Book picks similar to
Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons by Bryon Powell
running
non-fiction
fitness
sports
Running with the Mind of Meditation: Lessons for Training Body and Mind
Sakyong Mipham - 2012
As a Tibetan lama and leader of Shambhala (an international community of 165 meditation centers), Sakyong Mipham has found physical activity to be essential for spiritual well-being. He's been trained in horsemanship and martial arts but has a special love for running. Here he incorporates his spiritual practice with running, presenting basic meditation instruction and fundamental principles he has developed. Even though both activities can be complicated, the lessons here are simple and designed to show how the melding of internal practice with physical movement can be used by anyone - regardless of age, spiritual background, or ability - to benefit body and soul.
A Race Like No Other: 26.2 Miles Through the Streets of New York
Liz Robbins - 2008
Acclaimed "New York Times" sportswriter Liz Robbins captures the enormity of the New York City Marathon through the prism of five representative athletes and the experiences that brought them to the starting line: one male and one female professional runner from overseas, both of whom have won this race previously; a recovering alcoholic and mother of three who was in jail last Marathon Sunday; a cancer survivor running for charity to follow a growing trend; and, a first-timer who wants to check a marathon off the list of life goals.Woven into the narrative will be supporting characters: fixtures like 65-year-old Tucker Andersen, who has run the five-borough race every year since 1976, and John Codiglia, police chief of the 10th precinct, who entertains runners with his bullhorn as he stands on Central Park South near the finish. Flashes of history will amplify the present and provide insight into the neighborhoods and the people who have made the race into the phenomenon it is today: the race's charismatic founder, Fred Lebow; Grete Waitz, the Norwegian-born runner who won it a record nine times; Vic Navarra, a retired firefighter who has directed the start in Staten Island for three decades and is dying of cancer; and, Mary Wittenberg, the chief executive of the New York Road Runners Association, who has vaulted the organisation to international prominence.
Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance
Alex Hutchinson - 2018
But over the past decade, a wave of dramatic findings in the cutting-edge science of endurance has completely overturned our understanding of human limitation. Endure widely disseminates these findings for the first time: It’s the brain that dictates how far we can go—which means we can always push ourselves further.Hutchinson presents an overview of science’s search for understanding human fatigue, from crude experiments with electricity and frogs’ legs to sophisticated brain imaging technology. Going beyond the traditional mechanical view of human limits (like a car with a brick on its gas pedal, we go until the tank runs out of gas), he instead argues that a key element in endurance is how the brain responds to distress signals—whether heat, or cold, or muscles screaming with lactic acid—and reveals that we can train to improve brain response.An elite distance runner himself, Hutchinson takes us to the forefront of the new sports psychology—brain electrode jolts, computer-based training, subliminal messaging—and presents startling new discoveries enhancing the performance of athletes today and shows how anyone can utilize these tactics to bolster their own performance—and get the most out of their bodies.
ChiRunning: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-Free Running
Danny Dreyer - 2004
This new edition is fully updated with fresh insights and innovative training techniques from one of the sport's leading voices. Danny Dreyer teaches us how to heal and prevent injuries and also to run faster, farther, and with much less effort at any age or ability.With more than 150,000 copies in print, this groundbreaking program makes running safe and fun for beginning and seasoned runners, while also giving competitive runners the edge they seek. ChiRunning employs the deep power reserves in the core muscles, an approach found in disciplines such as yoga, Pilates, and in this case T'ai Chi.
Make knee pain and shin splints a thing of the past
Experience the natural efficiency of the midfoot strike
Dramatically reduce your potential for injury
Transform your running with our new 10-step training program
ChiRunning provides powerful insight and transforms running from a high-injury sport to a body-friendly fitness phenomenon. Join the revolution!
80/20 Running: Run Stronger and Race Faster by Training Slower
Matt Fitzgerald - 2014
With a thorough examination of the science and research behind this training method, 80/20 Running is a hands-on guide for runners of all levels with training programs for 5k, 10k, half-marathon and marathon distances.In 80/20 Running you'll discover how to transform your workouts to avoid burnout.Runs will become more pleasant and less drainingYou'll carry less fatigue from one run to the nextYour performance will improve in the few high-intensity runsYour fitness levels will reach new heights
Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run
Kristin Armstrong - 2011
This collection considers the most important reasons women run, celebrating the inspiring passion runners have for their sport and illustrating how running fosters a vitally powerful community. With unique wit, refreshing candor, and disarming vulnerability, Armstrong shares her conviction that running is the perfect parallel for marking the milestones of life. From describing running a hardfought race with her tightly-knit group of sweat sisters, to watching her children participate in the sport for the very first time, Armstrong infuses her experiences with a perspective of hope that every moment is a chance to become a stronger, wiser, more peaceful woman. Running threads these touching stories together, and through each of them we are shown the universal undercurrents of inspiration, growth, grace, family, empowerment, and endurance.
