We are hardwired to discover new ways to challenge ourselves
To run a 26 miles and 365 yards of a marathon in under two hours it would be necessaryWe are hardwired to discover new ways to challenge ourselves
To run a 26 miles and 365 yards of a marathon in under two hours it would be necessary to run at an average pace of 4 hours 34 seconds per mile. This book sets out to explore the likelihood of this happening and, if it were to happen, what the key levers would be that would enable this achievement.
OK, so maybe it’s one for running aficionados! But lots of people do run – not to anything remotely close to the standard required to approach this level of performance, but sufficient to be able to fully appreciate what a crazy pinnacle this really is. To put it into some context, the average finish time for over 38,000 runners in the 2014 London Marathon was around four and a half hours. A decent goal for a good high school runner would be to run a single mile in under 5 minutes.
The author delves into the history of the race and digs up some interesting facts about its origin and its growth into a mass participation event. It seems that just about every large city has its own marathon these days and having run in London, Berlin and Paris (amongst others) I certainly appreciate the appeal of these events. It’s an opportunity to participate (albeit distantly) in the same event as world class athletes. At the same time, it’s a chance to challenge yourself and often to raise money for a worthy cause.
But the main focus here is on the elite athletes as they chip away at the world record time and get ever closer to the two-hour mark. The current world record is 2:02:57. Not so far off then? Well, maybe not but some experts still suggest it is physiologically impossible for humans to achieve this goal. In this book the author takes a different stance and feels that the achievement is inevitable… eventually. The physiological, mental, environmental and training impediments are closely examined – often using outputs from serious scientific study. I found it all totally fascinating.
So that’s the history and the science, but the secondary element to this book – and the one that really grabbed me and hauled me through it in two sessions - is the account of top Kenyan runner Geoffrey Mutai. Geoffrey comes from the Rift Valley area of Kenya and, in fact, originates from a tribe that produces most of the best marathon runners in the world. Like just about everyone he grew up with he didn’t wear a pair of shoes until his teenage years and his childhood and early adolescence were memorable mainly because of its general impoverishment and the sheer effort required just to get by, day to day. His story is interspersed with the scientific study and it works really well. It elevates what might have been considered a pretty dry academic text into something with much more depth and feeling.
I know this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I’d urge anyone interested in marathon running or even sport in general to take a look at it. I found it inspiring.
Merged review:
We are hardwired to discover new ways to challenge ourselves
To run a 26 miles and 365 yards of a marathon in under two hours it would be necessary to run at an average pace of 4 hours 34 seconds per mile. This book sets out to explore the likelihood of this happening and, if it were to happen, what the key levers would be that would enable this achievement.
OK, so maybe it’s one for running aficionados! But lots of people do run – not to anything remotely close to the standard required to approach this level of performance, but sufficient to be able to fully appreciate what a crazy pinnacle this really is. To put it into some context, the average finish time for over 38,000 runners in the 2014 London Marathon was around four and a half hours. A decent goal for a good high school runner would be to run a single mile in under 5 minutes.
The author delves into the history of the race and digs up some interesting facts about its origin and its growth into a mass participation event. It seems that just about every large city has its own marathon these days and having run in London, Berlin and Paris (amongst others) I certainly appreciate the appeal of these events. It’s an opportunity to participate (albeit distantly) in the same event as world class athletes. At the same time, it’s a chance to challenge yourself and often to raise money for a worthy cause.
But the main focus here is on the elite athletes as they chip away at the world record time and get ever closer to the two-hour mark. The current world record is 2:02:57. Not so far off then? Well, maybe not but some experts still suggest it is physiologically impossible for humans to achieve this goal. In this book the author takes a different stance and feels that the achievement is inevitable… eventually. The physiological, mental, environmental and training impediments are closely examined – often using outputs from serious scientific study. I found it all totally fascinating.
So that’s the history and the science, but the secondary element to this book – and the one that really grabbed me and hauled me through it in two sessions - is the account of top Kenyan runner Geoffrey Mutai. Geoffrey comes from the Rift Valley area of Kenya and, in fact, originates from a tribe that produces most of the best marathon runners in the world. Like just about everyone he grew up with he didn’t wear a pair of shoes until his teenage years and his childhood and early adolescence were memorable mainly because of its general impoverishment and the sheer effort required just to get by, day to day. His story is interspersed with the scientific study and it works really well. It elevates what might have been considered a pretty dry academic text into something with much more depth and feeling.
