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Runner's World Run Less Run Faster: Become a Faster, Stronger Runner with the Revolutionary 3-Runs-a-Week Training Program
Finally, runners at all levels can improve their race times while training less, with the revolutionary Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST) program.Hailed by the Wall Street Journal and featured twice in six months in cover stories in Runner's World magazine, FIRST's unique training philosophy makes running easier and more accessible, limits overtraining and burnout, and substantially cuts the risk of injury, while producing faster race times.The key feature is the "3 plus 2" program, which each week consists quality runs, including track repeats, the tempo run, and the long run, which are designed to work together to improve endurance, lactate-threshold running pace, and leg speed-2 aerobic cross-training workouts, such as swimming, rowing, or pedaling a stationary bike, which are designed to improve endurance while helping to avoid burnoutWith detailed training plans for 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon, plus tips for goal-setting, rest, recovery, injury rehab and prevention, strength training, and nutrition, this program will change the way runners think about and train for competitive races.Amby Burfoot, Runner's World executive editor and Boston Marathon winner, calls the FIRST training program "the most detailed, well-organized, and scientific training program for runners that I have ever seen."
259 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 19, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 15, 2024
This book takes the opposite approach of the one I recently read by Brad Hudson, which pushes high volume of running, or the 80/20 approach of Matt Fitzgerald. Instead, it pares back training to the 3 key workouts per week: one speed, one threshold/tempo, and one long run. Supplemented with some cross-training for general aerobic conditioning. Thereby keeping the intensity, and paring back the slogfest of dozens of miles per week. Since this is what even Hudson concedes is best for the 40+ crowd, it makes sense that it would work just as well for younger runners too.
Important to note is that despite limiting to running to 3x/week and total training to 7 hrs/week, this is by no means a casual plan. The common mantra of "run the easy runs easy and the hard runs hard" is thrown in the bin, along with all easy runs. They are all hard. Due to the intensity, it will take new runners several months to work up to being able to handle the full program, but there is a plan to get beginners moving towards it, which is nice, as too many of these books assume that the reader is already capable of running pretty fast for many miles multiple times per week, leaving too many unsure of how to even get started.
In addition to the intensity, the programme is incredibly prescriptive. The authors reject heart rate training and associated zones as being too variable and hence not useful for determining training pace. Instead, the plan relies on recent 5k race pace to determine all training paces for all distances (It felt like half the book is taken up by tables of paces for various distances, with separate sections for heat and altitude adjustments (which easily could have been avoided by just providing the handful of formulas and letting the reader calculate their own values)). As a result, every run is scripted down to the meter, with a 3-second per mile tolerance. Not feeling that great today and want to take it easy? Too bad, you're doing 800m intervals anyway. Feeling terrific and want to enjoy the nice weather with a long run through the park? Nein! You must do 600m intervals at the track, because that's what's scheduled today. Hudson's "adaptive" approach makes a lot of sense in this context.
The other significant departure from most training plans for competitive athletes is the lack of focus of running at target race pace. Instead, the paces are based off of previous performances at shorter distances (especially for the marathon).
One positive thing is that the author's place running performance in the context of general fitness as part of a well-balanced life, and not the sole goal of existence. They therefore incorporate strength training as an integral part of the plan, 3x/week. Unfortunately, it's only 15 minutes and barely uses any weights, amounting to what is essentially an extended pre-activation routine that should be done prior to any hard run. But at least they don't reject it out of hand like too many of these books.
As seems inevitable and obligatory in any book containing training plans, this one is chock full of testimonials in the form of gushing letters and emails sent to the authors by people who followed the programme and achieved good results. Of course there is no mention of how many angry letters complaining about injuries or poor performances were also received, reducing these accounts to anti-scientific anecdotal marketing.
October 28, 2022
I ran two marathons and I am about to start training for the 3rd one.
In Feb 2018, I completed the first one, very hilly Austin, TX Marathon, with no formal training, just doing progressively long runs on weekends. The goal was finishing it and I managed to do it in 5:37:06. The second one, flat Houston Marathon, was in Jan 2022 after fairly regular running during pandemic. I followed the Marathon plan in RunKeeper app and my goal was under 4h and I finished in 3:49:54. Major improvement, yay!
After 2 marathons and several half marathons, I humbly consider myself an intermediate level runner with potential to improve. Upon research on alternatives, I have decided to give the FIRST (Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training) a try as my next marathon training program. It is 3 days of running combined with 2 days of cross training (bike, rowing or swimming) plus some additional strength training. While it might be lesser volume running overall, it is NOT any less training. True, there are no easy daily runs in this program! They are all replaced by cross training sessions. Also, in the standard marathon plan the long runs ramp up very quickly so someone involved in this program is looking to 5-7 hours of weekly training. If someone is looking to plans in this book, because they are time constrained, this might not the right plan for them. At the end of the day, one has to put the time one way or another to get results.
Nowadays, the runner community (and most elite runners) pretty much agree on that high volume training is the right way and of that 80% makes up the easy/slower miles to build cardiovascular endurance and about 20% is geared towards improving top end speed. There is a lot of scientific research confirming such approach. As such, FIRST program is quite controversial as the 3 key workouts prescribed by the program are all at challenging paces. Yet, the authors have built in recovery in the form of 2 days of cross training and spreading of the 3 key workouts to dampen the body battery induced by these higher than customary. Will it be enough? I really hope so.
