Owen Barder Running for Fitness 2002 Buy it from Amazon	A non-technical book. Unlike most of the other books reviewed here, Running for Fitness is not aimed at competitive athletes. It draws on the techniques used by elite athletes and shows how they can be applied for ordinary runners. It aims to be a practical handbook for people who fit running into busy lives.
Anita Bean Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition 2000 Buy it from Amazon	Anita Bean is a former body-builder, whose book is comprehensive and easy to read. It is packed with examples (including menu plans) to bring the theories to life. Bean is not afraid to roll up her sleeves and gets stucki nto the biochemistry, but everything is presented in an approachable way.
Jack Daniels Daniels’ Running Formula 1998 Buy it from Amazon	Jack Daniels’s book is a must-have classic that every serious runner with a scientific bent should have on their bookshelf. Running for Fitness draws heavily on Daniels’s approach of dividing training into training zones based on the runners’ VO2 max. Daniels also proposes a complex programme ofp eriodization of training to obtain the best benefits. The book is based on a great deal of scientific research, and is quite numerical.
Jeff Galloway Galloway’s Book on Running 1984 Buy it from Amazon	The top-selling book in running in the world, Galloway’s book on running is a standard text. In the current version it covers training for the 5km, 10km and half marathon (if you want to know about marathons you’ll have to buy a separate book Marathon: you can do it!). Galloway’s approach can occasionally seem a little old-fashioned, but there is a lot of good sense in this book.
Bob & Shelly-lynn Florence Glover The Competitive Runner’s Handbook 1983 Buy it from Amazon	A comprehensive book tightly packed useful information for runners who want to race. The Glovers are leading lights in the New York Road Runner’s Club, and Bob Glover has thirty years experience of coaching. A book to dip into, rather than read in a single sitting.
Hal Higdon Marathon – The Ultimate Training Guide 1999 Buy it from Amazon	Hal Higdon is a runner and writer, including a popular column for Runner’s World magazine. He also organises training camps in the US for runners who want to run a marathon. His book on the marathon is a classic, which has inspired thousands of people to take to the streets. Simple and well-written, in a chatty style, it draws on his deep reservoirs of knowledge and experience. Higdon has written more than thirty other books, including Smart Running which contains lots of useful material, but in a slightly irritating question and answer format.
Frank Horwill An Obsession for Running 1991	Horwill’s slim volume describes his own odyssey, including his fight with stomach cancer, while explaining the theory behind his 5-pace training theory. More than anyone else, Horwill was the drive behind the renaissance of English middle distance running in the 1970s and 1980s. Peter Coe (Sebastian Coe’s father and coach) credits Horwill with the breakthroughs in training on which Coe’s remarkable career was built.
Tim Noakes The Lore of Running 2001 Buy it from Amazon	This is the ultimate runner’s reference book. Tim Noakes is a marathon runner, and Professor of Sports Science at the University of Cape Town. Noakes covers each issue comprehensively, setting out the evidence and then proposing his own conclusions (but always distinguishing his own comments from the facts). The latest edition (currently only available in hardback, and weighing in at over 1,200 pages) was published in 2001, and has been significantly revised.
Pete Pfitzinger & Scott Douglas Road Racing for Serious Runners 1999 Buy it from Amazon	This is an excellent practical manual for training for races from 5km to the marathon. The book assumes a reasonably high starting point, both in terms of running ability and knowledge about the subject. The approach owes much to the techniques of Jack Daniels, and the book sets out simple and specific training programmes. It is clearly and simply written. Unusually (and unexpectedly, given the title) there is advice on training for cross country.
George Sheehan Running to Win (1992) Personal Best (1989) Running and Being (1978) Buy from Amazon	George Sheehan was a medical doctor, who took up running in his mid-forties. Five year’s later he set a world record for the mile for a 50- year-old (4:47). He ran more than 60 marathons, including a personal best of 3:01 at the age of 61. In 1968 he began to write about running for a local newspaper; ten years later his book Running & Being became an national bestseller. He established himself as the foremost philosopher of running, with a knack for expressing in words the ideas that many runners have subconsciously about their running. Sheehan’s books are an absolute inspiration for every runner. He died in 1993

Further reading