Books For Your Pleasure
One to motivate, one to inspire and one to help you in the kitchen
Finding a good book is hard sometimes. You can obviously go to your local library and pick out some books that might sound good or you can head to a bookstore and purchase a book, but sometimes you're looking for a book that you can't find anywhere.
This post is all about the books that'll inspire your running for months to come. I've personally read (or listened to) all of the books I'm going to recommend and I'll give you a brief snippet of what the book's about so you can decide for yourself whether it's something you want to check out.
Running with the Buffaloes
New Jersey native, Chris Lear, chronicles the 1998 cross country season of the Colorado Buffaloes. He gets inside access to workouts, long runs on "Mags", and the inner workings of one of the most storied programs in college history. In this great book, Lear doesn't just cover the training aspects of their program - it doesn't read like a training log - but more of an account of the non-training, day-to-day part of "training" that you don't normally get to see or hear.
If you're in need of some major motivation, this is definitely the book for you.
Scott Fauble's NYC Marathon Training
This book is loaded with commentary on Scott's NYC marathon training while also giving insight into his day as a professional runner. The workouts he does aren't flashy, but they are effective and necessary for the goals he had. His commentary on his day-to-day training is corny, but if you can get past that, it's a really good read and puts the training load in perspective.
While half the book is written by Scott, the other half is written by his coach, Ben Rosario. It's a really great account of the training logic that goes into each week.
At the end of the book, you can find Ben's first outline of his training plan for Scott, the revised one during training, and finally, the finished product. The actual training Scott did to place in the top 10 at the NYC marathon.
Eat, Run, Enjoy by Billy White
With great backdrops and wonderful commentary, this book has great recipes. The pictures alone were worth reading as he had many adventures with professional runners. His style of writing was unique and held my attention well.
This book got me excited to cook some of these amazing meals - and one day when our kids are more adventurous with their meals, I'm sure I will whip something right up!
What made this book different than other running cookbooks was his adventures with the runners, while then serving them the meals he wrote about. It was clever and held my attention well.
Friday’s Action Plan:
Reading and learning is a great way to improve your understanding of yourself and others. Pick a book that will challenge your current assumptions about a given topic or subject and enjoy. Plus running helps you get off your feet and recover!
What’s Got My Attention:
Article: Simulate a race with “The Michigan” workout
Article: Grant Fisher smashes Rupp’s 10k AR
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Quote of the Day:
You don't have to be extreme, just consistent.
Connect with me:
Here’s what I’m working on and what I’d love you to check out:
Thanks for following along on the journey! Have something you’d like to add? Have suggestions or comments? Email me: TrainwithMarc@gmail.com
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Marc is a middle school teacher and coach but also works with distance runners online. I help distance runners around the globe by providing support, writing customized training plans, and designing workouts to help them reach their racing goals. I write for my blog every Wednesday morning and newsletter every Friday morning.