Running Your First Marathon: The Complete 20-Week Marathon Training Plan

First off this book is absolutely beautiful. Full color thick pages, wonderful pictures and illustrations, beautifully bound. Wow. Next, if you want to just run a marathon as natural progression from, well anything less, and you have built up a comfortable running base, this book would be great for you. No bells, no whistles, just what you need to know. I honestly believe this book would get you to the finish line in a decent time, dependent upon you. This book has one plan, and for each day of 20 weeks it dedicates two pages, one of explanations and motivation and one for training. Everything is spelled out. Chapter 5 is my favorite, strength training. It has wonderful illustrations on stretching and exercises and it also has a 5-day training program. It took me about an hour to load all of the information into Garmin Connect. I will use this with my marathon training. Running your first marathon, the complete 20-week marathon training plan is a no frills, you don't need this you don't need that just do this type of book if your goal is to run a marathon this is the book for you. If you plan on running more than one, I would say get Hal Higdon's Marathon, the ultimate training guide- mainly because it has progressions for your perceived level of fitness. But the quality of this particular book would be a wonderful gift to somebody thinking about running a marathon. Thank you Coach Kastor!

This book is the best marathon training book ever! Short, sweet and to the point. I'm not a runner, in fact, I hate running but I got it in my head when I lost 100+ pounds that my next goal (bucket list item) was to run a marathon. I have completed (4) 1/2 marathons without the best preparation and have suffered greatly. My times are beyond embarrassing and my recovery time is weeks and I am crippled for days. This book though - God send! First step.... get up to running 25 miles a week before you ever start the training plan. Ding, ding, ding! It contains so much valuable information like what stretches to do - HELLO! Another one of my problems solved. I'm not athletic, I have no idea how to stretch for running! I have no idea what to eat, how much I should sleep, how to recover from long runs..... This book has it all! I wish I could report a successful marathon completion using all of the valuable information, but I am at the beginning of the training journey right now. I am just starting.... and that means, getting to 25 miles a week. I have no doubt though, that by starting now and following this book as my map, I am going to feel proud of my 2025 1/2 marathons and I will be VERY satisfied with the completion of my first full marathon! If you're wanting to run your first marathon....get this book! It's the only one you'll need.

I have run the Houston Half Marathon 3 times and will run the 2021 Marathon for the first time. So I bought this book. The plan is very specific and easy to follow. It also has general nutritional information, injuries, even how to select the correct sneaker. I will update this review after I complete the training and finish the marathon

I used this book to train for my first Marathon! Easy to read, it was my week by week guide. I have followed all recommendations. My overall performance and health increased during the training and My Marathon was an enjoyable experience ... Thank you!

This book has it all. A reasonable plan, wise, practical advise, and clear instructions. I cannot recommend it enough for a first time marathoner who is already running in the 15-20 miles per week range. My expectations were modest - (1) finish, (2) finish before 4:20, and (3) if possible, finish under 4:00. I ran every run on the high end of the given range, followed the pacing recommendation (long and slow, stay healthy), and just trusted the advice. End result: 3:50, which was unbelievable for these 50 yo legs. I felt so good on race day, I just glided. And I learned a lot about running and participated in a great race that beautifully supports challenged kids. Tearing up thinking about all of this again. Thanks, Andrew Kastor, for a wonderful 20 weeks.

This book is great for anyone looking to do their first marathon.

There are so many training plans you can find online. Just get this book, and it has everything you need (diet, hydration, stretching, strength workout, injuries,,) I really liked this book throughout my training but had to wait till post race to write this review. Jan: half marathon 2hr 13min May: started 20 week marathon training with this book Aug: half marathon 1hr 58min sub 2! Oct: full marathon 4hr 12min I completed most of the runs and finished low end of weekly mileage. I could have done more strength workouts. I focused too much on getting the weekly mileage.

Am new at this am enjoying I wish he had a bigger sections and tips on how to overcome injuries. But I am enjoying thi new journey and this book really helped

No aporta nada especial. Lo que podrías leer en un blog de internet. No entra en el detalle de nada

I got this as a gift for someone, she said it was very good, easy ready and insightful.

Está en inglés pero es simple de leer. Tiene excelentes conceptos e ideas simples no solo para ese "primer maratón" pero para correr en general. Algo que se debe mejorar es la presentación de las tablas del plan de carrera por semana pues se pierde un poco en la versión Kindle. Supongo que en la versión impresa se ve mejor. Eso no demerita en nada el resto del contenido.

Quick read, full of useful tips

I used this book to train for my first full marathon (after doing 3 halfs). The book is superb, I followed the training regime to the letter and only missed two of the 100 training runs in the programme. I also did the longer end of the training bracket fir each run. My fitness built up gradually and I got through the training and the race without recurrence of any injuries. If you look at my pic you'll see my Strava fitness plot, the first orange dot is a warm up half which i PBd at 1.36. My fitness then builds further and you can see the taper where my form grew. The last Orange dot is the race itself which I nailed with a time of 3.21. The point I make is the build is gradual, safe and gets the job done. The only part I completely ignored was the heart rate advice which was way off for me; I'd have been walking for the first few weeks. Don't let this put you off though, the programme is mega simple to follow. Don't waste your time looking any further- you have found the perfect book and training programme. FAQ: The programme is based on distance not time, it calls for 5 runs per week for the 20 weeks, the programme is easy to modify (put it in a spreadsheet), the runs peak at 20 miles.