We've all got a bit of time on our hands at the moment, and there are some fantastic books out there, here's a starter of some of my favourites. Some are Triathlon, some are sport, some are autobiographies and others are just great stories. It's a long list, but it's a good list, be keen to hear your thoughts too
Training/Diet/Performance/Mindset Related
Alex Hutchinson - Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance
What determines endurance limits
Matt Fitzgerald - How Bad do you want it?
Why the mind is more important than the legs and arms
Matt Fitzgerald - 80/20 Running
The basis of the email Mrs Price wrote a while back, why low intensity should be the majority of your training
Matt Fitzgerald - The Endurance Diet
Takes sample diets from lots of the worlds best athletes and comes up with some common sense , uncomplicated rules
Matt Fitzgerald - Run: The Mind-body method of running by feel
Ronseal, ditch the watch and learn to run to feel
David Epstein - Range
All about specialising in a field vs have a range of skills
David Epstein - The Sports Gene
Nature vs nurture
Steve Peters - The Chimp Paradox
The chimp book, Steve Peters worked with Team Sky as a sport psychologist, how to control the inner chimp
Mike Stroud - Survival of the Fittest
Interesting book on the limits of human ability
Malcolm Gladwell - Outliers The Story of Success
Stories of some of the greatest across all walks of life and the reasons why
Steve Magness - The Science of Running: How to find your limit and train to maximize your performance
Takes the scientific and the coaching views and blends them to cover some interesting concepts on running
Matthew Futterman - Running to the Edge: A Band of Misfits and the Guru Who Unlocked the Secrets of Speed
Running hard to run fast
Mark Kilon - Triathlon Anatomy
Ronseal, and includes lots of exercises specific to Triathlon
Jay Dicharry - Anatomy for Runners
Ronseal, anatomy and biomechanics, but also includes lots of self assessment exercises to identify weaknesses
Matthew Syed - The Greatest The Quest for Sporting Perfection
Ronseal, what do the greatest athletes do
Matthew Syed - Bounce: The Myth of talent and the power of practice
Ronseal, why practice is so important and it's not just talent
Ross Edgley - The Worlds Fittest Book
Some really good S&C and general fitness advice, and very easy to understand
Ross Edgley - The Art of Resilience
Interesting take on building resilience
Ross Edgley - Blueprint
Build a bulletproof body
Matthew Walker - Why we Sleep
Ronseal, it's about sleeping, bloody brilliant book though
Christine Aschwanden - Good to Go: How to Eat, Sleep and Rest Like a Champion
Talks through all of the best recovery methods
Jeff Bercovici - Play On
How to keep performing as a more 'mature' athlete
Ali Brownlee - Relentless: Secrets of the Sporting elite
What does it take to stay at the very pinnacle of sport
Inspiring Stories
Matt Fitzgerald - Iron War
All about the 1989 Ironman World Championships Dave Scott vs Mark Allen
David Goggins - You Can't Hurt Me
Goggins is a bit of a legend, if you think you're working hard, you're not
Martyn Brunt - The Accidental Ironman
Martyn used to write blogs for 220, funny bloke and this is his story in tri
Mimi Anderson - Beyond Impossible
Absolute legend of Ultra running
Chrissie Wellington - A Life without limits
Chrissie Wellington's first book, if you don't know who Chrissie is, you should
Scott Jurek - Eat and Run
Scott Jurek is an amazing ultra runner, this is his story
Rod Ellingworth - Project Rainbow
Rod was the coach for British Cycling/Team Sky and this is all about the pursuit of the World Championship Jersey
Sean Yates - It's all about the bike
Sean Yates was a beast on the bike in the 90s and part of the off the bike team at some of the biggest tour teams
Ed Caesar - 2 hours
All about the 1st attempt at the sub 2 hour marathon
Andy Holgate - Can't Swim, Can't Bike, Can't Run
Very good book about a normal bloke and his triathlon journey
George Mahood - Operation Ironman
From hospital bed to an Ironman, very funny
George Mahood - Free Country
Lands end to John O'Groats for free??
Johh McVoy - Redemption
Awesome life story of a someone who went from maximum security at Belmarsh and turned it all around
Rich Roll - Finding Ultra
Another story of someone who found endurance sport and turned their life around, he also has a good podcast
Steve Birkinshaw - There is no map in hell
Trail runners knocking chunks off each other in the Lake District
Richard Askwith - Feet in the Clouds
As above
Richard Askwith - Today we Die a little
Story of Emil Zatopek - legend of the Olympics in the 1950s and took interval training to a new level
Rick Broadbent - Endurance: The Extraordinary Life and times of Emil Zatopek
As above but a different viewpoint Tom Jordan - Pre: The Story of America's Greatest Distance Runner
Steven Prefontaine was a monster of American track in the 70s, also a very strong tash
Peter Bills - The Jersey: The All Blacks: The Secrets Behind the World's Most Successful Team
Bit different but all about 'why' the All Blacks are so good
Phil Knight - Shoe Dog
The Story of Nike
Michael Crawley - Out of Thin Air
Anthropological study of Ethiopian runners
Matt Fitzgerald - Running the Dream
Middle aged amateur lives like a pro runner to see how good he can get
Mark Beaumont - Around the World in 80 Days
Attempting to cycle around the world in 80 days
Jeremy Schaap - Triumph: Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics
The story of Jesse Owens, if you don't know it, you need to
Sir Steve Redgrave - Inspired
Tales of fellow sporting legends and their success
Chris Hoy - The Autobiography
Scottish bloke rides a track bike extremely fast
Marc Bloom - Amazing Racers
US Cross country running and an inspirational coach
Comments