Contemporary Authors

• The Science of Running: How to find your limit and train to maximize your performance - 2014 Origin Press, San Rafael, CA
• Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success - 2017 Rodale Books, Harlan, IA

• Amazon -

  Steve Magness is a runner, coach, exercise physiologist, and a writer. He holds a M.S. from George Mason University in Exercise Science. Magness is the current cross country coach at the University of Houston and coaches professional runners, including 5 runners who have been top 15 at the World Championships or Olympic games. In addition, he has worked for Nike, and served as a consultant to numerous Olympic runners and triathletes.

  He has been a serious runner since the age of 14 and has had numerous running accomplishments ranging from holding the Texas High School mile record (4:01.02), to qualifying for NCAA nationals. His writing includes being a monthly columnist for Running Times and contributing to Competitor magazine, Runner's World, Men's Health and IAAF's New Studies in Athletics. Magness has also been featured in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Outside Magazine, and numerous other publications.

  Additionally, he maintains the popular running website www.ScienceofRunning.com

• Science of Running Website - http://www.scienceofrunning.com/

  Quick Facts
  Coach to Olympians, World Championship qualifiers, and six individual Top 10 finishers at Major Marathons (Boston, NY, Chicago).
  Writer on the science of performance with his latest book (Peak Performance), numerous print articles (including in Wired, Sports Illustrated, NY Magazine, and others), and a popular newsletter.
  Lecturer in Exercise Science and Strength and Conditioning at St. Mary’s University (UK).
  Media: has appeared on major TV (BBC, CNN, and more), major print media (The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, ESPN, National Geographic, Wired) and numerous radio shows and podcasts around the world.
  Consultant to executives, business leaders, professional teams, and more on a wide range of topics including: motivation, team dynamics, mental toughness, resiliency, effective leadership and more.
  Interested in consulting, mentoring, or one-on-one coaching, contact Steve here.
  About Steve Magness
  Steve Magness is a performance coach, author, and lecturer. He currently serves as a coach to almost 20 professional runners, is the Head Cross Country coach at the University of Houston and a Lecturer of Strength and Conditioning at St. Mary’s University, UK. In addition, he has served a consultant or executive coach to high performers in a variety of business fields.
  He’s coached at every level, from High School to Professional, having coached:
  4 athletes to top 15 at the World Championships
  8 World Championship team qualifiers
  6 Top 10 performances at a World Marathon Major (Boston, NY, Chicago)
  2016 Rio Olympic Semi-Finalist
  1st and 2nd place finishers at the 2017 USA Half Marathon National Championships
  Over a dozen athletes to reach the Olympic Trials in events from 800 meters to the marathon
  High School state champions, NCAA regional champions, and National Qualifiers.
  Some of the notable athletes he has coached include Sara Hall, Mark English, Natosha Rogers, Jackie Areson, Neely Spence-Gracey, Sarah Crouch, Brian Barraza, Lea Wallace, and numerous others.
  As a writer, He just published his 2nd book, Peak Performance(Rodale, June, 2017) with co-author Brad Stulberg about performance across domains. His first book, The Science of Running, was an Amazon Top 100 bestseller. He got his start in writing as a columnist for Running Times Magazine. Additionally, his work has appeared in Wired, New York Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Runner’s World, Outside Magazine, Meter Magazine, New Studies in Athletics, and the International Journal of Athletic Training & Therapy.
  As an expert, Magness has been featured in articles in The New Yorker, Wired, Runner’s World, Outside magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, National Geographic and ESPN the Magazine. Magness has also been featured as an expert on TV for the BBC, CNN, BeIN Sport, as well as a variety of radio stations throughout the world.
  As a consultant, Magness has worked with a variety of businesses, executives, entrepeneurs, and athletes. He has also served as an advisor to numerous tech start ups.
  Finally, as a runner, Magness ran a mile in 4:01 as a High School runner, which, at the time, ranked #6 all time for US prep athletes, and ranked him #1 in the US and #3 in the world as a High School athlete. He went on to compete at both Rice University and the University of Houston, reaching Academic All-American Status and qualifying for the NCAA National Championships.
  Education
  B.S. University of Houston 2008 (Exercises Science) Suma Cum Laude Graduate
  M.S. George Mason University 2011 (EFHP-Exercise Science) Suma Cum Laude Graduate
  A Selection of Media Contributions:
  Wired– How Googlers’ Avoid Burnout (And Secretly Boost Creativity)
  New York Magazine– Be Better at Life by Thinking of Yourself Less
  Sports Illustrated– How Extended breaks in training help elite athletes- and why you should take them too
  BeIN Sport TV- WADA findings disappointing for athletes
  ESPN The Magazine: The Cruel, Unrelenting, Back-Breaking, Knee-Busting Anti-Logic of the NBA Schedule
  ESPN The Magazine: Is this the end of Lebron James?
  The New Yorker: What is Fatigue?
  NY Times: The Once and Future Way to Run
  The Wall Street Journal: Caroline Wozniacki Completes NYC Marathon After Busy Few Days
  Wired: What’s up with Running: Why does it hurt?
  Outside Magazine: Meet Steve Magness, the Mad Scientists of Running
  Competitor: My Interactions with Lance Armstrong
  Running Times Magazine: True Grit: why racing hurts
  FiveThirtyEight: Can Science Help Runner’s Break The Marathon’s 2-Hour Barrier
  National Geographic: Runner’s Aim to Shatter the ‘Unbreakable’ Two-Hour Marathon
  Irish RTE Radio 1 Drivetime
  Marathon Talk UK

• Outside - https://www.outsideonline.com/1930651/meet-steve-magness-mad-scientist-running