I know this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but I’d urge anyone interested in marathon running or even sport in general to take a look at it. I found it inspiring....more
Carrie Soto, at thirty seven, wants to make a comeback. A phenomenally successful professional tennis player in her day, she’s just seen her record asCarrie Soto, at thirty seven, wants to make a comeback. A phenomenally successful professional tennis player in her day, she’s just seen her record as the winner of the most grand slams (the top events in tennis) equalled by the current star of the sport. Thankfully, her father is a tennis coach and he’s happy – actually, more than happy – to support her unlikely quest to win at least one more major tournament.
Carrie’s mum had died when she was very young and from that point on her tennis obsessed father coached her remorselessly and often ruthlessly to become a top player. Perhaps because of this (probably because of this) Carrie developed into an ambitious, driven and angry person; she’s someone with no friends, no relationships - other than with her father – and no social skills. She is rude to just about everyone and and was the most unpopular tennis player of her generation. There’s quite honestly nothing to like about her.
Once the scene is set, the book becomes something akin to a biography of a fictional sports star. Now, I’ve read quite a few sports bio’s and there is a tendency for the whole thing to become a list of training goals, technical challenges and – worst of all – an unending list of events participated in. And that’s precisely the route this one takes. In short, it all becomes rather tedious.
I really enjoyed Daisy Jones & The Six and Malibu Rising and I do think TJR is a very talented storyteller, but I’m afraid this one just didn’t work for me. I almost gave up on it a couple of time but I did eventually battle through to the end. I can only really liken this tale to a Disney version of a tennis star’s re-birth, but with some added swearing. That said, I’ve seen nothing but positive reviews from others who’ve read this title, so I can possibly put my reaction down to it simply being the wrong novel for me.
My thanks to Random House UK, Cornerstone for providing an early e-copy of this book via NetGalley in return for an honest review....more
I received an advance e-copy of this book from ECW Press, via NetGalley, in return for an honest review. The book is scheduled for publication on 25thI received an advance e-copy of this book from ECW Press, via NetGalley, in return for an honest review. The book is scheduled for publication on 25th October 2022.
Golf is a tough game to play. It’s a game of rhythm and power but also of precision and touch - but most of all it plays with your mind. I’ve previously investigated this element as it’s something that I really struggle with, but I’d not come up with anything approaching a plan to deter the demons from inhabiting my head on a regular basis. It can eat me up in a way I’ve not experienced any other sport.
This book explores the problem pretty thoroughly, seeking to explain why anxiety and doubt can creep in and, more importantly, what golfers might do to overcome such challenges. There’s interesting ideas around how your mind can become cluttered with too many technical thoughts (part of my problem), about how golfers can become too result orientated rather than focussed on the process (also my problem) and how tension can result in gripping the club too hard and/or swinging too hard resulting in negative outcomes (guess what!). The author explains how to adopt strategies to address these issues and explains why these should prove beneficial. Nothing particularly new here, but useful reminders.
The new (to me) ideas began with a detailed summary of how breathing exercises can radically augment your ability to combat the negative thoughts. I was initially quite sceptical about this but coincidentally I saw a top professional golfer being interviewed after a competitive round a few days ago and he talked about the benefits he’d accrued from just such an approach. Okay – so it’s something I really do need to work on. Another suggestion put forward is that of using personal positive affirmation – essentially, constantly reminding yourself of your strengths so as to form a positive base in your mind. This is something I intuitively feel sceptical about, and yet there’s something about it that is nagging at me, telling me there’s potentially some benefits to be found here too.
Mixed in with the above are a good number of anecdotes based on the author’s personal experiences and lots of supporting quotes from well known players. If I have a minor gripe about this book it’s only that there’s probably a little too much of this for my personal taste. But overall I do feel that there’s a significant amount of very useful information here – definitely enough to persuade me to adopt a defined strategy going forward....more
I’ve always thought of Mark Cavendish as a chopsy, in-your-face kind of guy. The sort of person who’s permanently in a bad mood. But then I heard a raI’ve always thought of Mark Cavendish as a chopsy, in-your-face kind of guy. The sort of person who’s permanently in a bad mood. But then I heard a radio interview with him, in which he talked about the significant mental and physical health problems he’d suffered from since 2017 and I started to revise my view of him. After being a star bike racer for many years he’d experienced a barren spell and it seemed unlikely that he’d manage to attain the same level of strength and form again. But then I saw that he’d been included in the Quick-Step team for the 2021 Tour de France, an achievement in itself.
This book tells the story of that race and of Mark’s quest to match or even surpass the record of 34 stage wins achieved by Belgian legend Eddie Merckx. It transpires that he’d been dropped by his former team and was considering giving up professional cycling altogether but was eventually offered a skimpy deal to ride for his Quick-Step, a team he’d raced with before. At this point he had no real prospect of being selected for the team to ride Le Tour. He hadn’t won a race of any sort for years and most people – insiders and fans of the sport – believed that his best years were well behind him.
