101 Simple Ways to be a Better Runner


Jason Fitzgerald - 2012
    This isn't just another running book.101 Simple Ways to be a Better Runner boils down the best training advice from the worlds of coaching and science to give you actionable strategies to become stronger, faster, and more resilient.It's divided into five main sections:- Workouts, Races, and Performance (like why you need randomness and heavy weights)- Running Gear (what's essential - and what's crap)- The Runner's Diet (small tweaks you can make today to get more from your food)- Recovery and Injury Prevention (how fast could you be if you rarely or never got hurt?)- Motivation and Random Training Tips (how most runners run longer in their races - and more)And that's just a glimpse of all 100+ lessons you'll learn (in less than 2 minutes each).Written by Jason Fitzgreald, a 2:39 marathoner and the creator of StrengthRunning.com, 101 Simple Ways to be a Better Runner is a practical, actionable guide to helping you reach your running goals. If you want to run a fast 5k, finish your first marathon, or just lose weight and stay in shape - this book is for you.You don't need the most expensive running gear or better genetics. You need simple training tweaks that give you "small wins" to keep you motivated.That's exactly what this book delivers.

Runner’s World Race Everything: How to Conquer Any Race at Any Distance in Any Environment and Have Fun Doing It


Bart Yasso - 2017
    Whatever race you choose, there is no one better to guide you on your journey than Bart Yasso, chief running officer at Runner’s World magazine. Over the past 40 years, Yasso has run more than 1,000 races, across all seven continents, at every conceivable distance, from local 5Ks to grueling ultramarathons and Ironman triathlons. He’s truly done it all, and in Race Everything, he shares the secrets of how he trained, the particularities of each course, and the specific insights he has gleaned to help you run your best no matter the distance.This book offers tried-and-true advice on how to train and what to do on race day to make the best use of your training. It provides everything you need to know to succeed at the most popular race distances, including general training principles, targeted training plans for beginners and experienced runners alike, and insider tips based on Yasso’s own experiences and those of other top runners he has known and run with. The goal is to inform and inspire runners eager to challenge themselves by tackling the world’s signature races. You will also learn Yasso’s methods for winning the greatest race of all, longevity, so that you can remain healthy, fit, and able to race for decades to come.Whether your goal is to complete a 5K or 10K race in your hometown or conquer the Antarctica Marathon, Runner's World Race Everything will be your guide.

Running on Empty: An Ultramarathoner's Story of Love, Loss, and a Record-Setting Run Across America


Marshall Ulrich - 2011
    The ultimate endurance athlete, Marshall Ulrich has run more than one hundred foot races averaging over one hundred miles each, completed twelve expedition-length adventure races, and ascended the seven summits-- including Mount Everest. Yet his run from California to New York--the equivalent of running two marathons and a 10k every day for nearly two months straight--proved to be his most challenging effort yet. In "Running on Empty "he shares the gritty backstory of his run and the excruciating punishments he endured on the road. Ulrich also reaches back nearly thirty years to when the death of his first wife drove him to run from his pain. Ulrich's memoir imbues an incredible read with a universal message for athletes and nonathletes alike: face the toughest challenges, overcome debilitating setbacks, and find deep fulfillment in something greater than achievement.

Don't Stop Me Now: 26.2 Tales of a Runner’s Obsession


Vassos Alexander - 2016
    Part escape, part self-discovery, part therapy, part fitness. Part simple childlike joy of running when you could be walking.Vassos Alexander shares the highs and lows of falling in love with running, from his first paltry efforts to reach the end of his street to completing ultra marathons and triathlons in the same weekend. Each of the 26.2 chapters also features a fascinating insight into how others first started – from Paula Radcliffe to Steve Cram, the Brownlees to Jenson Button, Nicky Campbell to Nell McAndrew. Also includes a foreword by Chris Evans.Funny, inspiring, honest - the perfect read for anyone with well-worn trainers by the door (or thinking of buying a pair...)

