A masterful piece of literature that uses running as vehicle for a great story, The Lonliness of the Long Distance Runner. Wish I could do it justice. There is a movie as well. Watch you'll like it and be surprised
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Havertownhawk wrote:
A masterful piece of literature that uses running as vehicle for a great story, The Lonliness of the Long Distance Runner. Wish I could do it justice. There is a movie as well. Watch you'll like it and be surprised
Very watchable. The Korean film Snowcap is similar, but takes place in a POW camp. I’m not sure if the film is based on a novel. I can’t find the book on google or AI.
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My Brother, His Victories by El G’s younger brother John Guerrouj is a very eye opening book with insight into El G’s training in Morocco. It even has some of his training logs and several photos. In one of the chapters John talks about his brother’s all out 800m time trial where he ran 1:42, his lifetime best. The training logs show that El G followed a pretty intense daily regimen of quality miles. Nothing slower than about 4:50 pace, and it was fairly low volume at around 55mpw. He and his group did do speed sessions as the season progressed. During his season where he ran his 3:26 flat, El G ran something like 5 400s averaging around 51sec with just a minute rest between intervals. Crazy. It’s one of the best books on Hicham out there and it’s written by his own brother. The original publication is in French, but the publisher printed out English editions as well.
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No question, "Today we die a little" book on Zatopek's life. his struggles to train during WWII and under communist rule. Not just about running but his whole life. He use to run in place in his apartment during the war as it was too dangerous to run at night after work. Many great stories. very much an excellent read.
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The Lore of Running
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The Jim Ryun Story. Innocence in the 1960s
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Why Die? is a biography about Percy Cerutty, the infamous Australian who coached one of the best milers of all time, Herb Elliott. His training methods are simply entertaining to read about. It dives in to some of his own personal philosophical views too which is unique for running books.
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I really enjoyed On Sundays We Go Long. It was independently published and never really got mainstream attention, but it captures something about running culture that a lot of bigger books miss.
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JNathletics wrote:
No question, "Today we die a little" book on Zatopek's life. his struggles to train during WWII and under communist rule. Not just about running but his whole life. He use to run in place in his apartment during the war as it was too dangerous to run at night after work. Many great stories. very much an excellent read.
I also love this one! I will put in a plug for the French writer Jean Echenoz's novel about Zatopek, "Courir", or--en Anglais--"Running". It is a bit difficult to find in physical form (ISBN: 1595584730), but it is available in Kindle from the "Axis of Amazon".
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arunnerinwa wrote:
I love reading, and I love running, so this is a great thread! Thanks UtahDogJogger.
My favorite running books:
Running With the Buffaloes - probably the best running book of all time
26 Marathons - Meb has written two books, and this is by far the better one. A must-read.
Running Home by Katie Arnold - a beautiful book about ultrarunning and loss
Bravey by Alexi Pappas - I'm not necessarily a fan of Pappas the runner, but the woman can write. Shockingly good book. I enjoyed the audiobook.
How Bad Do You Want It? by Matt Fitzgerald. Lots of great anecdotes in here. Fitzgerald's best in my opinion.
My Year of Running Dangerously by Tom Foreman. I'm not sure why I like this one so much, but I must have read it three times, and I'm tempted to read it again. It's funny! And about running.
Sub 4:00 by Chris Lear - about Alan Webb.
Honorable mention to Run the Mile You're In, Let Your Mind Run, and Out of Thin Air.
The most overrated running book of all time must be Once a Runner. When I started running in the 90s, it topped all "best running books" lists, but as a starving student, I couldn't imagine paying $100+ for a used copy. Then they reprinted it, and I finally read it in the 00s, if memory serves. What a massive disappointment. It's not a terrible book, but definitely not the best running book of all time.
Loved How Bad Do You Want It?—like you said, some great anecdotes and examples of how to manage mental discomfort while running that I've applied to my own training successfully
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JNathletics wrote:
No question, "Today we die a little" book on Zatopek's life. his struggles to train during WWII and under communist rule. Not just about running but his whole life. He use to run in place in his apartment during the war as it was too dangerous to run at night after work. Many great stories. very much an excellent read.
If you liked that, you should read this French novel about Zatopek's life as well!
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For training, I really like
- "Training For the Uphill Athlete" by Steve House, Scott Johnston, and Kilian Jornet. This is probably the most holistic approach to trail and mountain running, including strength exercises.
- "The Secret of Running" by Hans van Dijk and Ron van Megen. I'm a mathematician and love the physics and mathematical model approach to "the human engine" than van Dijk and van Megen describe.
- "Norwegian Singles Method" by James Copeland. Fantastic book that describes the Norwegian subthreshold method of training for the average time-constrained hobby jogger. Includes pace tables for how to handle wind and hills.
- "The Norwegian Method Applied" by Marius Bakken. Bakken is considered the godfather of the precise subthreshold method that the Ingebrigstens and others train by. It's the foundation that James Copeland based his singles framework on.
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for us "old" guys: Running & Being: The Total Experience - (Dr.) George Sheehan
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You also might enjoy two newer running books, Malone Ridge by James K. Dill, (2022) - a female runner and her trials. Also, Racing Shadows by the same author (2019).
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A few I haven’t seen mentioned yet:
—How to Race the Mile by Jeff Hollobaugh. Not really a training book, more like examples of how many famous milers approached their training. Some interesting stories about great runners in this one.
— Run the World by Becky Wade. College All-American gets a fellowship to spend a year traveling the world “in pursuit of a personal passion.” She spends time in countries significant in the history of running, living and training with athletes and coaches. Also some interesting recipes in here, including a great one for Irish Soda Bread.
— Running to the Edge by Matthew Futterman. Mostly the story of coach Bob Larsen, who coached Meb and Deena. Lots of good stories in here, too.
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"Campbell's Kenya Chronicles" is a good read
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muffintop wrote:
A few I haven’t seen mentioned yet:
— Running to the Edge by Matthew Futterman. Mostly the story of coach Bob Larsen, who coached Meb and Deena. Lots of good stories in here, too.
The book copied the movie, which was much better. At least the parts about Larsen and Meb copied the movie.
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“Becoming varsity” by Doug Soles is a great book for high schoolers
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Stupid Fast: A Runner's Story (by Matt Balleza)
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