Athletics Books

This book provides great insight to a variety of training methods and should be a must for any coach, at any level. There is a level of specificity and clarity to each of the different chapters, and I am particularly caught with the ease of reading even the most technical terms. One could argue that the sprinter training developed is much more specific than the distance running, but the effort, energy and research put into this book's development is solid.

Great book for beginning coaches. Supplement it with a book that includes more info on drills and training routines.

The book arrived in PERFECT new condition. One of the best coaching resourses available in print. Highly recomend to coaches experienced and novice.

Wonderful purchase. This is an informative text with information for beginners as well as veterans of track and field.

This is a great Track and Field Coaching Manual. It covers everything Track and Field. This is a manual that every coach should start with. It has very good relay techniques and philosophy as well. I wish that the book cover information on how to best help an athlete recover after races to get ready for additional races that day, or a race on the following day.

Percy Cerutty was certainly an energetic and entertaining character who took his own near death experiences into an extraordinary fitness life style transferring into a fitness coach, a highly competent masters runner and a successful yet erratic coach. He strikes me as being as Australian version of the late great Yankee coach Casey Stengel who although a competent coach, was also a great entertainer and showman made famous for his wise cracks. Cerutty was as famous for some of as his antics and his often conflicting abrasive style as well as his unique coaching that encompassed capturing an animalistic form of competitive spirit, efficiency of running form and off track running. Sims captures Cerutty with his unique lifestyle set up by his long-term illnesses that almost killed him until he underwent a dietary change and exercise. Once a promising miler, Sims describes Cerutty as an unusually successful over 40s runner who competently ran marathons into his early 50s and remained a physical specimen all his life. The exciting part of the book is Cerutty's coaching of the Australian greats Landy, Macmillan and Les Perry. Of course, the career high point is his protégée Herb Elliot going undefeated in the mile/1500 through the fantastic 1960 Olympic dominating 1500 victory. The fascinating part of the book is Cerutty's personality that could be overly forthright and abrasive such as explaining to Roger Bannister why his form was inefficient and then conducting a demonstration. His low point is bad mouthing Landy after Landy ran one of the fastest miles in the world with a break through run, assuming that Landy was soaking up the glory on his own to reporters, causing a severance that never completely healed. Another unusual moment was accepting a so called expert's theory on the importance of warming up in double sweats that was tried right before an Olympic final probably costing Macmillan a medal. The training is not quite as detailed as one would like but Sims captures the overall program that consisted of weight workouts, dune running to endure beyond the lactate threshold, off track training allowing more physical freedom and living the life of a "stotan". His training compound on the Portsea was Spartan like in its unique seaside location but appears to have been a great get away from standardized training or intervals three times a week that was a 1950's rage promoted by a coaching rival. Often rejected by the Australian Olympic committee, Cerutty was a unique and hard character that emerged with Elliott as his great success. Quite a unique story and person captured well by Sims along with some great detail on the Olympics of that period. As a distance runner, Cerutty makes you appreciate the opportunity to get to a park and enjoy an off road run.

Cerutty was definitely an extraordinary character, but "maker of champions" or any other such label is very generous. Specifically, his antics drove Landy away, which led to Landy actually developing his own training and Cerutty then taking the credit for making the world's fastest man. In other words, he was kinda sleazy.

To know Percy Cerutty was to be castigated, scorned and sometimes to question your very existence. Cerutty's goading of athletes would hardly have survived this litigious age. Yet as a runner at his Portsea International Athletics Centre in the sixties, I was drawn to the sheer force of his personality, his originality in research and running, his discourses and attitudes in philosophy, the extraordinary way he almost floated over the ground as he ran, and his lectures at "the circus", the small sandy circle where he held his audience in awe. Cerutty had a simple test of "manliness" and propensity to succeed - if you could survive Portsea and his outbursts, then you could survive most things. Many didn't, but others went on to become world champions in running, cycling, and other sports, and I was privileged to meet some of them. Cerutty coined the term "stotans" deriving it from the greek ancients of "Stoics" and "Spartans."

