Every year, thousands of runners try to qualify for the Boston Marathon by putting in months of training miles. Big goals like this take time, effort, and motivation to get out there and train. Sometimes, it is pretty damn easy to be motivated to hit the track or the pavement and get in the work. But other times it seems like the motivation you once had is only a shadow of its former self. And unless you're new to the sport of running, I bet you have run into this inevitable motivation dip.
It happens to the best of us, but it is real. After the first marathon or 5k (or the first year or two of consistent training), other life activities crop up and begin to pull at your attention and motivation. I know this has happened to me in the past. If you are over running and want to tackle other life adventures than good for you, but if you are still interested in pursuing PRs or new milestones in your running pursuits, then you will probably need some motivational help.
There are a bunch of strategies that you can can employ to be more successful. I'll get into the full list later, but today we'll focus on books and the power of reading. Now, I'm not just endorsing reading because I'm an English teacher. Reading inspirational books is a simple and powerful way to keep you motivated to get in that run after a long day of work or get up early day-after-day.
Research demonstrates that consistent training, day-after-day, week-after-week, and year-after-year, is the best predictor of running performance. That means hitting every workout, missing few or none, and finding a way to ensure that running and training compliment your life. One key tactic is to stay motivated and focused on your goal.
But, sometimes, I've found that tough days at work, an unexpected poor night's sleep, or a feeling of overwhelming responsibilities can derail my effort to keep up a consistent training volume.
My most tried and true method to battle complacency and keep up my consistency is by reading (or listening) to books about running. In scientific circles, this is called "priming the mind" for performance.
World renowned performers get into the right mindset before they practice and perform. This can take on many different forms from listening to music, to doing a specific routines, to meditating, or exercising. One other method is reading books on the topic your are pursuing.
I have great success with the latter. Certain books on certain topics have a performance-enhancing effect on my motivation by priming my mind to execute the task. This makes it less likely that some life event will get in the way of my training.
Here is a list of the best performance-enhancing books that I've read to help keep my training consistent. If you think I should add a book to the list or read a book you liked, then please comment below and I'll take a look.
The book tells the story of the 1989 Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. The 1989 race was an epic showdown between two of the greatest triathletes of all time: Dave Scott and Mark Allen. Scott was going to his 6th win, and Allen was going to his first win. Allen had been trying to beat Scott for years at the race, and Scott had been trying to beat everyone every year. For years, the media has predicted that Allen would win the race, but year after year Allen failed. And every year, the media said that Scott was too old to win again, but year after year Scott found a way to keep winning.
Lear spent 1998 embedded with the University of Colorado's cross-country team as they trained to win the NCAA cross-country championship. The book follows the unromantic lives of the Buffalos as they put in mile after mile of training. Some Buffalos break down with injury, others break down emotionally, and still others find a way out and race well. The Buffalos are famous for turning walk-ons (runners who were not fast enough in high school to make a collegiate sport team) into national-class competitors, and racing well when all of the chips are on the table.
A Life Without Limits is Wellington's memoir written after her career defining 4th win at the Ironman World Championship in 2011. Wellington won 13 Ironman distance races in her career, and broke numerous records in her career. Wellington is blunt and honest, and it makes for an exceptional read.
The Perfect Mile follows Wes Sante, Roger Bannister, and John Landy as they, independently, race to be the first person to run a sub-four minute mile. The three runners only aimed for the record because all three had embarrassing failures at the Olympics. Bannister was supposed to win the 1500 meters, but got 4th. Landy was supposed to be competitive, but didn't even make it out of the qualifying rounds, and Sante was, essentially, in the wrong race having been forced to run the 5,000 meters even though his best event was the 1500 meters. Their failure at the Olympics fueled a desire to find greatness before the next Olympiad, and they obvious choice was the four minute mile.
Finding Ultra is one part AA group meeting (Rich Roll is a recovery alcoholic who outlines his troubled drinking years during the first part of his book) and one part athletic adventure. After going to rehab for alcoholism, Roll flips his life on its head and changes everything. In the process, the former NCAA Stanford swimmer, realizes how overweight and out of shape he is. After a walk up the stairs to his kids' bedroom leaves him winded and concerned about his health, he launches into a fitness and nutritional regimen that transforms his body, soul, and life. He pursues the Ultraman race in Hawaii, which is a three-day stage race that is a double Ironman. 6.2 mile swim, 224 mile bike (split into two days), and 52-mile run. After his first attempt, Roll returns to the race in a effort to win. Roll now has a fantastic and popular podcast.
Bowerman and the Men of Oregon is an amazing look at the uber-successful track & field team at the University of Oregon. The book outlines the unique mind of a man who viewed athletes as different and looked to scientific evidence for training advice in an age when most people used anything but common sense to train athletes. Bowerman was revolutionary for suggesting that an easy, recovery day should follow a hard day of intervals on the track. It also has a lot of interesting information about the founding of Nike.
This is a great book if you are building mileage for a marathon in the future. The book is funny, interesting, and inspirational. It follows one of the runners on the Hansons-Brooks running team in Michigan. The team's goal is to help make American marathoners competitive in international races, and it largely helped drive up competition throughout the country.
Once A Runner is the best fiction book ever written about running. Hands down. It perfectly captures the ethos of what being a runner really means. It is set in a fictional Florida state college and follows Quinton Cassidy as he tries to break 4-minutes in the mile before he graduates and has to "give up" running and get a real job. But, of course, his goal is interrupted by a school administrator who tries to get Cassidy kicked out of school before he can reach his goal. Does he do it? You'll need to read it to find out. This is set right before the big running boom, so there weren't that many races outside of college and running wasn't a "professional" sport yet.
This is a super interesting and entertaining piece of non-fiction about a man (Finn) who is an out of shape runner, who moves his wife and 3 kids to Kenya to train with the elite Kenyans in Iten while he gets ready for his first marathon. Finn is a former writer for Runner's World UK, and this book is his search for "the secret" to Kenyan running dominance. And, of course, Finn is looking for "the secret" to running fast so he can get fast too. Want to know "the secret"? There are like 15 of them. Great, fun read.
A fascinating and VERY USEFUL book about how to improve your mental fitness. Fitzgerald goes through the common cognitive coping mechanism that humans, runner, and elite runners use to deal with pain and fatigue. He the explores how to overcome those issues and build your mental fitness. Yes, mental fitness is a real thing. You can measure it in a lab. Highly recommend.