Book Review: Marathon Excellence for Everyone (Metric Edition)

Why I bought this book

In the world of marathon training, a few names dominate the bookshelf. Most runners are familiar with the “Big Four” of American style of coaching: Jack Daniels (famous for VDOT tables), Pete Pfitzinger (known for high-mileage “Pfitz” plans), the Hanson brothers (famous for the 16-mile long run), and the FIRST method (the “Run Less, Run Faster” 3-day-a-week plan).

While these methods are popular and effective, there are many alternative schools of marathon training which are equally effective and if not more. This book is a much-needed alternative because it focuses on a different approach, the “Italian School” of coaching. While many American plans focus on building a massive base of slow miles, the Italian method is famous for its “Specific” approach, used by Italian coaches like Renato Canova.

To understand why this book is different, you also have to know about the author John Davis. He is a Ph.D. in human performance and is widely respected for his website, Running Writings. What makes John unique is his ability to read a 50-page scientific paper on muscle fibers or lactate clearance and turn it into a 5-paragraph blog post that helps you run faster on your next tempo run on Thursday. It is from his Twitter post that I first heard of this book.

The Philosophy: The “Funnel” Approach

The core of this book is the “Funnel” approach to training. John Davis describes a funnel:

• The Top of the Funnel (General Phase): You start “wide.” You do some very fast sprints to build power and very slow runs to build endurance. These are far away from marathon pace.
• The Middle (Supportive Phase): You move closer to the center. You start running “Marathon-Supportive” paces. These are roughly 5% to 10% faster or slower than your goal race pace.
• The Bottom of the Funnel (Specific Phase): As you get close to the race, everything focuses on the target. Almost every hard effort is at the Goal Marathon Pace (GMP). The goal is to make your body an “economical machine” at one specific speed: your marathon pace.

The Training Plans

The book offers five different training plans. This is great because it doesn’t assume every runner has 20 hours a week to train and is already able to run 40km per week.

• Breeze: For those running 65–80 km per week. This is perfect for first-timers or busy people.
• Wind: 90–105 km per week. This is for the serious amateur aiming for a Boston or London qualifier.
• Gale: 115–130 km per week.
• Tornado: 135–150 km per week.
• Hurricane: 160–195 km per week. This is an elite-level volume for those chasing podiums.

Each plan is laid out day-by-day. But unlike other marathon plans, the book explains the purpose of every single workout.

Notable Differences from other Training Methods

There are three major things in this book that will surprise runners used to other methods:

• Massive Focus on Marathon Pace - In other books, you might only run at “Marathon Pace” during a few long runs. In this book, once you hit the “Specific Phase,” Marathon Pace (MP) is the king. You do “alternating” kilometers (1 km fast, 1 km steady), “extension” runs (long runs that get longer at MP), and even “depleted” runs.
  • The Good: You become extremely confident. By race day, you don’t need a GPS watch to know your pace; your body “feels” it.
  • The Bad: It is mentally taxing. You are constantly thinking about that one number. That can bring you anxiety.
• The Taper is Different - Most runners “taper” for 3 weeks, reducing running volume to rest the legs. John Davis argues for a much shorter, more active taper. He believes that if you stop running, your body “shuts down” and loses its rhythm. In his plans, the volume drops a bit, but the intensity stays. You don’t see the massive 50% drop in mileage that you see in other books. For a runner like me, this is scary! It feels like you aren’t resting enough, but the science in the book explains why this keeps your muscles “snappy” for race day.
• No Tune-up Races as you get closer to the race - Pfitzinger loves 10k or 15k “tune-up” races during the final part of marathon cycle to test fitness. John Davis generally avoids them as you get close to the race. He believes a 10k race is too fast and too different from a marathon. Instead of racing a 10k, he would rather you do a 25 km workout with 18 km at Marathon Pace. It’s more specific to the task at hand.

Practical Look into Science of Running

Apart from the training philosophy and the plans, the book has a lot of content on science, explained in John Davis’s style.

• Physiology: There is a deep dive into physiology, explaining how muscle fibers, VO_2max, and hydration biochemistry actually work.
• Race Day & Recovery: Covers how to choose a race, pacing the race,fueling, mental approach and more.
• Advanced Techniques: Covers high-mileage strategies, depletion workouts, double thresholds, and strength training.
• Overcoming Setbacks: It provides clear strategies for what to do if you get sick, injured.

My Experience so far

I am currently in a marathon training-cycle, and I am already halfway through a training block for a race. Because of this, I couldn’t switch to a full John Davis plan immediately given the approach differences. However, I have started incorporating his specific workouts, like the Progression from 90% MP over 20 miles (executed it at the recent Chennai marathon 20 miler). I am already planning to use a “Wind” or “Gale” plan for my next season. The science sections are useful for any runner, whether they stick to the training methods and plans mentioned in the book or not.

Conclusion

For a runner with an inquisitive mind, this book is a goldmine. If you are the type of person like me who always asks “Why?” why we do a certain number of reps, why we run at a certain heart rate, or why we eat a specific amount of carbs this book provides the answers.

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