Best Running Books worth purchasing?

Marathon Man, Bill Rodgers autobiography

sup sand dunes. running with the buffaloes is my rec

sand dunes do you have a pdf of marathon man? not on libgen

Best:

Twin Ambitions - Mo Farah

Running for My Life - Lopez Lomong

Running with Joy - Ryan Hall

The Competitive Runner's Handbook - Bob Glover

Somewhat good, but they smack of subtle racism and read like rambling memoirs:

Running with the Kenyans - Adharanand Finn

The Way of the Runner - Adharanand Finn

The way Adharanand Finn describes the Japanese is condescending, British-style. In the Kenyan books, he keeps rambling on and on about his previous misguided preconceptions of the Kenyans.

FlyingFast wrote:

The way Adharanand Finn describes the Japanese is condescending, British-style. In the Kenyan books, he keeps rambling on and on about his previous misguided preconceptions of the Kenyans.

I'd agree that there is perhaps a note of condescension to Finn's tone when describing the Japanese, but I do think it springs from a sincere, relatively well-founded place.

He was incredibly impressed with what he witnessed in Kenya - and rightly so. He's baffled by the fact that Japan's numerous hard-working, passionate runners are unable to achieve similar levels of success, and thus is highly attuned to all of their perceived errors and idiosyncrasies.

Basically, he thinks the Japanese should adopt an attitude and training philosophy that more closely mirrors the Kenyans'. And he's probably correct.

1. Once a Runner.

You will find haters on this board. They are the same people that give the one bad review on Rotten Tomatoes just so their review stands out. Screw them. It is the closest thing to a must-read for any serious - even if only in their own mind - runner in the world of fiction. The follow ups, Again to Carthage and Racing the Rain, aren't nearly as good, but still beat a kick in the pants.

2. Running with the Buffaloes

Non-fiction. Fantastic. If there is a better documentary, it hasn't been written yet. The only folks that don't like this one are the ones that don't like Whetmore and the Gouchers. You won't find much criticism of the book itself.

3. Born to Run

This one is more polarizing, because it led to the oft-criticized Minimalist Movement. While this is true, the actual story about Caballo Blanco, la Brujita Bonita, the Tarumara(?) Indians, et al in the odd(?) numbered chapters is hilarious and fascinating. The even(?) numbered chapters on the shoe industry are equally interesting; just don't go running with tires strapped to your feet. He has another, lesser known book called Natural Born Heroes, while not strictly a running book, is an incredible read set against the backdrop of WW2. Both non-fiction.

Honorable Mention: The Sports Gene (part documentary, part social-biological-psychological treatise). Not strictly about running, but about competition in general and the nature v nurture debate that usually follows.

This is the best short list you will find. Feel free to copy-paste this on other threads written by OPs opposed to using the Search function ;-)

-theJeff

Fiction (well, actually a non-fiction novel): Running (Jean Echenoz)

Training: Run Faster (Brad Hudson)

(Once a Runner is a juvenile, purple-prosed, masturbatory fantasy. Grow the fack up).

Book R3vi3w wrote:

I'd agree that there is perhaps a note of condescension to Finn's tone when describing the Japanese, but I do think it springs from a sincere, relatively well-founded place.

He was incredibly impressed with what he witnessed in Kenya - and rightly so. He's baffled by the fact that Japan's numerous hard-working, passionate runners are unable to achieve similar levels of success, and thus is highly attuned to all of their perceived errors and idiosyncrasies.

Basically, he thinks the Japanese should adopt an attitude and training philosophy that more closely mirrors the Kenyans'. And he's probably correct.

He is correct about that. The Japanese need to loosen up a little and run more naturally.

But Finn tends to focus on the negatives way more than on the positives. He barely mentions the fact that the Japanese are producing many more fast marathoners these days than the Americans and British are, and that Japanese high school kids can be shockingly fast. There are also weird sections about inferior private parts, short stature, and other things that are a bit amusing to read but definitely look prejudiced. It's still unfortunately common among British writers to write like this.

