Runner's Web

More Books...from Human Kinetics  : More Books from...Velopress


Races: The Trials and Triumphs of Canada's Fastest Familyh Races: The Trials and Triumphs of Canada's Fastest Family

By Valerie Jerome (Author)
The inside track on an under-told story about the intersection of race and sports in Canada.
In the 1960s, Harry Jerome set 7 world records, including the 100-yard dash, earning him the title of the world’s fastest man. His grandfather, John “Army” Howard, was Canada’s first Black Olympian, running in Stockholm in 1912 against nearly impossible odds. Harry’s sister, Valerie, competed for Canada at the 1960 Rome Olympics. With Races, Valerie Jerome sets the record straight on her heroic family’s history, and the racism they fought along the way — from their community, the press, their country, and even inside their family home.
Races tracks Harry’s life through his inimitable athletic career and into his work as an advocate for youth sport and education. Bringing readers inside the Jerome household, Races reveals the hurdles they faced during the heavily segregated ’60s and the long reach of racism that plagued their family history.
A tale of courage and conviction, Races is the difficult, yet inspiring story of the Jerome family: what propelled them in life and on the track.

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Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith Far Beyond Gold: Running from Fear to Faith

By Sydney McLaughlin (Author)
What fears are standing in your way or holding you back? How do you want to become stronger? Olympic and World champion hurdler Sydney McLaughlin wants to help you answer these questions as she shares her personal story of struggles and victories, of faith and transformation.
Sydney McLaughlin knows about facing down obstacles. She has mastered not only racing over hurdles on the track but also tackling challenges in her personal life—from lifelong battles with perfectionism and anxiety to persistent questions about her identity and whether she was "enough."
Her pursuit of perfection and people-pleasing continued for years until God broke into her story with his overwhelming grace, transforming love, and empowering truth.
In Far Beyond Gold, Sydney will share aspects of her life story and personhood she has never shared publicly before, offering a more complex picture of who she is. She will inspire you to:
Conquer your fears in Christ's strength
Stand strong in your identity in him
Push past your perceived limits
Overcome the challenges you're facing
Experience the story of a woman who shifted from anxiety to boldness, from limits to freedom, and from perfectionism to purpose—and now shows the world that often what we think is impossible is possible with God.

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We Share the Sun: The Incredible Journey of Kenya's Legendary Running Coach Patrick Sang and the Fastest Runners on Earth  We Share the Sun: The Incredible Journey of Kenya's Legendary Running Coach Patrick Sang and the Fastest Runners on Earth

Sarah Gearhart (Author)
An enlightening biography and gripping sports narrative that takes us behind the scenes into the lives of some of the world’s most elite runners in Kenya and their coach, Patrick Sang.
"I highly recommend this book." —Meb Keflezighi
At a secluded training camp in Kaptagat, Kenya, a small town nearly 8,000 feet above sea level in the Great Rift Valley, three-dozen world-class runners, including Olympic champions, world record holders and the fastest marathoner of all-time, share simple dormitory-style rooms and endure grueling workouts six days a week.
These determined, devoted, and selfless runners are who they are because of a man named Patrick Sang. One of the greatest—and least-heralded coaches in the sport—Sang is described by his athletes as a “life coach.”
In We Share the Sun, Sarah Gearhart takes us inside this high-octane world of elites of which few are even aware of and even fewer have ever seen. We are immersed in Sang’s remarkable story, from his college days in the US to winning an Olympic medal in the steeplechase, and his journey to become a man who redefines what coaching means. There is no singular secret to athletic success, but, as readers will learn, Sang’s holistic philosophy is like no other approach in the world. It is rooted in developing athletes who can navigate the pressures of elite competition—and life itself.
In these pages, we explore Sang’s influence on his athletes — including his unique and longstanding relationship with marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge — as they prepared for the delayed Tokyo Olympics and other competitions. We witness the remarkable recovery of two-time New York City Marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor after a freak accident as he strove to earn his first Olympic medal. And we follow one of the world’s most dominant mid-distance runners, Faith Kipyegon, as she attempted a historic repeat title in the 1,500 meters three years after the birth of her first child.
We Share the Sunbrings forth the remarkable lives and stories of East African runners, whose stories are seldom shared. Through Gearhart's vivid prose, we experience the richness that exists in Kenya as we come as close as we possibly can to running alongside a current and future generation of elites—and the man who molds them into champions.

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The Race to Be Myself: A Memoir Hardcover  The Race to Be Myself: A Memoir Hardcover - September 19, 2023

Castor Semenya
World champion runner Caster Semenya offers an empowering account of her extraordinary life and career, and her trailblazing battle to compete on her own terms.
Caster Semenya is one of the greatest athletes ever to run the 800 meter. Semenya went undefeated for almost four years, winning two Olympic gold medals and three World Athletics Championships, and set and broke numerous records. The Race to be Myself tells the coming-of-age story of an iconic athlete—of Semenya’s dramatic journey from a gifted and self-trained novice to the pinnacle of her sport—and takes readers behind the scenes of her inspiring battle to run in the “body that God gave me.”

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Up to Speed: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes Up to Speed: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes

Christine Yu (Author)
“Up to Speed is a roadmap and toolbox for athletes of all ages. Every coach should read it and discuss it with their athletes. I wish I had been able to read this book while I was competing.” —Kara Goucher, Olympic long-distance runner and author of The Longest Race
How the latest science can help women achieve their athletic potential
Over the last fifty years, women have made extraordinary advances in athletics. More women than ever are playing sports and staying active longer. Whether they’re elite athletes looking for an edge or enthusiastic amateurs, women deserve a culture of sports that helps them thrive: training programs and equipment designed to work with their bodies, as well as guidelines for nutrition and injury prevention that are based in science and tailored to their lived experience.
Yet too often the guidance women receive is based on research that fails to consider their experiences or their bodies. So much of what we take as gospel about exercise and sports science is based solely on studies of men.
The good news is, this is finally changing. Researchers are creating more inclusive studies to close the gender data gap. They’re examining the ways women can boost athletic performance, reduce injury, and stay healthy.
Sports and health journalist Christine Yu disentangles myth and gender bias from real science, making the case for new approaches that can help women athletes excel at every stage of life, from adolescence to adulthood, through pregnancy, menopause, and beyond. She explains the latest research and celebrates the researchers, athletes, and advocates pushing back against the status quo and proposing better solutions to improve the active and athletic lives of women and girls.

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Man of the Oval: The International Legacy of John Chaplin and WSU Track & Field Man of the Oval: The International Legacy of John Chaplin and WSU Track & Field

Bruce Blizard (Author)
"John Prescott Chaplin suggested the title for this book—Man of the Oval—very early in the writing process. When I asked why that title in particular, he explained that the oval shape of the track, combined with the 440-yard or 400-meter distance of a single lap, plus the demands of racing that one lap, seemed to characterize his career as an athlete, a coach, the chair of the International Competition Committee and chairman of the Men’s Track & Field Committee for USA Track & Field (USATF), and finally, an international technical official with the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF, now called World Athletics).
"John Chaplin views his life in the sport not as a straight line but as an oval, encircling one lap of the quarter mile (440 yards or 400 meters) oval repeatedly. The one-lap race is long, hard, and it requires an unwavering commitment. The 400-meter athlete does not get to relax, coast, ease up, or slow down. After spending many hours with John Chaplin during the last twenty months, I’d agree that one hard lap of the oval is the perfect metaphor for John Chaplin’s career in track & field—an all-out sprint, tenacious and unrelenting."

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Ignite: Unlock the Hidden Potential Within Ignite: Unlock the Hidden Potential Within

Andre De Grasse (Author)
Insightful, practical lessons on life, on and off the track, from an Olympic and world champion
Not only is Andre De Grasse blazingly fast on the track, he’s also incredibly popular with his fans. His beaming smile and magnetic personality have won over millions of people around the world. Who could forget De Grasse’s friendly rivalry with sprinting legend Usain Bolt? Or when he became the first Canadian to capture medals in all three sprint events during a single Olympics? His gold medal victory in the 200-metre race at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics captivated Canadians witnessing a feat not accomplished by any other Canadian in close to a century.
InIgnite, De Grasse shares important lessons from his improbable journey to becoming an Olympic champion. As one of the fastest humans alive, De Grasse has demonstrated what it takes to perform at your best under enormous pressure and to continue to push the limit of what seems impossible. De Grasse shares inspirational stories and lessons about the determination, resilience and perseverance it takes to become the best. Readers will gain from his insights from the track and beyond to unlock their own hidden potential and stare down life’s challenges whether at work, at home, or in pursuit of their dreams.