Natural Born Heroes: How a Daring Band of Misfits Mastered the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance
Christopher McDougall - 2013
How did a penniless artist, a young shepherd, and a playboy poet believe they could carry out such a remarkable feat of strength and endurance, smuggling the general past thousands of Nazi pursuers, with little more than their own wits and courage to guide them? McDougall makes his way to the island to find the answer and retrace their steps, experiencing firsthand the extreme physical challenges the Resistance fighters and their local allies faced. On Crete, the birthplace of the classical Greek heroism that spawned the likes of Herakles and Odysseus, McDougall discovers the tools of the hero—natural movement, extraordinary endurance, and efficient nutrition. All of these skills, McDougall learns, are still practiced in far-flung pockets throughout the world today. More than a mystery of remarkable people and cunning schemes, Natural Born Heroes is a fascinating investigation into the lost art of the hero, taking us from the streets of London at midnight to the beaches of Brazil at dawn, from the mountains of Colorado to McDougall’s own backyard in Pennsylvania, all places where modern-day athletes are honing ancient skills so they’re ready for anything. Just as Born to Run inspired readers to get off the treadmill, out of their shoes, and into the natural world, Natural Born Heroes will inspire them to leave the gym and take their fitness routine to nature—to climb, swim, skip, throw, and jump their way to their own heroic feats.
Daniels' Running Formula
Jack Daniels - 1998
In the book that Runner's World magazine called "the best training book," premier running coach Jack Daniels provides you with his proven VDOT formula to guide you through training at exactly the right intensity to become a faster, stronger runner.Choose from the red, white, blue, and gold programs to get into shape, target a race program, or regain conditioning after a layoff or injury. Race competitively with programs for 800 meters, 1500 meters to 3000 meters, cross country races, 5K to 15K, and half-marathon up to the marathon. Each program incorporates the right mix of the five training intensities to help you build endurance, strength, and speed, and Daniels' intensity point system makes it easy to track the time you spend at each level.The formula can be customized to your current fitness level and the number of weeks you have available for training, and it provides the perfect solution for short training seasons. Get the results you're seeking every time you lace up your shoes for a training run or race with the workouts and programs detailed in Daniels' Running Formula.
A Life Without Limits: A World Champion's Journey
Chrissie Wellington - 2012
As a newcomer to the sport and a complete unknown to the press, Chrissie's win shook up the sport. A LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS is the story of her rise to the top, a journey that has taken her around the world, from a childhood in England, to the mountains of Nepal, to the oceans of New Zealand, and the trails of Argentina, and first across the finish line.Wellington's first-hand, inspiring story includes all the incredible challenges she has faced--from anorexia to near--drowning to training with a controversial coach. But to Wellington, the drama of the sports also presents an opportunity to use sports to improve people's lives.A LIFE WITHOUT LIMITS reveals the heart behind Wellington's success, along with the diet, training and motivational techniques that keep her going through one of the world's most grueling events.
Runner's World Big Book of Marathon and Half-Marathon Training: Winning Strategies, Inpiring Stories, and the Ultimate Training Tools
Jennifer Van Allen - 2012
They have spent the last few years inviting readers to share the long, sweaty journey to the starting line, putting themselves on call to personally answer readers’ questions 24/7. This book will include testimonials from real runners, more than 25 training plans for every level and ability, workouts, a runner’s dictionary, and sample meal plans. Runner’s World Big Book of Marathons (and Half Marathons) is a powerful and winning resource—the ultimate tool kit for anyone who wants to get from the starting line to the finish line.
