80/20 Running: Run Stronger and Race Faster by Training Slower

I've been running off and on for most of my life. Mostly because I had to be in shape for my occupation. I mostly trained for runs of 3 miles or less and my training was running a few miles a week as fast as I could. "No pain, no gain" was the only way I knew. I retired and no longer had any external motivation to continue running. It was such a drag that I didn't miss it at all. Then I got soft and flabby and started running again. I did it the same way I always have, short and fast. I made some progress and won my age group in a couple of 5k races. I tried to train for 10k and I couldn't. My legs were always wore out and joints were constantly sore. I started researching different training methods and came across Maffetone, polarized, and 80/20. All of them emphasizing mostly low intensity training. I'm currently a month into Maffetone training and just finished this book. I'm getting much more mileage without wearing myself out and my pace is slowly coming down while my heart rate stays the same. It is also rather enjoyable and almost relaxing to run without panting and having my heart pounding. I believe the method works. It's a slow process and it will require patience and discipline to keep plugging along at a very low intensity and slow pace. This book has some great information that I will incorporate for my next phase of training. I think any runner could benefit from this training concept but it would be especially beneficial to aging recreational runners who want to train in a way that is sustainable and less prone to cause injury.

TL;DR: Buy this book. I'm very happy with the book. I only recently bought it, but I had previously borrowed it from my library and liked it. I might have read some blogs by the author, but wasn't really familiar with him before getting the book. There are lots of parts of the book where the author is discussing the 80/20 philosophy, its history, research, other training approaches, and things like that. Those sections seem well written and are not boring. I am even re-reading it, as I feel like I want to really get a good grasp of this knowledge. A lot of the author's basic discussion applies to all areas of exercise fitness, not just running. The sections that discuss specific workouts and later training plans seem pretty well set up in tables with good discussions before them. I liked it so much I felt I needed to own the book and continue to return to it rather than just copying some of the information from the library book. I feel like the running philosophy the author is advocating is sound and works well for me. The author backs up his main premises with really solid research. I previously would run way too hard on what should have been easier runs, and it made it difficult to keep up a long-term fitness routine. Now I feel pretty refreshed after easier runs, and am able to improve on my long runs, short interval workouts, and tempo runs while not be drained at the end of a week. By the way, I'm basically an amateur runner. I'm 36, and I ran track and cross country all through high school, but was never at an elite level even when compared with my local conferences, let alone at larger region or state level. I've been running off and on since, sometimes with some pretty good stretches. I only ran my first Marathon when I was 35 (roughly 7 months prior to this review, roughly 2 months before I initially obtained this book), and prior to that had never completed a race of longer than 5 miles. I had a lot of trouble with training for the marathon, and after reading numerous blogs I feel like I have a better understanding of some proper ways to train. Even still, I don't think I had grasped the idea that more of my running needed to be at a lower effort. This book offers a consistent guide and seems to have all the information I need in one place. At the time of this review, I'm in the middle of the half-marathon level 2 training plan, and am pleased with the fact that I've made it this far and still feel good. I took off one star due to some issues with the physical book, not with the content. The paper seems super thin and cheap, and it tears easily. It is probably recycled paper and that makes me feel okay about it, but it still makes it a little annoying. Also, I think the book pages could be better labeled with chapter numbers at the tops and such for an easier time quickly finding something you're looking for. The titles of some chapters are not necessarily as helpful to me for quickly finding content. However, these are very minor issues not related to actual content. If I could only take off a half-star I would probably do that. The book itself is inexpensive, so some issues with the physical book are probably expected, anyway.

IMHO, this is THE book you need if you want to make huge jumps in your running performance. A little background: I just started running three years ago, at age 50. Until I got this book about six months ago, I just went out and ran with no plan. My runs were pretty much the same effort (heart rate zone), equating to what most folks would call tempo runs or a little bit faster. I did vary the mileage quite a bit, however. And sure, that method gradually got me a little faster over the years (more so at first) sometimes cutting off a few seconds from one 5K race to the next, though not always. I was kind of plateaued. I decided in May (2015) that I needed a REAL plan to prepare for my first marathon, later in the year (October). So, I started following the Marathon Level 1 plan in this book. Really, my goal for the training was to merely finish the marathon, with little expectation that it would allow me to perform better at an upcoming 5K (August) and a half marathon (Oct 10th). But, during the training I noticed I was running faster and faster at the same heart rate. So let's cut to the chase: following this marathon raining plan, I PR'd in the August 5K race by 35 seconds, finishing in 22:21. Then, two months later I shaved 10 MINUTES off the half marathon, finishing an extremely hilly course (Freedom's Run in the rolling hills of West Virginia) in 1:46:56 (compared to same race in 2014). There is NO WAY I could have run an 8:09 pace for the half - for almost two straight hours of running - without the unbelievable aerobic improvements this book has allowed me to attain. Further proof: my Strava suffer score for the 2014 Half was 333 ("epic suffer" rating) compared to a 243 for the same Half this past weekend. I ran about 50 seconds PER MILE faster BUT at a LOWER heart rate! That, to me, is unbelievable. So yeah, buy this book. It's concise, packed with scientific proof, and has training plans for 5K, 10K, Half's, and full Marathons. Even if you don't race, following his 80/20 rule will make your runs MUCH more enjoyable and productive, insofar as improving your aerobic fitness level. One more note: while I usually buy Kindle versions of books, I bought the paperback edition and was glad I did. I wound up going back and forth repeatedly between sections, particularly the tables with the myriad different runs (long, tempo, intervals, fast finish, etc.) and the tables with the prescribed runs for a particular training day. I even affixed colored tabs to make it easier.