Fast 5K: 25 Crucial Keys and 4 Training Plans


Pete Magill - 2019
    In his fast-paced, ultimate guide to 5K running races, celebrated running coach Pete Magill reveals the 25 crucial keys to setting your next 5K PR. Magill shares hard-earned lessons he gained while leading 19 teams to USA national championships and setting multiple American and world age-group and masters records. Fast 5K shares Magill’s essential keys to finding your fastest running fitness and race readiness. The 25 keys include optimal training mileage, effective tempo runs, VO2 max workouts, hill repeats, plyometrics that work, ways to prevent injuries, recovery tips, guides to diet and racing weight, choosing racing flats, and much more. Offering three 12-week and one 16-week 5K training plans, Fast 5K is the key to your best 5K running times. Pete Magill is a world-class 5K runner, personally holds multiple American and world age-group records in track & field and road racing and is a 5-time USA Masters Cross Country Runner of the Year. Now in this distilled guide, you can get world-class advice on how to run your fastest 5K ever.

Runner: The Memoir of an Accidental Ultra-Marathon Champion


Lizzy Hawker - 2015
    She is the first woman to finish on the overall podium of the Spartathlon, one of the world toughest footraces, and has won the legendary The North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc five times in its ten-year history, the only person, man or woman, to achieve this.Lizzy came to the sport almost by accident - she had run a marathon or two, but tried her first ultra, a 40 mile track race, when invited to stay with friends in Wales. One month later she was representing England. Within eighteen months she was the women's world champion for 100km. Not bad for someone who started life in Upminster, had no coach, no gym, and was finishing her PhD.Runner is the story of her journey and will get inside the head of the physical, mental and emotional challenges that runners go through at the edge of human endurance, in much the same way as Aurum's classic running story Feet in the Clouds by Richard Askwith did nearly ten years ago. Her story, as a self-taught champion, will be an inspiration for anyone who has dreamt of lacing up a pair of trainers and wondering how far they could run.

The Long Run: One Man's Attempt to Regain His Athletic Career-And His Life-by Running the New York City Marathon


Matt Long - 2010
    The injuries he sustained pushed him within inches of his life. Miraculously, more than 40 operations and months later, Matt was able to start his recovery. In spite of the severity of his injuries, Matt found the psychological consequences of the accident nearly as hard to process. He would no longer be able to compete at the highest level.In the 18 months before the accident, he had competed in more than 20 events including several triathlons and marathons and had qualified for running's most prestigious race, the Boston Marathon. After the accident, his doctor told him he'd be lucky if he could even walk without a cane.The Long Run is an emotional and incredibly honest story about Matt's determination to fight through fear, despair, loneliness, and intense physical and psychological pain to regain the life he once had. The book chronicles Matt's road to recovery as he teaches himself to walk again and, a mere three years later, to run in the 2008 New York City Marathon--a gimpy seven-and-a-half hour journey through the five boroughs. "Running saved my life," Matt says, and his embrace of the running community and insistence on competing in the marathon has inspired many, turning him into a symbol of hope and recovery for untold numbers of others.

Run! 26.2 Stories of Blisters and Bliss


Dean Karnazes - 2011
    Karnazes runs for days on end without rest, across some of the most exotic and inhospitable places on earth, including the Australian outback, Antarctica, and the Tenderloin District of San Francisco. From the downright hilarious to the truly profound, the linked stories in Run! create an unforgettable tableau, providing readers with the ultimate escape and offering a rare glimpse into the mind-set and motivation of an extreme athlete. Karnazes addresses the pain and perseverance and also charts his emotional state as he pushes the edges of human achievement. The tales of the friendships he’s cultivated on his many adventures around the world warm the heart and are sure to captivate and inspire readers whether they run great distances, modest distances, or not at all.

Footnotes: How Running Makes Us Human


Vybarr Cregan-Reid - 2016
    It reconnects us to our bodies and the places in which we live, breaking down our increasingly structured and demanding lives. It allows us to feel the world beneath our feet, lifts the spirit, allows our minds out to play and helps us to slip away from the demands of the modern world. When Vybarr Cregan-Reid set out to discover why running meant so much to so many, he began a journey which would take him out to tread London’s cobbled streets, climbing to sites that have seen a millennium of hangings, and down the crumbling alleyways of Ruskin's Venice. Footnotes transports you to the cliff tops of Hardy's Dorset, the deserted shorelines of Seattle, the giant redwood forests of California, and to the world’s most advanced running laboratories and research centres, using debates in literature, philosophy and biology to explore that simple human desire to run. Liberating and inspiring, this book reminds us why feeling the earth beneath our feet is a necessary and healing part of our lives.

