Joe Desena & Andy Weinberg
You'll Know At The Finish Line
A Spartan Guide To The Sport Of Obstacle Racing
Spartan Press 2012
404 pages FREE
ISBN-13:978-0615675183
A Spartan Guide To The Sport Of Obstacle Racing
Spartan Press 2012
404 pages FREE
ISBN-13:978-0615675183
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| Yup that looks fun |
I have to say it has its good point and bad points.
First of all the book is FREE and is available for e-readers or in PDF format from the Spartan Race website so the price is great & the different format options are very nice. I read the PDF version which I had some issues with. Being a PDF having the page size be 3.54 x 4.72 inches seemed very odd. By using this format the PDF itself (in times new roman) seems to be oddly formatted when it comes to reading, from sentence & page breaks to the edge to edge text it is very distracting. I Was reading this while travelling on both a net-book & on a home PC. But this is personal preference from a guy writing a random blog written in veranda for the most part. Still I would have preferred it in Word or similar format where I could adjust it more to what I like. It is possible a kindle version would have been easier on my eyes as well.
The book itself has many sections to it with the history of obstacle racing , with a time line, to their philosophy, detailed information on training ideas and specifically for their events. Each of the 10 chapters ends with stories from & about some of the folks who have helped in the events as well as just participated in them with some amazing stories of personal achievement. To me these items were the most fascinating part of the book. To read about how much people are able to overcome & endure in their lives & translate it to these events, or to use the events to inspire them to change their lives is very remarkable.
But I do have a couple more criticisms of the work, which it is clearly stated i the first time the authors have done anything like this, and approached it by just diving in & seeing what happens. Andy & Joe both wrote the book and it is obvious. Paragraphs may start with "Joe:" or "Andy:" as if the book is the result of an interview. In many cases a section will be mostly written by only one individual with their name at the start. Having someone edit the book in a way to massage their viewpoints together may have had a better flow.
Of course in reading the book, although I have done one Spartan Race, and intend to do more. I realize the book is not meant for me to be its audience. Chapter 5 is all about training for the Spartan Sprint a 3+ mile obstacle course . On one hand they mention how the distance is good for everyone beginners on up. Then go on to say work up to a five mile run at a moderate pace before attempting the Sprint. Clearly these two items are not the same in my book. I see a 'beginner' as someone just getting off the couch and in to getting in shape/running/obstacle races to not someone who can already run five miles as a precursor to training for a 3.5 mile race. Yet further in the chapter they make it abundantly clear this is not for beginners. An 8 week workout regimen to train for the event starts on day 1 with jogging 3 miles after a 10 minute warmup and also includes: push ups, pull ups, crunches, and an additional 2 miles of running. From there it just gets more intense.
So although great information on history, proposed rules for making these kinds of events more 'official' and some good workouts are included along with those outstanding personal stories. I think They should go back to the drawing board for a second release & make the book & some of its contents more user friendly to the new Spartan Race initiate.
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| This is original size |
The book itself has many sections to it with the history of obstacle racing , with a time line, to their philosophy, detailed information on training ideas and specifically for their events. Each of the 10 chapters ends with stories from & about some of the folks who have helped in the events as well as just participated in them with some amazing stories of personal achievement. To me these items were the most fascinating part of the book. To read about how much people are able to overcome & endure in their lives & translate it to these events, or to use the events to inspire them to change their lives is very remarkable.
But I do have a couple more criticisms of the work, which it is clearly stated i the first time the authors have done anything like this, and approached it by just diving in & seeing what happens. Andy & Joe both wrote the book and it is obvious. Paragraphs may start with "Joe:" or "Andy:" as if the book is the result of an interview. In many cases a section will be mostly written by only one individual with their name at the start. Having someone edit the book in a way to massage their viewpoints together may have had a better flow.
Of course in reading the book, although I have done one Spartan Race, and intend to do more. I realize the book is not meant for me to be its audience. Chapter 5 is all about training for the Spartan Sprint a 3+ mile obstacle course . On one hand they mention how the distance is good for everyone beginners on up. Then go on to say work up to a five mile run at a moderate pace before attempting the Sprint. Clearly these two items are not the same in my book. I see a 'beginner' as someone just getting off the couch and in to getting in shape/running/obstacle races to not someone who can already run five miles as a precursor to training for a 3.5 mile race. Yet further in the chapter they make it abundantly clear this is not for beginners. An 8 week workout regimen to train for the event starts on day 1 with jogging 3 miles after a 10 minute warmup and also includes: push ups, pull ups, crunches, and an additional 2 miles of running. From there it just gets more intense.
So although great information on history, proposed rules for making these kinds of events more 'official' and some good workouts are included along with those outstanding personal stories. I think They should go back to the drawing board for a second release & make the book & some of its contents more user friendly to the new Spartan Race initiate.
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