Graem Sims has researched Percy Cerutty's life very thoroughly and written a long overdue book; a task I had once contemplated myself. In keeping with current storytelling fashions, he starts at the end (of Percy's life), but then traces his entire history. Cerutty really lived two lives; one up to the age of 44 when his health had been devastated by smoking, physical inactivity and early pneumonia and poor diet, and he was given less than two years to live, and the second beginning with his recognition of his need to survive, and embracement of new rules for living, eating and working. To this he added his prolific background of reading in all subjects from theology to science, and his extra-ordinary capacity to experiment and research movement and fitness from first principles. Graem's book provided fascinating insights into aspects of Percy's life that I had not known. While he includes numerous stories of Cerutty's famed biting comments and cantankerous nature, he does not dwell on them in a sensationalist way; rather he explores the whole rich canvas of Cerutty's life and its directions. Many of Cerutty's antics, for example, were deliberate attempts at publicity to attract people and an income to his athletics centre; the sheer diversity of his ambitions and his complex character however often become self-destructive. There are character and biographical sketches of many people who were connected or disconnected with Cerutty, at a time when Australian middle distance runners held world stage, and reproductions of numerous photos including the earliest shacks at Portsea, many from a cache of suitcases unopened for a quarter-century. Cerutty was a model of independent and unbiased research - Graem's biography includes the development of Cerutty's ideas on movement from studying the motion of horses for hours; methodologies which had more in common with the great scientists of the renaissance than the deductive processes in modern laboratories.

This book is not just for Cerutty aficionados and athletes; as a personality, philosopher and scientist, he makes a fascinating subject for anyone interested in the subject of what makes us tick, physically, mentally and emotionally. Much of what he said and did half a century ago is highly relevant to the current era of cloning, bio-ethics and the passion for computerised simulations which take the place of real life. Graem has provided a well-balanced biography of a man who had us eating raw foods and oatmeal decades before the term muesli was heard in Australia, moving heavy weights twenty years before gyms and fitness regimes were embraced by more than dedicated athletes, and a holistic approach to life and ethics that preceded the rise of eastern philosophies into western thinking. A book that I couldn't put down, and highly recommended

This fascinating biography of the legendary Australian track coach Percy Cerutty, based on his cache of personal writings and interviews with his inner circle, portrays a visionary thinker whose fusion of philosophical, biomechanical, naturalistic, nutritional and motivational theories into a "Stotan" approach to athletics and living remains as compelling today as it was during the peak of his popularity in the 1950s and 1960s.

While Cerutty's coaching relationships with milers John Landy and Herb Elliot have been examined in a number of other works, this book sheds new light on the turbulent childhood, adolescent and early adult years that forged his volatile temperament and laid the groundwork for his theories. What emerges is a picture of complex man with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and curiosity for his environment, which led to a number of groundbreaking theories that won admiration from many. To its credit, the book's even-handed dissection of Cerutty's character gives equal shrift to his manic-depressive tendencies, self-destructive behavior, and the inflammatory outbursts that soured many friendships and spawned a large contingent of detractors. Graem Sims also captures the tension between Cerutty's strong drive to profit from his theories and his refusal to affiliate himself with individuals or projects that offended his Stotan principles.

The book probably won't silence those who view Cerutty as a charlatan who just happened to become associated with talented young men bound for athletic glory with or without his assistance. But it reinforces my conviction that this enigmatic fellow, who ran sand dunes, moved heavy weights and ran six-minute miles well into his sixties, was one of the most important thinkers in the history of athletics. His emphasis on doing things the natural way and disdain for modern trappings and conveniences are particularly meaningful in light of the doping scandals currently rocking the sports world.

-Kevin Joseph, author of "The Champion Maker"

Those who have met him would realize that something has been ignited within them. Regardless of whether those people agree or disagree with him. Their latent wildness is awakened and their fighting instinct is switched on. They become independent as a human being who decides their own path and who does not rely on others.

