Dr. Mark Cucuzzella’s latest book, Run for Your Life, needs to be on every bookshelf / Kindle. The book is excellent for beginners and advanced runners alike. It is broken up into three sections that deal with Getting Started in Running, Running, & General Topics Related to Running.  Within each of these sections are several topics, one of the more useful aspects of this book being the activities at the end of each chapter.  Mark gives many drills and exercises that allow one to put each chapter into action.  Thus, what you have read can then progress, becoming a habit.  His website, https://www.drmarksdesk.com/ has contains many of the excises and drills you will read about in the book.

Overview:

Part 1: Before the Starting Line
Mark looks at who we are and how we are built to run. He explains anatomy in a simplified manner and how the parts work together, enabling us to move and run. Humans are meant to be running, and moving is critical to living a healthy and energetic life. In the last section of the book, Mark touches much of what we do today, leading to inactivity and being indoors when we get the most out of life moving and being outside.

Chapters in Part 1

  • Our Bodies are older than we think
  • Stand up and Breath
  • Walk Before You Run
  • The World is Flat If You’re a Foot
  • The Springs That Move Us


Chapters in Part 2 – Principles and Practice

  • The Elements of Style
  • The Engine That Runs Us: Building Endurance
  • Move More and “Exercise” Less
  • Eating to Go the Distance: Nutrition and Health
  • What’s for Dinner: Setting Your Meal Course
  • Recovery is Training
  • Running a Marathon
  • The Runner’s High: The Mind of a Winner
  • Outsmart Injuries with Prevention


Part 3: Running is For Everyone
The last section covers a variety of subjects such as women, aging, our connection with the outdoors, and community importance. The ideas of the community are very well covered.

 

Chapters in Part 3

  • Women are Pulling Away from the Pack
  • Young at Heart
  • Healthy at Any Age
  • The Nature Cure
  • Running in Place: The health of our Communities

 

Mark’s book, Run for Your Life, complements our book, The Science of the Marathon, very well. They both serve different areas of running but show how you can train less and gain more. Please give these books a read!