Marathon and Half-Marathon: The Beginner's Guide

by Marnie Caron, The Sport Medicine Council of British Columbia, The Sport Medicine Council of BC, et al.

Book Overview

Over 20 million Americans run recreationally, but doing it right is more than a matter of buying an expensive pair of shoes and heading for the track. Building on the popularity of The Beginning Runner's Handbook, this practical, easy-to-use guide provides a step-by-step program for running a half or full marathon for the first time. It shows readers how to get motivated and set realistic goals, choose the proper shoes, eat right, build strength and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1553651588
• ISBN13: 9781553651581
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Greystone Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Good Half Marathon Basics Book

This is a good book for the beginning athlete contemplating making their long term goal the completion of a half marathon. The training schedule involves walking at set periods of time during every run and in the half marathon itself, which may be a less scary approach than committing oneself to eventually making a long run of 2 hours or more at the end of the half marathon training. There is some solid, basic nutritional information in the Fueling the Athlete chapter, but since the book is written by a Canadian, all the recommendations based on weight are in kilograms, not pounds. This would be a good first book to read for a runner just beginning half marathon training, as it covers all sorts of questions, like including your family in running, running with a stroller and running with a dog.

I did it -- so can you

I used this plan literally starting from getting off the couch and not being able to run 1 min. Built up, using the training plan listed in the book, to a run of 30 min / walk 1 min for 11 miles. Completed my first half-marathon this past weekend and owe a lot to this book. Great beginner guide.

good beginners book

This book got me confident that I could run again after taking about 7 years off from any type of exercise after having two children. Great information. The training schedule is very functional for a busy mom. Finished a half-marathon after training using this book.

Good Place to Start

This book is a good place to start. I agree with the last review ... it is not a Jeff Galloway book but if you are a true biginner, it is a good place to start. It has good basic pointers that are easy to understand. I would say that if you are going to run a FULL marathon, you will need a more indepth book with more advanced information. This book is good to get you into a HALF marathon.

Pretty good book but not quite a Jeff Galloway

I think this is a very nice book but perhaps not as "entertainingly" written as the Jeff Galloway running books ("Marathon-You Can Do It" and "Half-Marathon-You Can Do It") that I've also read. The author even quotes Galloway in a couple of places. Fortunately, the author does not overload you with much drawn out text and lays out a running plan in a nicely formatted grid. She also points out certain details about what can help based on your sex and age. I really enjoyed the little "true stories" sections that the author throws in every so often. These profiles of people who started out as complete beginners and eventually ran a marathon were, to me, very motivational. The big difference between this and other books is the training time period. Many books claim they can get you ready for the big time in 13 weeks, this book promotes a 26 week program and the author even hints that if you are starting at ground-level zero, a year to your first marathon is even better. Overall, a pretty good book for beginning runners of all ages who prefer the tortoise to the hare approach before trying that first 13.1 or 26.2 miles!