What are you reading?
What are you reading?
I'm looking for something interesting to read in over the holidays. Here what I have read already and liked.
Ironwar by Matt Fitzgerald - It's a good story about Mark Allen and Dave Scott 1989 race. He uses a lot of Dave and Mark interviews, input from family and friends - but no first hand input form Dave or Mark. Some folks have criticized the accuracy and said it is more fiction than reality. Nonetheless, I liked the background and the story. I feel its part fiction, part research. I had fun reading it.
Endure by Alex Hutchinson - He goes through the science behind human performance - pain, muscle, oxygen, heat, thirst, fuel. He ties them into Nike's first attempt to run a sub 2 hour marathon. I liked the science and the research, but his writing style was a bit tough for me. He bounces back and forth between the science and Nike's sub- 2 hour attempt - like a Tom Clancy novel that keeps shifting between plot lines.
Play On: The New Science of Elite Performance by Jeff Bercovic This book looks at how "older" athletes are still at the top of their sport. He goes into the "science" behind recovery, nutrition, and training. Athletes like Serena Williams, Tom Brady, Lebron James etc. He covers some "out there" health fads like alkaline diets, and cryotherapy. This book ended up being more fun and entertaining and get a bit more insight into how these professional athletes protect and develop their body. I didn't find a whole lot that was applicable to me but it was fun to read.
Elite Minds by Stan Beechman Written by a sports psychologist, I found this book motivating from a theoretical standpoint. He has a convincing argument for linking beliefs to behaviors, the power of sub-conscious mind, and perfect vs. best effort. There wasn't a lot of practical application. But it got me thinking about the ideas.
Peak Performance by Brad Stuhlberg and Steve Magness I liked this book as a follow on to the Elite Minds book. It is a bit more practical. Their goal was to "help people discover how they can get the most out of themselves in a healthy and sustainable way, and prevent the next case of burnout, dissatisfaction and unhappiness." Who doesn't want that? He has some sound bite worthy stuff like: The Growth Equation (stress + rest = growth), minimize to maximize (I thought about this when I recently read Rich Stanbaugh's post about best practices and eliminating all the unnecessary decisions on race morning - including things like shaving and putting the race chip on the night before - doing less stuff race morning maximizes your focus on the race), Priming - the power of developing optimal routines to get into the flow state faster and I really liked a section about deliberate practice. What separated folks that were really good (professionals) is HOW they practiced. They practiced with a deliberate intensity and focus on a specific aspect. A mindfulness to practice.
26 Marathons: What I Learned About Faith, Identity, Running and Life from my Marathon Career by Meb Keflezighi I am a huge Meb fan. I saw him run the American record for 10K. He talks about his transition from track to the marathon. He talks about the training build up to each marathon and how each race played out from the front. It is interesting to read how his tactics changed as he got older, how Nike treated him, his use of altitude training, and how he adapted his training to work around injuries. He makes some of the same mistakes or deals with some of the same problems amateurs face - one race he forgets to take a breathe right strip out of his shoe (a sponsor) before the race - and it ends up giving him terrible blister and impacting his race. My big takeaway was how the race tactics up front are very similar to the race tactics for the rest of us - not slowing down. He talks his self doubt and changing goals mid-race when the race is not going as planned. Qualifying for the Olympics. Medaling. The Boston Marathon. I found his transition to a 9 day training cycle interesting. He has 3 key workouts and gets 2 rest days between those workouts. Pretty neat idea, not being restricted by the 7 day week - if you can schedule it into the rest of your life. I enjoyed his experiences but the writing style was a little formal or stilted, but still a really down to earth and interesting read. Did I say that I was a huge Meb fan.
Let Your Mind Run by Deena Kastor Deena talks about her transition from high school super star, mediocre collegiate runner, into a world class cross-country runner, and marathoner. She attributes it to her mental approach and a growth mindset vs a fixed mindset. She also trains at altitude (with Meb) and relies on a strong relationship with her coach and training partners. She writes really well about running. Most likely the best book I have read on running since Once a Runner or Again to Carthage by John Parker. She tells a great story about how she shifted her mindset to be more positive when then race demanded it. She talks about how she deliberately practiced those mental skills, and how it dramatically impacted her racing. She tells a good story and combines it with some practical advice about out to stay positive and confident in the chaos of racing at her limit.
What else should I be reading?
Comments
Great list @matt limbert There are a few on your list I may add to my collection.
Good to Go by Christie Aschwanden is fascinating. An exploration of how the human body can best recover and adapt to sport and fitness training. She debunks many of the methods of recovery. Tom Brady's infrared pajamas even get a mention.
