everyone can, etc. I wanted to read a book that would give me pointers in starting and maintaining a running program, not Joan's life story.

An excellent reference resource for women runners.

Also, an easy and enjoyable read!