This revolutionary training method has been embraced by elite runners--with extraordinary results--and now you can do it, too.

Respected running and fitness expert Matt Fitzgerald explains how the 80/20 running program--in which you do 80 percent of runs at a lower intensity and just 20 percent at a higher intensity--is the best change runners of all abilities can make to improve their performance. With a thorough examination of the science and research behind this training method, 80/20 Running is a hands-on guide for runners of all levels with training programs for 5K, 10K, half-marathon, and marathon distances.

In 80/20 Running, you'll discover how to transform your workouts to avoid burnout.

- Runs will become more pleasant and less draining
- You'll carry less fatigue from one run to the next
- Your performance will improve in the few high-intensity runs
- Your fitness levels will reach new heights

80/20 Running promotes a message that all runners--as well as cyclists, triathletes, and even weight-loss seekers--can embrace: Get better results by making the majority of your workouts easier.

Cutting-edge research has proven that triathletes and other endurance athletes experience their greatest performance when they do 80 percent of their training at low intensity and the remaining 20 percent at moderate to high intensity. But the vast majority of recreational triathletes are caught in the so-called moderate-intensity rut, spending almost half of their time training too hard--harder than the pros. Training harder isn't smarter; it actually results in low-grade chronic fatigue that prevents recreational athletes from getting the best results.

In 80/20 Triathlon, Matt Fitzgerald and David Warden lay out the real-world and scientific evidence, offering concrete tips and strategies, along with complete training plans for every distance--Sprint, Olympic, Half-Ironman, and Ironman--to help athletes implement the 80/20 rule of intensity balance. Benefits include reduced fatigue and injury risk, improved fitness, increased motivation, and better race results.

On the playing field, natural talent isn't enough--there's a mental component that determines whether athletes win the race or wipe out before the finish line. But what separates standout sports stars from the rest?

In a paradigm-shifting new theory, acclaimed sportswriter Matt Fitzgerald identifies two key traits behind athletic success: strict self-regulation over thoughts and emotions and an unquenchable psychological need to pursue victory--even when it means enduring extreme mental and physical suffering.

Drawing on modern psychology, neuroscience, and performance theory, The Other Talent offers a fascinating exploration of the best athletes' winning mindset, revealing how you can tap into your own potential and strengthen your self-discipline for better emotional intelligence and sustainable performance improvements.

Readers will learn:

Every athlete's pursuit of performance will eventually become a game of diminishing returns. Matt Fitzgerald invites endurance athletes to focus on mastery, and performance will follow.

The path to mastery goes well beyond an athlete's training program and stretches beyond the realm of sport. The end goal is for the athlete to realize their full potential, which will elevate their experience both in their sport and the rest of life.

Fitzgerald identifies five pillars of mastery:

Motivation: How You Feel
Learning: What to Do
Understanding: Why It Works
Individuation: How It Works for You
Challenge: How to Push Your Limits

Drawing lessons from sports, history, psychology, and science, Fitzgerald shakes up the traditional paradigm of athlete development with thought-provoking ideas and valuable practices. Chasing Mastery is a springboard for athletes of all ages and abilities to engage their true potential.

Table of Contents

I MOTIVATION
1 Love Wins
2 Die Running
3 Hard Fun
4 Everything Matters
5 Fear Not

II LEARNING
6 Best Practices
7 Consider the Source
8 Plan in Pencil
9 Deliberate Practice
10 Extended Health

III UNDERSTANDING
11 First Things First
12 But How Do You Feel?
13 Hurry Up and Wait
14 Keep It Simple, Stupid
15 Hot and Cold

IV INDIVIDUATION
16 Choose Your Adventure
17 Disrupt Complacency
18 Advance in a Different Direction
19 Train in Style
20 Be a Fox

V CHALLENGE
21 Keep It Real
22 Unsexy Restraint
23 Personal Best
24 What's Your Pebble?
25 More with Less

I am always amazed at how much I learn from Matt Fitzgerald's books. -- Shalane Flanagan, Olympic bronze medalist

Every runner knows pacing is critical. It can be the difference between a breakthrough workout and a backbreaker, between a PR and a DNF. In How to Run the Perfect Race, acclaimed running coach Matt Fitzgerald reveals how conventional training and device overdependence keep runners from accessing the full power of pacing.