  Meet Steve Magness, the Mad Scientist of Running

  This super coach’s three unconventional training strategies may be the key to your next PR.
  At just 30 years old, Steve Magness is en route to becoming a living legend. The University of Houston cross-country coach is earning that status through innovation; in a sport rife with coaches who stick to tried-and-true training regimens, he’s not afraid to experiment.
  “My athletes are awesome because they are like my own little guinea pigs,” he says. “Even though I teach them about what we do and why we do it, I’m sure they still think we are a bit crazy. But that is kind of our M.O. We try something and roll with it.”
  While Magness—who once ticked off a 4:01 mile himself—coaches the fundamentals as good as anyone, he goes beyond traditional physiological training strategies to squeeze every ounce of performance out of his athletes. His secret: focusing on the mind.
  “We’ve got the physical stuff down pat, so we’ve been exploring the psychology part” of training, says Magness, who’s currently pursuing a PhD in exercise science, focusing on “ecological psychology in an endurance framework.”
  The brain training appears to be working. Since Magness began coaching at the University of Houston in 2012, the team has become a middle-distance powerhouse, setting school records in distances from the 800m to the 5K, and producing all-conference runners every year, with athletes running insanely fast times like 1:48 for the 800m, 3:46 for the 1500m, and 29:41 for the 10K.
  Below, Magness shares three strategies that he’s currently testing with his University of Houston runners to integrate mind and body in a unique training plan. Try weaving them into your daily routine for a potential performance boost.
  Mental Focus Workouts
  “Losing focus is a real limiting factor when it comes to peak performance,” says Magness. “Athletes can fake their way through a hard workout because they break it down into nice little bite-size pieces: focus for 60 seconds, then rest, then focus for 60 seconds again, then rest and repeat. Unfortunately, races don’t work like this.”
  To simulate continuous focus that competition demands, Magness has athletes complete Stroop Tests—in which they must quickly read the names of colors flashed in different colors, like "Red, Yellow, Orange"—during rest intervals. In doing so, “you get the physical recovery, but not the mental focus recovery,” says Magness.
  To get a sense of how challenging Stroop “recovery” is, think back to your last track workout and ask yourself: what is the first thing you did after finishing an interval? Now, replace some flavor of “zone out” with reading “Blue, Green, Purple” as fast as possible for the entire rest period. If you are anything like me, you are probably cringing right now because it’s hard to read the words correctly when you’re tired.
  You can target mental fitness at your next workout by downloading a Stroop Test app on your iPhone or iPad and bringing it to the track. But don't make every workout a mental-focus one, warns Magness. “The majority of workouts we go after physiological adaptations. Only sometimes do we target mental focus, and when we do, athletes understand their performance is going to suffer. It’s really about staying focused and just getting through the workout as best as possible.” Start by working mental focus sessions into your schedule once or twice a month, and see how your mind and body react.
  Uncertainty Training
  While workouts are traditionally structured and predictable, competition tends to be erratic. “When we race, we know how long the course is, but we don’t know much else, like what the competitors are going to do or what the conditions will be,” says Magness. And your fitness watch is bound to fail at least once.
  To make athletes comfortable with uncertainty, Steve occasionally prohibits watches and misplaces distance markers during workouts. In addition to introducing race-like ambiguity, Magness considers uncertainty workouts “a great way to learn running by feel.”
  Another way to create race-like angst during training is changing group dynamics. By pairing upper-classmen with under-classmen, Magness intentionally “upsets runners,” instructing someone who is less experienced to take off and lead the group. Magness assures that it's not about hurting feelings, but rather about “working flexibility into otherwise highly regimented workouts.”
  You can try uncertainty training by placing a piece of masking tape on your watch, or running with a group that makes you uneasy because you’ll be the odd one out—either much slower or faster than others in the group. When you remove the tape or finish the group run, evaluate your numbers and reflect on how you felt. Over time, your pacing should get more consistent, and more importantly, you’ll become more comfortable with race day uncertainty.
  Social Recovery
  Hastening recovery is a multi-million dollar industry. (Think compression, foam rollers, supplements, and even bed sheets.) However, Magness’s low-tech recovery regimen may be just as powerful, and it doesn’t cost a thing. “Hanging out with friends is one of the most effective recovery protocols there is,” explains Magness.
  “I really liked the idea of mindfulness-based meditation because I thought it could quickly transition an athlete from the stress of a workout to the recovery phase,” Magness says. “But I soon learned meditation takes a lot of practice, and for beginners, meditation can be stressful in and of itself.”
  Magness started experimenting with other ways to facilitate recovery, like calming and relaxing music, but discovered what was most helpful—based on measuring heart rate variability, a common indicator of recovery—was creating a laid back social environment immediately after hard workouts. “Going from a high-stress workout to a desensitized period of just joking around together decreases tension way faster than anything else we’ve tried,” says Magness. “So now, it has kind of become part of our program to force fun social interactions after intense workouts.”
  Magness recommends following your hardest workouts with fun group hangouts. If you can't do that, at least don't schedule grueling training sessions before high-stress meetings in the office. And while the efficacy of ice-baths is up for debate, Magness is certain that “hanging out with the guys is a lot less stressful than jumping in freezing water right after a workout.”

• Runners Tribe - https://www.runnerstribe.com/features/steve-magness-interview-coach-olympians-author-science-buff/

  Steve Magness Interview: Coach to Olympians, Author, Science Buff
  By Runnerstribe Admin -
  February 27, 2017
  Share on Facebook Tweet on Twitter
  Interview by Runner’s Tribe
  Steve Magness doesn’t mind being referred to as a bit of a science nerd. When it comes to the science of running there are very few around with knowledge to match.

  Steve Magness
  Magness is the cross country and track coach at the university of Houston. Prior to that, he was Alberto Salazar’s assistant coach at the Nike Oregon Project. He has coached numerous Olympians and leading American distance runners.
  A 4:01 miler in high school, Magness is the author of the top-selling book ‘The Science of Running’. There is a second book on the way too, set to launch in June 2017 titled ‘Peak Performance’.
  RT: Steve, your work with ‘The Science of Running’ is awesome. Let’s start with a run-down on where you are at with your professional career?
  SM: I’m a man of many hats at the moment. I coach about a dozen professional runners, ranging from 800m specialist like Mark English to marathoners like Neely Spence-Gracey. My day job is coaching at the University of Houston, while my ever expanding side-gig is in writing. I just finished up with my next book, Peak Performance, which will be out in June.
  RT: For those that have not heard of you. Can you provide a brief (if that’s even possible) overview of your coaching philosophy?
  SM: If I had to keep it simple, my coaching philosophy could be summarized by three statements. First, we coach people, not robots. Secondly, coach the individual, not the system. And finally, everything is always there, the emphasis just changes.
  What do those mean? We need to take a holistic view of the athlete. Consider not only their physiology, as most coaches do, but also their mechanics and psychology. Understand what they bring to the table and why they are running. Essentially, we’re trying to establish a framework for how each athlete sees the world and how that impacts how we coach them.
  Secondly, I’m not a big believer in systems style coaching. It’s not that Lydiard or Daniels or Cerutty or Bowerman invented the one and only training system that works. Instead, we need to take the principles of adaptation, see what we are working with individually, and build our own training model around that athlete. Or as I like to say, the event demands and the athlete’s characteristics determine the training, not the other way around.
  And finally, from sprinting to slow jogging, every training intensity should be utilized. What changes over the course of a year or season is the degree in which we emphasize them.

  Steve Magness’s rules of Coaching and Learning for 2017
  RT: They’ve called you the ‘Mad Scientist of Running’. This deep understanding of physiology – do you think too many coaches out there lack this and just rely on their old-school philosophies?
  SM: I actually think what we are missing are coaches who understand both sides. I’m known as a science based coach, but I spend more time trying to understand the other side of the coin, the historical or artistic part of the sport. It shouldn’t be a question of either you are science or old-school; both are wrong. It should be, let’s learn as much about all sides of sport as possible, so that we have a foundation of knowledge off which we can build. It’s through connection of ideas that real innovation and breakthrough occurs. You only get that connection if you have a deep understanding of the science, art, and history of the sport.
  RT: To use an example to pick your brain. Peter Snell is famous for doing his 22 mile loop in New Zealand’s Waitekere range, he would do it a few times per week on occasions. It is fair to say there are not too many top 800m runners who clock such long runs these days. From Snell’s book ‘No Bugles No Drums’
  “The main requirement of the top half-miler is endurance”
  Now obviously modern training has progressed and speed is usually maintained all year round to some degree, but are you of the opinion that today’s 800m runners as a rule lack true Snell type endurance?
  SM: Endurance is relative. The endurance an 800m man needs is dependent on what he brings to the table. I look at the speed vs. endurance conundrum like a seesaw. There’s an ideal balance point for each individual, and we are trying to continually improve each component, while keeping the seesaw balanced. With today’s 800m runners, I think you have to ask, is endurance the limiting factor to getting to the next level? If it is, then you need to work on it!
  Another point is, there are many ways to build endurance. What most people don’t appreciate is that Lydiard, with his long runs, and a coach like Igloi, with his countless short rest repeats on the track, are accomplishing the same goal with drastically different approaches. It’s not HOW you get there that matters, it’s just that you get there. And the brilliance of Igloi or Lydiard is that they figured out how to get there with the athlete’s they had.
  RT: We recently interviewed Olympic 1500m finalist Charlie Grice. Charlie sleeps in an altitude tent and stated
  “I don’t think that you can be competitive in middle and long distance running without using altitude training”.
  What are your thoughts on simulated altitude training; tents, IHT at rest, IHT at exercise vs. travelling to altitude?
  SM: Great question. First, let’s separate artificial from natural altitude. Simulate altitude, like living in a tent, work only if you spend a lot of time in the tent. You get a haemoglobin mass increase if you spend 12+ hours a day in a tent. That’s a lot of time. So while you might get an increase in Red Blood Cells (RBC) from it, you might also jack up your stress levels from sitting in a tent for hours on end, not to mention sleep disturbance. So, while it can work, I’m not a huge fan for most.
  With regards to actual altitude, we should stop seeing it as some sort of magic, and start seeing it as another way to stress the body to adapt. It’s a stimulus to adapt, just like increasing mileage, or maybe exercising in the heat. Where most people screw up is they fail to take this into account, and they end up not adapting because they overstress their bodies and don’t allow it to adapt to the new load.
  So my preference has always been, go to altitude for a stint to get a boost in performance.
  I also think there’s a large psychological component to it. If you have convinced yourself that you need altitude, then by god, you better go to altitude.
  RT: It’s not uncommon to see athletes who seem to be non-responders. Take for example, an 800m runner with true 400m type speed (say 45). His PR for 800m is 1:47. His coach argues that to get to the next level he needs to improve his endurance, but during winter he just doesn’t seem to make any progress with the longer type workouts, he stagnates and loses motivation? Thoughts on how athletes like this should be coached?
  SM: Change what you are doing. I’m not a big believer in the non-responder phenomenon. If they aren’t responding, then either the workouts are too much or too little, or in the wrong direction. If, like in this example, your 800m man’s endurance isn’t being improved, then try a different approach. If you’ve been doing traditional 4-5 mile tempo work, try 400m repeats with 30 seconds rest at 5k-10k speeds instead. It’s pretty simple; if they aren’t responding, change something.
  RT: “My athletes are awesome because they are like my own little guinea pigs” – This quote taken from Outside Online from January 2015. Are you still trialling new coaching ideas with your current athletes?
  SM: You should always be evolving as a coach. My rule of thumb is that if the racing is going well, that means at least 51% of what I’ve been doing has been working. What it doesn’t mean, is that everything I’ve been giving him is working. So we’re constantly testing and tweaking things to see if there is a better way to do it. Now, the important point is, know what to change and what to leave alone.
  So we end up doing a lot of experimenting on the fringes of training, meaning on how we do workouts or the psychological part of it, versus the bread and butter work that we know we have to do.