Wisdom@Work The Making of a Modern Elder by Chip Conley. I'm reading this now. It's not sports related but there lessons that can be transferred to sport. It's about how 25 year old, Brian Chesky, co founder and CEO of Airbnb approached Chip Conley, 52 years old, to help build the company. He talks about how we can learn from each other despite age. The new workforce will be age agnostic. Millennials will learn from elders and visa versa.
Just finished Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. @Sheila Leard I imagine you read this?
A few decades ago, I spent a year or two reading a bunch of books on Arctic/Antarctic expeditions. Two of them I remember:
The Worst Journey in The World - Apsley Cherry Gerard. Written 98 years ago about the ill-fated Robert Scott attempt to reach the South Pole. Memorable for his trip in utter darkness to find out where Penguins go in the Antarctic winter
Endurance - The classic by Alfred Lansing about the Shackleton expedition, from 1950. The title says it all.
Other Books/Movies which engaged me with themes of endurance
Seven Years in Tibet - Heinrich Harrer was an Austrian skier and mountaineer who was imprisoned in India when he was climbing in the Himalayas at the outbreak of WWII. His escape plan involved crossing overland to the Japanese lines in China, via Tibet. He got waylaid there for seven years, meeting, helping, and learning from the Dalai Lama until the Chinese invasion of the early 50s. The first half of the book is a true endurance story.
The Way Back/The Long Walk (Movie/Book) A Polish soldier claims to have escaped from a Siberian prison camp in 1940, walking 4,000 miles to India.
Ghost Boy, by Martin Pistorious. My review: http://bikrutz.org/triblog/?p=1579
Finally, two works on cycling which I thoroughly enjoyed:
Premium Rush - A movie about bike messengers
Cycling's Greatest Misadventures, by Erich Schweikher. Best book about cycling I've ever read. The opening quote from Jack London, of all people, lays out the thesis: "Oh, to just grip the handlebars and lay down to it, and go ripping and tearing through streets and road, over railroad tracks and bridges, threading crowds, avoiding collisions, at twenty miles or more an hour, and wondering all the time when you’re going to smash up. … And then go home again after three hours of it, into the tub, rub down well, then into a soft shirt and down to the dinner table, with the evening paper and a glass of wine in prospect – and then to think that tomorrow I can do it all over again!"
These books are all well-written, gripping stories, demonstrating that "endurance" is a life-saving trait. These guys are all a lot tougher, grittier, and preservering than any runner, cyclist or triathlete I've known. I learned a lot from each of them, and remember the stories vividly after 10-20-30 years...
+1 for 7 Years in Tibet
Into thin Air - John Krakauer's account of everest climbing and problems in the late 90s
Born to Run - a must read for the ultra crowd, but also a great book about the origins of the Leadville races
North - Scott Jurek's account of his Appalachian Trail FKT. There is a copy floating around from ENer to ENer that I started, does @Brian Hagan know where it went?
Bill Bryson's - A Walk in the Woods - just fun
Shut Up Legs - Jens Voigt's story
a life Without Limits - Chrissie Wellington's
You are an Ironman - Jacques Steinberg follows six would be 1st time IMers,
@Clark Mitchell has it
Yes, I have it ready to give/send to whoever wants it. I tried to give it away at Leadville but everyone had already finished it.
@Jeff Horn I can't get myself to read anything by Gary Taubes and not shake my head. He is a believer of the Carbohydrate-Insulin Model of obesity. If you really want to get in the weeds about CHO-Insulin theory of obesity try to listen to Taubes debating a brilliant researcher Stephan Guyenet, PhD. about the their theories on the Joe Rogan podcast. Taubes delivers a message that kind of makes sense, but the science is not behind what he is saying. Controlling insulin in diabetics is not the same as in obese people, or athletes. In the end it's the law of thermodynamics for losing weight.
This briefly summarizes their two theories of obesity. I'll leave it that. 🤓
.... back to some good books to read! ☺️
@matt limbert send your address to @Clark Mitchell - after you read it, pass it forward to another ENer and LMK where it's gone, one day it will find it's way back to VT with a bunch of signatures!
Lots of Plus 1's here!
*Endure
*Good to Go
*Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder
*The Way Back/The Long Walk
*Into Thin Air
*Born to Run
*North
(Not a Gary Taubes fan!)
To add to the list:
*The Tour According to G: My Journey to the Yellow Jersey by Geraint Thomas
Great take on someone completely overshadowed by Wiggins
*The Misfits Guide to Basement Bike Fitting: Triathlon Edition by David Lucsan
Everything you need to know about the exciting field of bike fitting!
