Brain Training for Runners
by Matt Fitzgerald
New American Library, 2007 (ISBN: 978-0-451-22232-9)
 

Matt Fitzgerald is a runner, coach, and widely published writer.  A frequent contributor to Runner's World and Triathlete magazines, he has authored five previous books for runners and triathletes.  Matt is also a certified sports nutritionist and a TrainingPeaks (http://home.trainingpeaks.com/)  featured coach.  He lives in Northern California with his wife, Nataki.

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The Forward of this book was written by Tim Noakes, MD, DSc, author of Lore of Running, and a very highly regarded research scientist in the running community.  A number of Dr. Noakes' comments are shown below, and summarize the main points of this book far better than I could.

"... the goal of the athlete's brain is never to reach the finish in the fastest possible time.  Rather it is to reach the end [finish] safely, regardless of the time it might take."

"... he [Fitzgerald] posits that the 'threshold' approach to training is misguided because (according to the model of brain regulation of exercise performance) there are no direct physiological causes of fatigue.  So how can we ever 'fix' or 'adapt' a single physiological limitation to performance when no such limitation exists?"

"... he [Fitzgerald] argues that the goal of training is not to push back particular physiological causes of fatigue.  Rather, [it] is simply to gradually increase the speed you can sustain over race distance and the duration you can sustain race speed (or faster) until you are able to sustain your goal pace over the full peak race distance.  To do this, it is necessary to train the brain and body to push back that 'wall of fatigue' used by the brain to ensure that a catastrophic failure does not occur."

"... regardless of the particular factors that may cause you to experience discomfort and slow down in a race, you want to train in a way that enables you to sustain your goal pace all the way to the finish line without slowing and without the overwhelming discomfort that comes with it.  This is best done if you have already done in training more or less what you are attempting to do in the race."

"The Fitzgerald approach requires that the runner first decide what is the peak race goal time.  The goal of training then becomes to adapt the body and mind to increase the duration you can sustain your goal pace and to increase the pace you can sustain over the full race distance."

"The runner begins by identifying a starting level of fitness [and] the target pace level, on the basis of recent racing performances.  Armed with these two pieces of information, the runner can construct an appropriate training program from the wide variety [of sample programs] provided in the book."

"Instead of the classic [pace] tables, which are based on the catastrophe model and which require the runner to spend different amounts of time training at different 'thresholds' [paces], thereby supposedly maximizing resistance to the fatigue effects of lactic acid, for example, Fitzgerald proposes that the key is to adapt the brain (and the body) to work for increasingly longer periods at the exact pace that will be required in the race.  The result is that, by the time race day approaches, those runners who have followed these programs will have spent enough time running at race pace that their brains and bodies will know exactly what will be expected of them in the race."

"Better still, exposure to frequent runs at race pace will also establish the pace that is indeed sustainable.  This information will in turn further encourage the athlete that the target is achievable.  And, if not, what altered pace will more likely be successful."

Having read Lore of Running, by Tim Noakes, and all of Matt Fitzgerald's recent books, I can add the following [personal] comments.

First, the "brain training" model was put forth by Tim Noakes, MD, nearly 20 years ago.  He has written extensively on the subject and attracted quite an audience.  Fitzgerald seems to be repeating what Noakes has been saying for quite some time.

Second, the "running" details (workouts) of the training programs included in this book are very similar to those included in other Fitzergald authored books, including the recently published Run Faster From the 5k to the Marathon book co-authored with Brad Hudson.

Third, what seems to be new in this book is the inclusion of "core training" exercises ... non- running exercises to supplement the running workouts.  Many of these exercises were detailed in an earlier book titled Guide to Cross-Training.

With everything said ... this is an interesting read but hardly a new concept of training, save the new terms used to describe age-old training methods.