LOVED this book, read it on a plane and it was very insightful. I switched my training to more follow this book and was able to increase my weekly mileage without any injuries and actually feeling much fresher than before. Must read for distance runners.

I have been using the Maffetone 180 rule (180 - Age = target heart rate) for quite some time now. Basically you subtract your age from 180 and that gives you your target training heart rate for which you should never exceed. While I have seen success with this training (I have lost weight, set a new 50k PR, and have remained injury free), I always felt like there was something missing. Even though I saw great results, I always felt like if I did some hard training every now and again, I could become more fit. Maffetone says that the only time you should do anaerobic training is during racing. Well, I run ultra marathons and I rarely (if ever) go anaerobic during my races. So I feel like I have been missing out on that anaerobic training. Fitzgerald's 80/20 principle (or more accurately, the Seiler 80/20 principle) compliments Maffetone's 180 rule quite well. The low intensity guidelines provided by Fitzgerald in Chapter 6, align quite nicely with my target heart rate range under the Maffetone 180 rule. However, the 80/20 principle allows me the opportunity to do some training at moderate and high intensities. Many books and articles vaguely refer to anonymous studies and rarely cite the actual study. The authors use the much to common "some studies say" without telling the reader what the actual study was. This means the reader must take the author at his/her word. Fitzgerald cites almost all of his studies with the name of the study as well as the name of the individual(s) who conducted the studies. This is extremely helpful to a guy like me because I like to find the study and read up on the details. I gave this book a 4/5 because I felt that there were some physiological components of training that were left out. Fitzgerald cites many studies and anecdotal evidence for following the 80/20 rule, but he doesn't go into the physiological adaptations that the body goes through while following the different types of training. For instance, low intensity training causes your heart to be able to pump more blood with every beat by increasing the size of the left ventricle. This type of adaptation does not happen with high intensity training because at high heart rates, there is not enough time for the ventricle to fill with blood, so there is no stimulus telling the heart to increase the size of the left ventricle. This may seem like too much detail, but these are the things I like to read about to know why the 80% helps. Some readers may consider this information superfluous and only want to read about how exactly to train. For those readers, they would probably give this book 5 stars. However, I think Fitzgerald could have included a bit more information on how this training affects the human body. For that reason, I give this book 4 stars. That being said, I enjoyed reading this book and I found it to be very useful. I would (and already have) recommend this book to other runners.

It's an ok book but no more enriching than readily available (and free) blog posts. Maybe the training plans would be of value to those that want to train on 80/20. Personally I'm finding the 80/20 and Zone 2 training to be highly discouraging and it's tarnishing an activity that I recently got in to (last 18 months). This year I completed a 1:55 half marathon with avg 20+ mi per week training volume and plenty of longer runs. I can't run in Zone 2. My HR jumps from Zone 1 walking to Zone 3 on a light jog. That's how my body works, maybe it will change but I'm tired of worrying about it. Maybe this Zone 2 stuff is good for lifelong track and field/cross country types whose natural ability keeps their effort and heart rate low (kinda like the rich get richer, and the fast get faster). Also I don't have time to run 6 days a week or put in 13min miles, my training volume will just decrease and I'll likely be worse off. The theory sounds great and I hope it works for you and/or you have the patience.