With a mix of fascinating science and compelling stories from every corner of the sport, Fitzgerald demonstrates that pacing is the art of finding your real limit--running at a pace to finish the workout or cross the finish line completely out of gas. This quintessential running skill unlocks hidden potential and transforms the sport, enabling runners of all experience and ability levels to continually improve their race execution.

Training plans for 5K, 10K, half-marathon, and marathon events will hone your pacing skill through improved body awareness, judgment, and toughness. Choose from four plans, novice to expert, for each race distance. How to Run the Perfect Race equips you mentally and physically to become a better runner, capable of knowing and executing your best effort on any given day.

In 80/20 Running, respected running and fitness expert Matt Fitzgerald introduced his revolutionary training program and explained why doing 80 percent of runs at a lower intensity and just 20 percent at a higher intensity is the best way for runners at all levels--as well as cyclists, triathletes, and even weight-loss seekers--to improve their performance.

Now, in this eye-opening follow-up, Fitzgerald teams with Olympic coach Ben Rosario to expand and update the 80/20 program to include ultramarathon training and such popular developments as the use of power meters.

New research has bolstered the case that the 80/20 method is in fact that most effective way to train for distance running and other endurance sports. Run Like a Pro (Even If You're Slow) shows readers how to take the best practices in elite running and adopt them within the limits of their own ability, lifestyle, and budget.

The 1989 Ironman World Championship was the greatest race ever in endurance sports. In a spectacular duel that became known as the Iron War, the world's two strongest athletes raced side by side at world-record pace for a grueling 139 miles.

Driven by one of the fiercest rivalries in triathlon, Dave Scott and Mark Allen raced shoulder to shoulder through Ironman's 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike race, and 26.2-mile marathon. After 8 punishing hours, both men would demolish the previous record--and cross the finish line a mere 58 seconds apart.

In Iron War, sports journalist Matt Fitzgerald writes a riveting epic about how Allen and Scott drove themselves and each other through the most awe-inspiring race in sports history. Iron War goes beyond the pulse-pounding race story to offer a fascinating exploration of the lives of the world's two toughest men and their unquenchable desire to succeed.

Weaving an examination of mental resolve into a gripping tale of athletic adventure, Iron War is a soaring narrative of two champions and the paths that led to their stunning final showdown.

Runners of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels can learn to maximize their performance by supplying the brain with the right feedback. Based on Fitzgerald's eight-point brain training system, this book will help runners:

- Resist running fatigue
- Use cross-training as brain training
- Master the art of pacing
- Learn to run in the zone
- Outsmart injuries
- Fuel the brain for maximum performance

Packed with cutting-edge research, real-world examples, and the wisdom of the world's top distance runners, Brain Training for Runners offers easily applied advice and delivers practical results for a better overall running experience.

Matt Fitzgerald has been running (and writing about running) for most of his adult life. But, like many passionate amateur runners, he never felt he was quite fulfilling his potential. If he follows the training, nutrition, and lifestyle of an elite runner, just how fast could he go?

In his mid-forties, Matt at last has the freedom to do nothing but train, if only for the span of one summer. The time is now. He convinces the coach of Northern Arizona Elite, one of the country's premier professional running teams, to let him train with a roster of national champions and Olympic hopefuls in the running mecca of Flagstaff, Arizona, leading in to the Chicago Marathon. The results completely redefined Matt's notion of what is possible, not only for himself but for any runner.

Filled with a vibrant cast of characters, rigorous and quad-torching training, and a large dose of self-deprecating humor, Matt's gripping account of his fake pro runner experience allows us to partake in the dream of having the chance to go all the way. Yet for the gifted young runners Matt trains with, it's not a dream but concrete reality, and their individual stories enrich this inspiring narrative.

Running the Dream pulls us into the rarified world of professional running in a way we can all relate to, regardless of speed, and to take away pieces of one man's amazing journey to try to achieve our own potential.

