Learn how to run faster, unlock your potential, and reach peak performance with training advice from a former Olympic trials marathoner and coach to Olympians like Dathan Ritzenhein.Hudson is the most innovative running coach to come along in a generation. Until now, only a handful of elite athletes have been able to benefit from his methods. Now Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon shows all runners how to coach themselves as confidently and effectively as Brad coaches his world-class athletes. Becoming your own best coach is the ticket to running faster at any distance. First you will learn to assess your abilities. Then you’ll learn how to devise a training program specifically geared to you. Filled with easy-to-follow sample training programs for distances ranging from the 5K to the marathon and abilities ranging from novice to advanced, Run Faster is the cutting-edge guide for optimal performance.With Hudson’s guidance, you can train smarter and more effectively—and avoid injury. And you’ll soon be running faster than you ever thought possible!
Thorough description of his "adaptive" approach to training distance runners. A lot of it is similar to what others prescribe -- maybe the most distinctive features are (a) keep training volume high year-round, even though you lower intensity at times, so that you're not in a position of having to increase volume and intensity at the same time, which elevates injury risk; (b) steady diet of short all-out hill sprints, which he favors relative to weight training as a way to build running-specific muscular strength; (c) don't follow a set plan come hell or high water, but adapt based on your own response to previous workouts.
The last is the main point of emphasis throughout the book. I imagine that the principles described here and test workouts and such would help you do so to some extent, but I think a difficulty for the self-coached runner is ambiguity as to what workout had what effect. That is, it's easy to tell when you were too tired to complete a key workout at intended paces, but it's not always as obvious what specifically caused that effect and needs to be changed in your program.
Since publication of the book, his star pupil Dathan Ritzenheim left him to be coached by Al Salazar with the Oregon Project, after several disappointing (by his standards) marathons. Just a single case, but then most of the evidence that the methods work is a handful of stars he's coached.
Not sure he's worked with any good masters. Unless I'm forgetting someone, he didn't name any, and his adaptive advice for masters was just to run less often, basically substituting cross-training or rest for almost all easy days. Ends up looking like the Furman 3-day/week marathon training program, which is good and efficient if you're pressed for time but is not what [to my knowledge] any top masters actually do.
In spite of the message not to follow cookie-cutter formulae, he does provide sample charts to get you started. There is one very funny [to me] typo on p. 270 in week 11 (sunday) of the level 3 marathon plan. You're supposed to do a "specific-endurance long run" of "1 hour steady, 10 X 9 sec. @ marathon pace/90 sec. easy, 30 min steady"
Pretty sure "9 sec" should be "9 min" -- if by week 11 you find it challenging to run nine seconds at a time at your marathon pace, and need 10x the recovery interval, it's fair to say that's not actually your marathon pace after all.
At first, I thought this was careless proofreading, but it's probably an intentionally-placed subtle message to reinforce the theme that you shouldn't follow plans to the letter.
Great concepts, boring read. I'd like to just transplant all the info into my head without having to read it. I do like the ideas he presents about making your own plan however.
Brad Hudson's book, Run Faster, is a guide for how to coach yourself. It emphasizes very specific training methods, but tells runners when to adapt the plan and exactly how to make the adaptations. The book strikes an excellent balance between telling the reader exactly what to do, and explaining how to be flexible. The author spells out 18 detailed training plans that cover all the typical race distances and runners of different ability levels. However, these plans are at the end of the book so the reader understands basic training principals and the author's ideas about how they should be adapted to the individual. As a fairly experienced cross country coach, I have a pretty good knowledge of training principles and the various types of workouts runners need. What Hudson's book did for me was to help me better understand how to put all those pieces together and adjust each one as the season goes on. His specific ideas about adaptation were of course helpful, and his strong belief in hill running as a means of preventing injuries was interesting. The book would be most useful to any runners who are coaching themselves, regardless of how intensely they are chasing the next PR.
I should've taken some notes while reading. Read this on and off so don't remember too much from the earlier chapters. Came away with an alright feeling. Very focused on "here's how you can coach yourself if you were me". His big ones seem to be hill sprints, workouts at race pace, and more hills. Might come back to the earlier chapters to take some proper notes.
