A few months back, Ryan Robert sent me an email, asking if I would be interested in reviewing his new e-book, The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide – The Key to Running Inspired. As y’all know, I’ve recently been working my way back into the running realm, so I thought a beginner’s guide could be a fun read for me. After all, I truly am feeling like a beginner out there these days! Ryan sent me the Kindle version, and after a few idiotic snafus on my part (seriously, who can’t figure out how to upload an e-book to their Kindle?! Me, apparently!), I finally got the book uploaded.
Upon sitting down with the book, I realized that Ryan was serious: this book is a straight-up guide for beginner runners. Although I am floundering my way through the running world again, I can’t say that I found any new information in the text. However, the more I thought about it, I realized that everyone starts somewhere with running and a lot of the very basic questions often get overlooked. For example, in chapter one, Ryan focuses on running mechanics including arms and hands, feet, breathing, and overall-form improvement. He also discusses foot strike which is a common topic with advanced runners, but at a much higher level of information. Beginning runners don’t want to learn about foot strike in regards to minimalist or traditional footwear; instead, they want to learn how to run to make it easy and pain-free. Ryan discusses these topics in a way that makes it easy for new runners to follow.
In particular, I really liked the running schedules found in the back of the book. Similar to the Couch-to-5k programs, these schedules were easy to follow and started beginning runners off easily and at a pace that wouldn’t do any damage or cause any injuries. I’m always interested in running schedules and although these were too beginner for me to follow, I would definitely feel comfortable passing them onto a friend.
In short, if you’re thinking about branching out and becoming a runner, I think The Key To Running Inspired is worth a read. Although the writing can be a bit abrupt and choppy at parts, the information is good stuff. Additionally, the book retails for $4.99 on a Amazon, so you won’t be out a lot of cash if you don’t like it.
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Have you read this book? What did you think?
What is your all-time favorite running book?