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un Faster 10Ks Run Faster 10Ks

Greg McMillan (Author)
"Greg is one of the best and smartest distance running coaches in America."
-Amby Burfoot, Runner's World Magazine
In Run Faster 10Ks,world renowned running coach Greg McMillan shares the top training plans and racing strategies he uses with his 10K racers. Successful with beginners, age groupers, and Olympians, Greg simplifies the often confusing world of 10K training.When you get it all right, your training improves and you don't just finish your race but you finish much faster.
Run Faster 10Ksprovides everything you need to better prepare for and race your next 10K:
• 10K Training Plans for Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced Runners
• How to Better Perform 10K Workouts
• How to Build 10K Legs
• How to Fuel in Your 10K
• How to Survive 10K Training
• How to Survive the 10K Freak Out
• How to Optimize Race Day - A Step by Step Guide
• How to Pace Your 10K
• And much, much more
Get ready to master the 10K with Run Faster 10Ks.

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Cancelled: The Left Way Back from Woke Cancelled: The Left Way Back from Woke

Umut Ozkirimli (Author)
Right now, someone, somewhere is being cancelled. Off-the-cuff tweets or “harmless” office banter have the potential to wreck lives. The Left condemns the Right and the bigotry of the old elites. The Right complains about brain-dead political correctness. In reality, both sides are colluding in a reactionary politics that is as self-defeating as it is divisive. Can the Left escape this extremism and stay true to the progressive ideals it once professed?
In this provocative book, Umut Özkirimli reveals how the Left has been sucked into a spiral of toxic hatred and outrage-mongering, retreating from the democratic ideals of freedom and pluralism that it purports to represent. Exploring the similarities between right-wing populism and radical identity politics, he sets out an alternative vision. It is only by focusing on our common humanity and working across differences that the Left will find a constructive and consensual way back from “woke.”

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Choosing to Run: A Memoir  Choosing to Run: A Memoir

Des Linden (Author), Bonnie D. Ford
Featuring both the story of an historic, unforgettable win and insight into the life of an indelible champion, Choosing to Run is a truly inspirational memoir from Boston Marathon winner and Olympian Des Linden, sharing her personal story and what motivates her to keep showing up.
When Des woke up on April 16, 2018, the morning of the Boston Marathon, it was 39 degrees and raining, with high, gusty winds. The weather didn’t bother her. In fact, she thought it might be a blessing. She was far from peak form—recovering from illness and questioning her running future—and didn’t expect much of herself that day.
But as she ticked off mile after mile in the brutal conditions, passing familiar landmarks on the course she knew by heart, something shifted. Opportunity unexpectedly presented itself. Des tapped into her inner strength and remembered all of the reasons she loved to race.
Coming off Heartbreak Hill at Mile 22, Des took the lead and never relinquished it, becoming the 2018 Boston Marathon champion and the first American woman to win the race in thirty-three years.
Her career has always been defined by tenacity and an independent spirit, stretching back to her first competitive race in San Diego, when she beat better-outfitted, more experienced kids. Des was a two-time All-American at Arizona State University, and as her collegiate years wound down, she decided she wasn’t done with the sport. Des gambled on herself and moved to Michigan to give professional running a try. As she rose through the elite ranks, she became increasingly determined to do things her way in an industry often bound by the status quo.
In her first book, readers will learn the story behind that resolve: the way Des trains, the way she thinks, her relationships with other great runners of her generation, and how much she values her family and friends. They’ll read about her deep connection to the most famous marathon in the world, her two very different Olympic experiences, and how she defined new goals and set a world record at the 50-kilometer distance.
Most of all, they’ll learn what makes her get up and run every day.

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Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids' Sports--and Why It Matters Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids' Sports--and Why It Matters

Linda Flanagan (Author)
A close look at how big money and high stakes have transformed youth sports, turning once healthy, fun activities for kids into all-consuming endeavors—putting stress on children and families alike
Some 75% of American families want their kids to play sports. Athletics are training grounds for character, friendship, and connection; at their best, sports insulate kids from hardship and prepare them for adult life. But youth sports have changed so dramatically over the last 25 years that they no longer deliver the healthy outcomes everyone wants. Instead, unbeknownst to most parents, kids who play competitive organized sports are more likely to burn out or suffer from overuse injuries than to develop their characters or build healthy habits. What happened to kids' sports? And how can we make them fun again?
In Take Back the Game, coach and journalist Linda Flanagan reveals how the youth sports industry capitalizes on parents’ worry about their kids’ futures, selling the idea that more competitive play is essential in the feeding frenzy over access to colleges and universities. Drawing on her experience as a coach and a parent, along with research and expert analysis, Flanagan delves into a national obsession that has:
* Compelled kids to specialize year-round in one sport.
* Increased the risk of both physical injury and mental health problems.
* Encouraged egregious behavior by coaches and parents.
8 Reduced access to sports for low-income families.
A provocative and timely entrant into a conversation thousands of parents are having on the sidelines, Take Back the Game uncovers how youth sports became a serious business, the consequences of raising the stakes for kids and parents alike--and the changes we need now.

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When Women Stood: The Untold History of Females Who Changed Sports When Women Stood: The Untold History of Females Who Changed Sports

Alexandra Allred (Author)
An unapologetically candid and illuminating history of women and their fight for equality, told through the influential world of sports.
From early Amazons to modern-day athletes, women have been fighting for their rightful place in the world. The history of these female athletes—whether warriors on the battlefield or competitors in the sports arena—has often been neglected, yet it is through sports that women have changed society, gaining entry into education, travel, politics, and more.
When Women Stood: The Untold History of Females Who Changed Sports is an eye-opening chronicle of the amazing women who refused to accept the status quo and fought for something better for themselves and for those who would follow. It includes the stories of female football players, Olympic athletes, powerlifters, and soccer stars, of historians, archeologists, crusaders, and scientists. It also reveals the surprisingly interwoven history of women’s fashion, scientific advances, feminine ideals, and more.
Women’s sports history cannot be told without also telling the story of the fight for gender and racial equality, economics, medical biases, gay and transgender history, violence, religion, media, abuse, and activism. When Women Stood is the first to go beyond the record books and gold medal counts to truly dig into the vital role women and sports have played in instigating change in society as a whole. And it shows that, despite seemingly unsurmountable odds, the true spirit of the female athlete can never be restrained.

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Coaching the Kenyans: Sharing the Secrets of the World’s Fastest Runners Coaching the Kenyans: Sharing the Secrets of the World’s Fastest Runners

Jason R. Karp PhD |
What happens when an American coach and exercise physiologist moves to a rural town in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley to coach a group of Kenyan runners?
From training in groups and controlling the pace to running by feel and having a strong mindset, the Kenyan runners have specific habits and training methods that make them successful. Dr. Jason Karp brings his deep experience in world-class coaching to the epicenter of distance running—Iten, Kenya—where he helps develop some of their great talent, applies his decades of knowledge and experience, plus learns about himself as a runner and a coach.
Part storytelling and part training guide, Coaching the Kenyans is a vivid account of living, training, and learning in this rural, high-altitude town with its agrarian lifestyle and the undisputed best runners in the world.

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Girl Runner: A Novel Girl Runner: A Novel

Carrie Snyder (Author)
Girl Runner is the story of Aganetha Smart, a former Olympic athlete who was famous in the 1920s, but now, at age 104, lives in a nursing home, alone and forgotten by history. For Aganetha, a competitive and ambitious woman, her life remains present and unfinished in her mind.
When her quiet life is disturbed by the unexpected arrival of two young strangers, Aganetha begins to reflect on her childhood in rural Ontario and her struggles to make an independent life for herself in the city.
Without revealing who they are, or what they may want from her, the visitors take Aganetha on an outing from the nursing home. As ready as ever for adventure, Aganetha’s memories are stirred when the pair return her to the family farm where she was raised. The devastation of WWI and the Spanish flu epidemic, the optimism of the 1920s and the sacrifices of the 1930s play out in Aganetha’s mind, as she wrestles with the confusion and displacement of the present.
Part historical page-turner, part contemporary mystery, Girl Runner is an engaging and endearing story about family, ambition, athletics and the dedicated pursuit of one’s passions. It is also, ultimately, about a woman who follows the singular, heart-breaking and inspiring course of her life until the very end.

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periodization: Training Theories to Run Faster The Endurance of Speed: The Revolutionary New Way to Train for Marathons & Half-Marathons

Jason Karp (Author)
Oftentimes, runners’ performances plateau not because of what they do, but because of what they don’t do. And one of the things that many runners don’t do when they start running as adults is work on their basic speed. They never become fast runners.
What happens if runners turn the traditional model of distance running training on its head and train speed first before training endurance? What happens when runners train at the right speed rather than at the right distance?
The Endurance of Speed is a revolutionary new method of marathon and half-marathon training, in which you’ll discover the remarkable answers to these questions, as you learn how to train your speed first and then how to improve your endurance of speed to reach and exceed your marathon or half-marathon goals.