  Steve Magness and Alan Webb: Pre Classic 2003: photo DyeStat
  RT: I’m interested in your out of the box thinking in regards to tapering for big races. The day prior to a major race, traditionally athletes would go for a light jog or do some easy run-throughs. Let’s use the example of an elite 1500m runner with a major race on the Saturday. What would the week leading into this race look like?
  SM: I hate to sound like I’m beating a dead horse, but it’s all individual. What we’re looking for is to get an athlete to feel good, with some pop in their muscles, on race day. How to do that, differs greatly. So an explosive middle distance runner, might need to do some pure sprints or accels in the days leading up to it, a distance orientated one might need to do some cruise intervals, and so forth.
  When researching for my book Peak Performance, I spoke with a brilliant field hockey coach named Dave Hamilton. He’d done all sorts of research on priming athletes for competition. And what it came down to is their last workout needed to be something they liked. Do what they like. Was his suggestion.
  RT: Post workout/race recovery. There is so much commercialism presented to us all; recovery bars, powders, protein drinks. Do you subscribe to any of this or is water and a very well balanced diet suffice?
  SM: Believe it or not, I think the most important part of recovery is actually social interaction. Going on a cool down with your friends, having a debrief post race or workout, and just goofing around. Socializing causes a hormonal shift out of the stressed workout/race zone and into a recover and repair phase.
  Beyond that, I think keep it simple. People obsess over the wrong things in our sport. How many times have you seen someone lose focus or have a subpar workout and then they rush off to get their nutrition shake and their foam rolling in? The last 2% are the last 2% for a reason. I’m not saying it doesn’t matter, but what I am saying is that if you nail the basics, eat real food, drink lots of water, and get something good in after you expended a lot of energy (i.e. workout) then you’re good to go.
  RT: You have written a lot about the psychology of high performance. When you meet a young athlete with huge physical talent but a weak mental constitution. Have you successfully been able to turn athletes like this around and get them to Olympic level?
  SM: Here’s the secret. We’ve all got psychological battle wounds and insecurities. We’re all a mess. Or as philosopher Alain de Botton likes to say when discussing relationships, ‘we’re all crazy, just admit it up front.’ I’ve known and worked with plenty of Olympic level talents who were “weak mentally,” and even the “strong” ones had pain points that made them as vulnerable and “weak” as any other runner.
  I’m not saying that to downplay the psychological side, but instead to realize that the difference between those who appear tough and those who don’t is in their mindsets and the coping mechanisms they have developed. The psychologically strong have framed how they approach adversity and competition better. They’ve also spent the time in developing proactively how they respond to stress and anxiety.
  We all can get better at it; the good ones just choose to work on it. There’s a big mental hang up on working on the psychological side of things and what I’ve tried to do is bring that wall down. It’s not about appearing tough, as often the ones who attempt to appear that way are actually what I call “fake tough.” Instead, it’s about accepting that what we do as runners is really really difficult. Now, we have to figure a way to deal with it.
  I consider training as much mental as it is physical. When we are at practice, where your mind goes during a workout is where your mind will go during a race. So workouts are when we need to ingrain the right coping skills and how to make the right decisions.
  In addition to workouts, I like pointing my athletes in uncertain or stressful situations and have them work on accepting the discomfort, not freaking out, and manoeuvring their way through it mentally. When it comes down to it, racing is all about not freaking out.
  RT: Steve, awesome to have you on Runner’s Tribe.
  Steve’s website- http://www.scienceofrunning.com/
  Follow Steve on Twitter @stevemagness

• Rodale Wellness - https://www.rodalewellness.com/author/steve-magness

  Steve Magness
  Steve Magness is a coach to some of the top distance runners in the world, having coached numerous athletes to the Olympic Trials, World Championship teams, and the Olympics. He currently coaches at the University of Houston.
  Known widely for his integration of science and practice, Steve has been on the forefront of innovation in sport. He serves as an adjunct professor of strength and conditioning at St. Mary's University and has been a featured expert in Runner's World, the New York Times, the New Yorker, BBC, the Wall Street Journal, and ESPN The Magazine. His first book, The Science of Running, was published in 2014, and along with Brad Stulberg, is the author of Peak Performance. In his own running, Steve ran a 4:01 mile in high school. He lives in Houston, Texas.

• Precision Hydration - https://www.precisionhydration.com/blogs/hydration_advice/q-a-with-brad-stulberg-and-steve-magness

  Peak Performance Q&A with Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness
  I was recently able to read Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness' new book Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success before it was released. I devoured it pretty fast and shared my thoughts on it here (in a nutshell, it's well worth a read). After I'd read it I caught up with the guys to get more of an insight into the journey they'd been on in putting the book together. The book went on sale today (you can get a copy on Amazon) and so I thought I'd share that with you all now...

  Brad, Steve, the book was a really great read. Which specific chapter would you get Young Steve and Brad to read, at what point in your life and why?
  Brad: It would be the entire first section of the book, which we titled "The Growth Equation." The overarching premise is that, for pretty much any endeavour, stress + rest = growth. Too much stress, not enough rest results in injury, illness, or burnout. Not enough stress, too much rest results in complacency.
  In my early 20s, I didn't respect the "rest" aspect of this equation nearly enough, in both my professional and personal life (though with age I've learned the two are really impossible to separate). As a result, I burnt out from a fairly high-profile consulting gig pretty quickly.
  I probably left some of my best ideas unused (really, un-thought of) since I never gave my brain a chance to check out. As I learned in reporting for the book, your best ideas tend not to come during active thinking, but rather, during sleep, mind-wandering, or otherwise "turning off" a racing mind.
  Same goes with athletics. I was a decent triathlete, but struggled with injuries. I probably applied too much training stress without enough rest. Live and learn, I guess. The last thing I'll say is, paradoxically, for a lot of people "rest" tends to be harder than "stress." The vast majority of the world-class performers we spoke with while writing this book said they have no problem pushing to the limit but struggle mightily to rest...

  Steve: Young Steve also needed to read the section on rest about one hundred times! I had the "stress" part of the equation down, but I would do anything possible to never rest. Days off, or even recovery days, weren't really in my vocabulary at that time. I considered a day off to be a 10 mile run, and a recovery day to be two 8 miles runs in a day.
  Learning the importance - and science - behind rest would have had an impact on my running career. Even now, when I'm working with elite athletes, very seldom is it about pushing them further and motivating them. They have plenty of that. It's about pulling in the reins. I always say, my job as a coach is to make sure you don't do something dumb.

