Book Review: The Triathlete's Guide to Run Training

Training and racing in the run segment of a triathlon is thoroughly covered in Ken Mierke's The Triathlete's Guide to Run Training.  Run training requires proper planning and preparation as any sport discipline.  Mierke explains how to maximize run performance in order have a prime triathlon season.


Ken Mierke is the president of Fitness Concepts, a multisport coaching company.  He is also a regular contributor to Inside Triathlon, VeloNews, and Rocky Mountain Sports.  Mierke is most known for his popular running technique, Evolution Running.  He is an important name and coach in the multisport community.  The Triathlete's Guide to Run Training was divided into four parts: technique, training, additional preparation factors, and racing.  At 305 pages in length, this book thoroughly covers run training and racing.

The technique section of this book is an explanation of Evolution Running.  There is a DVD on Evolution Running that is in my recommended buys.  It is safe to say that this technique is revolutionary.  Mierke has implemented it in all of this training programs for the athletes he coaches with great success.  The book provides illustrations of proper technique along with easy-to-understand descriptions.

The second section is run training.  Mierke goes into the details of planning for a triathlon season and how the run training fits in.  Although it is not the main focus of this book, swimming, cycling, and strength training is also mentioned to some degree.

Additional preparation factors such as nutrition, mental skills, injuries, and many others are covered in the third section of the book.  This section focuses on many aspects of triathlon training that are overlooked by many athletes.  Mierke makes a point to include all preparation factors in order to have great performance on race day.

The final section is devoted to racing.  This is where the importance of a good taper is discussed as well as running on race day.  What to do before, during, and after the race is what Mierke teaches us in this section of the book.

This book was written for triathletes.  However, it gives such a great explanation on running and training, in general, it is a good read for anyone that runs, not just triathletes.  An appendix in the back of the book contains a large menu of run workouts that can be used by triathletes, duathletes, or even athletes that run exclusively.  I highly recommend this book to all runners and encourage you to learn more about Evolution Running.