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Running Periodization: Training Theories to Run Faster Running Periodization: Training Theories to Run Faster

Jason Karp (Author)
A groundbreaking and fascinating discussion of the theories of run training, from bestselling author, coach, and exercise physiologist Jason Karp, PhD, MBA.
How do you know the precise combination and best order of workouts that will enable you to run faster? How do you know the right time to do another workout after doing a workout on Tuesday? How do you individualize training for runners of different strengths, weaknesses, adaptive abilities, developmental ages, and time frames?
Sometimes, you need to break the rules.
In the groundbreaking book, Running Periodization, Jason Karp, PhD, MBA explains a variety of training theories using theoretical and historical frameworks, scientific research, and documented empirical evidence from the world's best runners to discover how to optimally train. The book shows runners and coaches how to design training programs using several periodized approaches, including linear periodization, reverse linear periodization, block periodization, and undulating periodization, as well as how to periodize training for high school and college runners, strength training, and even a woman's menstrual cycle.
Running Periodization shows you how to work on your training, not just in your training, to make you a world-class training strategist and the best runner you can be.

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Running While Black: Finding Freedom in a Sport That Wasn't Built for Us Running While Black: Finding Freedom in a Sport That Wasn't Built for Us

Alison Mariella Désir (Author
A searing exposé on the whiteness of running, a supposedly egalitarian sport, and a call to reimagine the industry
“Runners know that running brings us to ourselves. But for Black people, the simple act of running has never been so simple. It is a declaration of the right to move through the world. If running is claiming public space, why, then, does it feel like a negotiation?”  
Running saved Alison Désir’s life. At rock bottom and searching for meaning and structure, Désir started marathon training, finding that it vastly improved both her physical and mental health. Yet as she became involved in the community and learned its history, she realized that the sport was largely built with white people in mind.  
Running While Black draws on Désir’s experience as an endurance athlete, activist, and mental health advocate to explore why the seemingly simple, human act of long distance running for exercise and health has never been truly open to Black people. Weaving historical context—from the first recreational running boom to the horrific murder of Ahmaud Arbery—together with her own story of growth in the sport, Désir unpacks how we got here and advocates for a world where everyone is free to safely experience the life-changing power of movement.   
As America reckons with its history of white supremacy across major institutions, Désir argues that, as a litmus test for an inclusive society, the fitness industry has the opportunity to lead the charge—fulfilling its promise of empowerment.

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Running Throughout Time Running Throughout Time

By Roger Robinson (Author)
Every runner's story is part of a great tradition of running stories. Running Throughout Time tells the best and most important of them. From Atalanta, the heroic woman runner of ancient Greece - when goddesses advised on race tactics - to the new legends of Billy Mills, Joan Benoit Samuelson, and Allison Roe (the modern Atalanta), this book brings the greatest runners back to life. It's the perfect runner's bedside storybook.

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The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running Team The Longest Race: Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running Team

By Kara Goucher
In this unvarnished and affecting memoir, Olympian Kara Goucher reveals her experience of living through and speaking out about one of the biggest scandals in running.
Kara Goucher grew up with Olympic dreams. She excelled at running from a young age and was offered a Nike sponsorship deal when she graduated from college. Then in 2004, she was invited to join a secretive, lavishly funded new team, dubbed the Nike Oregon Project. Coached by distance running legend Alberto Salazar, it seemed like the opportunity of a lifetime.
Kara was soon winning a World Championship medal, going to the Olympics, and standing on the podium at the New York and Boston marathons, just like her coach. But behind the scenes, Salazar was hiding dark secrets. He pushed the limits of anti-doping rules, and created what Kara experienced as a culture of abuse, the extent of which she reveals in her book for the first time. Meanwhile, Nike stood by Alberto for years and proved itself capable of shockingly misogynistic corporate practices.
Told with stunning honesty, The Longest Race is an unforgettable story and a call to action. Kara became a crusader for female athletes and a key witness helping to get Salazar banned from coaching at the Olympic level. Kara’s memoir reveals how she broke through the fear of losing everything, bucked powerful forces to take control of her life and career, and reclaimed her love of running.

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Unfair Play: The Battle For Women's Sport Unfair Play: The Battle For Women's Sport

By Sharron Davies and Craig Lord
On the face of it, women's sport is on the rise, garnering more attention and grassroots involvement than ever before. However, the truth is that in many respects progress is stalling, or even falling back.
Sharron Davies is no stranger to battling the routine sexism the sporting world. She missed out on Olympic Gold because of doping among East German athletes in the 1980s, and has never received justice. Now, biological males are being allowed to compete directly against women under the guise of trans 'self-ID', a development that could destroy the integrity of female sport. This callous indifference towards women in sport, argue Sharron and journalist Craig Lord, is merely the latest stage in a decades-long history of sexism on the part of sport's higher-ups.
A strong fightback is required to root out the lingering misogyny that plagues sporting governance, media coverage and popular perceptions. This book provides the facts, science and arguments that will help women in sport get the justice they deserve.

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Oregon Running Legend Steve Prefontaine  Oregon Running Legend Steve Prefontaine

By Paul C Clerici Author, Pat Tyson (Author), Bill Dellinger (Foreword)
In the Footsteps of Oregon's beloved U.S. Olympic Athlete, Activist, and Icon
Born in the small town of Coos Bay, Oregon, Steve Pre Prefontaine's meteoric rise to cross-country and track superstardom included national recognition in high school followed by state, national, and world records. From the University of Oregon track to a fourth-place finish in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, he never stopped striving to make his mark on the world. Even today, his name conjures up images of athleticism, activism, and charisma. While his life tragically ended in a car accident at the youthful age of 24 - at which time he owned every American record from 2,000 to 10,000 meters and two to six miles - his legacy lives on.

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Inner Touch: Developing Sensations in Sports Inner Touch: Developing Sensations in Sports

It is the nightmare of every competitor: the “off day.” Those days when you can’t make a basket; you can’t feel your legs in a race; you completely lose connection with the ball. Forget the wonderful sensation of hitting a tennis ball solidly and with perfect fluidity. Forget the light sensation of your legs while running a long-distance race.
Losing the feel—the sensation—for your sport can hinder your confidence, performance, motivation, and well-being.
Get in sync with your sensations with the inner touch
Feeling your body is so fundamental, that it is easy to take it for granted.
Inner Touch gives you the keys to developing technical prowess in your sport. Unleash your unconscious mind!
Become reactive, aware, and ready for the unexpected
Use your body in a more precise and faster way, increasing your confidence, motivation, and enjoyment.
Build a somatic repertoire that is unique to you
Become attuned to your body and your sensations. Learn how to enhance the accuracy of your body maps and modify the way you feel.
THE MENTAL ACCELERATOR® MISSION
We believe in the power of sports to change lives. We also believe in the power of the mental game. Each of us has experienced the joy and impact of sports — as athletes, coaches, parents, or fans. Our mission is to assist athletes in handling adversity, thriving under pressure, and maximizing their potential.
Stephanie Cunha, Ph.D.
Author, Coach + CEO at Mental Accelerator®, Oregon

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Peak: The New Science of Athletic Performance That is Revolutionizing Sports  Peak: The New Science of Athletic Performance That is Revolutionizing Sports

An integrated and personalized approach to health, nutrition, training, recovery, and mindset
Perfect for personal trainers, sports science students, fans of high level fitness (crossfit, marathon training, iron man, team sports) and gym heads!
There is a new revolution happening in sports as more and more athletes are basing their success on this game-changing combination: health, nutrition, training, recovery, and mindset. Unfortunately, the evidence-based techniques that the expert PhDs, academic institutions, and professional performance staffs follow can be in stark contrast to what many athletes actually practice. When combined with the noise of social media, old-school traditions, and bro-science, it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction.
Peak is a groundbreaking book exploring the fundamentals of high performance (not the fads), the importance of consistency (not extreme effort), and the value of patience (not rapid transformation). Dr. Marc Bubbs makes deep science easy to understand, and with information from leading experts who are influencing the top performers in sports on how to achieve world-class success, he lays out the record-breaking feats of athleticism and strategies that are rooted in this personalized approach.
Dr. Bubbs’s performance protocol is for the elite athlete, active individual, strength coach, nutritionist, or practitioner who wants to expand their potential by:

Connecting the importance of sleep, digestion, the athlete microbiome, and blood glucose control metrics
Creating personalized deep nutrition strategies for building muscle, burning fat, or “making weight” for competition
Rethinking nutrition specifically for team sports
Learning how elite endurance athletes fuel, including training techniques to boost performance
Applying the new science of recovery that enhances performance
Emphasizing the tremendous role of emotional intelligence and mindset in overcoming roadblocks and
< achieving athletic success (the next frontier in performance)
Analyzing the qualities of elite leaders and how to develop them authentically

Dr. Bubbs expertly brings together the worlds of health, nutrition, and exercise and synthesizes the salient science into actionable guidance. Regardless if you’re trying to improve your physique, propel your endurance, or improve your team’s record, looking at performance through this lens is absolutely critical for lasting success.