I listened to the audio version, read by Cavendish, and it was clear that the man himself had a very different view of his own worth – he knew he could win again. After a number of races at what he considered to be at ‘C Team’ level, he secured a late call up to race the the Tour of Belgium, this due to an injury sustained by the team’s lead sprinter. After sprinting to a win in stage 5 of the race he got lucky again, this once again due to his teammate’s ongoing injury problem - he’d secured a place in the team for the biggest race of them all.
Cavendish then describes his experience in the race, walking us through each stage, and it really does feel like he’s giving an honest appraisal of the good, the bad and the ugly of what it’s like to participate in a Grand Tour event. For cycling fans much of the high level stuff will be well known but Mark gets right into the nitty gritty, it’s a compulsive account of a man, and a team, battling possibly the toughest sporting event of them all. Mixed in with the cycling we get glimpses of his relationship with his family, his teammates and others in the cycling ‘family’ and also something of his interest outside of cycling. I loved every minute of it....more
About ten years ago, at a time I’d revived my own love of running, I worked my way through a couple of Dean’s early books. I really enjoyed reading abAbout ten years ago, at a time I’d revived my own love of running, I worked my way through a couple of Dean’s early books. I really enjoyed reading about the way he seemed to have reinvigorated his love of life through the act of running. Moreover, it wasn’t just any kind of running, his version was all about taking on extreme, long distance runs. I’d run a couple of marathons but this stuff was hardcore – I didn’t know there was a group of so-called ‘ultramarathon’ runners out there doing this stuff. So intrigued was I that I decided to dabble a bit myself and in due course I took on a couple of these races (at the lower end of the spectrum, I have to say). What an adventure it was, and I have Karno to thank for it.
But coming to this book I did wonder what else the man had to say about his chosen discipline – hadn’t he already said it, several times over. However, I’m pleased to say that he has found a new angle to explore: that of how a mature, seasoned (some might say grizzled) runner can still enjoy the physical and mental challenges of his chosen sport despite being of an age (he’s in his mid to late fifties) whereby he no longer has the legs that used to make him a contender to win such events.
Dean wants to run one more Western States 100 (miles, that is). The event takes place on a trail starting in Olympic Valley, California and finishing in Auburn, California. Competitors have 30 hours to complete the course, running day and night with minimal breaks along the way. It’s a truly gruelling course which climbs some 18,000 feet and descends nearly 23,000 feet. And Dean is somewhat late in making his decision to run, leaving him with precious little time to complete the necessary training for this race.
He takes us through, in some detail, his participation in a 50 mile warm up race and then the big one itself. It’s entertaining stuff as he truly struggles along each of the courses, and such is the level of each challenge that it’s far from certain that he’ll complete either of these runs. His commentary is funny and often self-deprecating as he brings alive the true horror (and I do think that’s the appropriate word) of these undertakings. We meet members of his family, who support him as ‘crew’, and quite a few fellow competitors and volunteers. I thought it was all really well pieced together: highly entertaining account which evoked the real atmosphere and pain of these unrelenting events.
Dean clearly loves running, he’s addicted to it and he’s built a life around it. This book is dripping with his enthusiasm for his chosen sport and reading it I couldn’t help occasionally glancing down at a pair of somewhat worn, and more recently under used, running shoes languishing in a dusty corner. Yes, I really must get out on a decent long run again soon.
Full disclosure: I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review....more
Rick Reilly is a reward winning American sports writer who became well known as the back page columnist of Sports Illustrated before moving to ESPN, wRick Reilly is a reward winning American sports writer who became well known as the back page columnist of Sports Illustrated before moving to ESPN, where he wrote an opinion column and hosted a television interview series. Here he shares – brutally – his views on The Donald as a golfer and as a man. One sentence towards the end of this book, when he sums up his reasons for writing it, captures his thoughts rather well. In part, it reads:
Trump doesn’t do golf any differently than he does politics, women, or hurricane maps, which is to say, as crooked as a corkscrew.
So it's worth keeping in mind that Reilly has such strong views on Trump that he makes a CNN newscaster seem evenhanded. There’s quite a bit here about how Trump cheats on his golf handicap, cheats on the course – all the time – chisels and cheats at business, and generally treats a lot of people badly. To say the book doesn’t show the man in a good light is to significantly understate the matter. This is pretty much a character assassination from start to finish.
In truth, as well as the wall of negative stuff there’s also a fair number of people who state that although the ex-President does take quite a few liberties on the course (kicking the ball out of the rough, giving himself putts etc) he’s actually great fun to play with. It’s the stories about his golf related business activities that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up – if even a small portion of what is claimed herein is true then he’s definitely a man you shouldn’t be doing any business with.
