You won't find a better, accurate, easy to read and understand.....

"Scientific Training for Endurance Athletes" by Philip Freire Skiba

He posts here under the handle Philbert. A really smart dude

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"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

“Never Finished”, by David Goggins ;-) Get the Audible version though, with some interview after each chapter.

Not filled with numbers and data but a good book about training: "The Well-Built Triathlete" by Matt Dixon.

science of winning jan olbrecht
sprint salo dave salo
lean body bible durianrider

To add on to this, favorite book and or websites about training with a power meter.

"Going Long," Friel and Byrn

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

The best book I have ever read in regard to the physiology of training for endurance sports is called Better Training for Distance Runners by Peter Coe (Seb Coes Dad). It does require a scientific background to understand the book completely, but it is well worth the read. I would not however follow Seb Coes training plan which is detailed in the book. It would melt 99% percent of athletes into the ground...

***Sorry, should also give credit to the other author, David Martin PhD, a physiologist.

I have to second this one. I'm a numbers person and Matt really isn't (at least in this book) but it is really good. It covers a breadth of training topics outside of just workout prescriptions that other books don't. It also presents the most complete and well-explained year-round training philosophy I have come across.

Scientific Training for Endurance Athletes is great too. Quite technical. This is probably your best bet based on what you specifically asked for.

The Triathlete's Training Bible by Joe Friel is solid and covers a really wide range of topics.

Scientific Training for Endurance Athletes by Phil Skiba. He is active on the forums here too. If you want a physiology heavy book then this is the absolute best one I've read.

I’m en engineer with an exercise physiology hobby. These are some of my collection, but I have another 30+ ebooks and 100+ academic papers. Skiba’s book is golden though, especially if you pair it with the spreadsheet from his paper with Dr. Clarke paper. The spreadsheet, tableS1, provides a method to determine CP, zones, and workout scoring. The spreadsheet also has Bannisters IR model and other neat features.

https://journals.physiology.org/...152/advan.00078.2011

tableS1 Spreadsheet
https://journals.physiology.org/...152/advan.00078.2011


Books

"Swimming Fastest" by Ernest Maglischo. At 791 pages, it is quite a tome. If you want more of just the basics, he also wrote "Swimming Even Faster", which is about half the size. Or you could go with his original "Swimming Faster". In any case, the guy knows his exercise phys as it relates to swimming.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

For Books, Endure by Alex Hutchinson comes to mind. I also listened to a biomechanics podcast recently that you could try out if you wanted "The Science of Performance with Dan Feeney". Dan is a former triathlete and runs a biomechanics lab.

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'22 IMMD, '23 SwimRun MD

I second "Going Long." Best book I've seen on the sport hands down (although I haven't looked at anything recent, so maybe that has changed). Gordo is a very smart fella, and quite a nice one, too.

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http://powerful-problem-solving.com

Matt Dixon’s books are great. His training plans helped me to realise the type of run training I needed and did my best run splits ever at 41 years old, after having started triathlon at 25.

Daniel’s Running Formula by Jack Daniels.

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Let food be thy medicine...

That’s a huge book. You got it?. I am also keen to get a copy of bill sweetenhams book as I like my aussie coaches too. Some old threads refer to bills book and if I remember correctly the basic pattern is 24 weeks of 55-60km per week. If you can’t improve on that you’re obviously allergic to water

I also got a book called swimming to the top by David Wright. Kiwi coach influenced by Lydiard. Was recommended on a podcast Joel filliol did. Quite relevant some concepts and themes to year on year swim training for triathlon

Don't have "Swimming Fastest" but do have "Swimming Faster" and "Swimming Even Faster". By the time "Fastest" came out, I was pretty over reading about swim training. I concluded some yrs ago that it boils down to swimming as much as you can tolerate, as hard as you can, then rest, taper and shave. There is no magic number of 100s or 200s to do, or any magic ratio of swimming, pulling, and kicking. There are no "key workouts" but rather improvement is a series of tiny improvements each week which you may not even see until you taper. You just have to kick ass, swim hard, and enjoy the process. Savor those tired shoulders and legs, and that ability to fall asleep in under 60 sec from lights out. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

I am now confused about the titles but they are all swimming and they are all fast

That’s a nice way to put it. Just bit by bit and also when you start to get friends with the guys and gals who work at the pool - you’re then spending enough time there

I kind of think most people swim so differently it’s just an individual perpetual optimisation of the stuff under the water. What’s above the water don’t matter too much. Lots of responsibility on your self to figure out what works for you physiologically and mentally

The first book was Swimming Faster, 2nd was Even Faster, and 3rd was Fastest. I will quibble a bit that above the water does matter to some degree. For example, you can see someone fishtailing from above the water, which is a big waste of energy. But on the whole you're right that the pull is the most vital thing, and it is obv under the water. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Before knowing much I bought Time Crunched Cyclist back in the day. While it did help get me started the workout zones are woefully too difficult in intensity for most people. And doing several intervals workouts per week that are already almost impossible isn’t it.

I went more traditional 80/20 and feel and perform much better.

+1

Hands down best coaching book I’ve ever read

Would love to get this book but it’s not available from anywhere I can find, if the author is watching this forum maybe he can let me/us know where to get it.

Thanks!

thanks for the idae/inspiration for this thread
i'm always interested in a good to great training book. at 56, I'm even more interested how training advice/principles should be adapted for the recovery impaired older dudes (like me!).
in my own experience - i'm trending to more variety to avoid too much neglect from a cycling dominant history (and preference).
do some of these training book suggestions address the older endurance human (skiba's appeals already if it also addresses this!)?

Probably not what you're looking for (because this book is actually fun) but I really enjoyed Running With Sherman by Christopher McDougall

"From the best-selling author of Born to Run, a heartwarming story about training a rescue donkey to run one of the most challenging races in America (the Burro Racing World Championship in Colorado) and, in the process, discovering the life-changing power of the human-animal connection."

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin