Walking Santa Barbara: City Strolls and Country Hikes (Walking the West Series)

Book Description

In today’s modern world, there’s no need for anyone to run twenty-five miles to deliver a message, as Pheidippides did from Marathon to Athens around 500 B.C. However, hundreds of runners each year run 26.2 miles at hundreds of marathons worldwide. To conquer this mountainous challenge, you must know how to properly eat, stretch, identify and treat injuries, and develop a running program that hones your mind and body into a running machine.

Marathon Training For Dummies is for everyone who has always thought about running a marathon or half-marathon (13.1 miles) and for seasoned runners who want to tackle the challenge safely and successfully. This quick-read reference helps all runners:

Add strength and speed
Weight train
Improve your technique
Eat to maximize endurance
Treat injuries
Choose your races

In just four to six months of dedicated training, any runner can be full y prepared to tackle a marathon. Map out an exercise program, choose shoes, and plan the race strategy that will get you across the finish line. Marathon Training For Dummies also covers the following topics and more:

How far how fast?
Blazing the best trail
Stretching methods
Doing LSD (Long, Slow Distance)
Tempo-run training
The last 24 hours
The best tune-up races in North America
The week after the marathon

With several hundred thousand people finishing marathons each year, you’ll meet plenty of interesting people running along with you. There are numerous rewards for conquering the mental and physical challenges of a marathon, and this fun and friendly guide is your road map to achieving them.

Customer Reviews:

Not recommended.......2007-05-01

I bought this book as I was looking for some motivation and training tips to run another marathon. Unfortunately, this book has failed in both respects. While some of the tips might be useful for people who have never taken part in any type of physical activity before, I would guess that these people would only benefit from small sections of this book.

The author clearly has a great deal of knowledge and experience, but unfortunately this is not passed onto the reader as effectively as it could have been.

great rudimentary read.......2005-07-07

Marathon for Dummies is an excellent way to acquire a holistic understanding about what to expect/prepare for when running your first marathon. I highly recommend it for beginner marathoners.

Has some good info but also some dubious advice.......2004-09-13

I've run one marathon and am training for my 2nd so I'm not a veteran by any means.

After reading this book I began to wonder if the author had actually run a marathon but couldn't find any references to her completing a marathon. I figured she *must* be a marathoner to write about it even though her credentials listed her as a top road racer which usually means shorter distances. Someone else says she ran a 3:06 time.

My primary concerns with this book:

1. Suggesting that you run 1-3 miles of warmup prior to a marathon, especially a first-timer, is not a good idea. You are going to need those 1-3 miles of leg strength at the end of your first marathon. All the other veteran marathon experts recommend very little if any warmup prior to a first marathon. Use the early miles as the warm up! I guess a few jumping jacks to get the blood flowing is not a bad idea but be careful. Of course, if you're trying to win in your first attempt, sure, you need to be ready to go at the gun but most people reading a "dummies" book aren't in this category.

2. Not eating breakfast for a morning marathon is bad advice. You already have gone 6-12 hours or more from the previous day without food and you're asking your body to go run 26.2 miles with only sports drinks and gels for fuel?? Most first-timers are running 3:00 - 6:00 hour times and this is a long time to be on your feet on an empty fuel tank. The author seems to base her premise on the shorter distance races which don't require as much fuel. I eat a full breakfast (cereal, toast, eggs, yogurt, vegetable juice) prior to all my 15+ mile runs - just avoid the grease and anything that normally causes digestion problems. I generally eat 1-2 hours prior to the long run so, yes, that does mean getting up a little bit early for an 8:00 a.m. marathon start time. You're awake with anxiety anyway, so why not get a little fuel in your body??

3. Not drinking prior to the marathon is even worse advice. The author's concerns about having to go to the bathroom are noted but dehydration is much more serious than a few stops at the porta-johns. Not only should you drink water prior to the marathon but you should drink at least 16-32 ounces. Yes, do give yourself plenty of time to use the facilities but be sure to hydrate!!! Her advice to drink at all the water stops is correct no matter how you feel or the temperature. Your body is going to heat up a lot and if the humidity is over 50%, it will be even more difficult to stay cool.

The author knows alot about running and gives good advice about shoes, clothing, stretching, injuries and general diet. There is an obvious omission of advice of the actual race which leads me to believe the author had not yet completed a marathon. A first-timer will be very nervous about the 26.2 mile distance and needs to be re-assured that if they trained properly (building a base, completing several long runs and tapering), they should be ready to get to the finish line.

Hal Higdon has a terrific web site (halhigdon.com) for all levels of runners.

