The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing

A few years ago, I was barely able to walk, much less run. I suffered from horrendous Plantar Fasciitis in both feet that would leave me hobbled after a morning of coaching my kid's soccer team. Trips to the podiatrist, painful injections in the heels, and expensive custom orthotics didn't seem to help. I was giving up all hope when my wife and I saw Christopher McDougall, the author of "Born to Run," interviewed on the Daily Show. He described the same "icepick in the heel" pain I was having, so my wife bought his book for me as a gift. It literally changed my life, actually, considering my family history of heart disease, may have saved my life. While I have trained barefoot to work on form, I do not consider myself a barefoot runner. But, I have readjusted my gait to a very natural, mid-foot running form using Newton Running shoes. While it took a while to build up my atrophied calf muscles, less than 2 years later and 50 years old, I was running regularly without joint pain, but was still struggling every now and then with significant flu-like pain and fatigue. And my Plantar Fasciitis, the vampire bite of running injuries, was always lurking out there forcing me to take 2, sometimes even 3 rest days between runs, and when it would flare, I could be down for 2 to 3 months. In summary, I was running, I was running better, but I was still struggling more than I felt I should be. When I tried to extend my runs out to the 8 to 12 mile range, I always found a demon lurking out there in the thin air, ready to pour cement in my legs while I would bonk and my body would shut down. The dream of running a marathon seemed beyond my grasp.While researching a "100-Ups" drill on McDougall's website, I stumbled across McDougall's endorsement for Dr. Maffetone's book. I bought the Kindle edition and started reading "The Big Book on Endurance Training and Racing" and was hooked by the first few pages of the introduction. I learned that the biggest hurdle I had to get over was my male ego. I was pushing too hard and running too fast. My running partner and I were both suffering from aerobic deficiencies that we could measure with our heart rate monitors. While we could run moderate distances in the 8's and 9's, we were locomotives causing injury in our anaerobic zones, and excess weight just wasn't coming off. So, while skeptical, I decided to give the Maffetone method a try and only a month later, I am happy to report to all of you I have seen amazing improvements in my aerobic function by slowing down and following Maffetone's advice. Here are summary results from my two actual MAF tests 1 month apart. To demonstrate just how deficient my aerobic zone was, I had to slow down from my usual 9 min/mile pace to 12:37/mile average in my first 4 mile MAF test. Talk about a blow to the ego! But in the book's sidebars, you will learn that you are not alone, that even elite athletes have suffered from the same aerobic/anaerobic imbalance. So, 1 month later, at the same aerobic heart rate, my average time in my most recent MAF test has improved to 11:28/mile.Additional benefits of training aerobically and teaching my body how to burn fat is that I have lost a total of 10 pounds so far. I have left that demon behind in the dust, and I am now running a ½ marathon every weekend with plenty of gas left in the tank, and I will run my first marathon in the spring. I can even run back-to-back runs if my training schedule calls for it, which is a miracle for me considering where I've come from. And when I need to pick the pace up on race day, I find that my AHR is lower than it used to be, even when I am in the anaerobic zone, and I can gradually pick up my pace as the race progresses. I feel that Maffetone is teaching me how to build this much needed, and often overlooked base.While McDougall's book provided the inspiration for the paradigm shift I so desperately needed, I honestly believe that Maffetone's book was the missing piece to the puzzle. Get this book, get a good heart-rate monitor, set the ego aside, and enjoy pain-free progress in your running. I cannot recommend it enough.

I read the book from beginning to end and decided to put part of it use. The book is somewhat technical and re-emphasizes some of the same points over and over again, but perhaps Dr. Maffetone is trying to drive the point home. It's also broken down between the concept of working out within your optimal heart rate and nutrition. I started the heart rate portion of the program 2 weeks ago and I have to admit that it was very difficult to "run" at such a slow pace. However, of the past 2 weeks I've remained true to the program and I already noticed a difference after 2 weeks. Today I found myself being able to run at a slightly faster pace and I was still staying within my heart rate. I was also able to partially run up hills and I didn't have to walk the entire hill, like I had to in the beginning of the program. I think if you commit yourself to the concept and stay true, it will pay off. But be prepared to get frustrated for the first few weeks, it just is what it is. The second half of the book discuss a lot of information about proper nutrition, hydration and overall health which I found fascinating. Since there's a lot to put together I decided to start with the heart rate program first and I'm working on the nutrition aspect as I go along. I do recommend the book and I'm very happy to have found it. In addition, I suffered a back injury along with SI joint dysfunction 6 months ago. When I started reading the book, there was a lot of information about the dangers of overtraining. With my first full marathon looming on the horizon, I took his advice and I cut back my running schedule and I stopped stretching. Low and behold, it worked for me. The marathon was a success and I never ever "hit the wall". In fact I felt so fabulous I could have kept running.

It’s a challenge to write a review for this book, because it is easy to see why others with differing ambitions from me would love this. Namely, endurance athletes. I am not an endurance athlete, so my bias. What I sought here was good advice on properly managing my endurance training as a complement to my strength training. All in all yes, I got that, and so I am very favorable to this book, with a few, admittedly, idiosyncratic qualifications.There is a fundamental message in this book that is the primary take away: adjust your HR calculation to 180 - age (as opposed to the conventional 220 - age), and train at a HR of within 10 BPM of that. The logic for this is compelling. Above that HR, the body begins to to rely on anaerobic metabolism, which means you’re burning the kindling wood, sugar, rather than the logs, fat. It’s in the slow fat burn that that all the holistic benefits of aerobic training kick in. Going over that intensity into anaerobic metabolism sacrifices these benefits.As a (too) long time weights and high intensity trainee, I am coming finally to realize how important it is to have a genuine aerobic component to ones regular, long-term training strategy. There are things the aerobic system only can do which the anaerobic system cannot, as it was not designed to. Mainly, this is to enable sustained movement AND train cardiac efficiency. So I will do what Dr Phil says, so down, stay in the “MAF Zone” and develop aerobic strength on a separate track from my anaerobic training (squats, deadlifts, kettle bells, etc).So what was somewhat taxing in this book? OK....this. First of all, there is a very “look at me!” Undertone to the book. He starts off with an almost-died story, then goes on to tell his dramatic recovery and later acclaim, making sure to throw in how cool he is to even be the Chili Peppers “wellness coach” (reading “Scar Tissue” I wonder how much impact he had...I guess running and heroin could be compatible...?), and then how he and Rick Rubin collaborated, one to learn running and the Doc making music....OK, wow, what a cool guy...awesome. * I guess if you’re from LA this sort of talk is just what people do, your nobody unless you’re somebody there. A trivial annoyance, no more.What is more disappointing is his seeming total lack of knowledge of strength training. He refers to this several times as “push ups, pull ups, and crunches” and not much else. While he doesn’t condemn these anaerobic activities it’s difficult to see any genuine support for them either. It would have been extremely helpful to know what is his medical opinion of hybrid activities such as barbell complexes, sled pulls, kettlebell high rep work, and even calisthenics. I am not clear what his opinion is of higher intensity work period. Even regarding sprinting & HIIT he doesn’t dismiss its value completely but ambiguously seems to be saying its not all that beneficial. I just find that hard to believe.So this was a vagueness I didn’t appreciate. Perhaps if I went back and re-read the book I might find his position more explicitly on this, bit the book is extremely long and long winded, you wont really want to read it twice.So, very useful in its fundamentals of aerobic physiological development systems, but rather overwritten too, and needs some more straightforward commentary on alternate training modes.