As the athletics (track and field) organiser of the school, I have received an amount of money to spend on BOOKS and DVD’s!!! Apart from ordering ALL the CF books and DVD’s that I could, I will have to buy books and/or DVD’s regarding Middle Distance as well - we have a very keen coach in this section.
I know the focus of this Forum is more on sprints - but maybe there are some members who will be able to give me some advice. What would you recommend? Please advise.
Owen Anderson’s books are shit hot. Tim Noakes Lore of Running.
Daniels’ Running Formula is great and written with high school athletes in mind. I would second Peter Coe’s Training For Distance Runners or Winning Running, and round out the collection with a Lydiard book such as Running to the Top. That will give you a great variety of training approaches to apply and select from.
If middle distances are the focus, I would go with Martin and Coe’s book.
Noakes’ and Daniels’ books are great, but more towards long distance training ideas -Noakes’ book has no info on middle distances (i.e., 800 m to 3K) and it’s only from 10 K upwards.
If you need books for distance training in general, all three are great!
Hope it helps!
Thank you very much, everyone! Will place my order on Monday.
I have found that books on middle distance running events which are written by English coaches to be superb. They are written with the knowledge that the athlete nevertheless is required to put in a full days work on a job or attend a certain number of classes per day.
My favorite coach/author is Harry Wilson, Senior BAAB coach. Others include Bruce Tulloh and Norm Brooks.
Peter Coe also has a book specifically about 800 and 1500 training, called “Winning Running” (In the US; I think the title in the UK is slightly different).