A couple good business books:
*Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People we Don't Know by Malcom Gladwell. Typical Gladwell book on thinking differently. I always think deeply about his books long after I put them down.
*Trillion Dollar Coach: Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley's Bill Campbell by Eric Schmidt. I'm a sucker for tech books because I live here.
*Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
I really like Simon SInek. Very thought provoking writing about work, relationships and inter-generational friction.
*Super Pumped:The Battle for Uber by Mike Isaac. Unbelievable background on the rise of Uber and ending in the demise of it's CEO Travis Kalanick
Other books:
One Day: The Extraordinary Story of an Ordinary 24 Hours in America by Gene Weingarten
The author pulls a day at random in the US and goes out looking for stories that happened on that day. A collection of stories that are fascinating. The first story talks about one of the fist heart surgeons in the US performing his first operation. I happened to meet the guy on a biking trip many years ago and we have kept in contact over the years. Super nice guy!
*Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. From Amazon: "From a renowned historian comes a groundbreaking narrative of humanity’s creation and evolution—a #1 international bestseller—that explores the ways in which biology and history have defined us and enhanced our understanding of what it means to be “human.”
*I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid. Found this listed as a book store favorite while wandering through a local indie store. Tons of twists and turns in this fairly short story. When it's done your thinking "wait, did that really happen?". I looked it up on a book review site and there were thousands of posts talking about it. One of the better reads this year!
@Tom Glynn @Sheila Leard @Scott Alexander @Al Truscott @Jeff Horn
Thank you all! This is an awesome list. I love the diversity - they all spark my interest. Thanks for your recommendations!
Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker. Better sleep is one of my priorities for the next year. From the Amazon synopsis: "Walker answers important questions about sleep: how do caffeine and alcohol affect sleep? What really happens during REM sleep? Why do our sleep patterns change across a lifetime? How do common sleep aids affect us and can they do long-term damage? Charting cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and synthesizing decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood, and energy levels; regulate hormones; prevent cancer, Alzheimer’s, and diabetes; slow the effects of aging; increase longevity; enhance the education and lifespan of our children, and boost the efficiency, success, and productivity of our businesses."
@Tom Glynn - agree on Malcom Gladwell. I am reading "Outliers"
I am also re-reading "Swim Speed Secrets" by Sheila Taormina. Always looking for a "little tweak" to gain some speed!
@Mike Westover - that sounds like an amazing book!
@Sheila Leard - maybe we can have another webinar on Sleep!
@Joe Hallatschek I really like the book Outliers. Good one!
@Mike Westover Sleep is truly a powerful mechanism for performance.
Here is a sleep researcher that work with the NBA and their crazy schedule. Not a book but lots of blogs by her. https://www.polar.com/blog/why-sleep-and-exercise-how-much-sleep-is-enough/
@Sheila Leard I'm afraid to read the sleep book! I get far too little sleep.
@Tom Glynn the first couple of times reading it, I only read a page or two and then said @$%# I need to go sleep! The author starts out with an impressive list of negative effects of shorting ourselves on sleep.
@matt limbert - great thread and thanks for posting. Based on your selections, you (and others) might also enjoy The Sports Gene (Epstein).
@Dave Tallo and others; if you liked Epstein's "The Sports Gene", he's got another one out called "Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World". Just heard him speak on a podcast about it and it's on it's way to my house :)
seems like a good time to bump this thread. Despite having 1000 curated "here's what to watch / stream / read/consume during the pandemic" articles to choose from, I find the recommendations from EN reliably solid and outside of my regular echo chamber of what to consume.
So whatcha reading these days?
@Dave Tallo , agreed - have always liked this thread and there are some great books listed above!
One project I have is to clear the pile of books to read from my night stand.
Two cycling booking I just finished.
`. The Worlds fastest Human by Michael Kranish. https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Fastest-Man-Extraordinary-Americas-ebook/dp/B07MD6JXHV/ref=sr_1_1 It's the story of Major Taylor, America's first black sports hero. A cyclist at the turn of the 20th century when cycling was at its heyday, just before the advent of the automobile. A great history lesson and an amazing story of a forgotten athlete.
Pro Cycling on $10 a Day by Phil Gaimon. A former US pro cyclist with a biting sense of humor talks about his ascent from fat kid to pro cyclist racing in Europe. It's a tough life! A pretty funny video here of Lionel Saunders beating Phil's Strava record up Mt. Lemmon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLJYEI0vIcc Best part is Phil's one minute response at the end!