  Which ideas in the book do you find it most challenging to adhere to? As a reader, the advice around restricting smartphone access seemed great when I read it, but I'm never quite able to stick to it consistently...
  Steve: The smartphone and technology restriction is definitely the most difficult. We're inundated by it in today's world. The pull is so strong that research suggests that the devices actually pull us towards interacting with them.
  Our brains have a pretty ingenious cheat system to get us to interact with our environment. For example, if we see a chair, we could potentially sit in it, stand on it, push it, or even pick it up and throw it. But if the context surrounding our movement to the chair indicates we need to sit in it, the motor program in our brain to get us to sit starts to activate before we even know we want to sit down. That way we don't have to stand there and think, "hmmm what am I going to do with this chair" every time we interact with one. The same thing happens with our smartphones, only on overdrive, because they have bells and whistles to reinforce our need for them.
  All that being said, I struggle mightily with this myself and have to be very intentional about putting it down, turning it off, and not falling into the mind numbing swiping of the screen that often occurs.
  Brad: It's funny you both mention the smartphone bit. I'm right there with you! Cultivating a healthy relationship with technology is really challenging for me. Partly because not only do I (and most people) truly need technology to do my job, but I also think technology is pretty great!
  It's just realizing the downsides. Mainly, how much your phone can detract from your ability to do deep-focus work and ensuring you're aware of that and take deliberate actions to prevent them. I no longer sleep with my phone in the bedroom and, when I set out to complete a block of intense work (be it with my mind or body) I leave my phone behind. I don't have the willpower to resist checking it, so I just ensure it's physically far away and turned off!

  What were the standout things you learned whilst writing the book?
  Brad: So much! It's hard to choose just a few. But if I have to, it would be
  1) Just how hard it is to figure out the right balance of stress and rest.
  2) The power of 'designing' for performance. That is, shaping your routine, physical environment and, to an extent, the culture with which you surround yourself.
  3) How thinking less about yourself tends to bring out your best self.
  4) Also, sleep. I always knew sleep was important, but really diving deep into the topic blew my mind, to be honest. It's as if everything you do during the day only gets converted into value if you sleep on it, quite literally (again, this is true for both physical and mental).
  From a process standpoint, collaborating with someone so smart yet with a different style taught me the power of appreciating (rather than being frustrated by) personal differences in partnerships. Humility, I guess!
  Steve: I think more than any one fact it was the amount of "aha moments" I got while researching and interviewing people for the book. As a coach, I'm always connecting ideas back to running or training. I can't tell you how many times I'd be sitting there talking to an artist or musician, or even to meditation experts, and in my mind I'd be like "Wow! That's just like in running or racing or training!"

  What's your favourite section of the book?
  Brad: Probably "The Growth Equation," for the reasons I mentioned above. Though we've heard from some early readers that both the Priming and Purpose Sections read, at times, like thrillers. Not what we were intentionally going for, but I guess that's a good thing...
  Steve: It's so hard to pick a favourite. They change as you go. I remember while writing it Brad was all jazzed about the Purpose section and was kind of down and worried about the Priming bit. He kept saying, "do we need Priming?". I was excited about Priming because some of the science we were finding, in terms of priming your hormones for performance and setting up your environment, was just fascinating. But Brad almost wanted to eliminate it! Then, two months after we finished our final draft Brad was totally excited about the Priming section. And that's how it goes. You fall in and out of love with a section depending on where you're at in 'the process'.

  Any sections in particular you found really hard to put together and, if so, why?
  Steve: Not really to be honest, no. It helps when you have two people writing the book, because if you aren't feeling a particular section in the moment, you can hand it off!
  But I think it's one of those things where you can envision each section and how it fits, but the difficult part is translating that vision from your mind to the page. I really feel like we pulled it off, but it took some massaging of the text to get there...
  Brad: The Purpose section includes some really personal and sensitive stories about overcoming death and devastation. I've always believed that you can learn a lot by looking at extremes - which is why those stories are included - but it was real hard to give those stories and the characters in them the respect they deserve, while at the same time, drawing out lessons that can apply to someone struggling at work, or with their physical training.

  So, any plans for more books in the near future?!
  Brad: I loved collaborated with Steve (and he assures me the feeling is mutual, ha!). We've got all sorts of ideas we'd love to explore over 200-300 pages. Hopefully we have the good fortune to do so!
  Steve: Let us get through this one first before we start asking that question! I had a blast writing it with Brad, though...

  Well, It think the fact you guys don't hate each other is as good an omen as any! Thanks for letting me get an early look at the book, I hope the launch goes well and speak to you both soon...
  Peak Performance is on sale now on Amazon etc.

• Peak Performance Website - https://www.peakperformancebook.net/

  Steve Magness coaches track and cross country at the University of Houston and is the personal coach to several professional athletes, including Olympians. He consults with start-up technology companies on innovation and growth, holds a Master’s degree in Exercise Science from George Mason University, and serves as an adjunct professor at St. Mary’s University (UK).

  Steve ran at a world-class level, clocking a 4:01 mile as an 18-year old, one of the fastest results in Texas history. Steve lives in Houston, Texas, where he can still be found on the local trails...and trying to stay somewhat fast.

• Running - https://runningmagazine.ca/interview-steve-magness-author-science-running/

  Interview with Steve Magness, author of The Science of Running
  April 16th, 2014 by John Lofranco | Posted in Expert Q&A, Expert Tips, Experts, Health & Nutrition, Q&A, Training | Tags: interview, Steve Magness, the science of running

  Steve Magness recently published his new book, The Science of Running. He’s a collegiate track and running coach at the University of Houston. He’s also coached with the Nike Oregon Project for over a year alongside Alberto Salazar.
  John Lofranco caught up with Magness to talk about some of the training methods he touches on in the book.

  Can you start by telling me what prompted you to write the book, and what experience do you have that gave you the confidence to put it out there?
  It actually started back when I was in graduate school. I was in the middle of writing my thesis, reading all of these research articles, while at the same time trying to sharpen my coaching, and I couldn’t help but be disappointed how both worlds. Scientists and coaches seemed to ignore each other. Fast forward a few years, and I decided it was time to finalize those thoughts and see if I could do a better job of synthesizing the science and art of coaching.
  After graduate school, then coaching at Nike and in the collegiate ranks, I was confident I could pull it off. But in the end, this book wasn’t really written for anybody. I wrote the book I wanted to read. I devour training books and have read pretty much everything from the 1950’s to present I could get my hands on. So this book wasn’t about pulling it off and putting it out there, but instead about simply writing a book that would satisfy my pretty high demands.