From The Four Hour Body to Atkins, there are diet cults to match seemingly any mood and personality type. Everywhere we turn, someone is preaching the One True Way to eat for maximum health. Paleo Diet advocates tell us that all foods less than 12,000 years old are the enemy. Low-carb gurus demonize carbs, then there are the low-fat prophets. But they agree on one thing: there is only one true way to eat for maximum health.

The first clue that that is a fallacy is the sheer variety of diets advocated. Indeed, while all of these competing views claim to be backed by science, a good look at actual nutritional science itself suggests that it is impossible to identify a single best way to eat. Fitzgerald advocates an agnostic, rational approach to eating habits, based on one's own habits, lifestyle, and genetics/body type. Many professional athletes already practice this Good Enough diet, and now we can too and ditch the brainwashing of these diet cults for good.

Step after step for 26.2 miles, hundreds of thousands of people run marathons. But why--what compels people past pain, lost toenails, 5.30 am start times, The Wall? Sports writer Matt Fitzgerald set out to run eight marathons in eight weeks across the country to answer that question. At each race, he meets an array of runners, from first timers, to dad-daughter teams and spouses, to people who'd been running for decades, and asks them what keeps them running. But there is another deeply personal part to Matt's journey: his own relationship to the sport--and how it helped him overcome his own struggles and cope with his wife Nataki's severe bipolar disorder.

A combination of Matt's own How Bad Do You Want It? and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, Life Is a Marathon captures the magic of those 26.2 miles. At the end of the day--and at the end of the race--the pursuit of a marathon finish line is not unlike the pursuit of happiness. You will pick up the book for a powerful personal story about what running does for the people for whom it does the most. You will put it down with a greater understanding of what it means to be alive in this world.

Every year, roughly 2 million people participate in marathons and half marathons in the United States, and, no matter what level they are, every one of these runners has likely hit The Wall, running out of muscle fuel in the final miles and slowing down precipitously. This setback and other common running disappointments are nutritional (or metabolic) in nature. In The New Rules, renowned fitness journalist and training coach Matt Fitzgerald cuts through the myths, distilling the most up-to-date science to help runners overcome the universally experienced nutritional barriers that prevent success in the marathon and half marathon.

Fitzgerald's powerful and easy-to-use tools will enable runners of all levels to attain their ideal racing weight, calculate their precise daily energy needs, and formulate a custom nutrition plan.

A state-of-the-science resource for runners--with the latest information on training, nutrition, injury prevention, and gear and gadgets that improve performance.

The science and technology of running have evolved dramatically in the past 20 years. This all-inclusive resource--based on the author's own high-level running and coaching experience and his interviews with dozens of other top runners and coaches--is an indispensable tool for runners who hope to perform at the very best of their ability.

Runner's World The Cutting-Edge Runner provides:
o A comprehensive overview of how the best competitive runners train today--covering such topics as periodization, physiological testing, group training, technique work, cross-training, recovery techniques, and individual customization
o In-depth discussions of equipment and other technologies that can benefit the runner, including shoes, orthotics, heart rate monitors, altitude tents, training software, and more
o A complete menu of workouts for milers to marathoners
Whether he is explaining how to use hypoxic conditioning to increase oxygen consumption capacity, telling how to prepare for the mental challenge of racing, or detailing what the latest science has to say about the pros, cons, and proper usage of more than 15 nutritional supplements and drugs, Matt Fitzgerald goes straight to the most authoritative sources and provides practical ways for the average runner to adapt methods and tools used by top runners to their own running programs.

Runners have different nutrition and recovery needs than other endurance athletes. Yet until now, they've had no nutritional resource specifically addressing their concerns.

This comprehensive guide distills the newest thinking in the science of exercise nutrition into practical, hands-on tips that will help runners stay healthy, recover faster, enjoy better workouts, and race successfully. Readers will learn:

- detailed information on nutritional topics important to runners, from balancing internal energy stores to proper hydration
- how to customize their diets to their individual training needs
- shopping tips and dining-out strategies to help runners maximize their nutritional intake
- the top 5 pre-race meals and top 5 healthiest snacks for runners
- nutritional tips for special populations, including women, children, diabetics, and older runners