Best Training Books for Running Nerds

Wow nice list

I would add Meb for Mortals, by Meb

Speed with Endurance by Bill Squires & Bruce Lehane

Easy Interval Training by Klaas Lok

The Competitive Runner's Training Book by Bill Dellinger & Bill Freeman

Slaying the Dragon by Michael Johnson is really good

Your Best Stride by Jonathan Beverly is concise but truly helpful if you are having difficulty improving (or even perceiving the need to improve) stride mechanics. It's just a Runner's World publication but written well.

The sprinters compendium - Ryan Banta

The mechanics of sprinting and hurdling - Ralph Mann (RIP)

The science of speed and the art of sprint - Tom Tellz

the op asked for the best book for running nerds, not a list

Run with the Best - Roy Benson

THE ONE, but not the only.

Run Like a Champion - Alan Culpepper

Shoe Dog is one of the most overrated pieces of propaganda available. Not a training book.

If you want a real insight into the Nik€ story Win At All Costs, Good For A Girl & The Longest Race are the books to read.

Oh man I haven't thought about that guy in a long time, but he had a GREAT very informative info merical "Fat to Fit" back in the 90's. It was really good because he explained away all the fitness gimmicks and reason why they dont work.

I would like to get a copy of the Squires book but not for $120.

I'm not a Nike fanboy by any means, but Shoe Dog is a great book, and I'm not even sure why you would compare it to the books that you listed. It's a memoir about founding a company, and it's an interesting slice of American history. Win at All Costs and The Longest Race are basically just about NOP: one specific program, run by one specific guy, that was founded decades after most of the events depicted in Shoe Dog. Those books are very short and the former, in particular, contains very little new material that wasn't publicly known.

Good for a Girl is even less a book about Nike than the other two, though it is an exceptional book that every coach of young women and girls should read.

I think one of the best training books for road racers is Brad Hudson's. It's a quick read, and it's very light on science, but it basically outlines a usable "Canova for dummies" approach to training.

Canova's little marathon book (hard to find now) is also good. It's refreshingly specific about its training recommendations. Canova has said he's changed a lot of his approach since then, so I wouldn't treat it as gospel, but it's nice to see the exact workouts that some very successful marathoners were doing 20 or so years ago.

Magness is a great reference. It collects most of the key literature (as of a decade ago) in one place. It's a little less useful as a training guide because it's more about high level principles than specific applications, though he does have a few sample plans, which I don't really love.

Endure, by Alex Hutshinson, isn't a training book per se, but I think if you read it and absorb it, you will absolutely change the way you think about training.

I typically don't endorse Daniels. I think the tables are an excellent reference, and a lot of what he says about training is very sensible, but the core idea of focusing so specifically on VO2max pace and LT pace is flawed and limiting. Slower aerobic tempos, in particular, are absent from his training except for marathoners, and I think that's a big mistake.

The Squires book is super interesting, but I've never had the guts to try implementing it. The training cycles are just unbelievably long, and some of the hardest training is very far out from goal races. I've had more success moving to shorter and shorter training cycles for my experienced athletes. If you're never too far out of shape, then it doesn't take more than 12-14 weeks to get ready for a peak.

I'd love to get a copy of this, but I never catch it when Hudson formally announces releases.

He lists an email address where you can purchase a training plan, coaching, and his book on his FB page, but I'm not really sure how active it is. It seems kind of cryptic.

If reasonable, I'd probably purchase one of the 16 week training plans from Hudson. I'm curious to see how they differ from Fitzgerald's interpretation of Hudson's training in Run Faster.

These are straight from my bookshelf, in no particular order. I think if you read enough of these, you see more commonalities than differences, but with some nuance in application.

Daniels Running Formula, Daniels

Road to the Top, Vigil

Speed with Endurance, Squires and Lehane

Run Strong, Beck

Running to the Top, Lydiard

The Competitive Runner's Training Book, Dellinger and Freeman

Run Faster, Hudson

Coach Hudson's Little Black Book, Hudson

The Lore of Running, Noakes

Better Training for Distance Runners, Martin and Coe

Marathon Training: A Scientific Approach, Arcelli and Canova

Road Racing for Serious Runners, Pfitzinger and Douglas

Advanced Marathoning, Pfitzinger and Douglas

Hanson’s Marathon Method, Humphrey

Coaching Cross Country Successfully, Newton and Henderson

Build Your Running Body, Magill and Schwartz and Breyer

The Science of Running, Magness

Running Science, Anderson

Science of the Marathon, Billat and Edwards

Scientific Training for Endurance Athletes, Skiba

The Science of Winning, Olbrecht

Distance Running by Robert Lyden offers some quality nerdy perspectives, including approaches to multi-year/Olympic cycle peaking strategies.

I'd also strongly agree with a few of the posters who said they would recommend Brad Hudson's book Run Faster above the others. It avoids justifying training through scientific jargon and does a great job explaining how to personalize, progress, and modify training long-term.

Run with the Best was written by Tony Benson and Irv Ray.

Roy Benson has contributed to the sport as well. Coaching, camps, clinics.

jackdogwelch.com

Coach Roy Benson

JDW

“Isn’t it great that our sport doesn’t need human judges? No need for us to worry about ‘artistic’ merit, no one around taking off points for our form. All we’ve…

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Road Racing for Serious Runners, Pfitzinger and Douglas

Yeah, this is a pretty decent book.

Better Training For Distance Runners by Peter Coe, et al is kind of technical, so be ready for it. But lot of good stuff in there for 800m to 5000m types. Adjust as necessary.

I know Jack Daniels takes a lot of heat, but if you are in your first few years of running or coaching, his take on things can kind of get you in the right zip code for training so to speak. The principles are sound, but you will probably like find as you get more serious you will need to tweak the workouts or how much of each workout type you need.

Best way to have success in this sport is just keep experimenting, questioning, trying new things, keeping some basic records of what worked or didn't, etc. And make sure you study recovery/nutrition/injury prevention type stuff. That is overlooked by many. Theory and information isn't much help if you or the ones you help can't even workout! Best of luck! And keep learning!

If you’re on the Jakob training train, The Norwegian Method by Brad Culp is a new one that I found valuable