Paula: My Story So Far


Paula Radcliffe - 2004
    She was the underdog for so long -- narrowly missing out on medals in the 1999 World Championships and the 2000 Sydney Olympics -- that fans longed to see her win. Paula's rosy manner hides a tough resolve to succeed and in 2002 her luck began to turn. She won gold medals at both the Commonwealth and European championships and started to grab the headlines, bringing Britain's focus back to athletics. Paula's bravery is not limited to the track, however. She has become a passionate spokesperson against drug cheats and, inspired by her own battle with the condition, she is widely admired for her patronage of asthma charities. And even though Athens in 2004 proved to be more Greek tragedy than triumph, her popularity remains undimmed. Her remarkable life story of highs and lows is fully chronicled in this fascinating and inspiring autobiography.

Running Away: A Memoir


Robert Andrew Powell - 2014
    Long distance runners understand where those tears come from, even if there are others who will never understand what drives someone to run 26.2 consecutive miles in a grueling mental and physical test. Powell’s emotional reaction to completing the race wasn’t just about the run, though. It was also about the joy and relief of coming back up after hitting rock bottom. Running Away is the story of how one decision can alter the course of a life. Knocked down by a painful divorce and inspired by his father, Powell decided to change his mindset and circumstances. He moved to Boulder and began running in earnest for the first time in his life. Over the 26.2 chapters that follow, Powell grapples with his past relationships, gaining insight and hard-won discipline that give him hope for the future.

Daughters of Distance


Vanessa Runs - 2015
    From the intimacy of the bedroom to the community of competition, some of these stories will encourage and uplift. Others will surprise and infuriate. Welcome to the beautiful and complicated world of strong women.

Running Until You're 100


Jeff Galloway - 2006
    The Most Respected Name in Running- Author of the best-selling running book in North America- Runner's World columnist- Inspirational speaker to over 200 running and fitness sessions each year- Has completed far more than 100 marathons

Strides: Running Through History with an Unlikely Athlete


Benjamin Cheever - 2007
    In Strides, heralded author Benjamin Cheever explores the role of running in human history while interspersing this account with revelations of his own decades-long devotion to the sport. Cheever has traveled the world writing features for Runner's World magazine, and he draws from this rich experience on every page. His adventures have taken him to Kenya in search of the secrets of the world's fastest long-distance runners and to a 10-K race with American soldeirs in Baghdad. Cheever celebrates the quotidian personal satisfaction of a morning run and the more exotic pleasures of the Medoc Marathon in Bordeaux, where fine wines are served at water stations and the first prize is the winner's weight in grand crus. He shares vivid moments from the New York Marathon and waxes rhapsodic about the granddaddy of American distance events--the Boston Marathon. But what truly distignuishes Strides as a memorable read is the unique lens through which this sparkling writer explores our deep bond to running, an experience he likens to that of being able to fly.

Kings of the Road: How Frank Shorter, Bill Rodgers, and Alberto Salazar Made Running Go Boom


Cameron Stracher - 2013
    Jimmy Carter was President; gas prices were soaring; and Americans were hunkering down to weather the economic crisis. But in bookstores Jim Fixx’s The Complete Book of Running was a bestseller. Frank Shorter’s gold medal in the 1972 Olympic marathon had put distance running in the mind of a public enamored of baseball and football. Suddenly, the odd activity of "jogging" became "running," and America was in love. That summer, a junior from the University of Oregon named Alberto Salazar went head to head with Olympic champion Frank Shorter and Boston Marathon champion Bill Rodgers at the Falmouth Road Race, losing in the last mile to Rodgers's record-setting 32:21, nearly dying in the process, and setting the stage for a great rivalry. In Shorter, Rodgers, and Salazar, running had its conflict and drama like boxing had Ali and Foreman, like basketball had Russell and Chamberlain. Each man built on what the other achieved, and each pushed the other to succeed. Their successes, in turn, fueled a nation of coach potatoes to put down the remote and lace up their sneakers.Kings of the Road tells the story of running during that golden period from 1972 to 1981 when Shorter, Rodgers, and Salazar captured the imagination of the American public as they passed their figurative baton from one to the other. These three men were American running during those years, while the sport enjoyed a popularity never equaled. As America now experiences a similar running boom, Kings of the Road is a stirring, inspiring narrative of three men pushing themselves toward greatness and taking their country along for the ride.