I read the 3rd edition (2021) of the book in Kindle eBook format. It is fairly easy reading. It is actually an extended manual with each chapter having a short introduction to concepts, Q&A format sub-section (based on comments and questions gathered over the first 2 versions) and user/runner testimonials. I think the Q&A sections include valuable information, but they could have been integrated into the regular text. Runner testimonials are interesting but I think it is a bit overdone. I understand that they are there to instill confidence in the plans since the training approach is non-traditional.
The book also includes training programs for 5k, 10k and Half Marathon distances besides Marathon plan. Actually, in this version edition of the book (3rd edition), there are 2 different marathon plans. The standard one has 5 x 20-mile long runs and they ramp up quite fast. The so-called "beginner" version has 1 x 20-mile run and ramp up a little slower so a somewhat similar to long runs in a more traditional plan. In any case, I think neither plan is suitable if one doesn't have a fairly good base. By the way, if you Google you may find some older versions of the plans. The authors seem to have fine-tuned the plans based on feedback received and upon further research. Get the latest version of the book.
I should also note that pace tables are keyed on 5k time of the runner. It is important to choose the right 5k pace in order to correctly use this book. The authors emphasize that you should choose 5k pace corresponding to your current fitness level and not work backwards from a desired target race time. The paces are reportedly chosen on what is achievable at the conclusion of 16-week plan (or 12-weeks for 5k/10k plans). If you go stack 16-week plans on top of each other, over time the user is expected to improve in fitness and hence race times will (hopefully) improve.
There is not much else I can add at this moment. I will update this review after (hopefully successful) conclusion of marathon program in Jan 2023 (Houston Marathon)
In Feb 2018, I completed the first one, very hilly Austin, TX Marathon, with no formal training, just doing progressively long runs on weekends. The goal was finishing it and I managed to do it in 5:37:06. The second one, flat Houston Marathon, was in Jan 2022 after fairly regular running during pandemic. I followed the Marathon plan in RunKeeper app and my goal was under 4h and I finished in 3:49:54. Major improvement, yay!
After 2 marathons and several half marathons, I humbly consider myself an intermediate level runner with potential to improve. Upon research on alternatives, I have decided to give the FIRST (Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training) a try as my next marathon training program. It is 3 days of running combined with 2 days of cross training (bike, rowing or swimming) plus some additional strength training. While it might be lesser volume running overall, it is NOT any less training. True, there are no easy daily runs in this program! They are all replaced by cross training sessions. Also, in the standard marathon plan the long runs ramp up very quickly so someone involved in this program is looking to 5-7 hours of weekly training. If someone is looking to plans in this book, because they are time constrained, this might not the right plan for them. At the end of the day, one has to put the time one way or another to get results.
Nowadays, the runner community (and most elite runners) pretty much agree on that high volume training is the right way and of that 80% makes up the easy/slower miles to build cardiovascular endurance and about 20% is geared towards improving top end speed. There is a lot of scientific research confirming such approach. As such, FIRST program is quite controversial as the 3 key workouts prescribed by the program are all at challenging paces. Yet, the authors have built in recovery in the form of 2 days of cross training and spreading of the 3 key workouts to dampen the body battery induced by these higher than customary. Will it be enough? I really hope so.
I read the 3rd edition (2021) of the book in Kindle eBook format. It is fairly easy reading. It is actually an extended manual with each chapter having a short introduction to concepts, Q&A format sub-section (based on comments and questions gathered over the first 2 versions) and user/runner testimonials. I think the Q&A sections include valuable information, but they could have been integrated into the regular text. Runner testimonials are interesting but I think it is a bit overdone. I understand that they are there to instill confidence in the plans since the training approach is non-traditional.
The book also includes training programs for 5k, 10k and Half Marathon distances besides Marathon plan. Actually, in this version edition of the book (3rd edition), there are 2 different marathon plans. The standard one has 5 x 20-mile long runs and they ramp up quite fast. The so-called "beginner" version has 1 x 20-mile run and ramp up a little slower so a somewhat similar to long runs in a more traditional plan. In any case, I think neither plan is suitable if one doesn't have a fairly good base. By the way, if you Google you may find some older versions of the plans. The authors seem to have fine-tuned the plans based on feedback received and upon further research. Get the latest version of the book.
I should also note that pace tables are keyed on 5k time of the runner. It is important to choose the right 5k pace in order to correctly use this book. The authors emphasize that you should choose 5k pace corresponding to your current fitness level and not work backwards from a desired target race time. The paces are reportedly chosen on what is achievable at the conclusion of 16-week plan (or 12-weeks for 5k/10k plans). If you go stack 16-week plans on top of each other, over time the user is expected to improve in fitness and hence race times will (hopefully) improve.
There is not much else I can add at this moment. I will update this review after (hopefully successful) conclusion of marathon program in Jan 2023 (Houston Marathon)
November 30, 2024
Overall a really good book! A good bit of useful information. Only reason to give it 4 stars is because it is a decent bit of beginner information. Yes the training plan is new to me and I learned a lot from that but that was mostly covered in the first 50 pages.
The remaining parts of the book are super helpful and informative but for someone with the knowledge set already may not be the most useful.
I am excited to give the RLRF training a go for a spring marathon!
The remaining parts of the book are super helpful and informative but for someone with the knowledge set already may not be the most useful.
I am excited to give the RLRF training a go for a spring marathon!
August 15, 2024
I borrowed this from my library for my Kindle, but I might buy a copy. This one seems worth having for reference.
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