Book picks similar to
Crashing the Net: The U.S. Women's Olympic Ice Hockey Team and the Road to Gold by Mary Turco
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IronFit Secrets for Half Iron-Distance Triathlon Success: Time-Efficient Training for Triathlon's Most Popular Distance
Don Fink - 2013
Full Iron-Distance races require such painstaking planning and sacrifice that it’s difficult to keep life in balance. The Half Iron-Distance is accessible, while remaining challenging. Also known as the “70.3” for the sum of its 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run, the half-iron triathlon is not simply a race for which an athlete can use a full-iron training regimen chopped in half. Doing so would in no way approach maximizing an athlete’s performance. The races are performed at completely different intensity levels, with completely different approaches. As a result, the training is completely different. IronFit Secrets to Half Iron-Distance Triathlon Success does for the half-iron what Be IronFit has done for the full-iron. It provides three sixteen-week training programs—Competitive, Intermediate, and “Just Finish”—and details everything an athlete needs to know to successfully prepare for and maximize performance at this racing distance. In as little as four months, any athlete can be physically and mentally ready for the world’s most popular triathlon challenge.
Run: Beyond The 5K - The Complete Training Guide To Running the 10K, Half Marathon, and Marathon Race
Michael Thomas - 2013
You've had thoughts of running another 5K, but faster. You've probably thought about training for a 10K race in your hometown to see if you could run the full 6.2 miles.
The thought may have even crossed your mind about someday running a Half-Marathon as a stretch goal. 13.1 miles is a long way to run, but you're pretty sure if you work hard enough, it can be accomplished.
It's even possible that you have come to love running so much that you've thought about going all the way: running a full Marathon...26.2 miles!
No matter which of these statements is true, one thing is for certain: You are a runner, and you are ready to take the next steps: Beyond The 5K!
Everything you need to start distance running is included in this book!
Topics Covered Include:
Proper Nutrition
Stretching Warm-Ups and Cool Down
Common Running Injuries
Fartleks (Speed Running)
Core Strength
Cross Training
Target Heart Rate Training
Full training plans for 10K, Half, and Marathon Races!!
Personal Note From The Author:
This book blends years of personal experience gained from my successes and failures. I show you my unique approach to running that took me from a complete couch potato to running multiple marathons. I understand the challenges and frustrations of transitioning from being a beginning runner because I went through it personally. I lost over 60 pounds, and I am in the best shape of my life due to the techniques used in this book.
This is why I've put together this step-by-step guide to learning distance running. I'm confident that the techniques I used to turn myself from an out of shape non-runner into a healthy, fit, and efficient runner will work for you as well!
In an effort to provide my readers exceptional value, I also promise a response to all reader emails. All running related questions will be answered with a quick personal reply!
I thoroughly hope you enjoy this book.
Happy Running!
~Michael
Heart of Iron: My Journey from Transplant Patient to Ironman Triathlete
Kyle Garlett - 2011
Not just about his health crisis but also about forging a remarkable life around cancer and his career as a sportwriter, the amazing friends and family who supported him, and finding love. After five and half years on the organ transplant waiting list then being gifted with a new heart, Kyle embarks on a challenge of his own making: to compete in the Ironman Triathlon, in which he competed not once but twice. His miraculous recovery and athleticism are recounted, along with the story of how he became an Olympic torch bearer, a devoted Lymphoma & Leukemia Society spokesperson, a motivational speaker, and an author. Heart of Iron is an invaluable companion for those affected by cancer and a breathtaking memoir about one man’s unstoppable spirit and success against all odds.
Gary Speed: Unspoken: The Family's Untold Story
John Richardson - 2018
Aged just 42, he was found hanged in the garage of his home. As a long-standing legend of the game and manager of Wales, he appeared to have everything to live for. Now, as he would have approached his 50th birthday, family and friends come together to speak honestly and emotionally about the man they knew and loved. Wife Louise opens her heart for the first time and talks in depth about her life with Gary and her own personal journey since his death. Mum Carol and dad Roger recall their beloved son. And a multitude of famous names from the game remember their friend and speak emotionally about how the tragedy has touched their own lives. Author John Richardson was a close friend of the man he knew as ‘Speedo’ and was entrusted to write his autobiography. Gary completed two chapters of his life story before putting the project on hold because he thought he had not achieved enough in the game to merit a book. For the first time, these revealing chapters are published in the original form they were written, with insights from Richardson on the personal story that would remain so sadly untold. Gary Speed: Unspoken is a unique celebration of one of the football heroes of our generation. A tribute to a role model, leader and a much-loved husband, father and son gone too soon.
Messi vs. Ronaldo: The Greatest Rivalry
Luca Caioli - 2015
In doing so, they sparked a rivalry like no other; Messi vs Ronaldo.The seasons that have followed have been truly spectacular, the battle for supremacy increasing in profile and intensity all the while. Their styles, personalities and footballing allegiances continue to divide opinion, but their dominance of the record books has now put one claim beyond debate - this is football's greatest ever head-to-head.Acclaimed football writer Luca Caioli draws on invaluable testimonies from those closest to the two stars, with exclusive insights from friends, families, teammates and managers, to tell the inside story of this fascinating rivalry.
