Review: A Thorough Book on Building Speed
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 19, 2012
I started running for fun about 10 months ago and have since entered a number of races.  As I continue to run and train, I have found that my pace continues to improve, but I am always striving to do better.  When I discovered Julian's book, I was excited as it was exactly the type of book I sought to achieve my goals.  Having read it, I found it to be even better than I had originally hoped.  As a beginning runner, I never found Julian's writing to be intimidating or over my head, yet it was comprehensive and full of practical ideas and techniques that I have already begun to put into practice.  For instance, Julian discusses the importance of hill training to build strength and speed.  This is very true and within a couple weeks of beginning hill training, I have started to see my times improve.  Realistically, I expect it will take six weeks to approach the full impact of hill training.  Plus, the author covers many other approaches such as endurance and speed training, including intervals and fartleks.  The book even has a glossary of running terms used, which is helpful if you aren't familiar with a fartlek.  I plan on keeping "How to Run Faster" handy as a reference as I continue to focus on improving my times.