  At the end of Chapter 9 you mention that “in order for hypoxic training to increase RBC mass, a sufficient intensity and duration is needed. The intensity must be high enough so that a drop in oxygen saturation occurs, while being low enough so that sufficient time can be spent training at that intensity for the pathway to be activated.” What are the correct duration and appropriate intensity?
  We don’t fully know. There’s a large individuality to what makes that oxygen saturation drop. What research tends to tell us is that we need an intensity at close to, or faster than, lactate threshold. Not much is known besides that. Theoretically, fast twitch runners should see a drop in oxygen saturation before a slow twitch runner will, but, when you’re looking at that specific of a parameter, it really depends if oxygen saturation is a limiter or not. For example, when I’ve been up to altitude and you strap an oxygen saturation measuring device on someone’s finger, some will see decreases from just jogging around at altitude, while others it will take until they get running pretty fast. The difference at altitude is that some runners are really poor at getting that oxygen in and then to transfer from the lungs to the blood.
  At the end of Chapter 7, you note that, in cycling, using energy cost was a better measure of efficiency than simply RPMs, and that, in running, using stride rate and length could offer the same window. You end with “The problem isn’t with the importance of economy or efficiency, but with the actual measurement used to define economy.” What should that measurement be for runners?
  It’s funny, when I wrote that in the book I was hypothesizing based on data from cycling. Then, a few days after I published the book, a study came out comparing the traditional measure of economy versus energy cost. It turns out that it’s the same in runners, which I guess isn’t too surprising.
  It seems what this last study is saying is that Kcal/km is the best way to measure it. Is there a more practical way to measure it? Or is this another case like VO2max where knowing the actual number is not really all that useful, as the training isn’t all that different anyway?
  I’m afraid it’s another case of what do we do with this number. Unlike with VO2 max, though, it seems to actually change with training. So, one thing we can do is to check to see if some of the interventions we use actually improve it. For example, we could check before and after a four-week block of strength training designed to improve economy, or before and after a change in our form. In that case, it’s useful.
  In the biomechanics section, you write a lot about how to change mechanics and how a mid/forefoot strike is more desirable. Recently, there’s been some discussion that heel striking is actually not that inefficient and, at speeds slower than about 6:25 per mile, it’s actually more efficient . There’s so much back and forth on this. Why is your version the one we should trust?
  Again, I think this plays to the individual nature of the runner and their biomechanics. When we look at efficiency, we have to realize that by the time most of us get into running, we’ve got at least 14 years of motor programming ingrained for how we run. So, the most efficient way to run is most likely how we run at that moment because we’ve trained for it.
  The question though is if we can improve our efficiency ceiling. So, could we possibly be more efficient if we ran a certain way mechanically and took time to rework our muscle recruitment?
  It’s really impossible to tell if that’s true right now because it takes long-term studies to figure it out. By it’s nature, if we change our form in a three-week training study, whatever way we change our form will most likely decrease efficiency. In an extreme viewpoint it’s as if we started writing with our left hand after writing with our right hand for all our life. Even if we were “supposed” to be left-handed, it would be way more inefficient at the beginning.
  All that being said, speed plays a role and individual physiological characteristics. The faster that you run, the less ground contact will be, the less time we have to put force into the ground, and the more time we have to rely on elastic energy. The slower we go, the less elastic energy reliance happens. So there’s going to be a point, which should very with every runner, where heel striking should be more efficient.
  The sample training plans are all about 20 weeks long. Is there an advantage to cycling through two builds in a year, or is it desirable to do a full-year periodization?
  It depends on the athlete and the goal..
  If your race schedule allows flexibility, I look at it in this way: it depends on how long the attributes you need to build up are going to take. For example, if we have a runner who really has to develop his aerobic abilities, he might need to spend a long time emphasizing that. So, you might choose a single, longer periodization scheme where you spend a large bulk of the year hitting that high end aerobic work. You might race cross-country or fall roads while doing this, but it’s part of a single, longer periodization.
  You spent some time working in Oregon with Alberto Salazar, yet he does not appear on your list of coaching influences. What did you learn there?
  In Oregon, I really took away a lot of lessons. It helped shape me as a coach. I really learned who I was as a coach and what my own style would be.
  Above all, though, I think you learn from the athletes, and working with the quality of athletes there, you really see the limits of human performance and understand what it takes on several levels.
  One of the unique things I took away was the individual difference between athletes at that level. For example, Rupp would continually have more impressive workouts than Farah, but that was due to Rupp’s incredible ability to recover, which is almost superhuman, while Farah had his own talents that came out more in the races. The point is, you’ve got to figure out what works for each one and where their strengths and weaknesses lie and attack them with precision.
  Whether it is elite or high school runners, you are, surprisingly, fighting many of the same battles. The same issues I have heard on the college team are issues you battle with elites. So, strangely, what I brought away most is that coaching is coaching. It doesn’t matter the level; every individual brings their own unique challenge.
  Magness declined to comment further on his relationship with Alberto Salazar.
  This interview has been edited from its original form.

Peak performance

(June 2017): p83.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 R & L Publishing, Ltd. (dba SUCCESS Media)
http://www.successmagazine.com/
PEAK PERFORMANCE
Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive With the New Science of Success
By Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness

Success is a science? The latest research, as well as anecdotal evidence, suggests it is indeed. Brad Stulberg, a health journalist, and Steve Magness, a performance scientist and Olympics long-distance coach, look across sports and disciplines to find common attributes contributing to performance. They show the best way to alternate effort and rest, how to prime the mind and body, and the motivational power of a sense of purpose. (June; Rodale Books; $25)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Peak performance." Success, June 2017, p. 83. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A494743001/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=1140f33b. Accessed 10 Dec. 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A494743001

Peak Performance: Take Advantage of the New Science of Success

264.15 (Apr. 10, 2017): p64+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Peak Performance: Take Advantage of the New Science of Success
Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness. Rodale, $24.99 (240) ISBN 978-1-62336-793-0
In an increasingly competitive world, how can people excel without burning out, and how can top performance be achieved sustainably? Columnist and former McKinsey consultant Stulberg and distance running coach Magness, both high achievers in their chosen fields, provide a thoughtful look at taking one's game to the next level without crashing and burning. They show that the culture of extreme competition is bad for society as a whole, as it pushes people to cut corners just to stay competitive; for example, large numbers of students are using Adderall just to keep up with their workloads. The authors present a set of principles for sustainable--ethical, legal, and healthy--success. Stulberg and Magness guide readers through a program of meditating, resting, prioritizing and minimizing distractions, seeking out "just manageable" challenges, and working in discrete, comprehensible blocks. Citations of research into the neurochemistry behind success frame each step. The accessible science and easy-to-grasp instructions on healthy ways of developing a sense of purpose are encouraging and inspiring, and readers looking to realize their potential without harming themselves would do well to take this advice. Agent: Ted Weinstein, Ted Weinstein Literary. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Peak Performance: Take Advantage of the New Science of Success." Publishers Weekly, 10 Apr. 2017, p. 64+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A490319300/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e6eaf788. Accessed 10 Dec. 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A490319300

• Simplifaster
  https://simplifaster.com/articles/peak-performance-book-review/
  Word count: 1285

  Peak Performance: A Book Review
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  By Chris Gallagher
  Elevate your game, avoid burnout, thrive with the new science of success: It all sounds pretty enticing, right? Who wouldn’t want to achieve these things? Perform better and excel, and do it all without succumbing to the unrelenting grind of the modern workplace.
  I’m fashionably late to the party on this one. Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive With the New Science of Success, by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness, has received rave reviews across social media and various websites and review pages since the book’s release. And rightly so! The authors have a track record of success, and are also intimately familiar with the perils of burnout when the foundations for this success are not built correctly. Stulberg and Magness share insights from their extensive research into what allows elite performers to excel across a broad spectrum of disciplines, but they are also open about their personal stories and provide firsthand accounts from high-performing contributors within the book.
  I previously read Steve Magness’ first book, The Science of Running: How to find your limit and train to maximize your performance, I began hotly anticipating the release of Peak Performance when I started to become aware of Brad’s flair for writing through my social media network. Brad contributes to several online and print publications, penning articles about health and the science of human performance. Both authors previously demonstrated to me an aptitude for writing in an informative and engaging manner, and I was incredibly keen to get my hands on a copy of Peak Performance.
  I have become aware of a growing trend within the coaching community of more seasoned coaches imploring the upcoming generations of future elite coaches to figure out a sustainable approach to developing success and mastery. I witnessed conversations from respected thought leaders such as Jorge Carvajal, Derek Hansen, and Carl Valle, among others. Successful performers in the world of coaching athletic excellence observe a growing and worrying trend, and no doubt this issue is a concern across a great many domains and professions around the world.

  Image 1. Thought leaders from the world of developing athletic performance are concerned by the growing trend of unsustainable work schedules among coaches.

  This is where Peak Performance comes in. Brad and Steve identified the purpose of Peak Performance as being to “help people discover how they can get the most out of themselves in a healthy and sustainable way, and prevent the next case of burnout, dissatisfaction and unhappiness.” It’s a commendable and charitable endeavor, and their book is a resounding success that absolutely lives up to their grand ambition.
  The authors grip you with the foreword and they never let you go. I think it is no coincidence that, as I was coming to the end of reading Peak Performance and preparing to write this review, Brett Bartholomew—who produced Conscious Coaching, another excellent book that I reviewed earlier this year—was sharing an article on social media regarding the power of storytelling.

  Image 2. Brett Bartholomew is another leading coach and author who understands and leverages the power of storytelling to deliver a more enduring and effective message.

