As a relative novice in the world of ultra-running I am more than happy to listen to or read advice from the experts so a book by “the world’s best running coach” was something I couldn’t pass up, especially as the blurb on the cover promises proven training and racing prescriptions for pretty much every distance you can think of.
Daniels’ Running Formula is split into two parts, part one is titled Understanding the Formula for Training and consists of the first nine chapters. Part two Applying the Formula to Competitive Events is the remaining nine and the training programmes.
The books preface gives a brief synopsis of each chapter so it’s possible to jump straight to the chapters that interest you.
It is clear from the start that Jack Daniels has a lot of experience, and he loves a graph or a table! The first few chapters deal with the various types of training, principles and training profiles. I was just about keeping up until I got to chapter five VDOT System of Training, which allows you to set a realistic goal for every race you run. From my viewpoint it seems to be taken as read that you know your VO2 Max or have access to facilities that would allow you to find out. If you do know your VO2 Max then you can cross reference with the table in the chapter to see predicted times for various distances. If you don’t, then it is pretty much a guess based on how fast you can or think you can run one of the distances. The remaining chapters in part one deal with altitude training, treadmill running, fitness training and other types of training and taking a break from training.
The second half of the book deals with the various training plans for different distances, and like most ultra-runners I skipped straight to the chapter on ultra-running, all six pages of it! Bearing in mind that the book says it has” training and racing prescriptions” for ultra-distances what it actually has is a Q&A with Magda Lewy-Boulet, as well as a picture of Magda and another of Kilian Jornet. No training programme of any description. Whilst the advice provided is sage, I am not sure it constitutes “proven training and racing prescriptions.”
Overall, if you are looking to try and improve your times over the marathon distance or shorter then I am sure you would find this book a valuable tool in your locker but if like me you want to improve over longer distances then I would look probably look to another book.
Review by Craig Jackson
Daniels Running Formula by Jack Daniels
Click here to view the book.
Pros
✅ Training
✅ Training Plans
Cons
❌ Focus on shorter distances