He would have achieved many successes if only he had played things better. But in the face of success, success almost always ran away. He was indeed the doomed type. It could be said it was inevitable. A person should not be controlled by another. Cerutty expressed this ideal both intentionally and unintentionally.

Irrespective of the class or the position of the people he was with, he continued to be himself. He lived his life on his own initiative and responsibility without belonging to any group.
He followed his inner voice right through to the end, no matter what others said. He was just Cerutty to the very end.

Cerutty - a man who pursued the truth, who chose solitude and finely honed his sensibility. He kept on expressing through his body what the joy of living and freedom are. His powerful message still appeals to us even now, 30 years after his death.

My daughter needed a biography on a female for a school book report. This one was very informative and we learned a lot about someone who honestly we had not heard of before I found this book. It would be good for third grade and up.

I bought this book for a public speaking my 7th grade students were doing. The book is detailed in her athletic achievements, despite harsh critics. It also delves into her personal life and life with cancer. Babe Didrikson was an intriguing person and Russell Freedman captured her life very nicely.

When asked if there was something she didn't play, Babe replied smiling: "dolls!" This intriguing book by Russell Freedman lets you in on the tragic and wonderful secrets in Babe Didrikson Zaharias's life. From hurdling her neighbor's bushes to winning world-wide golf tournaments, Babe's extraordinary life captures all young readers! How good can Babe get? This wonderful story tells it all with excitement and suspense. Enjoy your reading!

Babe Didrikson Zaharias: The making of a champion, by Russell Freedman. This book was great. It doesn't just tell about her adult life; it also talks about how she got started, like when she was young. She was always the tomboy type until she was in her twenties. As she got older, she had to be the center of all the attention. To tell you the truth, she was always full of herself, which wasn't always a good thing. Babe participated in almost every sport that a woman could do. She was good at every one of them, too. She turned professional in track and field, basketball, and golf. I recommend this book to any girl who loves to compete in sports. I really didn't have a role model until I read this book!

This book is an interesting, yet honest look at the life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias. There are parts of the book that are necessarily a bit dry, e.g., the explanation of how and why she tried to regain her amateur status after playing as a professional. Most of the book, however, does an excellent job of getting the reader to feel her seemingly boundless energy and determination. It also does a good job of portraying the limitations of the era on female athletes. It doesn't make them into tragedies, but it does point out that they were more "hurdles" that Babe had to overcome.

For those interested in biographies of famous women, this book and Freedman's book about Eleanor Roosevelt are both excellent additions to the young adult library.

Dan Millman does a master job of explaining a lot of very important techniques needed in developing skills (in sport). I just wish I could have read this book many years ago... It is well explained, funny at times, enjoyable, well structured and with plenty of examples from many sports so everyone (almost) can related to situations similar to the ones described.

This is a must have book for any sportsman(woman)

This is a very solid book to read in your quest of mastery. Not quite the total package. I think the book on Mastery by George Leonard covers the whole realm of mastery a little better. This book does make a couple of great points, like when your practicing a skill to over compensate by doing the complete oppsoite. If your shooting a basketball & keep missing to the right then practice missing a couple to left so you can find balance & make the shot down the middle. This also teaches you mentally to that you can control balance by being unbalanced, which will make help you see being balanced more clearly. A little weird but works. But this is only one of many good points I think Millman gives. Its a great start for mastery & is highly recommend