It's a fun read, if a little repetitive in places. For me, there aren’t too many real surprises here – DT comes across pretty much as the man I thought he was....more
I've never actually attended the Tour de France and I can't recall the last time I climbed onto a bike, but this three week orgy of pain and controverI've never actually attended the Tour de France and I can't recall the last time I climbed onto a bike, but this three week orgy of pain and controversy is an event I've religiously followed for as long as I can remember. Its the most gruelling major sporting event I can think of and the best stages (there are 21 in all) are those that go up hill - that is, steeply up hill! The mountain ranges of the Alps and Pyrenees feature strongly but there are other climbs too, such as Mont Ventoux, a dreadful drag up a featureless incline which claimed the life of British rider Tom Simpson in 1967.
Most peoples favourite and therefore a stage that features often in Le Tour is the climb up to the ski station at Alpe d'Huez. Massive crowd cover the entire 14.5 kilometre route as the cyclists battle their way up through twenty-one hair-pin bends with gradients on the climb reaching up to thirteen percent. It's always an amazing spectacle and great honour awaits the first climber to reach the summit.
This book details all the famous (and some not so famous) climbs, with pictures, history and statistics providing a comprehensive overview. I not sure when I first bought this book, but it was a long time ago and each year since when the route is announced I pounce on it and study which climbs are included in this years race, hoping that some of my favourites will have been included. It's a fantastic item for any cycling fan to have on his or her bookshelf....more
Formula One is generally thought of as the pinnacle of motorsport and it follows that those who have become world champion have achieved the very highFormula One is generally thought of as the pinnacle of motorsport and it follows that those who have become world champion have achieved the very highest accolade the sport has to offer. Since it was first introduced, in 1950, the races that comprise the championship have spanned the globe. There have been 33 champions from 14 different nations. To win the overall prize it’s necessary to accrue points from the various races, with the driver holding most points at the end of the season being crowned the winner.
This gorgeous book celebrates the various champions with a section on each. Of course there are a number of drivers who have achieved this feat more than once, the legends of the sport such as Juan Manuel Fangio, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and the current champion Lewis Hamilton, but for many it was a once only achievement. Some of the stories told here are extraordinary but there is sadness too, it’s a dangerous sport and when twice world champion Alberto Ascari drove his car into the harbour during the Monaco Grand Prix, in 1955, it was amazing that he survived the incident. Tragically, he was to be killed in his race car just four days later.
I’ve been a follower of this sport for many years and can recall those featured here from Scotsman Jackie Stewart onwards. My personal favourites include British drivers James Hunt, Nigel Mansell and of course Lewis Hamilton. My son is an avid fan and we plan to spend three days at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone later this year. This book is a visual feast for followers of Formula One, with the wonderful photographs supported by brief but informative text. A superb item for anyone who is captured by this exciting and dramatic sport.
My sincere thanks to Quarto Publishing Group – White Lion Publishing and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
I’ve long been a fan of professional road race cycling and have particularly enjoyed following the Grand Tours (the three multi-stage road races that I’ve long been a fan of professional road race cycling and have particularly enjoyed following the Grand Tours (the three multi-stage road races that run annually across and around France, Italy and Spain). Most notably, from the 1980’s I'd sit transfixed watching the daily television updates from Le Tour with commentators Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen gabbling in animated fashion as they covered the key events of the day. The mountain stages in particular were amazing, with crowds two or three deep lining what looked like virtually vertical climbs up and over the mountains roads of the Alps and Pyrenees. So close were the spectators to the riders that physical contact was not unusual. I was then, and remain still, convinced that these three week long races are the most physically demanding events in any sport I've followed.
If one race in particular grabbed me and made me a life long fan it was the 1989 Tour de France, won after an immense battle by only 8 seconds - this after something over two thousand miles of racing. Its two major protagonists – American Greg LeMond and Frenchman Laurent Fignon – passed the overall race lead back and forth until the final dramatic (and desperate) time trial crowned an overall winner. It was an immensely exciting but at the same time a horribly cruel way to end such an epic contest.
This book takes the final time trial as it’s start point before slipping back in time to tell the story of not only Greg’s life but also that of Laurent too. We learn that though the two grew up in very different environments their stories share many similarities. The the same age, they both became noticed as strong riders in their teenage years. Their paths were destined to cross often and at one point they were even part of the same racing team. It seems that they were never close friends – there was too much rivalry for that – but in time they did share a mutual respect for the other’s ability.
