What I'm Reading

The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer is the book to read if you are inexperienced and wanting to go the distance. The book is based on a class that the author's have taught at a university for years. It comes complete with a training schedule as well as health and mental tips to get you through the training and the actual race. Each chapter is meant to be read leading up to its coordinating week of training runs.

So far I think it's awesome and has been very inspirational. The training schedule which the authors suggest requires you to run four days a week. One of those days is an increasingly long day while the other days are relatively short. If you follow the program it will take you four full months to complete unless you currently cannot continuously jog for 30 minutes. If this is the case, the authors have included an additional 3 months of training to get you to this point which starts off by only requiring the ability to walk for 30 minutes at a moderate pace.

The book also includes a compilation of excerpts from the students who have been enrolled in the marathon class who range in age and athletic ability. One woman had back problems and on her first day of training could barely walk five minutes at a time. Every single student completed a marathon at the end of each of the semesters except one person who had medical problems during his race. It is so inspiring to hear from the students themselves what all this means to them and how much they were able to accomplish in a short time following this exact method. I especially love the stories of the extremely inexperienced students because that is the boat I am in and sometimes this task seems a bit daunting.