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Franz Stampfl. Genius Coach and Citizen of the World: A Biography  Franz Stampfl. Genius Coach and Citizen of the World: A Biography

By Andreas Maier (Author) , Andy Edwards (Translator)

Franz Ferdinand Leopold Stampfl was the man behind Roger Bannister's first sub-four-minute mile, one of the great breakthrough performances in the history of athletics. He was arwarded the World Athletics Heritage Plaque as a "legendary and pioneering coach". His full story has never been told to an international readership before.
Stampfl guided his athletes to Olympic gold medals and world records. Born in Vienna in 1913, he lived and worked in Austria, Great Britain and Australia.
World sports and world history intersected in his person. He served as an assistant coach for the Austrian team at the Olympic Games in Hitler's Germany in Berlin 1936. During World War II he innocently was declared an "enemy alien" in Great Britain. Together with 2,500 prisoners, he got deported to Australia and was subsequently interned. After years he made his way back and became a celebrated coach.
The search for the right place in the world remained one of his life's themes. Sport was a way of creative expression for him, comparable to creating works of art like the "Mona Lisa". "Running is an art, and every runner must be thought of as an artist," is one of his sayings.
Stampfl was able to transfer visionary goals to others and had an unconditional drive to persevere in difficult situations. He particularly needed this ability for the last 14 years of his life, when his arms and legs were paralysed after a car accident. He remained a gifted teacher of movements even out of complete immobility. Franz Stampfl died in Melbourne, Australia, in 1995.
His story is a discovery of great moments in athletics, a panoramic ride through the 20th century up to the present and an inspiring tale of the impossible that he made come true with charisma and willpower.
The author Andreas Maier researched this biography through conversations with athletes and eyewitnesses in Austria, Great Britain and Australia, by use of existing literature, through research in archives in cooperation with historians and based on long conversations with Anton Stampfl, the son of Franz Stampfl, who provided extensive personal material about his father.
Andy Edwards translated the original German text into English and added to it with great understanding of the content.
„The legacy of Franz Stampfl? Don’t accept limitations!“ -Sir Roger Bannister, neurologist, former Master of Pembroke College, Oxford. The first human to run the mile in under four minutes.
“For him there was only one standard and that was world-standard. The goal was never to finish second. He always said: “You have to go out and win." Our relationship was almost like father and son. Without him I would never have got to where I did.” -Ralph Doubell, Australia. 800m Olympic champion, 1968
„He seemed to us as if he had come from another time and from another world. He was certainly one of the great characters of the 20th century.” - Sir Christopher Chataway, former UK government minister for Post, Telecommunications and Industry. Former 5,000m world record holder.

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Running Throughout Time: The Greatest Running Stories Ever Told   Running Throughout Time: The Greatest Running Stories Ever Told

By Roger Robinson (Author)

Every runner's story is part of a great tradition of running stories. Running Throughout Time tells the best and most important of them. From Atalanta, the heroic woman runner of ancient Greece - when goddesses advised on race tactics - to the new legends of Billy Mills, Joan Benoit Samuelson, and Allison Roe (the modern Atalanta), this book brings the greatest runners back to life. It's the perfect runner's bedside storybook.

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Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World  Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World

By Lauren Fleshman (Author)

Fueled by her years as an elite runner and advocate for women in sports, Lauren Fleshman offers her inspiring personal story and a rallying cry for reform of a sports landscape that is failing young female athletes
Lauren Fleshman has grown up in the world of running: one of the most decorated collegiate athletes of all time and a national champion as a pro, she was a major face of women’s running for Nike before leaving to shake up the industry with feminist running brand Oiselle and now coaches elite young female runners. Every step of the way, she has seen the way that our sports systems—originally designed by men, for men and boys—fail young women and girls as much as empower them. Girls drop out of sports at alarming rates once they hit puberty, and female collegiate athletes routinely fall victim to injury, eating disorders, or mental health struggles as they try to force their way past a natural dip in performance for women of their age.
Part memoir, part manifesto, Good for a Girl is Fleshman’s story of falling in love with running as a girl, being pushed to her limits and succumbing to devastating injuries, and daring to fight for a better way for female athletes. Long gone are the days when women and girls felt lucky just to participate; Fleshman and women everywhere are waking up to the reality that they’re running, playing, and competing in a world that wasn’t made for them. Drawing on not only her own story but also emerging research on the physiology and psychology of young athletes, both male and female, Fleshman gives voice to the often-silent experience of the female athlete and argues that the time has come to rebuild our systems of competitive sport with women at their center.
Written with heart and verve, Good for a Girl is a joyful love letter to the running life, a raw personal narrative of growth and change, and a vital call to reimagine sports for young women.

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Marathon Wisdom: An Elite Athlete's Insights on Running and Life

By Mara Yamauchi

This book of 42.195 insights the number of kilometers in a marathon distills the wealth of wisdom and experience Mara has gained as a world-class athlete. From planning training, optimizing nutrition, and preparing effectively for racing to coping with disappointments and struggles with mental illness, Mara shares everything she has learned good and bad as one of the world s top marathoners. Still, she does not spoon-feed her readers with training plans; instead, she encourages them to think critically to understand how to improve and set their own goals. This book also takes the reader into the revered world of distance running in Japan, one of the world s marathon superpowers. It has something for everyone, from beginner runners to competitive athletes and those aspiring to the very top.

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The Dirtiest Race in History: Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and the 1988 Olympic 100m Final  The Dirtiest Race in History: Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis and the 1988 Olympic 100m Final

By Richard Moore

The 1988 Seoul Olympics played host to what has been described by some as the dirtiest race of all time, by others as the greatest. The final of the men's 100 metres at those Olympics is certainly the most infamous in the history of athletics, and more indelibly etched into the consciousness of the sport, the Olympics, and a global audience of millions, than any other athletics event before or since.
Ben Johnson's world-record time of 9.79 seconds – as thrilling as it was – was the beginning rather than the end of the story. Following the race, Johnson tested positive, news that generated as many – if not more – shockwaves as his fastest ever run. He was stripped of the title, Lewis was awarded the gold medal, Linford Christie the silver and Calvin Smith the bronze.
More than two decades on, the story still hadn't ended. In 1999 Lewis was named Sportsman of the Century by the IOC, and Olympian of the Century by Sports Illustrated. Yet his reputation was damaged by revelations that he too used performance-enhancing drugs, and tested positive prior to the Seoul Olympics. Christie also tested positive in Seoul but his explanation, that the banned substance had been in ginseng tea, was accepted. Smith, now a lecturer in English literature at a Florida university, was the only athlete in the top five whose reputation remains unblemished – the others all tested positive at some stage in their careers.
Containing remarkable new revelations, this book uses witness interviews - with Johnson, Lewis and Smith among others - to reconstruct the build-up to the race, the race itself, and the fallout when news of Johnson's positive test broke and he was forced into hiding. It also examines the rivalry of the two favourites going into it, and puts the race in a historical context, examining its continuing relevance on the sport today, where every new record elicits scepticism.

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The Comeback Quotient: A Get-Real Guide to Building Mental Fitness in Sport and Life  The Comeback Quotient: A Get-Real Guide to Building Mental Fitness in Sport and Life

By Matt Fitzgerald

A good comeback makes a great story. In The Comeback Quotient, sports journalist Matt Fitzgerald shares the stories of top athletic comebacks, to give you inspiration and tools for your own comeback in sport or life.
Every sports fan loves a great comeback. Is there a special quality shared by top athletes who triumph over great challenges? And can anyone acquire it? In The Comeback Quotient, celebrated sportswriter Matt Fitzgerald supplies the answer to both questions. He identifies these mega-achievers of astounding athletic comebacks as “ultrarealists,” men and women who succeed where others fail by fully accepting, embracing, and addressing the reality of their situations. From ultrarunners like Rob Krar to triathletes like Mirinda Carfrae to rowers, skiers, cyclists, and runners all over the world, Fitzgerald highlights and speculates on just what makes these comebacks so compelling. As for whether anyone can stage his or her own great comeback, the answer is a resounding yes: Anyone can become an ultrarealist to some degree. In the tradition of his best-selling How Bad Do You Want It?, The Comeback Quotient combines gripping sports stories with mind-blowing science to deliver a book that will forever change how you perceive the challenges you face, giving you the inspiration and the tools to make the next great comeback you witness your own.