The book has 166 pages of content and can be divided into three main parts. The first part is fairly abstract, Millman calls it "Understanding the Larger Game". The first chapter is about natural laws that Millman sees as being helpful to understand; the next has to do with bringing awareness to our activities as a way to see what we are doing wrong, what we are doing right, and then learning from our mistakes; last chapter of part 1 is about preparation, about slow and steady progress. Personally, having read alot of self help and mind body I didn't really find this first part very helpful. The second part and the first chapter of the third part are, to me, the meat and bones of the book, where the concrete content is. He has chapters on Mental, Emotional, and Physical talent and how to cultivate all three. He talks about the self concept, fear of failure, about breathing, and then about strength, suppleness, stamina, and sensitivity. Then there is a chapter with specific advice for working on skills, like hitting a golf ball or diving or gymnastics. The third part of the book criticizes the focus on results and urges more focus on focus, concentration and personal growth and the last chapter is about new sports, less competitive, that Millman sees developing in the future. Again, this part is more abstract and it is very normative, criticizing competition, though he does recognize that it can bring out the best in people, and then naming some new sports he sees as good developments. He also suggests requiring athletes in asymettrical sports such as golf, tennis, bowling and baseball to "use both arms equally" (pg 143). I found that a little annoying and I also didn't really see it as having a place in this book. Overall, there are a bunch of good points in here, it is clear that Millman understands how to pursue excellence and growth, but I felt the book was a bit unfocused and there was nothing really new for someone who has done some reading in this area. Greg ...

"Millman's work combines the best of the human potential movement with the practical tools needed to reach that goal. It features sections on the "Peaceful Warrior Warm-Up", the aging athlete, and instructions for creating a daily exercise routine. This work is as much about mastering life as it is about the game itself." - NAPRA REVIEW

Dan Millman is definetly one of my favorite authors and speakers. Ever since I read his book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior, almost 15 years ago, I have gravitated towards his work. I even translated one of his books, The Laws of Spirit, from English to Icelandic a few years back. My review might therefore be tainted with my admiration : )

Body Mind Mastery is a great book for athletes and Millmans approach is balanced and invigorating. He challenges the athletes training routines and mindset with a perfect blend of information and practical guidlines.

Many coaches in Iceland have used this book with good outcomes as a result of my recommending it to them.

It has even come in handy for people I know that are not professional athletes. The philosophy expounded on can be used in varied situations in life.

As an A's fan (albeit an Oakland one--I'm not old enough to remember the Philly version), I am fascinated by the strange journey my team has taken in baseball. This book fills in the blanks and is not only about the 1929 A's. It covers pretty much the entire time they were in Philadelphia and really does bring both the team and period alive. It focuses, of course, on Connie Mack but the postscript on what happened to these players from this 1929-31 dynasty is great followup. I also like his short, but sweet, statistical comaprison of these A's to the so-called "greatest team of all-time" the 1927 (or specifically 1926-28) Yankees. At times the author when describing scenes around and in Shibe Park, you can almost hear the fans and the crack of the bat.

I also love the little trivia just thrown in a line or two in places like the fact Thomas Edison was a huge A's fan!

Fascinating account, even for one raised on horseback and skis. I have never understood the intricacies of The Great American Past Time, however, Mr. Kashatus' story telling is illuminating.

I was expecting more really. Not much has been written on the 1929 Athletics dynasty but lots of good information is out there on this team. I figured the author would collect all this info and give us the best of it in his book. We get a few good tales about Connie Mack's boys but nothing new or spectacular and this book is not cheap. I love Foxx, Grove, Simmons, Cochrane, and so I bought it, but it was very average. In fact, kind of dull sometimes. Buy it because it's the only book out there on this team (29-31 A's) but don't expect too much. Buy the biographies on Foxx, Cochrane and Grove and you will learn just about as much, if not more. The Sports Illustrated article on this team with Simmons on the cover got me interested in this team-it was awesome-but don't expect the same from this book. Give me a good Biography on Al Simmons to go with the others mentioned above and we got the complete story on this greatest team of all-time-even better than the 27 Yankees.

THIS IS A BOOK I DID NOT WANT TO END. AN EXCELLENT JOB OF WRITING ABOUT ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING OWNERS AND ONE OF THE LAST DINOSAURS OF BASEBALL. (CONNIE MACK) THIS BOOK'S TELLING OF THE A'S DYNASTY OF THE LATE 20'S AND EARLY 30'S IS EXTENSIVE AND MASTERFULLY WRITTEN. THIS BOOK IS A MUST READ FOR ALL BASEBALL FANS. ONE OF THE BEST I HAVE EVER READ.