  I have to be honest. When I read for pleasure it is typically at night, before sleep, and it might not be the most cultured of literary selections. I’m reading the latest Jack Reacher novel, seeing what Jack Ryan is getting up to in Tom Clancy’s most recent offering, or losing myself in John Grisham’s legal world. However, when I was reading Peak Performance, it felt like a real page-turner. I struggled to put it down. I must admit that sometimes reading for personal development can feel more like a chore than something to savor, but the combined writing styles of Steve and Brad make for an enjoyable experience.
  When I was reading Peak Performance, it felt like a real page-turner. I struggled to put it down.
  Click To Tweet
  Much like Brett Bartholomew in Conscious Coaching, the co-authors employed the powerful effects of incorporating narrative writing with their own personal stories to suck the reader in and ensure a feeling of authenticity and credibility, belief and trust. There are definite parallels in the methods and means of achieving “buy-in” by the respective authors.
  In the opening chapters, Stulberg and Magness concede that the “bar for human performance is at an all-time high” and that this pressure may contribute to individuals falling into unsustainable habits in the search for excellence. The authors recognize this, but perhaps the observation also contributed to them writing a book that exceeds this bar; producing a compelling read that will be highly competitive on any reading list.
  The strength of this book lies not just in the powerful exploitation of their own personal anecdotes, along with those of other high performers. The impact is also rooted in the fact that the topics discussed are something that most people around the globe can connect or empathize with. We are all doing more; exceeding contracted or ideal working hours in an effort to keep up. And this route has only one destination—burnout! The issues they tackle are ones which we can all see and recognize in our own lives.
  Furthering its appeal, the book draws from a wide range of fields and disciplines, and makes the information relevant and interesting to a broad cross-section of society. Throughout the pages, they discuss a kaleidoscope of topics from Plato and philosophy, finance and business, science and psychology to chess and surfing. However, they do not stop there. Developing this idea, the authors consistently demonstrate how individuals operating in vastly different arenas can learn from each other. They explore what an artist can learn from an athlete, an athlete from an academic, and so on.
  The authors do not merely highlight a growing epidemic in society. While the first half of the book identifies the growing issues, the remainder of the book centers around the ways we can combat these problems. It is not difficult for any of us to sit there and highlight problems. It is far harder to provide strategies, solutions, and answers. The authors provide regular “Performance Practices” throughout the book’s pages. These short text boxes or bullet points summarize the key action points of each section, or chapter. They provide the reader with tools to take away and enhance their own situation, or develop their own strategies for achieving sustainable success.
  As with all other examples of their writing with which I am familiar, Stulberg and Magness both make ideas and concepts easily understandable without the error of oversimplification. The content is obviously excellent, but the layout, wording, flow of the writing, and professional presentation of the product are exemplary. Indeed, the chapter-by-chapter summary is an excellent way to review the key messages of each section of the book and makes the material more easily digested by the reader.
  If I had to suggest a few words to describe Peak Performance, I would offer gripping, compelling, insightful, and essential. This book illustrates how the means, methods, and habits of elite performers across realms as different as powerlifting and academia, surfing and philosophy, are startlingly similar. As ever in life, it is the responsibility of the individual to put the knowledge to best use, but with Peak Performance, Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness provide you with the ideal battle plan to “elevate your game, avoid burnout and thrive.”

• Precision Hydration
  https://www.precisionhydration.com/blogs/hydration_advice/book-review-peak-performance-by-bradley-stulberg-and-steve-magness
  Word count: 985

  Book Review: Peak Performance by Bradley Stulberg and Steve Magness
  I think I probably first came across Steve Magness’ name in my Twitter feed a few years ago as he was often quoted or retweeted by a handful of the people I follow most closely on there, such as the super intelligent and outspoken Sports Scientist Ross Tucker and top journalist and author David Epstein. I followed Steve on Twitter at first and subsequently purchased and read his book ‘The Science of Running’ (an excellent read) before finding his blog and podcast and dipping into those as well.
  Around the same time that I started reading Steve’s first book, I found myself reading online articles in ‘Outside’ magazine by Brad Stulberg and, as was the case with Magness, began following him on Twitter to learn more about him as he often wrote about things in a way that resonated with me.
  Although I tend to read quite a lot, I try hard to be brutally selective about what I spend my time reading online each day, otherwise it’s incredibly easy to get sucked into reading a lot of the niff-naff and trivia that gets dumped on the web every day. Despite applying a pretty strong filter to what I choose to spend time on, I’ve consistently found both Steve and Brad’s work to be well worth seeking out and I often seem to find myself prioritising reading their output over a lot of other stuff that comes into my overcrowded inbox or Twitter feed.
  When I found out that Brad and Steve were collaborating on a book about human performance (called ‘Peak Performance’, it’s out on June 6th and available to pre-order now) I was very pleased indeed, and even happier when they offered the chance to review a pre-release copy of it here on the Precision Hydration blog.
  Despite the constraints of running a growing Precision Hydration, trying to be a vaguely useful ‘assistant’ to my wife in bringing up our 6 month old daughter and 3 year old son and doing a little bit of training to keep fit, I think I motored through the 219 pages of ‘Peak Performance’ in about 3 (late night) sittings! The only obvious irony in the behaviour is that I definitely compromised the quality and length of my sleep on those 3 nights as a result (and getting appropriate sleep is a big topic in the book…)

  Essentially what Peak Performance is all about is how to attain and, more importantly, sustain a high level of human performance (both mentally and physically), whilst avoiding the pitfalls of burnout and underachievement that are becoming increasingly common in the modern world.
  What it’s not however is anything like the kind of ‘Life Hacking’ bullsh*t that is most commonly associated with books you might think fit into the same genre. The kind of insights delivered and behaviours advocated in Peak Performance are resolutely evidence-based, long term approaches that are less about taking shortcuts - or finding ‘hacks’ to cheat your way to some mythical level of elite performance - as guidelines for building a sensible, sustainable lifestyle for you and, equally importantly, other people around you.
  Earlier in their lives and careers both Steve (in athletics) and Brad (in business consulting) accumulated some hard won personal experience of both extremely high achievement and periods of burnout that came close to breaking them mentally and physically. This is explained explicitly in the early part of the book and very clearly provides the motivation from which they write to help others to avoid the traps that befell their younger selves.

  This element of the book really spoke to me on a personal level because I have definitely also been affected by periods of burnout, both as an athlete and as a self-employed business person, over the last 20 or so years as I tried to compete at an international level in triathlon and build a couple of different businesses from the ground up.
  The way the book is structured is such that it puts entertaining and inspiring stories together with real life examples from people who have learned (either through being extremely smart or, like the rest of us, by the more normal process of trial and error) how to maximise their performance in various domains of work, sport and life. These anecdotes are then backed up with scientifically validated techniques and tactics that you can look to apply in similar situations in your own life.
  The book is littered with references and summaries of the work of a lot of intellectual heavyweights like Daniel Kahneman, Carol Dweck, K. Anders Ericsson, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Angela Duckworth (to name but a few). I’ve read most of the ‘A’ list material by these names in the past and what is great about Peak Performance is how it manages to précis the most important practically applicable ideas from them and tie them together in actionable ideas that mean you can actually see a way to applying the knowledge in your own life.
  I’ve already made the book compulsory reading in the Precision Hydrationoffice (where there is a definite tendency to work towards a degree of burnout at times!) and have no hesitation to recommend it to anyone interested in learning a few ideas on how to perform better in work, sport or life in general.
  Thanks again to Steve and Brad for giving me early access to the book and for giving Precision Hydration athletes this special offer: If you pre-order Peak Performance by the end of this week (May 12th), you'll receive “The 10 Commandments of Performance”, an exclusive PDF highlighting the key insights in the book and how to apply them in your own life. Just email your receipt to info@peakperformance.email

• Slowtwitch.com
  http://www.slowtwitch.com/Opinion/The_Coach_s_Thoughts._Peak_Performance_Review_Three._6501.html
  Word count: 1096

  The Coach's Thoughts. Peak Performance Review Three.
  Jordan Rapp
  Sun Aug 13 2017

  This is the third of our user-forum crowdsourced reviews of Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness's new book, Peak Performance. Brian Stover is a triathlon coach who started his coaching career in 1994 as a swim coach. For the last 19 years he has been coaching triathletes, duathletes, cyclists and other endurance athletes around the world. He coaches both pro and age group athletes. Accelerate 3 athletes have multiple top 10 finishes in both IM and 70.3 racing, his age group athletes have won and podiumed at several Age Group World Championships, qualified for Kona, have been the fastest amateur at many 70.3 and IM’s and have won multiple National titles in both triathlon and duathlon.