Aside from the this racing rivalry, the other key theme here is the drug culture that has long plagued this sport. It’s clear that riders had pretty much always used a variety of substances to aid them in surviving the sheer brutality of professional road racing, but from the early 1990’s the introduction of erythropoietin (EPO) brought about the spectacle of average riders lifting their ability to that of the acknowledged elite. Suddenly, it seemed, if you didn't take EPO you couldn't win. Greg always claimed (and there’s no evidence to refute this claim) that he raced clean. Laurent admitted that he had used substances, but this only in the years before EPO, when the drugs couldn't make a champion out of an also ran. The biggest scandal to hit the sport was, of course, that involving the multi-winner of the Tour de France (1999 – 2005), Lance Armstrong.
After his racing career ended Greg became an outspoken advocate, speaking out in an effort to help clean up cycling and in this respect he clashed with Armstrong who he'd fingered as a ‘doper’. This was to have a significant impact on LeMond’s life as increasingly dirty tactics were used to try to discredit or gag him. Greg’s most guarded secret, that of his childhood abuse at the hands of a family friend, was even used as a weapon in this battle.
I was familiar with some of the ground covered in this book, having previously read Fignon’s autobiography We Were Young and Carefree and also an exposé on the drug taking by Lance Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service team by teammate Tyler Hamilton in The Secret Race: Inside the Hidden World of the Tour de France: Doping, Cover-ups, and Winning at All Costs. However, there was a good deal of new information for me to digest here too. I really enjoyed the way the author drew parallels between the lives and careers of LeMond and Fignon, and though I recall previously reading that Greg had been the victim of a shooting accident, shortly after he’d seemingly reached the peak of his career, I hadn't before gleaned the detail of this event and the long road to recovery that followed. Fignon had had his years in the wilderness too, courtesy of a serious injury he'd struggled for years to overcome. The story of the 1989 race is really the tale of two vanquished riders coming back for one last contest, a duel (in my opinion) as mighty as anything in the history of sport - it's truly enthralling.
This is thoroughly researched account, mainly focused on what was, for me, the heyday of competitive road racing. It's written in an engaging and even handed way and that drew me in almost as though it were an enthralling piece of fiction. It's a book that shouldn't be missed by any fan of bike racing or, in fact, any sports fan.
My sincere thanks to the author, NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for supplying an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
As an average golfer (handicap 15 as we stand) there remain plenty of technical challenges for me to conquer in my quest to reduce the number of timesAs an average golfer (handicap 15 as we stand) there remain plenty of technical challenges for me to conquer in my quest to reduce the number of times I hit the ball each time I take to the course. It's a very technical game, full of challenges surrounding such mysteries as alignment, tempo and club head speed. But it’s also a sport that plays on the mind – actually it plays on the mind in a big way. Maybe that's because there are long pauses in action: in a four hour round I might hit the ball 80 or 90 times, that means that for the vast majority of the time I’m doing something else, I'm ‘thinking’ about hitting the ball. It can twist you up.
I was gifted this book by my brother – a fellow golf struggler – and though I'm not normally a fan of self help manuals I immediately knew there could be something useful here for me. It's broken down into a series of sections, each focusing on a particular scenario that’ll be familiar to all golfers. It's a quick read, at only about 150 pages. Each section is followed by a quick reference summary page listing the main points discussed.
Another sport I've dabbled in – long distance running – also has a significant mental element to it but in that case it's all about resilience and the ability of the mind to ‘switch off’ the messages you're receiving from your body demanding that you slow down or stop. In golf it's rather more complex. Dr Bob Rotella has worked with a number of top golfers and sports teams and has been employed by a some large corporations as a performance enhancement consultant. A good deal of what he says feels highly logical. Yes, there are some sections that offer insights that don't feel as though they’d make a significant difference to my mental approach, but there are some gems here too. I’ll probably take away a handful of tips that might just allow me to shave a shot or two here and there. They've given me a methodology to address my approach when things aren't going as well as I’d like, but also some pointers which might allow me to clear some baggage from my mind when it’s all going unexpectedly well.
As British cycling guru David Brailsford says, it's all about the marginal gains. This is a book that is worth considering if you've not previously delved into this area of sports performance enhancement of if, like me, you've sometimes struggled with nerves or negative thoughts creating an unwelcome impact at key moments....more
I have a handicap in the high teens and though I’ve only been playing regularly for about eighteen months, I’ve tinkered witThis is my new golf bible!
I have a handicap in the high teens and though I’ve only been playing regularly for about eighteen months, I’ve tinkered with the game for about twenty years or more. I’m a self-taught player, with lots of flaws. I’ve only had one proper golf lesson – and that fully confused me! Consequently, I’ve picked up a couple of self help books, watched dozens of videos and scanned golf forums looking for tips. There’s a lot of information out there and I’ve taken in some sound advice along the way, but I know I’m still getting a lot of things wrong. It’s frustrating.
