Daniels' Running Formula

I love this book. The first time I read about Daniel's Running Formula was in in Local Edition of RUNNER'S WORLD. I tried to train according to his methods and to my surprise I came first in a 10K event. I eventually bought a copy of the first edition and it is still one my best books on running. I basically didn't compete for many years but still ran and applied his methods where I could. After a few years recovering from a cycling accident where I was a victim of a hit and run, I was enjoying my running again. I had an Achilles injury recently but tried some of his methods and then downloaded this third edition on my two Kindles. I really enjoyed all the extra information on the different programs and the distances, and all the little extra bits. I started to follow the cross country program and as recommended to run some sessions on hills. I recently entered a trail running long course championship. Although I had a few disasters along the way. I didn't run in trail shoes, I ran in worn lightweight trainers and tried to cut grooves in the sole for more traction. I was one of the least looking trail runners with no compression gear or hydration pack. I hurt my heel on a rock, I dressed too warmly, I took a wrong turn twice and even fell on the trail not far from the finish and almost fell in the river. But it still was fun. I still managed to come in fourth place (I even ran in third for a little while) and was the first veteran at 44 years of age. The winner was half my age. But I do believe that his methods and formula works. I'm going to try and follow them even more closely now which enhances my enjoyment of running. But I still want to get the paperback edition next time. I would without a doubt recommend this book to those who want to improve their running. Jack Daniels is an excellent coach with many years of experience. This book deserves five stars! Thank you. Timothy South Africa

If your friends call you overly analytical and you love pouring over statistics and trends as much as you love running, this book is for you! Daniels' gives the quantitative rationale for why he recommends what he does and it's compelling. It's not necessary, you could just get a plan and follow it, but Daniels' gives the full physiological context and pros and cons about it which I find super helpful and motivating. Best in class IMHO. I can't recommend it more highly!

Foundational work for American distance running and a must read but the sport and sports science have progressed significantly. Read this then The Science of Running by Steve Magness next to be current

I’m on chapter three of this book and it has opened my eyes to making running understanding. This is not an easy yo understand book but it illustrates what someone needs to understand on a more professional level how things work in running. It compares statistics for top runners that the coach has coached. It is a decent book so far. I hope this book will tremendously improves my understanding of running on a professional level like it already has. I just hope on all the levels and depth of this book I can comprehend it.

I have the Kindle version of this book. Unlike other ebooks that I've bought, the formatting here is good. Now with that out of the way, this book is a classic for runners. Daniels was one of the first to try to add more science to running, this book has graphs to illustrate principles with citations to the literature. (Unfortunately, most academic journals are hard to get ahold of without paying unless you have access to a college library.) The book begins with the basics: stride rate, foot strike, and breathing. It then gives you the information for you to develop a training plan for yourself based on race distance and pace goal. Developing my plan required paper and pencil. One other interesting feature is that since Daniels has coached college teams, he discusses training for an entire running season instead of just one race. He also discusses over the year. Many of us runners keep running even when we don't have a race to train for, so this is helpful. Daniels has changed some of his advice in the third edition. He keeps learning.

Excellent resource

This book is a great reference material for most thing related to running! It covers some of the basics of running performance as related to VO2max, running economy and lactate threshold, while also teaching you the different types of workouts that will help you improve in those areas. There are lots of useful templates (from single workouts to full plans) accompanied by VDOT tables that let you customize any workout/plan to your current fitness level. Highly recommended, particularly, if like me, you find that most running related books are missing the all important aspect of: how fast should I be running?

It's exactly what I was needing at this point. I read a good amount of "motivational" running books and great running "stories", but now I wanted to run with a purpose. I wanted specific plans for specific goals and I wanted to know why I should follow these plans. This book provided exactly that. Great plans for pretty much all distances and all levels. The explanations are clear and to the point. I find myself referring back to this book very regularly. A must have for anyone who wants to take their running to the next level.