Tere Stouffer Drenth knows her stuff.......2004-06-24

What is Reader from Eastern US talking about? Tere Stouffer Drenth is a 3:06 marathoner, a time she won't brag about but she's a 37-year-old woman, so it puts her in a really elite category. This book has been reviewed by numerous running experts and it does not contain ANY misinformation that could lead to an injury. The fact is Tere did exhaustive research for this book (and tried everything on herself first), so it covers the latest trends in marathon training not outdated information from 10, 20 or 30 years ago.

Here's what the Chicago Tribune says this about the book; "As with all the For Dummies books, Marathon Training is easy to use and well-organized, covering the basics for those ready to take the 26.2-mile plunge. Everything from proper eating and drinking to stretching, weight lifting and buying the right shoes is covered, along with how to actually train for one of the toughest athletic challenges there is." Publishers Weekly also did a great review.

Other books (by John Bingham, Jeff Galloway, and Hal Higdon as mentioned by Reader from Eastern US) are good for some people, but those authors sometimes tend to forget what it is like to be new at marathoning. Although Tere has 25 years of running and competing experience at 10K and shorter races, she saved marathoning for the end of her running career, so she can emphathize with her readers about what trying a marathon for the first time is like. She also can make the driest material seem like fun, which makes the book just whiz by. This book is serious about your goals and fun to read at the same time so whether you're new to marathoning or trying to improve on your last marathon time, you'll love it. New marathoners can skip information about interval training and other techniques and experienced readers can skip information about setting up a training plan.

pretty good book.......2004-04-27

I thought this book covered the basics pretty well. I have never run a marathon before and found the information about shoes, clothes, and diet helpful. The workout portion is more for people trying to improve their marathon running time not really first timers. The workouts are too much for people just starting out. First timers would do better with the "non runners guide to marathon training" for the workout program but I have gotten a lot of useful information out of this one as well. A definate good buy.

Marathon Training Tips for Dummies (For Dummies S.)

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Marathon Training Tips for Dummies (For Dummies S.)
Tere Stouffer Drenth
Manufacturer: Hungry Minds Inc,U.S.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Sports | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0764543164

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Marathon-Training Fur Dummies
Tere Stouffer Drenth
Manufacturer: Wiley-VCH
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Nonfiction | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All German Books | German | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

Track & Field | Other Team Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books

German | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 352770132X

Customer Reviews:

Wow!!!! Absolutely Mind Blowing!!!!.......2007-07-23

This book is about YOU, about what excites YOU as a writer. Are you worried there wont be a single soul willing to read your books and the subjects you choose for them? Don't worry! IF YOU DARE TO WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOU LIKE, YOU WILL REACH THOUSANDS OF READERS WHO WILL BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO BUY YOUR BOOKS. There is a very simple reason for this, just search it in the book.

"Techniques of the selling writer" is a MUST for you the aspiring writer and it is also for the not-quite-there-yet professional writer. Really, as I read it I could not believe how this author managed to get so much valuable advice in so few pages (330 p.).

The title might stir two feelings in you: you are either interested because you want to become the next Stephen King and make money, or you are inmediately discouraged because you want to become a respected fiction artist and money isn't your business. Either way if you read this book you will be steps closer to your goal.

So, this book does not tell you what subjects you need to write about. It is about building a bridge between you and YOUR audience. It is about how to build a good story, and how to tell it in an exciting original manner.

Reader's emotions, writer's freedom, story success, climax, conflict, vividness, passion, pleasure, tension, satisfaction, confidence, the writer's life...

I just read this book and I'm very excited about it. If you read my other reviews you'll see that I have read many books on writing fiction, and the more I read the more difficult I am to please. I get more picky and I can quickly distinguish between absolute garbage and pure genius!

What impresses me most of this book is that for a long time I've had questions about how to build a story, how to use point of view, how to stir emotions in the reader, how to build the climax. I have had to search for this info in different books. But in "Techniques of the selling writer" you will find very insigthfull comments about all this topics. Also I noticed he mention a very subtle yet extremely important aspect with regard to world building. I was very excited when I read it. It was like adding a missing piece of the complex puzzle of story telling.

Also he has some comments that sound like zen for writers and I really liked them.

There is something you might find odd with this book. You see the title has the word "SELLING", so you might expect a great deal of advice on how to sell your work. NOPE. The chapter "Selling your stories" in less than a page long. Still, it contains probably the most important and still very common sense advice on how to sell your stories. No marketing tricks, no sophisticated selling gimmicks... Just three simple steps that you need to follow during your entire writing life.

