As many of you know, Amby Burfoot was the editor of Runner’s World Magazine. He’s one of the leaders in today’s running world. Now, in his 70s, Amby, who was a former winner of the Boston Marathon and author of the book, The Complete Guide to Running, wrote Run Forever in 2018.
After attending a certification course for RRCA, I was compelled to go out and buy the book from Amazon. (I just realized I must have read it before. My original review is on the link below.)
About Run Forever
I found a lot of interesting takeaways from this 200+ page book. One of the highlights for me is his discussion on the walk-run method. Although this method is generally taught to beginners, experienced runners like Amby are embracing it especially as we age. He feels that walk-run can be done forever.
He writes: “If you allow yourself to accept it, run-walk will open more doors than you can possibly imagine. It is the most important tool for lifetime running. Give it a try.”
Interestingly he writes that although Jeff Galloway was his roommate in college, he was inspired by the run-walk method from Tom Osler, a 1960s top marathoner. He proposed running for 15 minutes and walking for five minutes. When Amby tried it out at a marathon, he felt fresh throughout.
This book is comprehensive and one of the better books I have read on running. Amby is a good writer and he keeps the book flowing.
Without disclosing the entire book, here are some of my takeaways:
- Stride — If you fall under 160, you are over-striding. Shorten your stride.
- 10 percent rule – He believes that your mileage should go up no more than 10 percent each week.
- Repeat rule – run at least 2 weeks in a row at the same mileage before bumping to the next level.
- Run slow – keep those long ones slow and at a conversational pace.
- Use short races for training.
There’s a host of information about injuries, nutrition, training plans, and more. Although a lot of the information I already knew, I found it fun to read and informative. It definitely gave me a boost to go out there and run more. (I just wish this knee issue wouldn’t hold me back.)
Anyway, you can pick up the book on Amazon. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it.
