Mastering the Marathon: Time-Efficient Training Secrets for the 40-Plus Athlete

The ideal resource for forty-plus athletes who seek faster times and fewer injuries

More than half a million Americans, and millions more worldwide, attempt a marathon every year. Around half are forty years old or older—athletes whose passion increasingly turns to frustration as they mature: slower finishing times and more injuries. And yet, until now, there has been no book specifically for this audience. In Mastering the Marathon, champion forty-plus endurance athlete and trainer Don Fink sets forth programs for anyone over forty—and for those who enter the sport after turning forty—to prove that the challenge of a marathon is not too difficult, that the dream is not impossible.

Setting out from the premise that the training methods that work for younger athletes no longer work for the same athletes in their forties, fifties, and sixties, Fink presents exciting new training methods and step-by-step action plans that result in faster times, fewer injuries, and more enjoyment for the forty-plus marathoner. Including photos and profiles of successful older athletes, Mastering the Marathon also provides an illustrated exercise program for core and functional strength, ways to avoid common training and racing mistakes, recovery methods unique to forty-plus athletes, secrets to staying injury-free, and much more.

Praise for author’s previous book, Be IronFit

“Most how-to books are too technical or too shallow. Don Fink manages to pen a unique combination of information, anecdotes, and readability.”  —Scott Tinley, two-time Ironman World Champion

Don Fink is an internationally known triathlon and running coach/trainer and the author of the popular triathlon training book, Be IronFit: Time-Efficient Training Secrets for Ultimate Fitness (Lyons Press). He trains endurance athletes on four continents through his business: IronFit ( IronFit.com). Don is also an elite athlete; his time of 9:08 at the 2004 Ironman Florida is one of the fastest times ever recorded by an athlete in the 45-49 age group. He lives in Morris County, New Jersey. 

ALSO AVAILABLE BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Be Iron Fit
978-1-59921-857-1; 03/2010