Thanks for everyone's insight.

Any fav's in terms of Scientific training approach?

Darren Vandit wrote:

The moment we stop learning is the moment we stop living, right?

Any favourite running books which one would recommend buying online & worth the knowledge?

Darren :)

Hi Darren,

Technically, when we die is when we stop living. Learning isn't part of that particular equation, as you can learn what it's like to die whilst dying. Try harder Darren.

The Silence of Great Distance a great read and very important if you teach or coach girls.

Darren Vandit wrote:

Thanks for everyone's insight.

Any fav's in terms of Scientific training approach?

Daniels Running Formula -- Daniels

Advanced Marathoning -- Pfitzinger/Douglas

Hanson's Marathon Method -- Humphrey

Healthy Intelligent Training and Healthy Intelligent Training: The Schedules -- Keith Livingstone (explains the Lydiard System)

A Cold Clear Day by Frank Murphy (biography of Buddy Edelen, beautifully written.)

Best Efforts (a collection of Kenny Moore's writing about various elite athletes and competitions.)

Better Training for Distance Runners (some of the science is outdated, but the training is very solid, especially for middle distance.)

Marathon Training: A Scientific Approach (Canova's only published writing about training. It's a quick read, but you'll need to go back to it a lot. There are no training plans, just principles.)

The Science of Winning by Jan Olbrecht (Swimming book, but very useful. Will change the way you think about lactate threshold training.)

The Olympian (Pretty good novel about the obsessiveness of an elite athlete. He happens to be a miler, but it's not quite as much of a pure running book as OAR. Better writing by far, though.)

Run Faster by Brad Hudson. (This is basically Canova for dummies. The big ideas are race pace training and adapting your plan based on how you're recovering and adapting. You could do a lot worse than making those two ideas the cornerstones of your training.)

One book that is worth reading if you can get your hands on it is "A Runners Tale" by Dick Callan.

Dick was a middle distance contemporary of Ovett, Coe and Moorcroft and a 13'27" 5K runner. He was never quite in their league so did not get to any of the major championships but did get to represent England at lesser meets. The book is a fascinating autobiography of a sub elite runner at a time when Britain dominated middle distance running.

On a personal note racing against Dick is one of the highlights of my running career. I managed to stay with him for the first two miles of a five mile road race back in 1984. Also in the race was John Offord, a 2:13 marathon guy. The fact that for those first two miles they were chatting to each other about training methods while I was running my guts out just adds to the occasion. They then sped up and I was quickly spat out the back, but at four miles I could still see them up ahead. Then the road turned right and they were gone and my illusion of racing shoulder to shoulder with international athletes faded.

Run for Your Life by Mark Cucuzzella, M.D. REALLY enjoying this one. It's an unusual running book that talks about all kinds of relevant things if we want to be healthy, lifelong runners, or we want to encourage our athletes to be healthy runners. Has some training schedules in it too, though I haven't even gotten to that part yet.

Pre by Tom Jordan is a short, but informative bio.

Once a Runner is a must read for aspiring runners and running geeks. Again to Carthage was a decent sequel written many years later.

If you want to get deep into the medical & scientific weeds, the Lore of Running is thorough.

If you want to read a fun, fast paced story that whose author presents a thinly supported opinion as science, Born to Run.

1) Marathon Man by Bill Rodgers (autobiography)

2) The Perfect Mile by Neal Bascomb (its about the 1st sub 4 minute mile; I've read it 5-6 times, amazing book)

3) Once a Runner

4) Running with the Buffaloes

I recently read a really good book about coaching HS cross country from out in Indiana, titled "Enduring Wisdom"

https://www.amazon.com/Enduring-Wisdom-Lessons-Indianas-Championship/dp/1545577005/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1542385744&sr=8-1&keywords=enduring+wisdom

Today We Die a Little -Richard Askwith

Duel in the Sun -John Brant

Let Your Mind Run -Deena Kastor

On the Wings of Mercury -Lorraine Moller