In the past year, there have been a number of excellent books on training distance runners published: Greg McMillan's You (Only Faster), Owen Anderson's Running Science, Jack Daniels third edition of his Running Formula, Pat Tyson's update of Joe Newton's classic Coaching Cross Country Successfully and now the most recent addition to this list is Steve Magness's The Science of Running. For those of us who remember when the only guidance on the subject was Fred Wilt's How They Train and a quarterly publication, Track Technique, we appreciate their efforts.
Steve Magness's avowed purpose is to integrate the separate silos of coaching practices and research science. His own qualifications are impressive: high school phenom, disappointing college career followed by a quest to study the best coaches and coaching in the world and then his absorption of the science of running and exercise physiology (much of what appeared on his informative science of running blog). He also spent a stint with the Nike Oregon Project, seeing and supervising first hand the training of world class athletes. All this has been distilled into the Science of Running, a 331 page opus that is divided into two parts: the science and then the coaching.
Mercifully, the 144 page science section is not a biology lecture on mitochondria, lactate threshold, and VO2 Max concepts.True to his promise, he attempts to use science to guide training. One learns that there is no rational basis for the current fixation on the emphasis of running at VO2 max. Other insights include that there are numerous signaling pathways activated by different types of training that can accomplish the same adaptation, that sprinting is the best plyometric, the importance of correct biomechanics to optimize the storage of kinetic energy. Before transitioning into the coaching portion of the book, the author concludes that the disconnect between science and coaching can be attributed to science's need to test a single variable in isolation vs. the integrated environment that the coach needs to actually train his
athletes in.
The coaching section's central premise is that the athlete's training should be oriented on his muscle fiber types with separate training programs created for the two types of athletes. He explains different types of training for both muscle fiber types, starting with the 800 meter runner progressing all the way to the marathon. This approach is also used when discussing supplementary training such as core exercises and strength training. Despite the fact that we are now into the coaching section, science insights are still injected when evaluating training. For example, the reader learns that probably the best core training is to run at various speeds.
Steve Magness can be justifiably proud of his contribution to the literature of distance running training. And since this book is probably destined for several more editions, I would encourage him to improve his current edition in two ways. First, there are numerous typographical errors throughout the text, misspellings and missing letters, distracting but easily corrected. Secondly, there is no index, which makes retrieving some of his insights more difficult than necessary. Despite these shortcomings, this is an outstanding guide for any coach or runner, at any level, wishing to become better and / or faster.
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Top reviews from other countries
Kindle Customer
This book is people interested in High performance sports and Sciences.
Reviewed in India on August 14, 2022Amazon Kunde
Gute Anregungen für die Trainingsgestaltung
Reviewed in Germany on July 25, 2017