Changes

The book does contain contains three training plans, for the 50K, 50 miles to 100K, and 100 miles. These plans feel a little like an afterthought, tucked in the back of the book almost like an appendix. The plans that do include fartlek, hill repeats, and tempo runs but the details seem lacking. Hal mentions that the tempo run should be at 10K pace, but does not indicate how much of the 6-20 mile tempo run should be at that 10K pace. The 50 K plan includes a 30 mile long run, which seems a little excessive, as does the 25+15 back to back long runs.<br style="clear: both" /> =Running Your First Ultra=[[File:RunYourFirstUltra.jpg|right|thumb|500px|The cover of [http://www.amazon.com/Running-Your-First-Ultra-Customizable/dp/1624141420 Run Your First Ultra].]]This book is clearly focused on first time ultrarunners, but I think that definition can include runners moving up to their first 100 mile race from shorter ultras. The majority of the book (118 of 233 pages) contains the three detailed training plans. The book includes 24 week plans for 50K and 50 miles, and a 48 week plan for 100 mile race. The author (Krissy Moehl) is an accomplished ultrarunner, with over 100 races completed and 55 wins. She's a remarkable athlete, and her bio mentions that she does some coaching. However, it's not clear how well tested these training plans are. Of course, that's equally true of pretty much any ultramarathon training plan. The introductory chapters of the book contain some reasonable advice and are relatively short. There is mention of the need to practice the walking breaks, and a discussion of night running. However, there are also regurgitation's of potentially dangerous advice on hydration (the sweat rate test), but that's an issue that's pervasive in current coaching. The training plans are quite detailed, and many workouts include more detailed advice and encouragement. There are a variety of different workouts covered, including short easy runs, long runs, and some degree of speedwork. The speedwork does not specify paces in the way that some Marathon training plans do, but use approximations such as "75-80% of Max." The level of detail in the plan makes it a little tricky to get an overall sense of its structure, though there are some introductory pages that show each week's total miles and long runs. The book is in color throughout, and has a nice high-quality feel to it. I did find that some of the text is tricky to read, varying from rather small in of the general body of the book down to minute in the training plans (5 point, < 2mm high). Overall, I think this book is worth considering if you're a relatively inexperienced ultrarunner, though I feel that the "Field Guide To Ultrarunning", and "Relentless Forward Progress" are rather more substantial. (<jfs id="1624141420" n="" nonl="t"/>.) <br style="clear: both" />