Alberto Salazar's Guide to Running : The Revolutionary Program That Revitalized a Champion

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Many of today's beginning runners are turning to running as part of an overall fitness program designed to improve health and alleviate stress. Now they can also turn to Alberto Salazar's Guide to Running, available for the first time in paperback. Former marathon world-record-holder Alberto Salazar, with longtime runner and author Richard Lovett, offers a sensible, balanced approach for people enlisting in the new "second running boom." It is unique in that it recommends a gradual start-up program complemented by other exercise regimes. This is the program that revitalized the hard-running and often injured Salazar. This gentle approach, from a world-class runner who was once synonymous with overtraining injuries and burnout, will command attention. Salazar, the only runner ever to win the New York and Boston Marathons in the same year (he won three New York Marathons in a row), was renowned for a grueling training schedule that had him running as many as 130 miles a week. A fierce competitor who once was given the last rites of the Catholic Church at the finish of a race in which he pushed himself to exhaustion, Salazar had a relatively short time at the top because of a series of debilitating injuries. Now in his 40s, Salazar rarely runs more than 5 miles at a time, and is running injury-free and enjoying it. Alberto Salazar's Guide to Running is based on a year-long program designed to build the beginning runner's weekly distance to 15 to 20 miles - a relatively low distance. The Salazar program shows that a 20-minute two- or three-mile run can be just as beneficial as a longer, harder run. And it shows that complementing a running programwith other aerobic and strength-building activities such as bicycling, cross-country skiing, rowing, weight-training, or even hiking can improve one's running. Alberto Salazar's Guide to Running will feature anecdotal sidebars from the running experiences of Salazar, who set one world and six U.S. records Alberto Salazar's Guide to Running will also attract experienced runners looking to avoid injuries and inject new life into their pastime. For those runners who successfully complete the first year-program, the books offers advice to expand and enrich their experiences, including discussions on trail running, winter training, cross-training, and increasing distance. But all in the context of keeping the experience enjoyable and free from stress.

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An NCAA track and cross country champion at the University of Oregon, Alberto Salazar burst onto the American and world marathon scene with a victory in the 1980 New York City Marathon. During his running career he set one world and six U.S. records in various distances. He broke longstanding marathon records in New York in 1981, and Boston in 1982, and won the New York event three years in a row. Beset by injuries for nearly a decade, Salazar returned to competitive running in 1995 and won the 53.75-mile Comrades ultramarathon in South Africa. A marketing executive with Nike, Salazar now runs mostly for fitness and enjoyment. Richard Lovett, a veteran of numerous marathons and an avid runner, is a full-time writer and author of The Essential Touring Cyclist, (Ragged Mountain Press, 1994) and co-author of The Essential Cross Country Skier (Ragged Mountain Press, 2000). He is a former law professor who also holds a Ph.D. in economics. Hometown: Portland, Oregon (both)