Did Not Finish: Misadventures in Running, Cycling and Swimming
George Mahood - 2021
Now settled into life in Devon with their three children, they try to encourage a more active family lifestyle with camping holidays, family bike rides, hill-walking and canoe trips. But things rarely go smoothly.Meanwhile, George continues to set himself ridiculous challenges. Having been a complete novice swimmer only a year earlier, he decides to confront his incompetence head-on.By signing up for a 10km swim.How hard can it be?Anyone reading George’s books hoping for useful training tips for their own adventures and challenges might be disappointed. His training methods and pre-race preparations are unconventional and perhaps not recommended, but there might be some nuggets of unintentional wisdom amongst the chaos.Did Not Finish is a series of books about George and his family’s adventures in running, cycling and swimming. From ultramarathons to triathlons, 10k swims to European cycling adventures, George promises fun and laughter every step, pedal, and paddle of the way.
Hail to the Redskins: Gibbs, the Diesel, the Hogs, and the Glory Days of D.C.'s Football Dynasty
Adam Lazarus - 2015
From 1981 to 1992, Gibbs coached the franchise to three Super Bowl victories, making the team the toast of the nation’s capital, from the political elite to the inner city, and helping to define one of the sport’s legendary eras.Veteran sportswriter Adam Lazarus masterfully charts the Washington Football Team's rise from mediocrity (the franchise had never won a Super Bowl and Gibbs’s first year as head coach started with a five-game losing streak that almost cost him his job) to its stretch of four championship games in ten years. What makes their sustained success all the more remarkable, in retrospect, is that unlike the storied championship wins of Joe Montana’s 49ers and Tom Brady’s Patriots, the Washington Football Team's Super Bowl victories each featured a different starting quarterback: Joe Theismann in 1983, the franchise’s surprising first championship run; Doug Williams in 1988, a win full of meaning for a majority African American city during a tumultuous era; and Mark Rypien in 1992, capping one of the greatest seasons of all time, one that stands as Gibbs’s masterpiece.Hail to the Redskins features an epic roster of saints and sinners: hard-drinking fullback John Riggins; the dominant, blue-collar offensive linemen known as “the Hogs,” who became a cultural phenomenon; quarterbacks Williams, the first African American QB to win a Super Bowl, and Theisman, a model-handsome pitchman whose leg was brutally broken by Lawrence Taylor on Monday Night Football; gregarious defensive end Dexter Manley, who would be banned from the league for cocaine abuse; and others including the legendary speedster Darrell Green, record-breaking receiver Art Monk, rags-to-riches QB Rypien, expert general managers and talent evaluators Bobby Beathard and Charley Casserly, aristocratic owner Jack Kent Cooke, and, of course, Gibbs himself, a devout Christian who was also a ruthless competitor and one of the sport’s most adaptable and creative coaching minds.
Mane Attraction
Kay Stewart - 2019
What Emma discovers is that she hates surprises. When her life is turned upside down and she is suddenly seeing people in a new light, she decides to embrace this opportunity to take a walk on the wild side.Declan loves playing hockey for a living. Who wouldn't? Life as the captain of the professional hockey team, the Milwaukee Manes, is very organized and he likes knowing his main concern is putting the puck in the net. That is until his best friend's sister decides to shake up his life with rules of her own. Before he even knows what is happening, he has completely fallen under Emma's spell.Everything was good... right up until it wasn't. When Declan's best friend finds out about his relationship with Emma, and a ghost from Emma's past resurfaces, the trust they had built with one another shatters around them. Trust has a way of bringing people together just as it has a way of ripping them apart. Will Milwaukee's favorite hockey player find his way back to the one woman who has ever meant more to him than a rubber puck?
Steroid Nation: Juiced Home Run Totals, Anti-aging Miracles, and a Hercules in Every High School: The Secret History of America's True Drug Addiction
Shaun Assael - 2007
Chronicling steroid use far beyond the headlines, it begins with the bodybuilders of Venice Beach in the 1970s and continues through to the NFL’s Raiders of the ’80s and ’90s and the baseball scandals of today. Assael also reveals the dramatic story of the godfather of the steroid movement: Dan Duchaine, who wrote The Original Underground Steroid Handbook in 1981.Part detective story, part medical investigation, and part sociological examination, Steroid Nation is a groundbreaking work on the most compelling story in the sports world today.
Gordie: A Hockey Legend: An Unauthorized Biography of Gordie Howe
Roy MacSkimming - 1994
Signed by the Detroit Red Wings at 16, Gordie became a six-time leading scorer, a six-time Hart Trophy winner as the most valuable player, and he surpassed Rocket Richard's NHL goals record to reach an amazing total of 801--unmatched for years until Gretzky finally caught up to his mentor and idol. Gordie also includes a new introduction.
