Endurance Books

I have been reading some endurance athlete books, and put this short list together.

To The Edge - Kirk Johnson
This was the first endurance book I read.  It's about the Badwater 135, which is an ultramarathon (an ultra is any race over 26.2 miles) of 135 miles through Death Valley and halfway up a mountain.  The author trains for and chronicles the event one year.  The race sounds awful, and very difficult - probably the most difficult race in the world.  The race is 135 miles long, which is amazing by itself.  But it's run through the hottest desert in the world, so temperatures reach 120 to 130 degrees and the hot asphalt melts shoes (they have to run on the while median line).  It's a great read and puts things into perspective when I think running gets tough.

Born to Run - Christopher McDougall
This is another ultramarathon race book, about the natives who live in Mexico's Copper Canyon.  They run everywhere their entire lives, and are some of the best runners in the world.  A race is organized to showcase their abilities and some of the best ultramarathoners in the world show up to race them, Scott Jurek for example.  The book is mainly about the race and the Indian tribes, but also makes an argument for a return to natural running.  The author suggests that running shoes have evolved into injury causing over-cushioned things, and we need to return to a more natural style of running.  They also mention that people used to outrun animals while hunting, which is an awesome story in here.

I'm Here to Win - Chris "Macca" McCormack
I was excited about reading this book after watching his 2007 and 2010 Kona victories many times on YouTube.  You can watch recent Kona races on YouTube, and nearly anything related to training.  I learned how to swim, for example, mostly from watching several videos on swim technique.  But, anyone that hasn't seen Macca run with Andreas Raelert in 2010 should check it out.  This run alone made me a big fan of Macca.  But the book is his bio and reviews his successful triathlon career, giving some insight into how he brought mind games to the sport.  Many people think he's cocky and arrogant, but he often backs it up and considers himself "honest".  I like him and think this was a good, quick read.  All of these are pretty easy to read, really.

Finding Ultra - Rich Roll
This is one of my favorite endurance books, if not my favorite.  He was a great swimmer in high school and college, but got overweight after getting married and having kids.  Sound familiar?  He gets a late night heart attack-like scare, and that snaps him out of it and gets him going.  And boy does he go.  He starts training and does Ultraman triathlon events, which is 2 to 3 times the length of a full Ironman.  He's also one of two guys to try to complete 5 full Ironman races in 5 days, the Epic5.  He's also a vegan and swears by the diet as the main part of his success.  His story is so convincing I have done some research and would not be surprised if I wind up vegetarian or vegan one day.  There are several endurance athletes that follow a vegan or vegetarian diet, and I've found I feel better when I do also.  I liked the book so much because the guy is just like me, in that he's either into something 100% or not doing it at all.  The guy is awesome.  Great book.  Definitely worth a look.

A Life Without Limits - Chrissie Wellington
This is another Kona champion's biography, like Macca and Crowie.  Her path to Kona is much more interesting however.  She worked for the British government and never really competed athletically until late in her life.  She decides to run her first marathon and does it in like 3 hours, which is very good for anyone not familiar with 26.2 times.  She was just a natural who bumped into a great strength she didn't know she had and never looked back.  To date, she has never lost a full Iron-distance race and before retiring she was starting to beat all but a handful of the top men.  She's just a beast.  It's almost weird reading as she's so dominant.  It would be like reading about Mike Tyson when he was unstoppable, or Michael Jordan back when he was playing at his peak.  But sadly, I think she got burnt out on everything and retired after winning 13 Ironman races.  She even won in 2011 after a bad bike crash 2 weeks before Kona, which tore her pectoral muscle and covered her in road rash.  At her "80%" no other female could touch her.  She's just awesome.

As the Crow Flies - Craig "Crowie" Alexander
Crowie is my favorite athlete, by a lot.  He's a top level athlete that is a great father.  He was the best runner in the field until Pete Jacobs, but he's so much fun to watch run.  He looks like the Terminator when he runs - emotionless, fast, mouth closed - breathing through his nose, solid, confident, just like watching a machine.  I love it.  He runs a 2:45 marathon AFTER swimming 2.4 miles AND biking 112 miles.  Pimp.  My liking the guy aside, his book is a coffee table book, and not a good read at all.  It's an over sized book (very wide and tall), full of great photos on nice, thick paper.  Again, not a great read story wise, but good to flip through periodically.  His bio is scattered throughout the photos, but I ordered the book without reading the description.  I would say pass on the book unless you want to have a copy, it's not much of a read.

Eat & Run - Scott Jurek
I just finished this book and didn't know much about Jurek before reading it.  In "Born to Run", Jurek is simply described as an ultramarathon God.  Not much back story on him.  In "Eat & Run", you read his bio and hear about all of his races - which are incredibly impressive.  He runs and wins 50 mile, 100 mile, and 135 mile races.  There are only a couple people that beat him at his prime, over many races.  He's either first or second, period.  I actually think he had it kind of rough as a kid, and this helped give him the mental toughness to run the races he does.  He also made me feel like a wimp.  He regularly runs 30 miles or more on trainings days.  I know this makes sense to get ready for a 100 mile race, but he does it several times a week and it made my 5-10 mile regular runs feel small.  Also, he's like Rich Roll in that he's a vegan and attributes part of his success to the diet.  There are vegan recipes scattered throughout the book and a recap of the Copper Canyon race from his perspective (also discussed in Born to Run, mentioned above).  This is a great running book and worth a look.

50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days - Dean Karnazes
I just received this book for Christmas, and will be reading it next.  Going into it I know that Dean Karnazes ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days.  I also know that he's run 262 miles non-stop, which took him 3 days.  Crazy stuff.  I'm looking forward to this and some other books to help keep me motivated to train and to help my training education.