This book got me early on. There’s a section about how to grip the club – yes, that basic – that made me realise I could improve the ‘feel’ by adopting a simple routine. It worked! Then there was a description of the basic stance which highlighted a flaw in my set-up. Once again, it helped. This guy knows what he’s talking about.
The book goes through just about every aspect of how to play this very technical game. It avoids most of the jargon I’ve seen espoused by many professionals in favour of plain speaking and easy to understand explanations: what you should do and why you should do it. It’s certainly one to ‘dip in and out’ of, there’s only so many changes a player can make at any one time. I’ve quickly read through the entirety of the text (there’s pictures too) and I already know there are sections I need to return to, more changes to adopt. That’s for the future; one step at a time.
My thanks to Skyhorse publishing and NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
When I got my first proper bike, in my early teens, I felt truly liberated. Suddenly I could go anywhere, discover paths untrodden and explore the bigWhen I got my first proper bike, in my early teens, I felt truly liberated. Suddenly I could go anywhere, discover paths untrodden and explore the big wide world. Well, ok it wasn’t quite as transformational as that – but the thing is it felt like it. I got the same sense from reading the early chapters of Froome’s autobiography. He was born to a reasonably prosperous family in Kenya: the family business was successful enough to enable his two elder brothers to be schooled at Rugby school, in England. But suddenly it all went wrong, the business collapsed and his parents split. Suddenly his dad had moved to South Africa whilst Chris stayed in Kenya with his mum. Money was tight. His release was his bike. It certainly wasn’t an expensive item and he found himself finding creative ways to finance running repairs from the local ‘engineers’ who welded scraps of metal to support broken parts.
The early chapters are full of anecdotes of Froome’s passion for his bike and his industry in seeking ways to maximize his time spent on two wheels. Eventually he met and befriended a Kenyan professional rider and he began to get schooled in the craft of race riding. His determination to eventually become a professional rider was pretty much obsessional from this point on. It’s clear he had a tough upbringing but his love for his country of birth shines through and vivid pictures are painted of the beauty – and sometimes the risks – of taking long rides through its rugged landscape.
He eventually succeeds in rising to the top of the (not very tall) Kenyan cycling tree. There are amusing tales of the lack of professionalism and support provided when he attended some minor international races. And mixing with teams from more developed countries at the Commonwealth Games demonstrated to him how far behind his country was in terms of technology and coaching. Nonetheless, he managed to put together enough good results to attract the attention of a professional cycling team.
As you’d expect in a sporting bio, there’s a lot of detail from this point about various races, about riders and team officials. His opinions are voiced frankly and, it seemed to me, honestly. The key chapters I’d been looking forward to were those where he talked about his experiences of riding the Tour de France in 2012 and 2013. In July every year I religiously watch stage highlights every day and was glued to the set in 2012 when Bradley Wiggins became the first British rider to be successful in winning this brutal event. It was evident to most people watching that Froome – his able lieutenant – was stronger in some of the big mountain stages and pundits were openly opining that he was, in fact, the better rider. Could he have won instead of Wiggo, had the team set him free to fully capitalize on his strength and form? Many thought he could have and probably would have.
The accounts of the two Tour de France campaigns is fascinating stuff. Froome doesn’t hold back in describing the conflicts in the team during the first race. Not surprisingly, contract negotiations ahead of the 2013 race centered on whether he’d be fully supported in going for the General Classification prize (awarded to the overall race winner). He eventually secured an answer that turned out to be more ambiguous than he’d originally interpreted, but then fate intervened and he turned up for the race with his team fully behind him. Just in case you’re not a cycling fan or didn’t pick up the news at the time, Froome went on to win the race by a comfortable margin (a feat he repeated in 2015 – after this book was published).
This is probably one for bike racing aficionados and lovers of sport in general, but there’s enough depth here in following Froome’s determined and brave struggle to reach the top of his chosen sport to inspire anybody. It’s well put together and he has a great story to tell. Personally, I can’t wait to track his efforts this year in ‘Le Tour’ – I’ll settle down with a cup of tea and map of the course and cheer him ‘til my lungs hurt....more
Ultramarathon running is pretty extreme. I tried it once; it nearly killed me. But I went back for another go. Is it addictive? Maybe, but then runninUltramarathon running is pretty extreme. I tried it once; it nearly killed me. But I went back for another go. Is it addictive? Maybe, but then running is like that.
The story of Tom Foreman’s decent into madness (it’s a fair description, believe me) so seemed to mirror my own that I just had to read this book. A marathon runner at twenty something and then life takes over and before you know it you’re fifty and someone suggests you have another go. Then one thing leads to another.
