Running Book Reviews with Alan and Liz
All types of running related books are reviewed by two non-elite track, road and trail runners. Observation and description of running books intended to inform, help and inspire anyone involved or related to running at any level. Whenever possible we chat with the author about the book, but if not then we try to do it justice. If you have been enjoying the podcast and want more, you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram. You can also go to our Buy Me A Coffee website where we have a few more posts: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AlanandLiz
Episodes
Marathon Mindset is Erica’s story of becoming a runner while on a 100 pound weight loss journey. She also talks about her past struggles with an eating disorder, anxiety and depression which started in high school. Through her running journey, Erica learned 5 lessons which she brings to the rest of her life: Grit, Grind, Grace, Growth and Gratitude.
Erica is a mom who unexpectedly became a marathon runner. She al...
Giving an overview of this book is complicated. It’s like giving an overview of what running is… where do you start? What kind of running are we talking about? Trail? Road? Ultrarunning? This book is also misnamed because it won’t teach you how to run. You likely need to already be a runner and have opinions about running for it to speak to you. The short answer is that this book is a collection of poems and short ess...
Feet in the Clouds is a deep dive into the world of fell running. It talks about the history of the sport, some of its GOATs like Bill Teasdale and Kenny Stuart, and professional vs amateur races. At the same time, the author tells the story of his own journey in fell running and his quest to complete the Bob Graham Round in under 24 hours.
Richard Askwith is a UK Northamptonshire-based journalist and author whose...
Mud, Sweat and Bears is mostly about the author, Harriet Gaywood’s, ultra racing experience in 2024. Before you think the book is going to be about conquering a hundred-miler or any other single race distance, I’ll let you know that Harriet’s 2024 race season had 1850k of official race kilometers with many races of 100k or more. Harriet races all over Asia, and shares her experience as well as the things she learned a...
If this author's name sounds familiar it's because we've had him on 7 times before... and we haven't even covered half of the books he's written about endurance sport. As always, Matt is a great speaker and talks to us about the concept of mastery and mastering what it means to master your sport, which is the subject of his latest book, Chasing Mastery.
Chasing Mastery is a guide developed to h...
Believe is primarily a tool to help runners log details of their training so they can find patterns that will help them identify what is and isn’t working in their training, but it is more than that. The Believe Training Journal also has examples of how pro runners Lauren and Ro fill in their journal, information that can help you bring your performance to the next level and quizzes to help you identify your personali...
What If? Is the story of author Ash Varley’s running journey between 2016 and 2023. At 43, with years of running experience behind him, he wondered if dedication, patience, and a willingness to break free from the comfort zone could lead to the realisation of long-held running dreams. In this book he explores how he ended up running multiple sub-3 hours marathons and 100-mile trail races. Along the way he talks about ...
Run Less Run Faster is a book explaining the 3plus2 training program developed by the Furman Institute of Running & Scientific Training, FIRST... and don't worry, RUN LESS doesn't mean TRAIN LESS!
The book is divided into 5 sections which cover everything from the training program, why it works and the science behind it, all the different components like strength, stretching, and cross training) and ends...
We haven't done one of these in a while and Alan just got back from his time in the UK for the London Marathon! ...he may have also seen some family and stuff, but you probably don't want to hear about that.
If you've been following us for a while, you know that Alan has been applying every year to try and get into the London Marathon via the lottery. He has been disappointed every single time. So how d...
Here we are again with another recap episode. Alan and Liz chat about their last ten reads:
- Running From Tragedy by Michael Salsbury
- Running Through the Dark, by Jen Scotney
- Built To Run, by Matthew Silver
- The Ultimate Guide to Parkrun, by Lucy Waterlow
- There Is No Finish, by Stephen Parker
- To The Limit, by Michael Crawley
- The Frontrunner, by Brad Fawley
- The Ultimate Ultra Running Handbook, by Claire Maxted
- Running Past 50...
In this episode of Running Book Reviews, we had the pleasure of speaking with author Bill Donahue about his recent book, Unbound.
Unbound is a collection of some of the best stories Bill has written about endurance sport for Runner’s World, Outside, Backpacker, Washington Post Magazine and others. The stories are divided into 5 subcategories which make up sections of the book:
- Running
- Cycling
- Exploration
- On The ...
A Few More Laps is a compilation of stories and thoughts about high level distance running and training. A Few More Laps is a compilation of stories and thoughts about high level distance running and training . The book starts with a little about David and how he started running and his experience in the club environment in the UK, and later takes a deep dive into several areas David was exposed to through running and...
In today’s episode we have the pleasure of interviewing athlete and coach Caolan MacMahon about her new book, Running Past 50. As you move past the age of 50, the physiological demands of running require adjustments in training intensity, recovery, goal setting, and mental outlook. Running Past 50 is your guide to addressing those demands so you can continue to enjoy, compete, and excel in the sport you love. Addition...
When we had Matt on the podcast at the end of 2024 there were several topics we never got a chance to talk about. Two of them, running form and breathing, are things that Matt is passionate about because he believes they can make a big difference for runners. We obviously had to have Matt on again to talk about these topics, and he also talks about the importance of the foot and arch.
A little reminder about Matt'...
In this episode we have a repeat guest, Claire Maxted, and she talks to us about her new book, The Ultimate Ultra Running Handbook.
The Ultimate Ultra Running Handbook is not called “ultimate” for no reason. It goes through many topics in a beginner friendly way with lots of lists and pictures. If you have Claires previous book, The Ultimate Trail Running Handbook, then the format will be familiar to you. Almost every ...
The Frontrunner is a fictional coming of age story about a boy named Russ who grows up without a mother, and loses his father to cancer when he's barely an adult. He grows up running everywhere, and later finds out that running can bring much more to his life. On the other side of the world in Russia, twin brothers are taken from their parents to participate in the countries sport program designed to make them in...
To the Limit sets out to explore why we voluntarily do exhausting things, like running ultra distances in the mountains and climbing mount Everest, and rediscover the joy of moving together as a group – whether it's running the length of the Lake District in a day, or navigating the descents of the Sindhupalchok International Trail Race in Nepal. It shows us how endurance activities can help bring people together...
In this episode, we have the pleasure of chatting with author Stephen Parker about his new book There Is No Finish; The Backyard Ultra Story. This book is all about the backyard ultra; how it started, who started it, and how it’s grown over the years (especially since the pandemic). There are 8 chapters. The book starts by introducing key characters like race organizer, Lazarus Lake, and his late dog, Big, and ends wi...
Here we are again! ...and AGAIN it's been more than 10 books since the last recap episode!
Here are the books we chat about in this episode:
- Run Through, by SB Stone
- The Race To Be Myself, by Caster Semenya
- The Examined Run, by Sabrina Little
- Smart Running, by Jen and Sim Benson
- Running Rewired 2nd Ed., by Jay Dicharry
- LOST: The Work That Goes Unseen, published by Ciele
- How To Run The Perfect Race, by Matt...
This book is everything you’d want to know about parkrun. How it started, what countries it spread to, how it benefits mental and physical health, and why participants keep coming back to both run and volunteer. The book has 9 chapters:
- How it started… and how it’s going
- Meet the parkrunners
- The high-viz heros
- A day in the life of a parkrun
- Why you should parkrun for your health and well-being
- Parkrun around the world
- T...
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