Book Review: "Run for Life" by Roy M. Wallack

I picked up "Run for Life" by Roy M. Wallack on Amazon.com two weeks ago.  I love this book!

I've been devouring this book section by section.  Wallack's advice has been helpful from the day I picked up "Run for Life".

I received it on a Friday just before my first 10K run.  Right off the bat I incorporated a few of Wallack's suggestions - to shorten my stride, avoid heel striking and increase the number of strides I take when I want to move faster - for the 10K that following Sunday.  The result was a very solid run (not necessarily faster but certainly very steady) with very little soreness afterwards!  In fact, I finished faster than in my one other 10K run (a week earlier during my training) and felt a lot less tightness and soreness in my knees and quads during and after the run.

The various chapter-length interviews of runners of all ages and backgrounds (all successful runners) interspersed between more technical chapters makes for learning opportunities through the experiences of others.  It's also inspirational and motivational to read about the incredible success stories of famous and not-so-famous runners.

It's reassuring that I am already doing some of the things Wallack strongly suggests in "Run for Life" such as strength-training to supplement the weekly running.  I've been doing strength training right from this last get-go** which began in February 2010 and I felt it helped me avoid injuries.  Reading about the benefits of strength training made me that much more dedicated to the strength-training component of my workouts.

One thing I ignored and even avoided before reading "Run for Life" is cross-training on a bike or an eliptical runner.  Wallack is a strong advocate of adding a few days of cross-training with other aerobic exercises like biking and even swimming.  I'm not taking up swimming yet because I don't have ready access to a lap pool.  I am, however, adding the stationary bike and the eliptical machine into my workouts on days when I want to get an aerobic workout but want to rest my legs from the impact of running.

Wallack doesn't write this book as an expert but as a runner himself who knows a lot about running from talking and working with expert runners.  This is good because his suggestions and prescriptions can be tailored to my own needs more readily since the advice is distilled and explained in a manner that is relevant to an amateur/beginner runner like me.

Also helpful is some contrarian points of view that Wallack includes in the book.  I've read a chapter on why distance running is not good (everything else I've read in the book is about longer distances).  This chapter talks about a point of view that suggests that strength training and sprints are the way to go.

Wallack neither accepts nor rejects this point of view.  Instead, he does a pretty good job of gleaning lessons from this point of view and explains the benefits of incorporating some of these techniques in order to improve one's distance running.

I feel comfortable relying on Wallack's advice in "Run for Life" because I've received some independent validation of several of his recommendations.  When I talk to my runner friends (folks who've been running for years and who regularly participate/compete in a range of races from 5Ks to marathons) and tell them about ideas or techniques or tips, they often nod and say things like "yeah, that's what I do" or "sure, I've heard of that before".

After my 10K a few weeks ago I was telling a friend at work about my experience and about the techniques I tried to adopt during that run (shorter strides, mid-foot striking, etc).  He said yeah, that's all good and that's how he does it but he jokingly said he didn't need a book to tell him that.

Odd as it may sound, that is actually a ringing endorsement for "Run for Life".  I told my friend that none of these tips were things I would have come up with in the short term.  Sure, over time I may have picked up on these techniques, but I'm 40 years old and my body is pretty badly beaten up and run down by my lack of proper fitness over the last 12 to 15 years and I don't have the strength or the sturdiness to use my body as a laboratory to experiment and learn.  Instead, I want to shorten the learning curve and adopt running forms and training tips that have been tested over time by others.

I expect to use "Run for Life" by Roy M. Wallack as a guide and a "how-to" book as I develop my own running capacity.  I see myself going back to this book for advice and inspiration for quite some time.  I'm definitely hooked on running and I want to do what I can to improve my running life longevity.  Essentially that is what Wallack's book sets out to do.

I'm glad I picked this book up.

Title:                    "Run for Life"
Author:                 Roy M. Wallack
Publisher:             Skyhorse Publishing
Copyright:            2009
ISBN:                   978-1-60239-344-8