In truth, Tom’s experience is more extreme than my own – he ran 2000 miles in his first year as a Quinquagenarian which included a bunch of half-marathons, several full marathons and an ultramarathon of over 50 miles. It took me about five years to graduate to an ultramarathon, and mine was much less demanding than the race he entered.
Anyway, there’s a good deal of humour here as Tom relates his story – maybe too much, at times. There is also an underlying tale of him attempting to forge a closer relationship with his daughter, who had suggested he return to marathon running and agreed to join him in this venture. The initial idea and the training for the marathon takes up the first half of the book and it’s a little bit dull, to be honest. It’s the tale of lots of men (and women) who decide to take on a new challenge at a time they are growing tired of the stress of work and a quick look in the mirror suggests they’d better do something to liven up their lives now or it’ll be too late. But then the idea of an ultramarathon run comes up and the whole thing steps up a rung or two.
Tom realises he’ll have to intensify his training significantly – to double the number of miles he runs each week, essentially. This is hard-core and starts to have a significant impact on his life: the number of hours he’s out on the trail means he’s got precious little time for anything else other than sleep and work. This section of the book is fascinating and the accounts of some of his training runs in the early hours of a cold dark morning, battling wind and snow amongst terrain barely fit for a Bear Grylls episode were terrifying. And yet there is worse (or for the reader, better) to come. The description of the ultramarathon run itself is epic stuff and I found myself willing him to succeed, praying he’d get to the finish line.
I’ve read a couple of other books that feature ultramarathon running. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is a memoir by author Haruki Murakami, in which he tells of his exploits running massive distances in Japan. In Ultramarathon Man - Confessions of an All-Night Runner, a legend of the sport, Dean Karnazes, recounts how he was introduced to this sport. Both are rather more serious accounts. In this book, Tom uses a good deal of humour to demonstrate the slightly demented path he’s chosen and he paints a lucid picture of how running helped him to draw some balance into his life, even if this was tough to achieve and at times he stepped perilously close to over cooking it. After a slow start, I found it to be an inspiring and thought provoking story.
My thanks to Blue Rider Press and NetGalley for providing a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
Cards on the table, I'm not a Manchester United fan. I've never particularly warmed to Alex Ferguson either - he's too gruff and lacking in humour forCards on the table, I'm not a Manchester United fan. I've never particularly warmed to Alex Ferguson either - he's too gruff and lacking in humour for my personal taste - but I do admire what he has achieved at the club in his 25 years at the helm.
I'd heard a few snippets from the book, but just the headline pieces. Also, having read Roy Keane's autobiography which covers some of the same period, I'd read one side of some of the incidents. So, I had a reasonable idea what to expect. What I found was exactly what I expected... but no more. The headlines I'd already heard (mainly his views on Beckham and Gerrard) were the only elements that could be considered controversial, and then only mildly so. In truth, the whole think felt watered down compared to the views expressed on virtually every page by Keane. The rest was really just a replay of information I felt was already in the public domain for anyone who has followed English football in recent times.
Overall, it's clear Ferguson ruled the club in a manner that accepted no challenge to his authority - try it and you're gone. He had some good principles that informed his management style and gave his players a structure that was conducive to getting the best out of his team. But as a man he came across as rather dull. It's an ok read, but mainly one for the fans who want to re-live the glory years. ...more
I didn't expect to like this book and I certainly didn't expect to like Roy Keane after reading it. I was surprised on both counts.
The opening is cruI didn't expect to like this book and I certainly didn't expect to like Roy Keane after reading it. I was surprised on both counts.
The opening is crude and nasty - it cemented the picture I already had of him as a foul mouthed, bad tempered bully. He recounted the incident with Alf Inga Haaland, where a bad tackle he made finished the Leeds player's career. I thought, yeah, just what I expected.
But thereafter, as he talked about his football career as player, manager and (for a short period) a television pundit, he revised my view of him. He came across as very honest and often humble; he displayed a sense of humour I hadn't previously seen any sign of. His anecdotes were insightful, interesting and sometimes funny.
This is a great read and I recommend it to all footie fans, whether you like Keane or not....more
There was a lot of noise surrounding this book, with KP appearing on TV and others scurrying around supporting or challenging the views he espouses heThere was a lot of noise surrounding this book, with KP appearing on TV and others scurrying around supporting or challenging the views he espouses herein. There's no doubt he holds back no punches here, it's very, very forthright. In this regard it's an interesting read and taking in the full text as opposed to the soundbites I'd picked up does present a more balanced overall picture.