Fascinating account, even for one raised on horseback and skis. I have never understood the intricacies of The Great American Past Time, however, Mr. Kashatus' story telling is illuminating.

This was not quite as helpful as I'd hoped. I can understand why, since there is no one answer for the challenges of managing diabetes and exercise. It listed many types of exercise and then what various diabetics might do in certain situaitons, but the end result is that you STILL have to figure it out for yourself. I guess I was looking for more guidance, and more physiological information. Still worth purchasing, and there is a new version in the works by the same author.

The book was informative but not exactly what I was looking for. It was geared more for a person who was taken insulin or on a pump. I was looking for something more in line with someone on an oral medication with type-2 Diabeties. But that taken into account it was both easy to read and very informative. I'm glad I have it in my library.

My son is 12 years old and a very strong, diverse athlete. He plays ice hockey, baseball and football and is very organized and very driven. As a newly diagnosed diabetic, we have many many questions about how diabetes is going to affect his life. This book gave me many ideas and made me realize that my son is first and foremost an athlete and we will fit the diabetes into his life.



He is doing really well and told me yesterday that having diabetes isn't such a big deal. We are well into the baseball season and looking ahead to hockey. I was very nervous about handling low blood sugars, but he seems to take it all into stride.



I highly recommend this book -- it is easy and interesting to read.

The Diabetic Athlete was exactly what I was looking for. It describes the effects different sports and activities have on blood sugar and your body. Also, provides tables and advice on how to manage your glucose levels depending on sport and type of insulin being used. Great reference and easy reading.

This book is divided to two parts. The first part explains the physiology of exercise and how it relates to diabetics. It includes general chapters and chapters dedicated to type 1 and type 2. The premise of the book is that knowledge is power, so knowing what the body does during an exersice is powering you to better manage your diabetes as it relates to exercise. It also has a chapter on nutritional supplements for diabetic athletes. The second half of the book deals with specific sport activities and gives advice on how to change your nutrition or insulin regimes to better accomodate for these activities plus examples from actual athletes. I found this part to be less usefull. However the book is worth its weight in gold just for the first part and is a must have for any diabetic that considers exercise as part of his medication. The book is very well written, full of concise and clear information.

This is a great book if you are interested in the history or philosophy of Pilates. It is not, however, a good book if you are interested in doing Pilates at home. The basic conclusion of the book is--find a good trainer and a good Pilates studio. The authors give great advice about these things, but I was hoping to have more clear advice on doing Pilates at home (I live in a community--San Juan, Puerto Rico--without a good Pilates studio.)

As a teacher of Pilates, this is the book I insist all new clients buy and refer to. It is simple, articulate, packed with lots of excellent information and provides a context (history, philosophy and ethic) for this work. The Everything Pilates Book is also an easy read and a valuable addition to anyone's workout program.

This book really had so much good, solid information in it. It was written very clearly and succinctly. I really enjoyed reading the history of Joseph Pilates. The book made so much sense to me. It is not just about exercise, it's about a way of life. It's about finding your core, getting everything in line.

This book is responsible for getting me very interested in the art of Pilates.

Well, not really. I've been a student at Amy and Rachel's Pilates Center -- which is often called "the Harvard of Pilates" -- for four years, starting as I recovered from back injuries in a car crash.

I love it, and I'm a heavy middle-aged man.

It's true that this book concentrates on the philosophy of Pilates more than home practice, but then Pilates, good Pilates, is much more a thing of the mind than simply physical exercise. It's very nearly impossible to really learn to focus on, say, the illiopsoas muscles from a book.

This book, combined with a good instructor, is the best.

These authors know what they are talking about. This is my favorite exercise book. I love the photos and all of the quotes from Joseph Pilates.