I'm so happy I bought it! Every time I buy a how-to fiction book I fear. I fear it might not be good. After all I have read some pretty good books but sometimes I have also had the terrible experience of buying lousy books. But when the book arrived... when I started reading it... when I realized this was a book I would want to read more than a couple times... That's when I realized how lucky I was for buying it!

Please, just do your self a favour and buy this book. As I read it I can imagine all those fabulous best-seller's writers. I can imagine how they must have begun crafting great stories AFTER reading this book. This book is so good that I don't think I'll find a better one to review in quite a while.

Almost everything I would like to find in a "how-to write fiction book" is right in here!

In case you still have doubts, just do a search online. You will find out it's regarded by many as one of the best books ever on how to write great stories! I mean, come on, a book that has lasted more than 40 years as a MUST... it sure must be.

The best how-to book I've read so far..........2007-06-11

This book answered my questions about writing. Buy it. It will blow your mind.

Gold Nuggets Within.......2007-05-13

I spent a year reading this how-to classic, mining, skimming through the provided information to find gold.

There is a reason this book remains a classic stand-by for writers. It is full of common-sense, understandable information on how to write a good story.

Some of the helpful hints are dated, but Swain's charming, borderline-snarky style shines through.

I began underlining high points - and in some chapters nearly drained my pen.

If you struggle with telling an interesting story - this book will help you. A beginning writer wants to include the kitchen sink and every adverb under the sun (not to mention cliches : ) Swain clearly explains the value of a tight and concise story, one that grabs the reader by the throat.

This book belongs in your library if you are seeking to grow as a writer.

On Target.......2007-01-04

As a creative writing instructor, I recommend this book to all my students. It is basic, understandable and gives them more information about writing than I could in a class environment. There are a lot of books about writing on the market, but this one hits the spot!

Excellent if you already have the talent.......2006-12-15

This is not a book for those with a passing interest in writing, or someone who's just starting to learn about writing. This is a book for serious writers that want to be successful, already have the required proficiency in language and form, and probably have done a lot of writing already. The book's only purpose is to show you how successful commercial writing works, and what that type of writing has in common. If you're looking to express your inner soul, then this is not the right book, as it's intended for commercial success, not "art." Make no mistake though--good fictional writing is not something that can be taught if you don't have the required talent (which I feel is a combination of emotional intelligence, empathy, creativity, imagination, common sense, tenacity, and organizational skills). The only reason I rated this book 4 instead of 5 stars is that it tends to be a bit heavy in tone.

Secrets of the World's Best-Selling Writer: The Storytelling Techniques of Erle Stanley Gardner

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The Case of the Top-Selling Author

Secrets of the World's Best-Selling Writer: The Storytelling Techniques of Erle Stanley Gardner
Francis L. Fugate , and Roberta B. Fugate
Manufacturer: William Morrow & Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

The Case of the Top-Selling Author.......2004-07-28

Erle Stanley Garner was a self-taught author who kept detailed accounts of the development of his writing method. This collection of millions of notebooks, letters, memoranda, charts, lists, and even phrases are in a Collection at the University of Texas at Austin. The authors distilled these papers into a 286 page book that has a Bibliography and Index. The Foreword acknowledges the people who helped the authors.

Erle Stanley Gardner set a record for the 'Guinness Book of World Records' as the best selling author. Gardner had ten year's experience as a trial lawyer, intensive study and writing, a hyperactive personality, and an incredibly agile imagination. Gardner became the greatest writer of mystery fiction who ever lived, only being outsold worldwide by the Bible (p.14). Gardner dropped out of college, clerked for a law firm, and passed the California bar at 21. he learned the importance of keeping records. ESG was meticulous in the use of facts in his fiction, since Perry Mason was scrutinized by lawyers.

Gardner's first stories were to wood pulp magazines. Then for the slick magazines, movies, television. There was even a short-lived comic strip (p.189). Some called it 'escapist literature', but they always dealt with real-world troubles than made humdrum lives seem better off. Chapter 4 lists what could be learned from writing for the pulps. These magazines were always looking for new writers who could be paid lower rates (Chapter 5). Gardner paid a disabled veteran to solicit comments on stories (p.84); this feedback was used in writing stories. Gardner also analyzed stories for their appeal (p.89). 'A single man, unaided, overcomes difficulties by the power that is within him' describes a lot of popular fiction (p.90). Gardner's comments are still educational (pp.93-104). This explains why Perry Mason's clients must never be guilty (p.99). A mystery consists of a series of interesting events with sinister implications, the logic of which cannot be instantly comprehended (p.101). To improve production, Gardner bought one of the first electrical typewriter (a Woodstock), but later switched entirely to dictations machines (p.109). Chapter 8 describes his writing life.