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Equal Play: Title IX and Social Change Equal Play: Title IX and Social Change

By Nancy Hogshead-Makar (Editor), Andrew Zimbalist (Editor)

One of the least understood issues in federal sports policy, Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 reflects the nation's aspirational belief that girls and boys, women and men, deserve equal educational opportunities in athletics. Equal Play shows how this ideal has been implemented -- and thwarted -- by actions in every branch of the federal government.
This reader addresses issues in sports before Title IX and the backlash that has resulted from the policy being instituted. The editors have collected the best scholarly writing on the landmark events of the last four decades and couple these with new original essays, primary documents from court cases, administrative regulations, and relevant supporting sources. The result is the most comprehensive single-volume work on the subject.
Equal Play includes essays by many well-known sports journalists who discuss how government actions have shaped, supported, and hindered the goal of gender equality in school athletics. They discuss the history of women in sports, analyze the meaning of "equal opportunity" for female athletes, and examine shifts in arguments for and against Title IX. Equal Play will interest anyone who is concerned with gender issues in American athletics and the growth of college sports.
Contributors include: Susan Cahn, Donna de Varona, Julie Foudy, Jessica Gavora, Bil Gilbert, Christine Grant, Mariah Burton Nelson, Gary R. Roberts, Don Sabo, Larry Schwartz, Michael Sokolove, Welch Suggs, Nancy Williamson, and the editors.
About the Author
Nancy Hogshead-Makar is a Professor at the Florida Coastal School of Law. She is a former President of the Women's Sports Foundation (1992-94) and currently serves as its legal advisor. She has testified in Congress numerous times on the topic of gender equity in athletics, written numerous scholarly and lay articles, serves as an expert witness in Title IX cases, and has written amicus briefs representing athletic organizations in the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Hogshead-Makar is an Olympic Champion from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, wining three gold medals and one silver medal in swimming.
Andrew Zimbalist is Robert A. Woods Professor of Economics at Smith College. He is the author or editor of eighteen previous books, including The Bottom Line: Observations and Arguments on the Sports Business (Temple) and In the Best Interest of Baseball? The Revolutionary Reign of Bud Selig. He is a member of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Sports Economics, and has consulted extensively in the sports industry for players associations, leagues, cities, and owners.

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The Villanova Track Story: 1966-1981: Touching Greatness, Forever Together The Villanova Track Story: 1966-1981: Touching Greatness, Forever Together

By Jerry Bouma (Author), Jaclyn Draker (Contributor), & 2 more

Touching Greatness, Forever Together - The Villanova Track Story: 1966-1981 is an inside account of how a small private university in eastern USA became the greatest middle-distance track & field power in the world. For 16 consecutive years, the Villanova Track Team won the Championship of America Distance Medley Relay at the Penn Relays – a winning streak that is unrivalled in the world of amateur and professional sports. Astonishingly, during this same period, Villanova won a total of 52 Championship of America relay races including the One Mile, Two Mile, Sprint Medley and Four Mile at the Penn Relays as well as producing numerous IC4A and NCAA Champions, World Records and World Bests. Written by Jerry Bouma, a former Villanova track athlete (1970-74) and Co-Captain with John Hartnett in his senior year, the book provides front line insights of the philosophy and approach of the great Coach Jumbo Elliott. He describes in detail the ascendency of such national and international stars as Dave Patrick, Charlie Messenger, Frank Murphy, Tom Donnelly, Dick Buerkle, Marty Liquori, Chris Mason, Donal Walsh, Davey Wright, Wilson Smith, John Hartnett, Ken Schappert, Brian McElroy, Eamonn Coghlan, Tom Gregan, Ed Takacs, Phil Kane, Mark Belger, Don Paige, Tony Tufariello, Sydney Maree, Dean Childs, John Burns, John Hunter, Mike England and Marcus O’Sullivan and describes in detail the leaders who emerged from this accomplished group to inspire the team year after year, each in their own unique way. All supported and guided by another key contributing factor - Coach Jack ‘Mother’ Pyrah who played a critical role in the success of the team. Bouma addresses the fundamental questions of how and why the Villanova University Track Team sustained such a successful program for such a long period of time. He identifies and analyses several critical factors that encompasses coaching, training, the unique characters, leadership, team culture, and the uniqueness of the location of Villanova University itself including the training environment. Touching Greatness, Forever Together - The Villanova Track Story: 1966-1981 is a must read for any coach, aspiring runner or athlete from all sports. Additionally, the principles that generated success for Villanova Track year after year, can also be applied to any individual or business.

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Breakthrough Women's Running: Dream Big and Train Smart Breakthrough Women's Running: Dream Big and Train Smart

By Neely Spence Gracey (Author), Cindy Kuzma (Author)

Breakthrough Women’s Running is written just for you—a woman runner who has big goals and needs a plan to achieve them. In her trademark fun and upbeat style, professional runner and coach Neely Spence Gracey will set you up for success with an inside look at her own story in the sport—paired with the science, experience, strategies, and insights that have worked for her and countless other female runners who set challenging goals and achieved them.
Told with engaging storytelling and packed with colorful images and practical recommendations to improve your running, Breakthrough Women’s Running offers 5K, 10K, half-marathon, marathon, and run-walk training plans to suit your current distance or pacing goals. With the strength and mobility workouts included in the plans, you don’t have to wonder where and how to fit in these important (but often overlooked) components of a successful running training program. Learn how to breathe in rhythm and how to focus with mantras and mindfulness exercises. Get specific guidance on how to best manage unique challenges that women confront such as hormone fluctuations; training through the menstrual cycle, while pregnant, or after childbirth; and training while also raising a family. Know how to train to prevent injury as well as how to return to running should an injury occur. And fuel your training with five simple recipes that are nutrient dense and simple to prepare.
You’ll hear from well-known, successful women runners such as Sara Hall and Nell Rojas on how even elite runners experience highs and lows in their training as well as how they themselves overcame obstacles to reach their goals. At the ends of chapters, you’ll find Breakthrough Goals—a section of small, tangible actions that you can apply in your own training to overcome specific obstacles.
If you’re looking for a strategic and progressive approach for breaking through your physical or mental barriers to achieve more successful and fulfilling running, you’ve found it with Breakthrough Women’s Running.
CE exam available! For certified professionals, a companion continuing education exam can be completed after reading this book. The Breakthrough Women’s Running Online CE Exam may be purchased separately or as part of the Breakthrough Women’s Running With CE Exam package that includes both the book and the exam.

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Tokyo Countdown Tokyo Countdown -Kindle Edition Only

By Geoff Wightman

Geoff Wightman was one of the athletics stadium announcers for the Tokyo Olympic Games. His son Jake was aiming to qualify for Team GB. It was on schedule in January 2020 and then Covid-19 hit the world. This is the story of a winding and rocky road to Japan.
Re-live Tokyo in this behind-the-scenes diary for athletics fans, told from the unique perspective of an announcer and coach.

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How She Did It: Stories, Advice, and Secrets to Success from Fifty Legendary Distance Runners How She Did It: Stories, Advice, and Secrets to Success from Fifty Legendary Distance Runners

By Molly Huddle, Sara Slattery

An essential guide for female athletes navigating the world of competitive running, featuring 50 candid interviews with women who've made it
How She Did It begins with the kind of prescriptive information that any athlete needs to be healthy and successful in the world of competitive running, with advice and findings from the nation's top bone health experts, sports endocrinologists, nutritionists, sports psychologists, and more. It's an Olympic caliber support team at your fingertips to ensure you're training and competing efficiently—and, most importantly, safely.
The book then moves into the payload: unflinching and intimate interviews with 50 well-known female runners who reveal their deepest fears, their worst choices, and their greatest achievements. Collectively, these voices are the embodiment of strength, meant to educate, inspire, motivate, and direct developing athletes who want to see how far—and how fast—they can go.
With Molly and Sara's personal stories interspersed in sidebars throughout, How She Did It serves as a friendly, encouraging mentor for anyone navigating the world of long-distance running.

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Pregruncy: AN ELITE RUNNER’S JOURNEY TRAINING THROUGH PREGNANCY Pregruncy: AN ELITE RUNNER’S JOURNEY TRAINING THROUGH PREGNANCY

By Dr. Natasha LaBeaud Anzures (Author), Marco Anzures (Author)

I decided to write Pregruncy as soon as I found out that I was pregnant. Like many others, I have always been fascinated with the notion of exercise during pregnancy, and what the entire pregnancy experience would be like. Years before I ever became pregnant, I would read any articles that came my way about the topic. I was never the person who said that they were going to have a family, or became starry-eyed when thinking about cradling my stomach during the third trimester. No, I have always been more curious about the process of pregnancy. Curious about the stages of growth and how different people cope with the cards that they are dealt. But, I noticed that there were few resources available for the elite runner trying to navigate the world of training during pregnancy. There were morsels of details deep in Instagram posts, but there was no consistent stream of information available that showed what each day of training looked like, and that was what I was on a quest to share.
My husband, who is also my coach, and I decided that I would use my own personal experiences to help others navigate pregnancy. While I understand that this is a very small n-value (n=1) with just me, I also knew that I had not found a resource that chronicled each day of training and the pregnancy experience. I kept thinking about how helpful it would be to know what the whole journey looked like for someone, as opposed to snippets along the way. I also know that my experiences with pregnancy are my own and may not match someone else’s. I wanted to see what was possible during pregnancy. I had heard so many notions about what a woman can and can’t do while they are baking a baby for over nine months, and most of the guidance errs on the ‘can’t’ side without much evidence supporting it.
Marco and I decided that he would also keep his own notes during this process so that we could have two perspectives. He never read my notes during the pregnancy, and I never read his. The notes were combined later so that the “coach’s notes” could be sprinkled in throughout.
What we learned is that the human body can do some amazing things and withstand an incredible amount of pain. We also learned that the healthcare system in the United States has a long way to go in terms of care for pregnant women.

