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.
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
+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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Training essentials for Ultrarunning by Jason Koop - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MYVR8P6
Although written with Ultra Running in mind, it is a gold mine for endurance/speed training and racing in general. Highly recommend his podcast too: https://www.jasonkoop.com/podcast
“Never Finishedâ€, by David Goggins
Read Goggins for purely the inspiration. Helpful early on, if you are just getting going in Endurance Sports - perhaps moving from a sedentary life to being more active, and taking on the challenge of finishing a Triathlon. However, after that, my personal feeling is the Goggins messaging starts to be NOT helpful, particularly if you are in it for the long haul and have higher performance goals. Really - running a marathon on a broken leg? How “helpful” is that? The real wins in training are stringing together months and months and months of steady consistent, daily, repeatable training - not climbing Mount Everest one day, and taking the next 3 - 4 weeks off recovering!
Daniel’s Running Formula by Jack Daniels.
Seconding this. I’ve had to replace a few copies after it became so marked up and worn from loaning (imposing) it on anyone who has ever asked me for running advice.
Related story: after using the book for about 10-15 years, I decided to open myself up to a different set of eyes on things, and paid local TO coach Megan Brown about 300 bucks for “customized†season paling, coaching and guidance. She delivered to me verbatim excerpted contents of the book, including VDOT progression and paces, and a daniels weekly plan, passed off as her own customized work. What a POS.
What books do you all like regarding training? I’m not referring to books with training plans, but more so the physiology behind what we do. I have a kinesiology background and love numbers, metrics, etc.
The only one I’ve found and have started reading so far is Training and Racing with a Power Meter by Andrew Coggan and Hunter Allen.
Any other suggestions?
I almost forgot about a really good general resource on training: Tudor Bompa’s “Theory and Methodology of Training, The Key to Athletic Performance”. Dr. Bompa is a prof at York University in Toronto and in this 380 page book he covers literally every single facet of training for any sport. Per Wiki, he has also written 18 other books on training.
Thanks! Ordered and received, now read and apply!!
do some of these training book suggestions address the older endurance human
Joe Friel has a book called Fast after 50 on this topic.
What books do you all like regarding training? I’m not referring to books with training plans, but more so the physiology behind what we do. I have a kinesiology background and love numbers, metrics, etc.
The only one I’ve found and have started reading so far is Training and Racing with a Power Meter by Andrew Coggan and Hunter Allen.
Any other suggestions?
I almost forgot about a really good general resource on training: Tudor Bompa’s “Theory and Methodology of Training, The Key to Athletic Performance”. Dr. Bompa is a prof at York University in Toronto and in this 380 page book he covers literally every single facet of training for any sport. Per Wiki, he has also written 18 other books on training.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tudor_Bompa
I was stunned when you said he works at Toronto uni…
I had to look that up I was sure he had to be 80 at least turns out he is 92 years old lol
Not exactly training plan books but Sport Gene and Endure were two really good reads. I just picked up Endure & finished it. Two really good books that go through the science of performance, limiting factors, how to push boundaries, etc. A lot of numbers/metrics but good story telling so they’re accessible reads/not super dense even though they’re packed with good info.
Daniels & Pfitz are my two running bibles. I self-coached when I started tri & pulled on the principles from those two.
I don’t think it’s been mentioned in this thread, but I learnt a lot reading “The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing†by Philip Maffetone
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“The Big Book of …”
Why does that sound like it should have pictures of bunnies and puppies and kittens and piggies? LOL
Right here!
https://www.amazon.com/...Philip/dp/0979463629
I ordered your book because of this thread, and I’m about 1/4th of the way through. Loving it.
I do have a question, though: In your book, you refer to the LT as the threshold between the moderate and the heavy domain. How does your definition of LT correlate to other authors’ LT1 and LT2?
It seems that in your book CP is closer to FTP (and maybe LT2), and your LT is closer to LT1, but it’s not really LT1?
I don’t necessarily know how other authors use (or misuse) particular terms. Generally, LT and LT1 would be a similar intensity. CP as calculated by the 2 parameter model using test efforts of between 2 and 20 minutes duration is generally slightly higher than “FTPâ€. Again, this is complicated based upon how any one person defines or calculates FTP.
You’ll hit a spot in the book where I discuss the pitfalls of FTP.
Hope you enjoy the book.
Phil
Unfortunately it seems to be a botched conversion. The book doesn’t reflow, there’s no way to change font size, and the text is incredibly tiny. It looks like it’s a scanned or OCRed PDF instead of a proper ebook.
I requested a refund. Cannot recommend it in the current state.