- He's very hard on Andy Flower, the ex-England coach. In fact a good deal of the book is a prolonged rant about his shortcomings as a coach. a leader and as a person. He calls him the Mood Hoover, due to his ability to suck any positive spirit from a group or a room. - He's nearly as hard on Matt Prior, another South African born cricketer who played wicket keeper for England. It's not quite the character assassination he does on Flower, but it's close. - He's extremely negative about the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB), in terms of the way he was treated. There is much talk of information leaks and spin. Cricket politics is a significant theme. - Other England cricketers come in for some rough treatment too, particularly Graham Swann, Chris Broad and to a lesser extent, Alistair Cook and Andrew Strauss. - So, there's an awful lot of negativity in the book. It's a big exercise in defending himself against what he perceives to be an organised stream of criticism and media manupulation which has been exercised by all of the above. - KP puts forward the view that his involvement in the Indian Premier League (IPL) generated jealousy and resentment on the part of his England team mates who didn't have the ability or the guts to take part themselves. He talks about how the ECB set out to stop the involvement of England players in the IPL and how this was driven by their money generating TV contract with Sky. - There's lots more here, about injuries that impacted him (and the lack of support he received whenever this happened), about the KP Genius Twitter account which made fun of him and appears to have had the involvement of some of his team mates, and so on.
So overall, KP does come across as a bit of a moaner. You feel he has a list of excuses for most of his own mistakes but is very hard on others for theirs. I'm not sure it changed any preconceptions I had about him - I always thought him a talented but arrogant guy - but he does tell a riveting story of events that still feel fresh and who's reverberations shook the cricket world.
This book really does explain how (and how much) doping went on at the time Lance Armstrong was taking the cycling world by storm in winning the Tour This book really does explain how (and how much) doping went on at the time Lance Armstrong was taking the cycling world by storm in winning the Tour de France seven times. It's told in a pretty matter if fact way by one of his team and shows, very clearly, the difficult choices facing top professional cyclists at this time: take the drugs or you won't be picked for the teams. It also makes it clear that, as the cyclists reacted differently to the products and some gained more than others due to certain 'natural state' measures, the fact that virtually all top cyclists were using EPO and other substances did not render it a level playing field.
The most fascinating aspects for me were the accounts of how the drugs were administered - in the midst of some pretty basic and flawed testing processes - and the understanding of how this 'secret' was kept under wraps for so long. It also did drive home just how false the results were during this period. A really interesting tale particularly if, like me, you're addicted to the annual July event that draws in more watchers than any other sporting event in the world!...more
If you followed Le Tour on television then you'll have no need to read this. You'll learn nothing new. On the other hand, if you missed chunks of it oIf you followed Le Tour on television then you'll have no need to read this. You'll learn nothing new. On the other hand, if you missed chunks of it or indeed all of it then this is a great way of catching up on, perhaps, the greatest British sporting triumph of the past 50 years....more
I listened to this as an audiobook, read by the author. For anyone interested in sport (like me) it's a fascinating insight into a man who became a toI listened to this as an audiobook, read by the author. For anyone interested in sport (like me) it's a fascinating insight into a man who became a top coach: his upbringing, his playing career (limited as it was) and ultimately his distinguished years coaching the American Football team the Green Bay Packers. What I liked most was the anecdotes about specific games and incidents that drew out his personality (tough, driven, obsessed even) and his coaching methods (rigorous, hugely detailed, very specific). In one sense this book presents Lombardi one dimensional character only interested in winning football games, but dig under the surface and you see a love for his players which, at times, tortured him but was at the very core of his ability to motivate and inspire a group of men to become the greatest team of his generation....more
Golf is a complicated sport. It’s not that the rules are hard to follow - well, actually they are as there are so many that not even the professionalsGolf is a complicated sport. It’s not that the rules are hard to follow - well, actually they are as there are so many that not even the professionals know them all - it just that it’s so hard to become skilled at it. I’ve been playing on and off for over 20 years and I’ve nowhere near cracked it.
Back at the start, or near the start, I received this book as a gift and I spent hours pouring through the detail. At that time the author was coach to top British player Nick Faldo and here he breaks down the detail of the golf swing using text and diagrams. Now it should be all be quite simple shouldn’t it, what’s complicated about swinging a golf club? The answer is everything - if you want to do it well. But using the text and diagrams I did become proficient enough to at least work my way around a golf course without too much embarrassment.
The reality is that there’s actually a lot of moving parts in a golf swing and any one of them can cause a problem. I’m a tinkerer and I’m always spotting a ‘problem’ in my swing and then, thinking I’ve identified the solution, I change something. Sometimes the changes help but more often they just make things worse - I become the dreaded hacker once more. So it’s back to basics for me. I’m working my way through this book once more as I did 20 years ago. Will it transform my game? Well, I’m not holding my breath!...more
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