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The Anatomy of Speed The Anatomy of Speed

By Bill Parisis

While speed is often viewed as the defining characteristic of elite athletic performance, there remains plenty of misinformation and confusion about what speed truly is and how it can be developed. Speed is far more than seconds on a stopwatch—it is the result of multiple anatomical systems working together in highly coordinated unison, from the cross-body co-contractions of deep myofascial tissues to the pulsing contract-and-release cycle of the nervous system.
The Anatomy of Speed is a resource like no other. Bill Parisi, the internationally recognized expert and founder of Parisi Speed School, delves deep into the physiological mechanisms of speed through in-depth interviews with top experts and researchers in the field. The text provides scientifically proven exercises and drills for developing speed that will help performance coaches and athletes more effectively maximize development of this precious attribute. Using detailed photo sequences, enhanced with anatomical overlays, you will understand the different manifestations of speed, the biomotor systems that drive them, and scientifically proven drills and exercises for developing these abilities:
* Acceleration
* Maximum velocity
* Deceleration
* Change of direction
* Agility
* Maneuverability
* Speed-specific strength
The Anatomy of Speed converts the science into practical application, allowing you to select the most effective drills and exercises, and tailor a training program unique to your athlete’s needs. The exercises—which are each designated as basic, moderate, or advanced—are organized by complexity and speed-related categories. Exercises aimed at improving range of motion and priming the nervous system set the stage for optimal results. Speed-specific strength exercises use equipment like free weights, medicine balls, and sleds to target important speed and change-of-direction qualities. A practical programming chapter helps you assemble it all into individualized training based on sport, position, body type, skill level, movement preference, and training history.
Speed comes in many forms. It is a physical skill that can be developed and improved with targeted training and a solid understanding of mechanics. The Anatomy of Speed offers equal parts science, art, and practical application to do just that.
CE exam available! For certified professionals, a companion continuing education exam can be completed after reading this book. The Anatomy of Speed Online CE Exam may be purchased separately or as part of The Anatomy of Speed With CE Exam package that includes both the book and the exam.

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Chasing Excellence: The Remarkable Life and Inspiring Vigilosophy of Coach Joe I. Vigil

Chasing Excellence: The Remarkable Life and Inspiring Vigilosophy of Coach Joe I. Vigil

Pat Melgares (Author), Billy Mills (Foreword)

Dr. Joe I. Vigil—known simply as “Coach” to virtually everybody he has ever met—rose from poverty to become a towering figure in the running world. Coach has won 19 national championships and coached 425 All-Americans, 22 Olympians…and an army of “Vigilantes” who seek to emulate his unique blend of compassion, competitive spirit, and commitment to others.In this long-overdue biography about America’s preeminent distance-running coach, author and Vigilante Pat Melgares shares Coach Vigil’s tale not just through the consummate storyteller’s own words but also through those of more than 50 family members, friends, former runners, and foes who have been shaped by his presence over a lifetime.Coach Vigil is driven by a persistent desire to learn, a deep faith in people, and an unwavering loyalty to his hometown of Alamosa, Colorado. His life is an American dream—a must-read for anyone who loves an underdog or seeks to understand the timeless qualities that forge a leader. “Chasing Excellence” has been Coach Vigil’s mantra for decades, for himself and those he teaches. At age 90, he’s as relentless as ever in that quest.

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Abdi's World: The Black Cactus on Life, Running, and Fun

Abdi's World: The Black Cactus on Life, Running, and Fun

By Myles Schrag MS (Author), Abdi Abdirahman (Author), Mo Farah (Foreword)

Abdi’s World is a quirky place where the only American distance athlete to qualify for five Olympics shares the stories that shaped his enduring love of running and his laid-back approach to life. Abdi Abdirahman arrived in Tucson, Arizona, as a teenager when his family escaped civil war in their home country of Somalia. How the “Black Cactus,” as he is affectionately known, stumbled upon a career as one of the world’s most durable and beloved track and road racers of the 21st century is a story of resilience, commitment, and respect for friends and competitors alike—told here in a guide that is part life lessons, part training tips, part autobiography, and all Abdi. He has traveled the globe and shared his joie de vivre at every stop, showing a magician’s ability to balance work and play that anyone young or old, in or out of running, could learn from to live a more meaningful life. Enter Abdi’s World to join him on his insightful journey—and see what happens when you meet his stride.

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The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of Perspiration  The Joy of Sweat: The Strange Science of Perspiration
By Sarah Everts (Author)
A New York Times Most Anticipated Book of the Summer
A taboo-busting romp through the shame, stink, and strange science of sweating.
Sweating may be one of our weirdest biological functions, but it’s also one of our most vital and least understood. In The Joy of Sweat, Sarah Everts delves into its role in the body—and in human history.
Why is sweat salty? Why do we sweat when stressed? Why do some people produce colorful sweat? And should you worry about Big Brother tracking the hundreds of molecules that leak out in your sweat—not just the stinky ones or alleged pheromones—but the ones that reveal secrets about your health and vices?
Everts’s entertaining investigation takes readers around the world—from Moscow, where she participates in a dating event in which people sniff sweat in search of love, to New Jersey, where companies hire trained armpit sniffers to assess the efficacy of their anti-sweat products. In Finland, Everts explores the delights of the legendary smoke sauna and the purported health benefits of good sweat, while in the Netherlands she slips into the sauna theater scene, replete with costumes, special effects, and towel dancing.
Along the way, Everts traces humanity’s long quest to control sweat, culminating in the multibillion-dollar industry for deodorants and antiperspirants. And she shows that while sweating can be annoying, our sophisticated temperature control strategy is one of humanity’s most powerful biological traits.
Deeply researched and written with great zest, The Joy of Sweat is a fresh take on a gross but engrossing fact of human life.

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T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us  T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us
By Carole Hooven
Through riveting personal stories and the latest research, Harvard evolutionary biologist Carole Hooven shows how testosterone drives the behavior of the sexes apart and how understanding the science behind this hormone is empowering for all.
Since antiquity?from the eunuchs in the royal courts of ancient China to the booming market for “elixirs of youth” in nineteenth-century Europe?humans have understood that typically masculine behavior depends on testicles, the main source of testosterone in males. Which sex has the highest rates of physical violence, hunger for status, and desire for a high number of sex partners? Just follow the testosterone.
Although we humans can study and reflect on our own behavior, we are also animals, the products of millions of years of evolution. Fascinating research on creatures from chimpanzees to spiny lizards shows how high testosterone helps males out-reproduce their competitors. And men are no exception.
While most people agree that sex differences in human behavior exist, they disagree about the reasons. But the science is clear: testosterone is a potent force in human society, driving the bodies and behavior of the sexes apart. But, as Hooven shows in T, it does so in concert with genes and culture to produce a vast variety of male and female behavior. And, crucially, the fact that many sex differences are grounded in biology provides no support for restrictive gender norms or patriarchal values. In understanding testosterone, we better understand ourselves and one another?and how we might build a fairer, safer society.

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Ageless Intensity: High-Intensity Workouts to Slow the Aging Process  Ageless Intensity: High-Intensity Workouts to Slow the Aging Process
By Pete McCall
Are you age 40 or over and want to maintain your workout intensity even as your body starts to age? Are you not yet ready to give up intense sweat sessions? Ageless Intensity offers a research-backed perspective on how high-intensity exercise can not only maximize health benefits past age 40 but also help minimize the physiological effects of aging.
Fitness expert Pete McCall provides straightforward science-based information on how the same high-intensity exercise that provides a number of health benefits—from increased lean muscle mass to burning fat to reduced heart rate—can also influence human physiology in a way that can reduce the biological effects of time. Learn about the impacts of aging on the body and how to keep getting results from working out hard and pushing yourself to your limits while doing it safely, lowering the risk of injury, and building in the needed recovery for a body that may be starting to show signs of aging.
You'll gain practical knowledge on the importance of strength and power, mobility work, and recovery as the keys to boosting your efforts to build and maintain muscle, burn calories, and help joints stay mobile as the body ages. The exercises included are designed to be challenging and deliver tangible benefits to middle-aged and older adults. Save time with the predesigned workouts or customize a complete workout plan to maximize your results and combat the effects of aging.
Reaching the "over-the-hill" milestone doesn’t mean you have to slow down. Ageless Intensity is your guide to maintaining fitness with high-intensity exercise and workouts to remain active, stay in shape, and enjoy your favorite activities for the rest of your life.