We Want Fish Sticks: The Bizarre and Infamous Rebranding of the New York Islanders
Nicholas Hirshon - 2018
Hoping for a new start, the Islanders swapped out their distinctive logo, which featured the letters NY and a map of Long Island, for a cartoon fisherman wearing a rain slicker and gripping a hockey stick. The new logo immediately drew comparisons to the mascot for Gorton’s frozen seafood, and opposing fans taunted the team with chants of “We want fish sticks!” During a rebranding process that lasted three torturous seasons, the Islanders unveiled a new mascot, new uniforms, new players, a new coach, and a new owner that were supposed to signal a return to championship glory. Instead, the team and its fans endured a twenty-eight-month span more humiliating than what most franchises witness over twenty-eight years. The Islanders thought they had traded for a star player to inaugurate the fisherman era, but he initially refused to report and sulked until the general manager banished him. Fans beat up the new mascot in the stands. The new coach shoved and spit at players. The Islanders were sold to a supposed billionaire who promised to buy elite players; he turned out to be a con artist and was sent to prison. We Want Fish Sticks examines this era through period sources and interviews with the people who lived it.
NFL Unplugged: The Brutal, Brilliant World of Professional Football
Anthony L. Gargano - 2010
NFL Unplugged lets you see that world through the eyes of the pros who live and sweat in it. Here are the places the cameras don't go: the locker room where coaches' speeches can deflate or motivate, the huddle where fart jokes vie with playcalling, the training camp where locusts and heat conspire to break the strongest bodies and shake the most determined minds. Now you can experience it all up close and unplugged.Draws on firsthand accounts of more than thirty players and coaches from teams across the NFL, including Mark Schlereth, Bill Romanowski, Kevin Long, Kyle Turley, John Gruden, Hugh Douglas, Jon Runyan, and Michael StrahanAn unvarnished look at everything from training camp and broken dreams, conditioning and injuries, and camaraderie and hazing to the quest to gain a competitive edge and the exhilarating triumphs of the gameWritten by one of the top figures in sports radio, Anthony Gargano of Philadelphia's 610-WIPFrom the injuries that never heal and the money that never lasts to the memories and the glory that never fade, NFL Unplugged shows the unbridled brutality and sheer brilliance of the game.
The Truth Hurts
Wayne Carey - 2009
Once hailed as The King, and widely acclaimed as one of the greatest footballers of his generation, Carey fell from the highest pinnacle of the game to the lowest of lows. From his brutal upbringing in Wagga Wagga to his early teen years where he discovered his love of, and talent for, football, Wayne's candid story of his early life reveals much about the man who has dominated headlines for more than a decade – first for his brilliance on the field, but more often for his troubled personal life.Covering the highs of his glory days at North Melbourne to his public downfall after his affair with his vice-captain's wife, Carey's memoir is extraordinarily honest. It is self-searching and searing in its examination of his own behaviour and its effects on those around him. His departure from North Melbourne marked the end of King Carey, and the beginning of a decline that was to see him bailed up in jail in both the US and Australia. His life became a train wreck, as he lurched from one disastrous incident to the next – from his serial infidelity to massive alcohol binges and a growing cocaine addiction – each played out on the front page of every newspaper in the country. This is the story of how a man can reach rock bottom, but begin to haul himself up again.The truth sets you free – but it can hurt. This is without doubt the most powerful sporting memoir ever published in Australia.
He Said, She Said: The Spokane River Killer
Jon Keehner - 2017
The murders were similar enough that police considered them the result of one person and believed them to be the work of a serial killer. But as quickly as the murders began, the killings seemed to end. Detectives suspected the Spokane River Killer was either dead, incarcerated or had moved out of the area. Six years later, the bodies of murdered women once again began turning up all around the Spokane area. In 1999, Robert Lee Yates was arrested and police hoped they had finally found their killer. In 2000, he plead guilty to killing 11 women from the Spokane area between 1996 and 1998. During the investigation however, Yates was ruled out as a suspect in the 1990 slayings. DNA recovered from underneath the fingernails of the third victim was eventually identified as being from a man. But no match could be found. Their man was still on the loose. In 2009, DNA from a federal inmate was matched to the DNA recovered from underneath the fingernails of the third victim. The inmates fingerprint was also matched to a print recovered from a bottle of vaginal lubricant found in a dumpster along with the second victim’s discarded belongings. Police finally believed they had their man. But did they? The DNA match belonged to a female inmate.
Hey Doc!: The Battle of Okinawa As Remembered by a Marine Corpsman
Ed Wells - 2017
This is the wartime memories of a Marine Corpsman who served in Company B, of the 6th Battalion of the 4th Regiment. He saw 100 days of continuous combat during the Battle of Okinawa, including the Battle for Sugar Loaf, and was part of the landing force that was headed to Japan when the atomic bomb dropped. These were recorded after 60 years of reflection, and are presented to honor all veterans.