What are the best training books for someone that loves learning about the principles and foundations behind different systems? I have Daniels' Running Formula, but would love to read some others.
Not a book but John Davis's blog is fantastic: https://runningwritings.com/ He keeps up to date with modern exercise physiology and has done great deep dives on Canova-style training
Run Faster from the 5K to the Marathon: How to Be Your Own Best Coach from Brad Hudson / Matt Fitzgerald. Really good book about piecing together training that suits your particular race, strengths & weaknesses, and working towards goals. Much less focus on just throwing a plan at you and telling you why you should follow it (though it has plans, they feel like an afterthought after reading the meat of the book).
Here are five unique titles for the Athletics enthusiast who may also be a historian of the sport. While application has changed over time, many of the discussed concepts still exist in current training systems. One can always find a tidbit of knowledge from these early athletes and coaches.
Andrews, Harry, and W. S. Alexander. The Secret of Athletic Training. Methuen & Co., 1925.
Blake, John Bapst, and Ralph C. Larrabee. Observations Upon Long-Distance Runners. The Old Corner Bookstore, 1903.
Faries, Randolph. Practical Training for Athletics and Pleasure. The Outing Publishing Co., New York, 1899.
Stecher, William Albin. A Guide to Track and Field Work Contests and Kindred Activities. Philadelphia Public Schools, 1912.
Webster, F. A. M. Athletics of To-Day: History, Development and Training. Frederick Warne & Co., 1929.
Being a running nerd is awesome. Here’s a solid mix of training must haves to be a good student of the sport, and books that will make you wanna run through a wall because you’re so pumped. With all the political sh*t on LR lately I’m shocked to see folks that read about running…
Check out Arthur Lydiard’s Running to the Top and Running with Lydiard. I slightly favor the latter, but both are loaded with interesting historical info and cover the basis of most modern training approaches.
Science of Running by Steve Magness is an obvious one. Its not the best edited, but definitely throws the physiology book at you.
Running science by Owen Anderson is over a thousand pages and has about a million studies referenced in it. I thought it was interesting. (But it's usefulness is debatable to me)
Science of Running by Steve Magness is an obvious one. Its not the best edited, but definitely throws the physiology book at you.
Running science by Owen Anderson is over a thousand pages and has about a million studies referenced in it. I thought it was interesting. (But it's usefulness is debatable to me)
Stay away from Owen Anderson. He was a "child of the 90s": low mileage, high intensity, long runs are useless, strength training, drills, plyos are more important than mileage bla bla
I really liked Endure. I took notes while reading that. Pfitz for general training principles. I also have found some of the pro runners essentially published training logs to be helpful -- Ryan Hall, Sage, Hansons Marathon Method, Faubs, etc. Interesting to just go through an elite build week by week & see what you think would be helpful for your situation.
Stay away from Owen Anderson. He was a "child of the 90s": low mileage, high intensity, long runs are useless, strength training, drills, plyos are more important than mileage bla bla
Steffe!! Et al., Many fans do point to a reduction of training volume brought about by a “run less, run faster’ philosophy of some writers which lead to the lackluster performances of Americans during the decade of the 1990s. Perhaps that thought has merit. However, as mentioned in my first entry on this thread, there are fragments of information that can be gleaned from every book. Such training may be beneficial to resident physicians who spend a lot of hours in the hospital or people like firefighters and nurses who have non-typical work schedules.
Dr. Anderson and I did not share the same philosophy on every topic, yet he was always able to explain his position. In addition to his “Running Research News” newsletter, he published five books, three of which are somewhat readily available:
Anderson, Owen. Lactate Lift-Off: Break Through to Higher Fitness and Performance. SSS Publishing, 1998. ---. Running Science: The Ultimate Nexus of Knowledge and Performance. Human Kinetics, 2013. ---. Running Form: How to Run Faster and Prevent Injury. Human Kinetics, 2018.
Aurora and Great Workouts for Popular Races are two early works so scarce that limited bibliographical information is available. If anyone has a copy of either, I would be interested in making an offer to purchase.
At the time of his death, he was revising the manuscript of a novel that unfortunately will not be published.
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I've got Magness, Fitzgerald, Hudson, and Daniels.
Daniels is far and away the most useful, imo.
I don't think about Daniels much anymore, outside of the charts, but it gives such a great base of general knowledge to start with.
From there, I've mostly picked up bits and pieces (some huge) from letsrun, along with other websites and articles. And of course my own trial and error, along with my athletes.
Running science by Owen Anderson is over a thousand pages and has about a million studies referenced in it. I thought it was interesting. (But it's usefulness is debatable to me)
Stay away from Owen Anderson. He was a "child of the 90s": low mileage, high intensity, long runs are useless, strength training, drills, plyos are more important than mileage bla bla
I don't think you need to stay away from this type of information, as long as you have an understanding of what should be useful and what wouldn't be from it. I certainly learned a lot from reading Scott Christensen material over the years. As long as you're aware of the the limitations, it's usefulness is immense.