LOTS of great information, probably more than totally necessary for average joe-schmoe me. Really drives in the ways to be a good advocate and coach for yourself and methods to take your running to the next level. Definitely gave me a boost to put my best foot forward during my speed work run this morning and great ideas for flushing out the rest of my training plan for the year.
I learnt a lot whilst reading this book. I’m currently training for a marathon so there were lots of useful tips. A variety of training plans were included which was good. Would recommend.
Former-runner-turned-running-coach Brad Hudson details his coaching technique in "Run Faster". Hudson's team, based in beautiful Eugene, trains in his adaptive running technique, which is intimately detailed in "Run Faster". Hudson offers a handful of training maxims, but the strength of his program is not in rules but in the flexibility of training that leads to adaptive success. Contrary to many programs for runners on the market, adaptive running encourages you to find what works for you as a runner and run (pun intended) with it. He advocates a balance between aerobic work, neuromuscular training, and specific-endurance runs. Each of these three categories of training sessions should have a place in your training and their importance and prevalance changes as your training progesses towards a peak race.
Hudson brings a wealth of experience to the table, coaching multiple world-class runners including Dathan Ritzenheim and the Culpeppers. His program is both refreshing and intimidating. Because of the importance of personal input that the system requires to create a personalized training program, adaptive running could be off-putting to some runners. It does require an investment, to meticulously observe your tendencies and responses, but Hudson promises that your efforts will pay off in the long run (haha).
I am excited to introduce some of the adaptive running techniques into my training program. While I am not anywhere near the level of competition that Hudson is primarily aiming his book towards, it seems readily apparent that this program can help runners of all levels increase their speed.
I don't know whether to put this as "read" or "currently-reading", because I keep picking it up and re-reading bits of it. I have been incorporating the principles outlined in this book into my training for about three weeks now, and (so far) I love it. What I love about it is that it is not a "do this exactly this way" program, but "here are the principles to build your program on" program. Maybe it requires more thought than the running programs which tell you exactly how far and how hard to run each day, but I actually prefer to figure out each week how I'm going to arrange my workouts based on what else is going on and what I seem to be lagging in.
I suppose the real proof will be in my next race, though. Stay tuned.
B+ Some good stuff if you want to coach running or really train seriously; a lot of the stuff gets VERY technical and formulaic and it doesn't seem geared towards the average runner. I'm an obsessive runner and found it a bit much at times. Some great workout ideas and information.
Like all of co-writer Matt Fitzgerald's work, a great strength of this book is its solid research. The big takeaway I had was that by learning the sport and my own running, it's possible—in fact, necessary—to build a unique program that works for me.
The book is primarily meant for competitive runners who can already handle a pretty high volume (i.e. running 5+ days and 40+ miles/week), and are looking to improve their performance by switching up the way they train to a relatively less rigid "adaptive" approach.
The point of the book is to be your own coach by creating your own training programme suited to your goals and needs, but any competitive athlete running 70+ miles per week surely has an actual coach of some sort. Still, I learned a lot about how to go about setting up a training plan, in terms of phases (or "periods" as the author prefers), progression over time, and types of workouts to meet specific needs.
The focus is on high volume, lots of hills, and race-pace workouts, designed to improve aerobic capacity, neuromuscular strength, and the ability to run at a fast pace for longer (what the author calls "specific endurance").
As already evident, he has his own terminology for things, for instance he redefines “threshold” to mean several different things, which is confusing, including runs that everyone else calls "tempo". The trend of deviating from the common terminology extends to the various phases of training. Instead of "base, build, and peak" he uses "introductory, fundamental, and sharpening periods". Although it doesn't really hurt anything, it felt like change for the sake of being different, with no actual benefit in terms of clarity or focus, more of an affectation than a benefit.
He also concedes that it takes a full year to get maximum benefit from the adaptive approach, in order to see what works best and make tweaks along the way. While this may not actually be more time than that required by more structured programs, it sure sounds like a long time.
The author doesn't believe in gym workouts or weight training, or cross-training, for competitive runners. The one exception is for 40+ runners, who he concedes may not have the ability to handle the high volume of running he advocates. But that demographic is hardly the focus of the book, he's writing mostly for the younger competitive athlete coming out of college and looking to strike out on their own.
