Train Like a Mother – book review
Hurray! I finally finished reading the book Train like a Mother, which is the follow up book to my much loved Run like a Mother.
So I should start out by saying that I really enjoyed this book, but in full disclosure the copy I have was given to me, by the publisher. The reason? After the success of their first book, the authors asked for runners to fill out a questionnaire and I did. People who are quoted in the book were sent a free copy and I’m quoted on page 53 where they asked about whether you buy race photos. If you want to know my answer you’ll have to read the book! 🙂
Overall the book was awesome. It’s well written and very funny. I especially enjoyed the glossary of running terms. I laughed more there than average. Another thing that I liked is the training plans are very simple to follow and very realistic for a busy mom letting you know runs that you can bail on if necessary. Similar to their first book there is a lot of humour and sweet stories from the authors. I enjoy the quotes from the other mother runners, and not just as mothers but as women. This book has less of a focus on being a mother and instead focuses on getting the distance and training in. That means it is a more appealing to women in general. I also learned a lot of little facts about injuries which I haven’t really looked at yet, since I haven’t had to.
A few of the negative parts of the book are that it touches on a lot of topics, and because of this there isn’t always as much detail on the specific topics as might be helpful. I also think part of that comes from the desire to hit 13 chapters to match up with the 26 they had in Run like a Mother. I enjoy the theme of the chapters but it felt a little forced with the number of topics and chapters. The other disappointing thing is that because it covers 4 race distances (5, 10, half and marathon) they only provide two training schedules for each distance. The one to get you to finish the race and the one to get you to try to run it fast. Because there is only one for each of these, the length of training is decided for you, so it might not work for everyone and their schedule.