Your Pace or Mine?: What Running Taught Me About Life, Laughter and Coming Last
Lisa Jackson - 2016
Lisa Jackson is a surprising cheerleader for the joys of running. Formerly a committed fitness-phobe, she became a marathon runner at 31, and ran her first 56-mile ultramarathon aged 41. And unlike many runners, Lisa's not afraid to finish last – in fact, she's done so in 20 of the 90-plus marathons she's completed so far. But this isn't just Lisa's story, it's also that of the extraordinary people she’s met along the way – tutu-clad fun-runners, octogenarians, 250-mile ultrarunners – whose tales of loss and laughter are sure to inspire you just as much as they've inspired her. This book is for anyone who longs to experience the sense of connection and achievement that running has to offer, whether you're a nervous novice or a seasoned marathoner dreaming of doing an ultra. An account of the triumph of tenacity over a lack of talent, Your Pace or Mine? is proof that running really isn't about the time you do, but the time you have!
The Principles of Running: Practical Lessons from My First 100,000 Miles
Amby Burfoot - 1999
and about life. From a key figure in the running world comes a unique little compendium of information and anecdotes about a life in motion. Champion marathoner Amby Burfoot has created a distinctive resource to help runners run better, faster, and farther. More than this, his succinct and sure-footed text will help runners rediscover and deepen their own joy in the sport. This is a celebration of running.Training, racing, nutrition, injury prevention, issues for women, weather, mental preparation, and the marathon are discussed in detail with plenty of solid information. Each chapter ends with a list of relevant principles of running. Interwoven among the facts and fundamentals are enlightening personal notes from a learned lifelong runner. The Principles of Running is much more than a simple manual. It is a book that you will not be able to put down, although you are not sure whether you are reading it for the running tips or the life lessons. It is a book that you will keep on your nightstand, tuck in your briefcase, and give to your friends. It is a book that is certain to help you hit your stride--whether your running shoes are off or on.
The Pants of Perspective: One Woman's 3,000 Kilometre Running Adventure through the Wilds of New Zealand
Anna McNuff - 2017
I didn’t run for times, to win, to impress: I ran for me. When I ran my bum cheeks rubbed together, so much so that if I was going on a long run I’d have to ‘lube up’. I maintained that I was not a ‘real’ runner – I just liked to run so that I could eat cake." Anna was never anything like those ‘real’ runners on telly – all spindly limbs, tiny shorts and split times – but when she read about New Zealand’s 3,000-kilometre-long Te Araroa Trail, she began to wonder… perhaps being a ‘real’ runner was overrated. Maybe she could just run it anyway? Travelling alone through New Zealand’s backcountry for 148 days, she scrambled through forests, along ridge-lines, over mountain passes, along beaches and across swollen rivers. Running up to 52 kilometres in a day, she slept wild most nights, and was taken into the homes and hearts of the kiwi people in between. The Pants of Perspective is a witty, colourful and at times painfully raw account of a journey to the edge of what a woman believes herself to be capable of. It is a coming-of-age story which will lead you on a roller coaster ride through fear, vulnerability, courage and failure. For anyone who has ever dreamt of taking on a great challenge, but felt too afraid to begin – this story is for you.
The Inner Runner: Running to a More Successful, Creative, and Confident You
Jason Karp - 2016
This book is not about how to get faster or run a marathon; rather, it explores how the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other helps you harness your creative powers. Learn about the psychological, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual benefits of running and introduce lifestyle changes based on the latest scientific research on running and its effects on hormones and the brain.As a nationally recognized running and fitness coach with a PhD in Exercise Physiology, Jason Karp brings his expertise in science-based coaching to runners of all levels. He believes that running gives you a chance to discover, challenge, and bring out the best in yourself by impacting your creativity, focus, imagination, confidence, and health. Let The Inner Runner help you become not only a better runner, but a more creative, productive, and imaginative person.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team.In addition to books on popular team sports, we also publish books for a wide variety of athletes and sports enthusiasts, including books on running, cycling, horseback riding, swimming, tennis, martial arts, golf, camping, hiking, aviation, boating, and so much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory
Deena Kastor - 2018
In Let Your Mind Run, the vaunted Olympic medalist and marathon and half-marathon record holder, will reveal how she incorporated the benefits of positive psychology into her already-dedicated running practice, setting her on a course to conquer women's distance running. Blending both narrative running insights and deep-dive brain science, this book will appeal to and motivate steadfast athletes, determined runners, and tough-as-nails coaches, and beyond. This memoir, written by perhaps the most famous American woman active in the competitive world of distance running, will appeal to the pragmatic athletic population, and jointly to fans of engaging sports narratives, inspirational memoirs, and uplifiting biographies.