The marathon and half marathon guide

I've just bought the book "The marathon and half marathon the training guide" by Graeme Hilditch off Amazon to go with the Garmin I bought.

Has anybody else read this book and did you find it helpful?

I've only had it half an hour and I have already noticed 4 mistakes in the book (I am presuming 5mins farlek was a mistake) and that doesn't include the semi colon that should be included in the title.

Am I being too picky to not expect spelling and grammatical errors in a published book? It will probably will be very helpful when I read it in detail but it has already made me lose (not loose as he uses) confidence in the advice being given.

Comments

  • dean, think you are being a bit picky.

    Especially when you consider that "fartlek" has a "t" in it and "semicolon" is one word....

     image

  • Haven't read that one but I did find this one helpful.....Advanced Marathoning

  • On the cover it's called:

    THE MARATHON AND
    HALF MARATHON

    A TRAINING GUIDE


    The blurb on the back cover refers to it as:

    The Marathon and Half Marathon - A Training Guide


    Do you want to take advice from someone who is good as English or who can give good advice about running - one doesn't preclude the other.
  • MACbMACb ✭✭✭
    seemed Ok for me, but then like most things i'd seek advice from other sources, in other words read 3 or 4 books on the subject (mainly on running, some more specifically for marathons).
  • Seeing that i wrote said book, i feel i should put up some defence.

    The publishing process is complex and text is played about with by editors, typesetters etc, so unfortunately mistakes do happen.

    It is amazing to think that despite myself reading it through dozens of times, as well as professional proof readers and my editors, that mistakes slip through the net and end up in the final version.

    All that said and trying to shift the blame,  i am not claiming the book is a piece of literary genius? Far from it. It was my first book and i wrote it in my capacity as a personal trainer, experienced in training a range of mixed ability runners how to run HM and M's, not as an authority on the grammatical or written aspect of the English language.   I should have editors to pick up on my grammatical shortfalls, but maybe they were having an off day when editing and proof reading the book.

    RE the title -  that was 100% the publishers choice of book title, as was the cover design and back page blurb! I'll take my share of the blame for the other 50,000 words, but not the covers.

    My apologies if the grammatical errors in the book have made you lose confidence in it to help with your training, but hopefully you'll be able to look passed the erors (i couldn't resist it) and use the content to help you achieve your marathon goal.

    Good Luck.

    PS, Try a 5 mile fartlek session rather than a 5 minute one (this mistake was the first i noticed and will be amended in subsequent editions)

  • I think you are a bit picky too, but some people give credence to indirect indicators:

    Nicolas Parsons: Just because I don't know something doesn't mean I'm stupid!
    Clement Freud: No ... ... ... but it helps.
    "Just a minute" R4

    ;) no offence, Graeme
Sign In or Register to comment.