Finally, he comes across as almost desperate for runners to sign up for his coaching services, with infomercial style profiles of some of his clients. Many of whom subsequently left after disappointing results, so the book would have been better without this marketing material.
Even in 2008, a book was no longer the right format for this information. In 2025, it feels dramatically unhelpful and anachronistic. Someone seeking to use this approach needs to understand Hudson’s beliefs and constructs (which would be best suited to a more visual & structural overview than poorly edited bland prose), but then building and tailoring plans needs to be truly tool-based and, well, to use his word, “adaptive”. If not for the mentions of specific athletes from this century, I would have thought this was from the ‘70s.
Importantly: this book is for runners who are truly seeking to become more competitive at running and are aiming to do so very specifically, at the expense of other health-promoting and performance-driving behaviors. It focuses on pre-race training blocks, with focus on sharpening your skill for specific race distances. Like any skill training, that requires deliberate practice. However, the time cost and recovery needs costs for these plans mean you very likely need to dramatically curtail the other physical activities required to live a healthy life during the blocks. (If you can’t live with cutting back to roughly 1 weight session a week and maybe 1-2 x-training sessions for your 12-16 week pre-race block, this is not going to work for your body. His all run all the time approach appears to have results, but it’s obviously not what you’d recommend to keep an athletic person satisfied and highly physically functional in the long haul of a human life.)
The focus on specificity is nonetheless sensible and helpful. After an unsatisfying race performance, adding some of these very targeted training stim is helping my confidence for a next race.
Truly for the running nerd who wants to get really into the nitty-gritty for a performance edge via self-coaching, or someone who actually is a coach or looking to become a coach. So - a bit too dense and technical for what I wanted, and not for me.
I guess I should have known by the title - I'm not interested in being my own best coach, just a good-enough coach to have longevity in the sport while still living a well-rounded life!
What makes the author's approach distinct compared to some other coaches and programs includes an emphasis on hill sprints for building strength and improving form. Otherwise, he emphasizes that the highly detailed tiers of training plans the book includes are adaptive, meant to be just a jumping off point - true of most training plans, but not always expressly stated, and the rest of the book provides detailed information about how you might adapt a plan. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the plans are definitely meant for someone who is already comfortable running at that distance, looking to improve performance - not just someone looking to get to the finish line.
Read this after the Hal Hutson book, a great follow up as it dives deeper into technical concepts, breaking down aerobic fitness vs neuromuscular fitness, and the still for me tricky concept of specific endurance fitness. Also gets into staging, double clicks on the different types of workouts (threshold, tempo, speed intervals, hill sprints, hill intervals, fartleks, progressions, specific-endurance workouts, strides, etc...), how to do them, what they help you with, and how to incorporate them into your plan. Especially helpful was the late chapter walking you through how to put together your own custom plan. Hal Higgins was a very readable intro into basic running training precepts, but this was a great deeper dive that helped me understand much more of why my Hal Higdon plan (or other training plans for that matter) are designed the way they are, and when it might be appropriate to revise or adapt them for my own fitness.
First off, I don't believe this book is for beginners (nor does it make that claim). It several chapters it reads like a physiology medical journal entry. I'd recommend starting with a book on running form before starting this book and have at least a little knowledge of running in your head.
With that said, I think the information continued in Hudson's "Run Faster" is going to take my running to a entirely new level. This book took me back to Track and Field practice in high school with a highly systemized way of training, designed to improve intermediate running athletes to elite runners.
I obtained many new types of workouts that I never conceived before and especially appreciated the ready made training schedules for all skill levels, ages, and race distances. I also agree with Brad's overall approach to listen to your body and not be worried about making changes to your training schedule and workouts based on how it is responding to previous days. Even if this doesn't make me faster, it will certainly add some variety to my training!
Overall a very rich resource for the transition to "adaptive running," which involves moving away from rigid training plans (especially the concept of only developing one aspect of a time during a training cycle) and instead have a balanced approach throughout the training that improves aerobic fitness, neuromuscular fitness, and endurance-specific training. I learned a lot about training as a runner so as to avoid injury and eventually build myself into a more competitive runner over several training cycles. Lots and lots of good information.