If you have been hearing about the benefits of Pilates and wondering if this exercise program is for you, this book will convince you that YOU can do it! Thanks to Amy and Rachel for taking their time to document their approach to a lifetime of fitness.

Fundamentals of track and field covers all the basics. The exercises are creative and easy to apply. Athletes acquire basic skills without too much conscious effort.

We've adopted this book as our Level 1 Coaches Manual. It gets all the major points of each event discipline in easy to understand terms.

I was happy with this book as soon as I opened the front cover. I am a new track coach who "only has a clue" about track from what I have observed from my star athlete daughter. I am pleased with this book because it has a lot of drawings which show good form in executing running, throwing, and jumping events. It is the perfect book for elementary school, middle school track athletes. It gives coaching tips after every explaination, common errors and corrections, and lots of drills to help reinforce the new skills the students learn. I highly recommend it for the beginning track coach, or the old track coach who is getting stale and needs new games and drills to keep track fun.

I am a middle school track coach and I've found this book very helpful in explaining the basics of all the track and field events. Carr also offers various activities to gradually develop the necessary skills for each event. Some of the technique motion pictures are slightly incorrect but I'd highly recommend this book for anybody just starting in track coaching

This book is a great resource for the physical education teacher or track and field coach. It has broken down each event into simple to understand stages. The coaching tips are of tremendous value to those who work with athletes. The illustrations that show how to perform each event are excellent for visual learners. Information within this book has been used in the preparation of my athletes.

Melvin Baker International Track&Field Coach

The author did a good job laying things out for us. Here's a hot tip. Linger over the opportunities at West Point. Almost everyone there is a scholar-athlete on full scholarship. And YOU DON'T LOSE YOUR SCHOLARSHIP IF YOU GET HURT! For a heads up on what it's really all about there, read "West Point" by, Norman Thomas Remick.

As a high school coach who believes it is part of my responsibility to assist acdemically and athletically qualified student/athletes to find athletic scholarsips and have found the recruiting process confusing, frustrating, and unfair, this unique book has turned me into a recruiting magician.

The other books I've used for recruiting information are mostly designed for Blue Chip athletes. They don't need much help in getting athletic scholarships. This book is written to help the athletes who aren't necessarily Division I prospects. The different ways it helps from Profile creation to the visit, to important questions, to negotiation strategies and scripts to understanding how unfair the recruiting process actually is and how to use that unfairness as a counterforce t level the playing field for parents and athletes is amazing.

The Chapter revealing the real story about Division III recruiting and financial aid for athletic ability is incredibly insightful and powerful.

Nothing Special - Same information you'll find in any other book on the subject. My issue was that for a 464 page book, only 75 pages contained info, the rest was school listings you could get of the internet for free. Other books have much more detailed and better presented info.

This is an outstanding book for parents and students alike.

The book opens so many doors with information about financial help to both collages and universities that the average person is not aware of. It offers places to seek financial help and rewards for the great amount of time and efforts these athletes put into their accomplishments.

This book which has, listed by states, the names of collages and universities where schoarships are offered, along with the guidelines on how to seek financial help which is so very much needed these days. I only wish a book like this had been available when my children were entering that stage of their lives.

I highly recommend this to anyone who has children or knows of anyone who are athletes and are looking to continue their education.

I wish this book had been available when my student athlete daughter was considering her college choice. It is an easy to use resource filled with practical guides for navigating what is available to students.Information on putting together a videotape, documents needed, the school visit and negotiating guidelines will assist anyone going through this process. There is a huge list of colleges and universities covering the type of athletic scholarship each offers. This is a gift book I will be giving friends and family.

I simply can't believe how well this book is written! A good sized, easy-on-the-eyes font (I've read a hard copy, 1992 library version), an easy-to-read and flowing writing style, and even has a bit of humor thrown in.

While not highly technical, it does explain all aspects of running in simple, clear, everyday English (of course, it does not cover, in detail, training for marathon running). Within the last couple of months, I've looked at and read about a dozen books on running and this was by far the best. A lot of other writers throw convoluted training schedules at you, backing them up with confusing and controversial "research." Mr. Higdon's recommendations are based on a lifetime of running experience. He also quotes a lot of other running authorities in this book (I mean a lot!), but all these quotes are brief, clear and very practical.

