Book Review “Run Less Run Faster”

I confess I had no intention of actually keeping this book.  I got the “try it free for 20 days” offer in my email inbox and clicked it on a whim, completely planning to check it out and then return it when I was done.  I’ve tried offers like this in the past and I know they’re more trouble than they’re worth, however I’d read a lot on the FIRST training plan in Runner’s World (you can check it out here and here) and it intrigued me.  I was curious how much more detail they would go into in the book, so I ordered it.

So the premise of this training plan is that you run only 3 days per week.  These three days, though, are tough as they have you running probably faster than you normally would.  One run is an interval workout, another is a tempo run, and the third is the long run.  You will also spend two days per week cross training.  The other two days of the week would be rest days, or you could throw in another cross training day if you wanted.

What I like about it:

- you set your paces for each run based on your goal time, and they lay that all out in handy little tables.  So you know that if you want to finish your half marathon in 2hrs, then you can go to their tables and find out exactly how fast you need to run your 400m intervals, or your tempo runs, or your long runs.  This is great for me on the treadmill – I love having a workout to do to hold my attention.  Plus, I can set my speed at whatever my pace is supposed to be and hammer out my repeats.

- they go in to a lot more detail.  They lay out training plans for the 5k, 10k, half marathon, and marathon.  They also specifically lay out what they consider to be cross training.  This was something I was curious about – would strength training be considered cross training, or would it have to be cardiovascular?  Turns out it has to be cardiovascular, and they are very specific about which cardio activities you can do.

What I don’t like about it:

- you may only run three days per week.  They are quite specific about this, and I get it.  The runs are quite hard and the cross training days are meant to be active recovery days.  However, I like running.  And I like running at least 4 days per week.

- it requires cross training.  I don’t really like cross training.  And it can’t be just anything, they specifically want you to do either biking, rowing, or swimming.  I don’t have access to a pool, I don’t have a rowing machine, and while I like biking it’s winter here 80% of the time and I don’t own a bike trainer (much as I’d like to).  If it could be strength training, or yoga, or pilates, I’d be all over it.  But they’re pretty specific about what you can do, and while I understand the reasoning behind it, it just doesn’t really work for me.

So, I’m torn.  But I’m keeping the book – I think it will be handy to have around.  While I may not experience all the benefits of their program by skimping on the cross training and throwing in an extra easy running day, I still can’t help but think that it will provide at least some benefit.