The titles for Perry Mason novels usually came from the opening mystery, rather than from the principal plot. They were carefully chosen to attract readers (pp.193-4). When ESG was in 'financial straits' he developed a new series writing a 'A.A.Fair' with a new style. Page 202 tells how he planted evidence to support the existence of this author. [But the 'legal skulduggery' suggested ESG]. Gardner wrote books for readers, not for snobbish critics. Gardner would start with an incidental mystery to intrigue the reader and introduce the characters. Then the murder would occur; it would be result of basic human motivation. As in life, there would be conflicts and obstacle to goals. There were few murders from a sudden rush of anger or passion. The murderer would be found out once false stories and clues were found out; this was his mystery story. There would be some minor facts that wouldn't mesh with the cover story; this would lead to the solution. Appendix I lists his 'Fluid or Unstatic Theory of Plots'. The other Appendices show Gardner's organized method for dealing with plots. What could Gardner have done with a personal computer in place of his mechanical plotting device?

Tricks & techniques of the selling writer

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Tricks & techniques of the selling writer
Dwight V Swain
Manufacturer: DoubleDay
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Authorship | Publishing & Books | Reference | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007DVWLG

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Writing & selling science fiction
Science Fiction Writers of America
Manufacturer: Writer's Digest
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0911654356

Best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul[R] author and former high school teacher Jack Canfield to speak at ACTS Orlando Convention.(Interview): An article from: Techniques

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Best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul[R] author and former high school teacher Jack Canfield to speak at ACTS Orlando Convention.(Interview): An article from: Techniques

Manufacturer: Association for Career and Technical Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Techniques, published by Association for Career and Technical Education on October 1, 2003. The length of the article is 3056 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Best-selling Chicken Soup for the Soul[R] author and former high school teacher Jack Canfield to speak at ACTS Orlando Convention.(Interview)
Publication: Techniques (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2003
Publisher: Association for Career and Technical Education
Volume: 78 Issue: 7 Page: 52(4)

Article Type: Interview

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Best-selling generations author: Neil Howe to speak and release new book at ACTE Orlando Convention.(Association for Career and Technical Education)(Interview): An article from: Techniques

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Best-selling generations author: Neil Howe to speak and release new book at ACTE Orlando Convention.(Association for Career and Technical Education)(Interview): An article from: Techniques

Manufacturer: Association for Career and Technical Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Techniques, published by Association for Career and Technical Education on September 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1161 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Best-selling generations author: Neil Howe to speak and release new book at ACTE Orlando Convention.(Association for Career and Technical Education)(Interview)
Publication: Techniques (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2003
Publisher: Association for Career and Technical Education
Volume: 78 Issue: 6 Page: 50(2)

Article Type: Interview

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Interview business futurist and best-selling author Roger Herman to speak at the ACTE Las Vegas Convention.(The Power Of Focus)(Association for Career ... Education): An article from: Techniques

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Interview business futurist and best-selling author Roger Herman to speak at the ACTE Las Vegas Convention.(The Power Of Focus)(Association for Career ... Education): An article from: Techniques

Manufacturer: Association for Career and Technical Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Techniques, published by Association for Career and Technical Education on May 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1529 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Interview business futurist and best-selling author Roger Herman to speak at the ACTE Las Vegas Convention.(The Power Of Focus)(Association for Career and Technical Education)
Publication: Techniques (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 1, 2004
Publisher: Association for Career and Technical Education
Volume: 79 Issue: 5 Page: 46(2)

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Interview: New York times best-selling author Robert Kriegel, Ph.D. to speak at ACTE Las Vegas Convention.(The Power Of Focus)(Interview): An article from: Techniques

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Interview: New York times best-selling author Robert Kriegel, Ph.D. to speak at ACTE Las Vegas Convention.(The Power Of Focus)(Interview): An article from: Techniques

Manufacturer: Association for Career and Technical Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Techniques, published by Association for Career and Technical Education on October 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1379 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Interview: New York times best-selling author Robert Kriegel, Ph.D. to speak at ACTE Las Vegas Convention.(The Power Of Focus)(Interview)
Publication: Techniques (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 2004
Publisher: Association for Career and Technical Education
Volume: 79 Issue: 7 Page: 47(2)

Article Type: Interview

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Writing and Selling Science Fiction

Manufacturer: F & W Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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