All that said, this book is not aimed at the elite runner. In my opinion, it is written for the beginning and intermediate levels.

The book clearly explains the process and importance of warm-up and stretching drills (applying dynamic flexibility for smooth running), running form, speedwork (feel the difference between fast and FAST), speed endurance, and such training methods as interval training, repeats, sprints, surges, strides, fartlek, up-tempo running, and power hills (both up and down hill). Again, I can't emphasize enough, all these terms are explained very clearly, without applying lengthy and boring technical terminology. He speaks to runners of all ages, from teens to seniors (he had just turned sixty when he wrote this book). He also touches on strength training and becoming your own coach.

Although I have said this is not a highly technical book, you will still learn about VO2 max, heart rate monitoring and training (i.e., training at different percentages of MHR - this section is very brief), anaerobic (or lactate) threshold, and the likes. And you will finally understand them too!

Mr. Higdon will even warn you about tying your shoelaces incorrectly prior to a race! - Very thoughtful and insightful.

(To compare, I liked this book much more than "Daniels' Running Formula", or "Galloway's Book on Running, 2nd Edition", or "5K and 10K Training" by Clarke, or even "Road Racing for Serious Runners" by Pfitzinger, etc. While these authors may be great runners, their books just did not reach or connect with me. However, a book that you may find helpful and a good companion is "Total Heart Rate Training" by Joe Friel. It fills in the parts that Mr. Higdon's book did not cover quite enough.)

If you are tired of reading dry, confusing, highly technical or misleading books (some giving instructions that, if followed, could cause injuries), do yourself a favour and read this straight-forward and highly practical book.

I FOUND THE BOOK LACKING IN BASIC INSTRUCTION FOR THE AVERAGE ,OR IN MY CASE BELOW AVERAGE RUNNER.MOST RUNNING TIMES ARE BASED ON PEOPLE WITH LEGS AND LUNGS.I PERSONALLY THINK I AM IN GOOD SHAPE.I RUN(AND ENJOY DOING SO)AND LIFT WEIGHTS ON A REGULAR BASIS.IM 5'11,200.SO MOST OF THE TIMES ARE OFF THE CHARTS FOR ME.I STILL THOUGHT THE BOOK HAD A FEW HELPFUL HINTS,AND I GUESS THAT IS WHAT THE AUTHOR INTENDED.THE CHAPTER ON INTERVALS IS BEST.BUT I STILL THINK THE AUTHOR IS THINKING TO MUCH LIKE THE WORLD CLASS RUNNER HE IS THAN BRINGING HIMSELF DOWN TO AVERAGE NICKS LEVEL.

The only book I have found on how to train for the short distance races. The 10K race has now become the most popular road race in a America with the 5K quickly gaining in popularity. Whether you are a beginner road racer or shooting for a new personal best, this book does a great job of breaking down training schedules and drills to run smarter and prepare for race day. Hal also covers nutrition for runners and pre-race rituals that have helped him compete over the years.

I found the previous reviews interesting because they suggested that this book was for seasoned runners. As a seasoned runner, I didn't find it extremely useful. It discussed things that I have already heard of.

Overall, I would suggest it to someone who has been running for a year or two and is now interested in racing but isn't sure where to start. It offers training insights without the technical jargon that seasoned runners, such as myself, throw around without even thinking. For those very new to running, this may be a little too much to think about. For those who have been around the block quite a few times, you probably have heard this all before.

This book was written for runners with at least a year of running behind them. Filled with anecdotes, it serves to demistify principles and terminology unique to the running culture. The training methods described are tried and true, scientifically backed methods used by today's elite athletes. It is very thorough without having the quality of a "dry" technical manual. Like Galloway's Book On Running, I find myself going back to it to brush up on my training.