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Unsporting: How Trans Activism and Science Denial are Destroying Sport  Unsporting: How Trans Activism and Science Denial are Destroying Sport
By Linda Blade (Author), Barbara Kay (Author)
The face of female sports is changing.
Radical gender activists are using a pseudoscientific theory of human biology to hijack sports and subvert the long-established concepts of fair play — forcing women and girls to risk their safety, pushing them aside for male athletes using the excuse of “inclusivity.”
Anyone who questions this dogma risks being branded as a transphobe and having their social and professional lives “cancelled”.
In the new book, Unsporting: How Trans Activism and Science Denial are Destroying Sport, former Canadian track champion Linda Blade and renowned National Post columnist Barbara Kay, examine the dangers of gender ideology in sports. They document the attack on biological facts upon which the level playing field of sports rests.
Tackling issues few have the courage to say out loud, Unsporting shows the harm inflicted on female athletes, and identifies the institutions driving this movement.
What does the future hold for sports if biological reality is ignored? Blade answers that question, and concludes with a reasonable plan to reverse course.

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The Genius of Athletes: What World-Class Competitors Know That Can Change Your Life Hardcover  The Genius of Athletes: What World-Class Competitors Know That Can Change Your Life Hardcover
By Noel Brick (Author), Scott Douglas (Author)
Whatever your biggest goals are in life, learning to think like an athlete is a game changer.
If you ask research psychologist Noel Brick and bestselling fitness author and journalist Scott Douglas, the “dumb jock” stereotype is way out of bounds. Modern advances in sports psychology confirm what fans have known all along: No world-class athlete—whether an Olympic runner, swimmer, or cyclist, or a pro basketball, baseball, or football player—gets to the top without a strong mental game. Champion competitors have unique ways of taking stock of a situation, self-motivating, and even thinking about time. Cutting-edge discoveries (including those by Dr. Brick) reveal exactly how they do it—and how we can, too.
You don’t need to be facing a literal hurdle to use elite athletes’ tool kits of strategies: They can help you stick the landing at a job interview or get your thesis to the finish line. Brick and Douglas pair groundbreaking science with a highlight reel of instructive moments from across the sports realm to show how legendary marathoner Meb Keflezighi runs on self-talk and how making if-then plans at practice buoyed Michael Phelps to a gold medal at the Olympics. Wherever you are in your own ambitions—from the “middle muddle” to the final stretch—The Genius of Athletes will put you right in the zone.

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Relentless: Secrets of the Sporting Elite Hardcover – Aug. 31 2021  Relentless: Secrets of the Sporting Elite Hardcover – Aug. 31 2021
Alistair Brownlee
In his quest to define ‘sporting greatness’, double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee has spent nearly 4 years interviewing and training with some of the greatest minds in sport to discover what it takes to become – and remain – a champion.
Featuring:
Ian Poulter • Ronnie O’Sullivan • Alastair Cook • Paula Radcliffe • Ian Botham • Alex Danson • Michael Owen • Shane Williams • Mark Cavendish • Donna Fraser • Denis Irwin • Anna Hemmings • Richard Dunwoody • Chris Froome • Kilian Jornet • Mark Webber • AP McCoy • Stuart Lancaster • Adam Peaty • Michael Johnson • Ian Thorpe
From the age of 10 Alistair Brownlee has been obsessed with being the very best, and not just improving his sporting performance across his three specialist triathlon disciplines of swimming, cycling and running, but also understanding how a winner becomes a dominant champion. Winning gold in consecutive Olympic Games has only strengthened this need and desire.
Over the last 4 years Alistair has been on a journey to learn from the best, talking to elite figures across multiple sports – including Chris Froome, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Alastair Cook, Paula Radcliffe, Ian Poulter, Shane Williams, Ian Botham, Mark Webber, AP McCoy, Adam Peaty, Michael Johnson, and Ian Thorpe – as well as leading thinkers and scientists, to understand what enabled these remarkable individuals to rise to the very top, and to push the limits of human capability in their relentless pursuit of perfection.
Alistair uses these fascinating interviews, along with extensive research, to explore a range of sports and environments – athletics, cycling, football, rugby, horseracing, hockey, cricket, golf, motor racing, snooker and ultra-running – to reveal how talent alone is never enough and how hard work, pain, pressure, stress, risk, focus, sacrifice, innovation, reinvention, passion, ruthlessness, luck and even failure can all play a crucial part in honing a winning mentality and achieving sustained success.

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The Unforgiving Line The Unforgiving Line
By Paul C. Maurer
'For some, running is a cornerstone in their lives. To those individuals, there is an unquenchable need to run on roads, trails and track. They cannot explain it, but that does not matter. Running is who they are. It is for them The Unforgiving Line is written. Blending past and present, the glorious history of distance running is woven into the tale. Mac, a running warrior from a past era, cannot erase his failure at the worst of times: the 1968 Olympic trials fifteen-hundred meters. D.J., a talented but emotionally fractured sixteen-year old, carries scars garnered from a troubled home life. Mac and D.J. form an unlikely pairing, but each carries the other on a path that encounters rejection, failure, and broken dreams in the quest of finding love and redemption. The Unforgiving Line delivers through the final stride.

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Running Within: A Guide to Mastering the Body-Mind-Spirit: A Guide to Mastering the Body-Mind-Spirit Connection for Ultimate Training and Racing Running Within: A Guide to Mastering the Body-Mind-Spirit: A Guide to Mastering the Body-Mind-Spirit Connection for Ultimate Training and Racing
By Jerry Lynch and Warren Scott
'Runners know all too well the physical and mental challenges of their sport. Plodding for miles through inclement weather, rising before dawn to squeeze a daily run into a busy schedule, overcoming minor aches and lethargy that pose a threat to an active lifestyle, these are but a few of the familiar obstacles faced by millions of runners like you.
Running Within addresses the mental and physical factors of importance to runners and offers positive, practical recommendations for infusing the body, mind, and spirit with new energy and passion for running. It also provides solid information on training and racing. It will help you perform better, have more fun, and experience a deeper connection with running.
Written by top sport psychologist, best-selling author, and runner Jerry Lynch, along with physician and elite triathlete Warren Scott, this book presents prescriptions, tools, and strategies for runners to fulfill their potential. Included are:
- goal-setting guidelines,
- relaxation and visualization exercises,
- affirmation-building tips along with 63 examples,
- strategies for learning from setbacks,
- ways to take better risks,
- fatigue- and injury-coping strategies,
- motivation boosters, and
- prerace and race strategies.

Running Within will push your performance and enthusiasm to new heights. See how much better running can be with the body, mind, and spirit in synch and primed for every run you take.

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Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding  Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding
By Daniel Lieberman (Author)
'If exercise is healthy (so good for you!), why do many people dislike or avoid it? These engaging stories and explanations will revolutionize the way you think about exercising—not to mention sitting, sleeping, sprinting, weight lifting, playing, fighting, walking, jogging, and even dancing.
"Strikes a perfect balance of scholarship, wit, and enthusiasm." - Bill Bryson, New York Times best-selling author of The Body
*If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it easy whenever possible?
*Does running ruin your knees?
*Should we do weights, cardio, or high-intensity training?
*Is sitting really the new smoking? *Can you lose weight by walking?
*And how do we make sense of the conflicting, anxiety-inducing information about rest, physical activity, and exercise with which we are bombarded?
In this myth-busting book, Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard University and a pioneering researcher on the evolution of human physical activity, tells the story of how we never evolved to exercise—to do voluntary physical activity for the sake of health. Using his own research and experiences throughout the world, Lieberman recounts without jargon how and why humans evolved to walk, run, dig, and do other necessary and rewarding physical activities while avoiding needless exertion.
Exercised is entertaining and enlightening but also constructive. As our increasingly sedentary lifestyles have contributed to skyrocketing rates of obesity and diseases such as diabetes, Lieberman audaciously argues that to become more active we need to do more than medicalize and commodify exercise.
Drawing on insights from evolutionary biology and anthropology, Lieberman suggests how we can make exercise more enjoyable, rather than shaming and blaming people for avoiding it. He also tackles the question of whether you can exercise too much, even as he explains why exercise can reduce our vulnerability to the diseases mostly likely to make us sick and kill us.

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Out of Thin Air: Running Wisdom and Magic from Above the Clouds in Ethiopia Out of Thin Air: Running Wisdom and Magic from Above the Clouds in Ethiopia
By Michael Crawley (Author)
'Full of wonderful insights and lessons from a world where the ability to run is viewed as something almost mysterious and magical.' Adharanand Finn, author of Running with the Kenyans
'Ethiopia is a place where I have been told that energy is controlled by angels and demons and where witchdoctors can help you to acquire another runner's power. It is a place where an anonymous runner in the forest told me, miming an imaginary scoreboard and with a completely straight face, that he had dreamt that he would run 10km in 25 minutes. It is a place where they tell me that the air at Mount Entoto will transform me into a 2.08 marathon runner. It is a place, in short, of wisdom and magic, where dreaming is still very much alive.'
Why does it make sense to Ethiopian runners to get up at 3am to run up and down a hill? Who would choose to train on almost impossibly steep and rocky terrain, in hyena territory? And how come Ethiopian men hold six of the top ten fastest marathon times ever?
Michael Crawley spent fifteen months in Ethiopia training alongside (and sometimes a fair way behind) runners at all levels of the sport, from night watchmen hoping to change their lives to world class marathon runners, in order to answer these questions. Follow him into the forest as he attempts to keep up and get to the heart of their success.

