Recommended Reads
(Click on the titles to order any of these books)

Running Within: A Guide To Mastering The Body-Mind Spirit Connection for Ultimate Training and Racing
by Jerry Lynch and Warren Scott
This book does an excellent job of dealing with the mental component of running. It is designed to enable the reader to take his or her running to the next level, not only by giving concrete tips to mentally help one race faster, but also by helping one enjoy his or her running more, by exploring running's spiritual side and understanding the reasons we do run. Before you by a another book on the proper training you should be doing, by this book. It could rejuvenate your running. Click here for a full LetsRun.com review.

Running Tough
by Michael Sandrock
      This book by Michael Sandrock chronicles the favorite, most effective training runs of the great runners. The runs are grouped by what type of run they are (i.e. long run, fartlek, interval session, hill workout). I must admit to having not finished the book, (but I'm putting it down because I recommend it enough to know it would make a good gift) but that is largely because this truly is a book you can pick up and just read a part of. Ever since I first got it, I've been picking it up and thumbing to a workout/runner that looks interesting and reading about the workout.
      If you are looking for a specific training regime, this book is not for you. This book is intended to show you the type of workouts the great runners have done in order that you may take ideas from them in designing your training regime. There are suggestions as to how the workouts can be modified for the everyday runner.
      And Sandrock does a good job of explaining that success in running will not come overnight, and largely is the result of consistent, smart training over time.

Once a Runner
by John Parker
       If you have not read this book, seriously stop what you are doing and but it now. It is the only cult running book on the market, and is the running book you should read if you're only going to read one in your life. (Look at the amazing # of 5 star reviews it gets at Amazon). This novel does a better job of capturing the essence of running than anything else out there. Just click on the link above and read the rave reviews at Amazon.

Running with the Buffaloes
by Chris Lear
       We can't believe we don't have a full review of this book up yet, but it's probably not necessary as this book is alerady becoming a classic. It chronicles the 1998 cross-country season of the University of Colorado Buffaloes that resulted in the national championship for Colorado runner Adam Goucher. Although Lear does a wonderful job of showing what it takes to succeed at a top notch cross-country program, this book is much more and can be enjoyed even by non-runners. For the reader becomes attached with the participants, and is there to share all of their emotions, the tremendous joys, disappointment, and pain.
      What John Feinstein's Season on a Brink was for college basketball Lear's book is for college cross-country. The book is truly one in a million as it went from being self-published to picked up by a major publishing house.

Running With the Legends
by Michael Sandrock
       This book like Sandrock's just published Running Tough makes for excellent coffee table reading. Each chapter of this book chronicles a famous runner starting with Emil Zatopek and ending with Noreddine Morceli.
      Each chapter provides a mini-biography of each great runner, so the reader learns not only basic information on them, but the things that helped make them so great. It does a wonderful job of showing the defining characteristics of these great athletes most of us had only seen mentioned in a record book. Although, the book presents the basics of each runner's training regimes, if you are looking for specific training advice to improve your running this book is not for you.

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