  Brian received a BS from East Carolina University in Exercise Science with concentrations in Human Performance and Health. He has spoken to triathlon clubs and camps across the US about using power. As the co-founder of AeroCamps he is one of the leading experts in the world in wind tunnel testing triathletes. He has used his knowledge to design and test clothing for global manufacturers and has advised numerous athletes on improving their aerodynamics.

  Peak Performance. As reviewed by Brian Stover.
  Back in 1993 in some book about triathlon, Tony Svenssen wrote "Stress + Rest = Improved Performance." While I do not remember the name of the book or much else in or about that book, that is the one thing I remembered and have always kept in the back on my mind as I coach athletes. Many of my athletes have probably heard this from me over the years. In Peak Performance by Brad Stulberg & Steve Mangess they update that equation for this century to fit a wider audience. It becomes "Stress + Rest = Growth."

  Svenssen's book I suspect was mostly about athletic performance. While Brad & Steve wrote a book that could be applied strictly to athletic performance, if that is the only reason you want to read Peak Performance you are doing yourself a disservice. When I first started reading this book it was strictly from the angle of how can I coach my athletes better. What weakness(es) can I expose about myself to myself to help me coach my athletes better so they can race faster? While reading in that vein this book was a struggle for me to get through. It neither captured nor held my attention. I set the book down for the better part of two weeks and pondered what my struggles were with this book. When I went back to re-read the book, ironically using some of the same things the authors talk about in the book, it hit me that my framing of the initial reading was wrong. My thinking needed to be centered around how I work, how the day to day tasks within the job flow and what that yields for my investment(s). It became more about what thing(s) inhibit me and what can be done to help me work better or smarter or better and smarter. Once I reframed my thought process there was no point where reading became about achieving peak performance on the playing field. The focus became how does one achieve day in day out better performance, not even peak performance, just better performance in life? Start hitting doubles instead of singles to use a baseball analogy. This book exposes the numerous little things we all do in the name of better performance that really detract from our ability to perform optimally, to focus fully, to get in the zone. It's a book as much about, and, I think more about achieving peak performance in our day to day lives then achieving peak performance when you pin on a race number. Ultimately, this is where the strength of Peak Performance lies, at least to me.

  The first 20 or so pages of Peak Performance are not for the faint of heart. It's everything dark we know about life and sports yet push to the periphery of our mind. Intuitively we know how complicated the world can be, how competitive it is, how one must constantly be "on" while performing, how the world is constantly moving forward, getting better with no regard for you if you fall behind, how we multi task trying to get twice as much done in half the time even though most often we end up doing half as much in twice the time. Brad and Steve attempt to help us help ourselves take back some control from today's chaotic world. There is nothing radical in this book, no magic bullet that will enable anyone to rise to the top of their field. What this book does, and does well, is remind us of the tools we mostly know on some level and introduce us to tools we may not know about which can provide guidance to more optimally performing.

  The most potent parts of this book may be the inserted reminders and tips, the Performance Practices boxes and the last two chapters. If you just read just these you will walk away with 80% of the useable information contained in Peak Performance. Unfortunately, this book didn't point out the exact things I need to modify in how I do my job. Brad and Steve's book did help me to identify things I currently do that that inhibit optimal work flow and therefore optimal work performance which detracts from other areas in my life.

  In the week or so that has passed since reading Peak Performance, I have been able to leverage different parts of the book to reduce the amount of time spent doing tasks that do not contribute to my work production. It has spurred me on to make needed changes in my work area, remove some distractions from my work day and encouraged me to do a few things that ultimately help me help myself become better at getting things done. While I'm not as consistent with these practices as I'd like, over time the trend should be towards better efficacy both in work and life. Don't read Steve and Brad's Peak Performance to move up a few spots on the results sheet, although it may help you do that, do read this book to help you help yourself to identify and/or modify things that you can do to help you win more often at life. Winning there first will help you when you pin a number on.

• 9Run
  http://www.9run.ca/2014/03/book-review-science-of-running-by-steve.html
  Word count: 661

  Thursday, 27 March 2014
  Book Review: Science of Running by Steve Magness

  Here's the bottom line...if you are a serious runner or thinking about becoming one, go get this book now. And not the e-version either, get the paperback for the very simple reason that you will go back to this book over and over and over again.

  *this review was not influenced by Steve Magness in any way, shape, or form. I ordered the book from Amazon and paid the price at which it was charged on the day it was ordered.

  My copy is just about a month old and it look like it's been through a couple of wash and dry cycles.

  It looks like a textbook, it feels like a textbook, and at times, it reads like a textbook. The information is invaluable so if you want to break your PR or take your running to a whole new level, get one now.

  As Steve hinted prior to its release, this book is strategically divided into two parts: science and training. The first half fulfills every science geek's dream as he takes us through all the various concepts such as energy systems, production and usage, fatigue, nutrition, etc. If you've never been exposed to this kind of information, it might be a bit of a tough read but give it enough time and it will all make sense in the end.

  After not seeing daylight for about a week, I finally get through the first half of and eagerly move on to the training part. Mind you, I've had to keep going back to the first part because it can read like a college textbook and every repeat brings about newer, missed, or forgotten information from the previous repeat.

  By way of background, I have taken these courses before (physiology, kinesiology, biomechanics, etc) in university and it is both surprising and disappointing to discover just how much I have forgotten over the years.

  The second half reveals the different types of runs and training methods suited for the intermediate to advanced runner. He goes into a lot of detail on how to apply various techniques such as alternations, hill sprints, pick-ups, strides, bursts, etc in order to address specific areas of weakness instead of prescribing standard workouts that one can find in most running books.

  It ends with some all too aggressive training plans (at least for me they are), which has half-marathoners run up to 70+ miles per week and more for the marathoners. I can certainly understand why the plans were designed that way and I may reach that stage where I am able to run that kind of mileage in a week. The reality at the moment is I will get hurt if I run that much since I am only now comfortably settling in at 60 mpw for the HM. But if this is what it takes to move up to the next level, I will surely work at it until I get there.

  It's worth repeating that this book is intended for the experienced runner or coach who wants to improve PR times and training techniques. It is not for the couch to 5k variety and not for those who aren't at all interested in learning about the science behind it.

  It's a fairly smooth read and though there are a number of typos and misspellings, it delivers its message well. It's not as polished as Hudson or Fitzgerald in terms of editing or packaging but the content is easily at par or better. I would hard-pressed to choose between these authors.

  Having said that, if there was one, and only one, book that I would pick to help me with my running at this stage, this would be it.