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The Athlete's Gut: The Inside Science of Digestion, Nutrition, and Stomach Distress The Athlete's Gut: The Inside Science of Digestion, Nutrition, and Stomach Distress
By Patrick Wilson PhD RD PhD RD
The Athlete’s Gut is an in-depth look at a system that plagues many athletes. This guide offers a much-needed resource for troubleshooting GI problems.
The majority of endurance athletes suffer from some kind of gut problem during training and competition. Symptoms like nausea, cramping, bloating, side stitches, and the need to defecate can negatively impact an athlete’s performance. Why are gut problems so common during exercise? And what can athletes do to prevent and manage gut symptoms that occur during training and competition?
The Athlete’s Gut makes sense of the complicated gastrointestinal tract and offers solutions to the tummy troubles that keep athletes from enjoying and excelling in their sport. Written by Patrick Wilson, professor of exercise science and registered dietitian, this gut guide for athletes combines the latest research on exercise and the gut with humorous descriptions and relatable stories. Athletes will better understand the inner workings of their own gut and will be equipped to make the needed changes to diet and exercise to perform?and feel?better.

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Science of Running: Analyze your Technique, Prevent Injury, Revolutionize your Training Science of Running: Analyze your Technique, Prevent Injury, Revolutionize your Training
By Chris Napier (Author)
Discover the hard science that will help you run faster, endure for longer, and avoid injury.
Analyze your running style and learn how to enhance your gait for optimum efficiency and safety.
Transform your performance with exercises targeting strength, flexibility, and recovery - each exercise annotated to reveal the muscle mechanics so you know you're getting it right.
Understand the science behind your body's energy systems and how to train to maximize energy storage and conversion.
Follow training and exercise programs tailored to different abilities and distances, from 5K to marathon.
Whether you are new to running or an experienced runner, this book will help you achieve your goals and stay injury-free.

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Girls Running: All You Need to Strive, Thrive, and Run Your Best Girls Running: All You Need to Strive, Thrive, and Run Your Best
By Melody Fairchild (Author), Elizabeth Carey (Author)
Running can shape a young athlete in healthy, positive ways for the rest of her life.
Girls Running offers the guidance and tools girls need to thrive on their running journey, right from the start. With straight talk on training, physiology, menstruation, sports nutrition, a winning mindset, body image issues, gear, team-building, and competition, Girls Running educates and empowers young runners to achieve their potential and love running more.
Inspired by high-school phenom Melody Fairchild’s groundbreaking running journey, and with the coaching insight from Fairchild and coauthor Elizabeth Carey, Girls Running is a valuable toolkit for middle- and high-school runners. Backed by science, research, and over 100,000 miles of experience, this resource answers the most timely and sensitive questions that girls face when their bodies change and the miles increase. Girls, parents, and coaches will see ways to navigate puberty, mental health, eating disorders, and the pressures of competitive running.
Girls Running is a go-to guide for everything girls need to know to run better?and love the journey while doing it!

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The Russian Affair: The True Story of the Couple who Uncovered the Greatest Sporting Scandal The Russian Affair: The True Story of the Couple who Uncovered the Greatest Sporting Scandal
By David Walsh (Author)
It was the story that shocked the world: Russian athletics was revealed to be corrupt from top to bottom, with institutionalised doping used to help the nation's athletes win medals they did not truly deserve. There had always been suspicions, but now WADA had the clearest evidence of what had gone on. As a result, Russia was banned from international athletics until they could show that they were competing clean. With the Rio Olympics imminent, it was a shattering blow to the country's prestige. At the heart of it all, however, was a very personal story of a couple who had risked everything.
Vitaliy Stepanov had been part of the Russian anti-doping squad, and during his work he had met and fallen in love with Yuliya, one of the country's most promising 800m athletes. But soon Vitaliy discovered that his bride was not all she seemed: she was taking performance-enhancing drugs. It could have been the end of their relationship, but instead they decided they would reveal the scale and the scope of the corruption in Russian athletics - the bribes, the drugs, the abuse. At enormous personal risk to their marriage and even their lives, they recorded and filmed athletes and officials involved in the scandal, and then escaped to Germany to pass on their devastating evidence.
Now, with award-winning journalist David Walsh, the man who broke the Lance Armstrong story, they reveal the full truth of what went on in Russia, and the corrupt system that surrounded everything they did. But it is not only an unrivalled and comprehensive account of the biggest sporting scandal, it is a warm and human story of a couple fighting to tell the truth and to save their family at the same time.

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The Rodchenkov Affair: How I Brought Down Russia’s Secret Doping Empire The Rodchenkov Affair: How I Brought Down Russia’s Secret Doping Empire
By Grigory Rodchenkov (Author)
The full story behind Oscar award-winning Icarus
One of the Financial Times's 'Fifty people who shaped the decade'
'The biggest sports scandal the world has ever seen'
In 2015, Russia's Anti-Doping Centre was suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) following revelations of an elaborate state-sponsored doping programme at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Involving a nearly undetectable steroid delivery system known as 'Duchesse cocktail', tampering and switching of urine samples, and a complex state-sanctioned cover-up, the programme was masterminded by Grigory Rodchenkov.
The Rodchenkov Affair tells the full, unadulterated story that was first glimpsed in Bryan Fogel's award-winning documentary and still continues to captivate and shock the world. Charting the author's childhood growing up under the Iron Curtain, his first encounter with doping as a 22-year-old student athlete at Moscow State University, and his subsequent career working for the Soviet Olympic Committee, this breathtakingly candid journey reveals a rigged system of flawed individuals, brazen deceit and impossible moral choices.

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With the Wind: Finding Victory Within With the Wind: Finding Victory Within
By Sam Chelanga (Author), Paul Tergat (Foreword)
With the Wind reveals the key to finding the triumph from within and the champion within everyone.
Many people find themselves living a life they in no way predicted or foresaw. With the Wind is an attempt to show that although people are different in so many ways, they are more alike than they may realize. It is there in that place of likeness that lays the root to the joy that is sought after. The joy, just as the likeness, was there all along.
With the Wind is a true story, written by the man himself who ran his way out of poverty in Rural Kenya, to becoming a collegiate track star and National Champion, to now wearing the Army Green and serving in the US Military. Within its pages, Sam Chelanga gives his raw and inspirational take on life and paves the way to finding the champion within everyone.

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Olympic Pride, American Prejudice: The Untold Story of 18 African Americans Who Defied Jim Crow and Adolf Hitler to Compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics Olympic Pride, American Prejudice: The Untold Story of 18 African Americans Who Defied Jim Crow and Adolf Hitler to Compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics
By Deborah Riley Draper (Author), Blair Underwood (Author), Travis Thrasher (Author)
Discover the astonishing, inspirational, and largely unknown true story of the eighteen African American athletes who competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, defying the racism of both Nazi Germany and the Jim Crow South.
Set against the turbulent backdrop of a segregated United States, sixteen black men and two black women are torn between boycotting the Olympic Games in Nazi Germany or participating. If they go, they would represent a country that considered them second-class citizens and would compete amid a strong undercurrent of Aryan superiority that considered them inferior. Yet, if they stayed, would they ever have a chance to prove them wrong on a global stage? To be better than anyone ever expected?
Five athletes, full of discipline and heart, guide readers through this harrowing and inspiring journey. There’s a young and sometimes feisty Tidye Pickett from Chicago, whose lithe speed makes her the first African American woman to compete in the Olympic Games; a quiet Louise Stokes from Malden, Massachusetts, who breaks records across the Northeast with humble beginnings training on railroad tracks. We find Mack Robinson in Pasadena, California, setting an example for his younger brother, Jackie Robinson; and the unlikely competitor Archie Williams, a lanky book-smart teen in Oakland takes home a gold medal. Then there’s Ralph Metcalfe, born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, who becomes the wise and fierce big brother of the group. Drawing on over five years of research, Draper and Thrasher bring to life a timely story of perseverance and the will to beat unsurmountable odds.
From burning crosses set on the Robinsons’s lawn to a Pennsylvania small town on fire with praise and parades when the athletes return from Berlin, Olympic Pride, American Prejudice is full of emotion, grit, political upheaval, and the American dream. Capturing a powerful and untold chapter of history, the narrative is also a celebration of the courage, commitment, and accomplishments of these talented athletes and their impact on race, sports and inclusion around the world.

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