Amazing read. This book has confirmed what I learned the hard way. If you are serious about training properly and efficiently; get a Vo2 test to determine your Heart Zones for aerobic and anaerobic training. It will cost you some $$ but it removes all the guess work and "mathematical" estimations. Last year, when I started to train for my Ironman 70.3, I got into an interesting debate with my running team. The question was do you use Heart Rate (HR) monitor zones to train your body for aerobic endurance or do you run by "feel"? The debate quickly turned into which current training methodology is the most effective: 1) Low (HR) intensity-High Volume (miles) or 2) High HR intensity-low Volume (miles). I had recently gotten a Vo2 test and I realized that for years, I was training in the "junk" zone. The junk zone is the zone between aerobic and anaerobic activity where you are not helping either system. As a consequence, I had to deliberately slow my pace to almost 2 minutes slower per mile to keep my HR in the proper zone. My friends thought that this was completely ridiculous but I showed them previous science and Vo2 results that confirmed that I needed to train at a lower HR intensity. Because when racing in an IM 70.3, you do not want to go anaerobic else, you will not complete the race. After my IM 70.3, I realized that the biggest mistake I made was that I did not do enough anaerobic training. This book is the missing puzzle piece! It discusses the best method's to train for endurance events. 80% at low-intensity high volume and 20% at a high intensity low volume. So, for every 10 miles, 8 are at a zone 2 low intensity pace (pure aerobic) and 2 miles are are a high intensity pace (pure anaerobic). Here's my tip: You need to stick with the HR zone for at least 2 months, then your body will start getting faster to where you are back at your original race pace but at a lower HR. It happened to me and it will work for you! Buy this book! Get Vo2 tested and best wishes on your race!

Hi. I'm Lisa. I'm 32 and I just started running in November of 2017 (when I was 31) with a goal to run a half marathon in mid April. I did that without a real plan, running a 5 mile tempo run once a week, a 2 mile speed session once a week, and a long run between 8 and 16 miles once a week. I had on and off injuries all throughout my training and came in at 2:04 for my first half. After that stupidness, I decided to pick up this book and followed the half marathon level 2 plan for my next half, coming in at 1:59 in September. I also ran the last 5 weeks of the same plan over again for my next half in November and came in at 1:53. I love this book because I did not experience any injuries while following this plan and I almost always felt fresh and strong. With that said, I am hesitant to attribute my performance increases solely to this book because there are so many factors... For instance, I am super young in my training age (only been running one year, so there is a lot of room to improve), I used this plan to train in the summer (summer running = more running gains), and this plan had me running more mileage than what I did previously (more mileage usually means improvements in speed). However, I'm really pleased with Matt Fitzgerald's recommendations and plans and I am now starting training for a full marathon in April using the level 2 marathon plan in this book. I will update again after that's all done!

(Desde la perspectiva de alguien que lleva un año corriendo) Tuve una lesión, me dejó parado 4 meses y cuando regrese quise llevármela tranquila. Encontré este libro y con los consejos pude volver a subir el volumen, aun no llego al punto en el que estaba, pero voy en camino. Esto te ayudará a saber estructurar tus entrenamientos si no sabes hacerlo, lo mejor es que dado el enfoque 80 20, será difícil que te lesiones, sin embargo, considera todos lo que te comenta antes de llegar a los planes elaborados.

Piacevole scoperta di questo metodo. Poi ho preso anche il libro sul triathlon forse ancora meglio di questo. Il plus inatteso è stata la storia delle metodiche di allenamento da Zatopek in poi davvero avvincente. Ci sono poi le tabelle espresse a tempo quindi nessun problema con le miglia. Fondamentalmente ho imparato ad andare piano negli allenamenti easy controllandomi con il cardio

'Relentless Forward Progress'を読んでいた所、この著者、Matt Fitzgeraldの名前が出てきたので読んでみた。 要約すると、耐久スポーツ、特に長距離走の場合、トレーニングの80％は話しながら走れる程度の軽負荷、 残りの20％を中〜高負荷で行うことで記録が飛躍的に伸びると言う内容。 同様のトレーニング法を推奨しているコーチは多く、例えば有名な小出義雄監督もその一人だし、 最近よく聞くマフェトン理論も結局は同じような事を目指した練習法だ。 この本のキモと言えるのは、 『軽負荷の練習でも良い』ではなく『軽負荷でなければならない。』と明確に述べている点。 これまで軽負荷のランニングは無駄な練習『ジャンクマイル』と蔑まれていたが、 逆に『見栄や焦りのために中〜高負荷のトレーニングをする事は記録更新の障害にしかならない』 という事実を豊富な裏付けとともに詳細に述べている。 『周りが眉をひそめる程ゆっくり走るくらいで良い。』『練習は虚栄心との戦いである。』 と言い切ってくれる本は中々ない。 この本に沿って心拍数をチェックしながら練習してみると、 月間距離が飛躍的に増えたとともに、記録も着実に伸びている。 トレランやウルトラ愛好家の人には’Racing Weight' とともにオススメの本。

Just ran my first half marathon this spring and signed up for my second. Glad I found this book before setting up my training schedule as I definitely felt I was wearing down going into my first. It certainly helped me plan a routine that is more time consuming yet more appropriate rather than just going out and trying to push it every run. Only have been on it so only time will tell whether this style of training will pay off but I have certainly been ablessed to put in more mileage while staying fresh through the first week. We'll designed and easy read with great looking programs.

En väldgt viktig bok för alla löpare. Den hade dock kunnat kortas ned rejält, säkert till mindre än hälften, utan att det centrala budskapet gått förlorat.