The only reason I docked it a couple stars is that is not really meant for beginner-level runners such as myself. The book is VERY technical, and geared more towards advanced runners with many years of running under their belts. While I certainly learned quite a bit, I wish I would have started with something more for beginners and used this to build off that knowledge.
Solid for establishing a rigorous training program although it'd funny how he emphasizes adaptive running in the beginning and how everyone is unique with no one program working for everyone...and then he proceeds to give very detailed descriptions of what every program should have. I wouldn't take everything he says as gospel. For example he doesn't believe in any sort of strength training outside of hills and proposes a rather confusing array of complex workouts when I think keeping it simple,e.g. similar t and interval workouts most weeks with volume gradually increasing, works well enough. Still the detail allows you pick and choose and can give you confidence in creating a solid program. But ideally this should be used with other program's like Daniels, Pfitz, etc to create a personal program.
This book contains a lot of information about how to self-coach yourself to improve your running. If you look around in the internet you will find all kind of recommendations, which can quickly become overwhelming. Therefore I really liked the adaptive training approach. It focuses on a few base blocks that universally work for almost everyone and in addition offers tuning advises so that you can reach peak performance at the desired distance.
As the author points out many times, a runner has to listen to his body to find the magic mix that works best for him or her with regards to volume, intensity and rest. A good coach would be best but in my opinion the book has succeeded in providing enough guidelines to enable you to become your own coach, no matter if you have just started or are already a seasoned runner.
A friend recommended this book. I was hoping for more information for the senior runner. Chapter 11 was good, but it was short and only partially focused on the 55+ runner. However, I believe the principles taught in the book can be applied to runners of all ages. You will just have to be your own coach. I'm going to keep looking for a book that has more specific advice and training plans for older runners.
One gripe for the publisher about the paperback copy. The font is very small and not very readable. A better choice of fonts and line spacing would have made this book much more pleasant to read.
I liked Brad's adaptation of traditional Canova-style training, with more of an emphasis on race-pace, specific endurance workouts. This book was written in an easy-to-understand manner and differentiated itself from more traditional block periodization by incorporating varying degrees of aerobic support, neuromuscular training, and specific endurance training throughout all phases of the training program. I also liked the trend of starting with more generalized workouts and culminating in more specific workouts in the sharpening period.
I often find it hard to get through books about exercise, because they are usually too slow moving or badly structured. In contrast, I found this book really captivating with plenty of live examples of Brad and Matt’s athletes and what they had done to help them achieve success.
I like how the authors teach you how to understand how to coach yourself and to adapt coaching plans to suit your needs.
Well written and easy to follow. This is about as good as a book on this topic gets!
This book was a little more advanced than what I was expecting. Definitely geared towards people who are already near the pro level. It also felt like most of the advice could be summarized in a magazine article- do hill sprints, increase your mileage, etc. That being said, there were a lot of nice training plan options included if you have a lot of time to devote to running.
The training philosophy seems very solid and the book is presented in a clear, logical way. The writing is better than I have seen in other running books.
I am excited to apply some of the recommended methods/techniques to my own training in the coming years.
I liked the book a lot and it is full of useful advice but I think that most of it was for someone much more experienced with running than I am. If you are just starting out, maybe look for something simpler at first.
Affirmed a few things I've already been doing right as a runner and gives great direction to improve still further. Easy to read and dip back into whatever sections you need to once you've completed the book. Great guide on self-coaching.
This book helped me pen down my very own adaptive training plan! Apart from enjoying the actual runs, this book expanded the joy of running to planning the run, reviewing the plan, adjusting future plans. It gave another dimension of joy to running.
3.5 stars. There's a lot of practical advice here (and I bought a hard copy after finishing it just for the charts and things). But a lot of it also feels repetitive and like it could have been explained in half the pages and without the self-congratulatory stories of the athletes he's coached.
Although the “novice” and recreational-competitive runner are mentioned, this book is 100% targeting the competitive elite runners. I gained several takeaways of good advice (hill sprints are in my future), but much was not applicable to my running.
A classic book on how to self-coach, filled with great advice. Not so sure on the advice for master's runners though (run only 3 x per week and cross-train).