Customer Reviews

Winning Running: Successful 800m & 1500m Racing and Training

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

 

 

I found this book well-written and to the point. I like it very much as it does not have the scientific mumbo-jumbo frequently found in training guides. It also included some race strategies which I found very helpful. After following the training schedule for a few months, I found that my times had improved significantly. I'm recommending this book to all my runner friends!

Peter Coe has put together a short, highly readable volume that will benefit both coach and runner. He discusses in depth all things related to running the 800 and 1500. His multi-paced training program makes a lot of sense. I found myself underlining a lot of passages. Well Done!!

This book is excellent and I strongly recommend it. I have been running the 800m for almost 30 years and my own experience together with the teaching from my coach fully agree with Peter Coe's theories. Of course there are modern topics not covered by the book, like training with hurdles once a week, but for me these are minor issues.

The important things are mental conditioning, strength and multipace training, style and efficiency, race tactics, etc, which are highly emphasized by Peter Coe. And, of course, the uselessness of high mileage as training basis.

This is a great introduction to the type of training needed for successful middle-distance running. I stress that this is an introduction only.

In this book Peter Coe describes the philosophy behind his coaching of Sebastian Coe, a famous British middle distance runner. He highlights the mindset of one elite athlete/coach combination. I found this book most useful as a coach's reflections on how to develop talent and harness the luck of genetics to create a great athlete. While the principles of hard work and persistence are universal prerequisites for the accomplishment of great things, sometimes we learn that lesson best from a memoir like this.
However, much of the training information is dated. For more physiologic rigor and detail look at Better Training for Distance Runners - 2nd Edition, Daniels' Running Formula - 2nd Edition, or Lore of Running - 4th.

As a competitive 800m runner the information outlined in this book proved to be informative and useful to my own training and to others.

The book gives good guidelines to long distance racing, but it is geared to older children and was a little too technical for me.

While this book covers all of the key elements of good training and racing, there are better books available on nutrition and training strategies (especially since the book is now almost ten years old). The book focuses on Sebastian Coe and uses him as an example. This only works to a point since most people didn't end up with his genes. If you are coaching young runners (many without Sebastian Coe's body or personality) and tried to use the mental conditioning section uniformly with each runner you would lose or ruin a good share of them.