Most biographies are not very good apart from a glimpse of training. They are so bland and unwilling to provide any insight that they can be read once and mostly instantly forgotten.
From a UK perspective I offer three choices which you and others in the USA may not be familar with:
Ron Hill's autobiography 'The Long Hard Road' vols 1 &2.(1981)
Vol 1 is full of insights how he developed his training up to 1968 whilst working full time in industry. Vol 2 is nowhere near as good.
The second choice is,
Richard Askwith 'Feet in the Clouds' (2004)
This is about fell running- a niche sport peculiar to the fells of the north of England. Ultimately it is about the author's attempt to complete the Bob Graham Round- 42 of the Lake District's highest peaks which have to be covered in under 24 hours. The book does start with this warning;
'The activities described in this book are dangerous and may result in injury or death. Don't try them. Go to a gym instead, or stay at home and watch television.' Allie Ostrander would have a ball on these courses.
The third choice is,
Peter Lovesey 'The Kings of Distance' (1968)
This will be extremely difficult to find now but in my opinion it is the best book on running by far. Lovesey had a background as a track statistician- a member of NUTS- and has written a book on 5 of track's greatest distance athletes who appeared at roughly 20 years intervals. From Deerfoot in the 1860s, W G George in the 1880s, Alf Shrubb in the 1900s, Nurmi in the 1920s up to Zatopek in the decade after WW2, his book is tremendous and recommended unresrvedly.
Lovesey also wrote novels- one featured a detective investigating a murder during what were called 'Wobbles' or a contest (running/ walking) for 6 days held indoors in a small hall in Islington with a very small track requiring multiple circuits per mile and thousands in 6 days. These were very popular in the Victorian era and I think the record ultimately reached 623 miles in 6 days.
Hope these help