  Posted by Stan (9run.ca) at 13:34

• Athletics Illustrated
  http://athleticsillustrated.com/uncategorized/the-science-of-running-a-book-review/
  Word count: 1351

  The Science of Running: A Book Review
  Christopher Kelsall June 11, 2014 0
  © Copyright – 2014 – Athletics Illustrated
  Genre: Sport and Leisure
  Title: The Science of Running: How to find your limit and train to maximize your personal performance
  Author: Steve Magness
  ISBN: 978-0615-94294-0
  Availability: Amazon
  Status: Recommended
  Steve Magness recently wrote the book, The Science of Running: How to find your limit and train to maximize your personal performance. If the title sounds familiar Magness also writes all the content for the weblog of the same name, The Science of Running, which as he wrote on the header of the site, “is an in-depth look at training, coaching, sport science, and anything else that relates to enhancing endurance performance.” The book is a reflection of the website, but is organised in a familiar and easy-to-index format; being a book.
  Magness’s credibility is supported by an NCAA division one college career, where he represented Rice University and the University of Houston. Currently he coaches professional runners Jackie Areson who has run as fast as 4:12 in the 1500m and owns a 5K personal best time of 15:14. He also coaches Sara Hall and Tommy Schmitz. Schmitz owns an 800m personal best time of 1:49 and a 1500m best of 3:39.
  Magness earned his MSc in Exercise Science from George Mason University, which together with the above, indicates enough qualification to be considered very knowledgeable in matters related to the science of running. Additionally, Magness worked with the Nike Oregon Project alongside the legendary coach Alberto Salazar as his scientific advisor. I listened to Salazar speak at a conference in Vancouver two years ago. Magness supported Salazar with scientific information that explained why certain methods that Salazar used, worked. So the book is written from the perspective of someone in the know. It is intended for nearly all levels of runners and only the newest to the sport may find the going tough, but only in the first half.
  The book provides two completely differing sections that support each other; the first half is a scientific explanation of everything to do with running middle and long-distances while the second half covers the practical application.
  Magness dives fairly deep into various subject matter, but pulls back on the technical rhetoric just in time; good for those who are at least semi-literate in running jargon to enjoy and learn. In chapter one, he discusses how running happens by dividing the discussion into key parts, Motor Programming, Muscle Contraction, Energetics, Muscle Fibre Types, Recruitment and Passive Mechanics. This is an important part of the book, as many coaches and athletes often bypass the neuro-muscular aspect of training the body and fast-forward directly to the cardio-vascular realm, sticking to simply stimulating aerobic and anaerobic strata. An initial indication that this is a well-rounded and relatively in-depth book on running, he starts the introduction off by writing, “This is not your typical watered-down mass-market training book that relies on cookie-cutter programs.”
  Magness cuts to the chase, for example directly after the introduction he lists off his, Rules of Everything. He neatly puts the reader into the understanding that this is a man with confidence who invokes such rules as, 2. Research is only as good as its measurement and 5. We underestimate the complexity of the human body (and almost everything else); this is a refreshing view from a science-based coach.
  Magness spends a fair length of time on the brain, the “master controller” as he refers to it. According to him it only makes sense to start with the brain and to work our way down. There is no doubt that the brain is one of the least explored pieces in the puzzle to better athletic training and performance. Next to playing with genetics and DNA, it is commonly referred to as the next frontier in athletic training. Perhaps it won’t be the powers of USADA and WADA that defeat illegal performance enhancing drug use; it is possible that drugs may just become archaic, redundant and clunky, as we learn to adjust the central governor and the signals from the brain that fights logic. It is no wonder why coaches leave the psychology of their athletes to psychologists; it’s a complex and not so tactile element. Magness dives in to bring us a better understanding of how to improve performance and learn to deal with the gravitational tug-of-war of homeostasis.
  Magness also covers familiar subjects such as oxygen utilization, lactic acid and other by-products. He discusses running economy at length and the theories of training adaptation, however, points out faults in theories that have governed distance training for decades. He really tears apart common knowledge about V02max training. In fact he starts the chapter off with stating that Midgley and McNaughton’s review of maximal oxygen uptake has been suggested to be the single most important physiological capacity in determining endurance running performance, by simply stating, “it’s not,” Adhering to his fifth Rule of Everything.
  Part two, “How to Train” defines the philosophy of training, defines workouts, and manipulation of training. He asked the question: What are we trying to accomplish? and explains how to bring it all together – perhaps in a summary in chapter 19 of 21: Bringing it all together, periodisation. Magness suggests that coaches assume that the person follows a normal route of adaptation, however, doesn’t define what is normal and suggests we assume that the recovery is correct and long term and adaptation (just happens to) take place; these are general, perhaps bold statements, but likely true. Within the general principles of good and generally understood training practices, we make these assumptions; however, as we move the athletes to a higher level there is less room for error.
  Knowing adaption according to Magness has three basic elements, knowing the blueprint that the specific event dictates skill, power, speed, endurance and tactics, for example. Number two is about how the athletes affect the generalised model; we are all experiments of one. He states that instead of having a generalised program and forcing the athlete into it – perhaps an overarching plan, he says, “Turn the idea on its head.” Know the above two elements, the demands of the event and how the individual affects those demands and then build your training model from there.
  Magness then takes the reader into much explored territory, but not the mundane. He discusses training as we know it.
  Much of his training philosophy appears to be gleaned from the foundation of roughly 160 athletes, coaches and scientists from around the world including Noakes, Hudson, Billat, Leiberman, Costill, Lydiard, Canova, Coe, Daniels, Peltonen, Coyle and Tucker to name just a few. The basic training principles are commonly understood and he doesn’t stray too far from the generally accepted path to success vis-a- vis periodisation: build base first, peak last and in between progress logically forward, the devil is in the details. Magness appears to employ a classic build with multi-pace training incorporated, but to be clear, this is not to be confused with multi-pace so much in the cardio-vascular realm of training, but more the stimulus of the nervous system and the muscular system, while the aerobic running period is maintained as primarily aerobic and the anaerobic period focuses on most aspects of speed.
  The book is an easy read for the runner who is keen to advance their training forward, however, as earlier stated, may be work for a newer runner. As a reference book, much like the website, any coach can benefit from the Science of Running. Magness’s knowledge and perspective are of value. And his underlying attitude that is pervasive throughout the book is outlined in his list of his Rules of Everything; be sure to read that twice. They act as a guide for all that follows. The book is a pragmatist’s effort to impart a broad range of scientific and practical training lore for the practice of better training principles. I highly recommend it.

• Optimim Sports Performance
  http://optimumsportsperformance.com/blog/book-review-the-science-of-running-by-steve-magness/
  Word count: 644

  Book Review: The Science of Running by Steve Magness
  I have been traveling a ton lately and for me that means long plane rides and lots of time to read. One book I just finished reading is Steve Magness’ “The Science of Running: How to find your limit and train to maximize your performance”. Steve is a really knowledgeable coach, currently the Head Cross Country Coach at the University of Houston, who writes one of the blogs I frequent on a regular basis, Science of Running. Seriously, if you haven’t checked out Steve’s blog you need to head over and do so. It has some fantastic content regarding running and physiology.
  I’ll start by saying that the book is one of the best books I have read on the topic of distance running. Most distance running books tend to gloss over key details and get right into the cookie cutter approach of the training template that the author has put together. This book is very different. Steve spends a significant number of chapters going into the scientific details of his approach to training runners. The first thirteen chapters are heavily focused on scientific information and coaches of all sports (not just running) would benefit from reading through the first section of this book as the information is helpful for training athletes in various sports.
  The second half of the book is dedicated to training and takes the reader through everything they need to know about setting up their own training program to address their needs as a runner. For those who are not coaches, but rather recreational runners looking to improve their performance, the second half of the book is extremely beneficial and user friendly (even if you gloss over all the scientific stuff in the first part of the book which is basically there to answer the question of “Why you are doing certain things in your program”).
  Aside from his obvious love of reading research what I like most about how Steve approaches things is that he is a coach first. Steve talks about many of the limitations of applying strictly researched methods to the real world and discusses how he uses the research he reads to build to his model. The other thing that stands out to me about this book is that it is not a cookie cutter training program. Most running books are set up to provide the reader with a stock 3K, 5K, 10K, 1/2 Marathon, and Marathon program. Steve discusses why this is a poor approach and talks significantly about classifying runners based on fiber types, performance, and the race they are training for. Writing programs is not as simple as just filling in a template. While it may be the most time efficient approach (filling in a template is much faster than actually looking at test results, asking questions about the individual you are programming for, and structuring something that is specific to them) I agree with Steve 100% that there are many factors that need to be taken into consideration when writing a training program and it is not a simple task as many make it out to be (this may be a blog post for another time). The second half of the book goes over everything you need to know to write your own training program – testing/evaluation, training methods, periodization/planning, strength training, and even the biomechanics of running.
  I can’t recommend this book enough for coaches of all sports, not just distance running. The information in this book will get coaches thinking and perhaps asking more questions of themselves when it comes time to write training programs for their athletes. For $20 you can’t go wrong with The Science of Running.
  This entry was posted in Continuing Education & Product Reviews on April 5, 2014.