REVIEW: "From 800 meters to the marathon", Jack Daniels

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

"Ten steps relaxed … Ten steps with effort … Twenty steps relaxed … Twenty steps with effort … One hundred steps relaxed … One hundred steps with effort" is one of my most effective mantras for training, and Jack Daniels taught me this

The second edition of Jack Daniels Running Formula, Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, describes the physiology of running from A to Z, VDOT (Maximum Oxygen Per Minute) tables, graphs, a training schedule for both experienced athletes preparing for a competition and beginners in running. The book will delight all lovers of graphs, tables and formulas - everyone who does not like to rely on chance and prefers accurate calculations and forecasts.

The first book was published in 1988 and to this day it remains one of the most popular among its “colleagues”.

What's special about this book is that you don't have to read it cover to cover. It is designed so that anyone can read exactly the part that describes the necessary training methodology: beginners will not need to master the training chapters for professional athletes and coaches, and experienced runners will not waste time reading beginner workouts. The most important thing is to read the first part of "Training Basics", and then choose what you need at the moment.

For beginners and those who have postponed their jogging as a result of injury or other external circumstances, I strongly recommend reading the second and third parts of the book - "Training Levels" and "Wellness Training". The latter is divided into levels ranging from the easiest, White starter plan, and ending with the Yellow Elite plan.

If you have been in love with running for a long time and are doing so seriously that you take part in competitions, then you need the last, fourth part - "Training for participation in competitions." It details the plans and directions for preparing for the competition, from running 800 meters to a full marathon.

“The main reason for writing my book on running is to try to simplify training terminology and methodology so that the same types of exercise can be used by all categories of runners, from beginners to elite.

When I decided to become a runner myself - after doing swimming for a few years in high school and college - I found that much of the training advice came from coaches telling other coaches about how they prepared their stars and champions. The star training programs were completely inapplicable for the training of entry-level runners and even those who were seriously involved in running, but had not yet reached the level of the highest results.

I myself was not an elite runner, like the first men I started coaching when I became a coach in college. The lack of methods pushed me to search for the scientific basis of training."

I would say that Jack Daniels is a sports life hacker who decided not to act according to the established rules and maim himself and the athletes (the strongest will survive), but decided to change what was unfair in his opinion. And he did it the best way possible;)

800 Meters to the Marathon by Jack Daniels