Marathon, Revised and Updated 5th Edition: The Ultimate Training Guide: Advice, Plans, and Programs for Half and Full Marathons Paperback – March 3, 2020

I recently finished reading Hal Higdon's book: "Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide". I am not sure where to begin this review because overall I found it to be amazing. Hal is a very well trusted source in the running community, so I knew it was worth the purchase before even opening a page. My very first Half Marathon training plan was Hal's Beginner Half Marathon program so I did have a little background knowledge on the author before starting the book. Overall he has beginner, intermediate and advanced training plans for Half Marathons and Full Marathons, so he knows what he is talking about.If I had to rate this book on a scale of 1-10, with a 10 being excellent I would happily give it a 10. The author really takes an in depth look at the marathon, from preparing yourself mentally before, during and after the race as well as preparing yourself physically.The book is great for a marathoner like me embarking on their first marathon as well as marathoners who have run multiple races. The author does not gear his stories and messages towards just one group of people. If you are a beginning marathoner like myself, he makes the marathon seem very attainable. He discusses all throughout the book of how the goal is to just finish the race if it is your first time. And tells personal stories of not only himself but others he has coached of how they did a lot better than expected for their first time.Also for marathoners who have run multiple races this is a good read as well. The author goes into detail in ways of improving your time to get better and better.Hal Higdon is very active in the running community. He is one of the first people to ever introduce the idea of a pace group to a marathon (read the book to find out more). And he describes the thousands of people he has coached for many of the major city marathons in the US. So the book has just as many personal stories from runners all across the country as it does from medical researchers.Personally I came away with many pages of notes (I'm that kind of reader) from this book on everything from pre-race nutrition, training plans, behavior and habit changes for marathon success and so much more. When I say the author addresses every aspect of the marathon I really mean it. For first time marathoners I would almost make this book a mandatory part of your training plan. I know my training has been impacted tremendously because of this book.

Good info and training strategies for Half and full marathon.

Offers a wide variety of insights and practical tips. However, it’s also contains a lot of unnecessary bla bla in my opinion.

A nearly comprehensive book with fun stories, practical advice, and decades worth of experience in the written word.Hal has a wonderful way of narrating to keep the reader intrigued. You know in today's world we just want the answer, we want it now, short and sweet, but we never want to know why. This is the book that tells you why.Now, I ran a couple races and there is some discrepancies between his decades worth of running and my years worth of running. I have never found especially after the race a place where they take cash. This means I must dreadfully carry my debit card, as cash is useless unless you go to a store outside of the race area. But then your carrying around change which is also no bueno! Nevertheless a couple bucks in cash stashes easily and can compliment any debit or credit card. Personally I am a cash only kind of guy but in today's world I am a minority, more like a dinosaur. And I'm only Generation X!Where I find this book lacking is stretching and runner exercises, mainly body weight. A few pages of illustrations showcasing both dynamic and static stretches would make this book complete. Well, that and a few illustrations of runners exercises, you know to help build the core or strengthen legs, or just making sure your upper half is synced properly with the lower half. Despite these this is not a deal breaker.The best part of this book, the comprehensive training plans. It doesn't matter what level you are or what distance you want to run (between the half and full- and he explains why there aren't shorter races in this book), Hal Higdon has it for you.My first race I ever planned for was a half marathon and so I went on Marathon Handbook and found a program that I liked, the Couch to Half Marathon, and it worked out perfectly for my half marathon. I didn't realize that while I was inputting each day into my workout app, Garmin Connect, that they've already made it more simple for you in Training Peaks. Guess what else? Hal's training sessions from the book are actually on there as well! You don't need that fancy computer service, you can just do like I did and just manually make the program in your calendar (through create workout). But if you're doing that for 20 weeks, that gets kind of old, quickly. For my marathon, I just downloaded one from my same coach, Thomas Watson, because he had something wonderful but Hal's is totally comparable, and actually Hal's is the blueprint that most people use to find tune their own training programs. This does not include 80/20 I don't think (I've read the whole book but there was no mention of 80/20- but you would simply get that from Matt Fitzgerald).Whether it's your first half marathon or your 10th Marathon, there is something for you in this book. Sure you could just go on Training Peaks and just download a program but Hal explains why each of his running plans is "roughly" tailored for the individual he specifies in the opening of each section. You may want to go from Zero to Hero and some have, but that's generally not a good idea.The bottom line, there is a plethora of running plans in this book and with it you could do anything you wanted with a half marathon or full Marathon. The information that is presented with this book is invaluable to help you on your journey. Get this book.

Awesome book. It explains everything about marathon running in an easy but scientific way with a lot of references and examples. Instead of paying a huge amount of money for a personal coach, I just read the book, picked one of his training programs and ran my first marathon in less than 4 hours. Thanks Hal!!

I bought this to help me learn as I get into running, 5k now but also 10k and then halvesEven if I never attempt a full marathon, this book will have been worthwhile for 10k/half marathon lessons and programs and just general infoI already read his book Run Fast. There is some overlap but I recommend both to anyone interested enough to be reading my review

Hal Higdon writes well and clearly has a lot of experience to draw on. He touches on all of the main points that you need to know about when training for a marathon. I have used it in my preparation as a reference and for motiviation.When you read the book or use it for reference, keep in mind that Higdon is just giving you his advice and opinion based on experience. It may not work for you to eat as him before a marathon or run the distances he recommends, and you may need to try something different or get advise from other sources. Said I still read in the book from time to time as he is clearly a very competent gentleman.

Great book to read if you're training for your first marathon. Includes plenty of tips and advice, plus there are many marathon and half marathon programs available