Imagine training with the best distance runners and running coaches of our time, learning their favorite and most effective workouts, and discovering their hard-earned secrets to success. With Running Tough you and rsquo;ll find yourself running side by side with such world-class runners as Bill Rodgers, Libbie Hickman, Frank Shorter, Arthur Lydiard, Ron Clarke, Emil Zatopek, and Adam Goucher, tasting their unwavering dedication and determination, and viewing firsthand their training runs.

Written by prolific running journalist Michael Sandrock, Running Tough organizes the workouts by training goals to create a user-friendly handbook. This allows you to develop a customized training plan using the most appropriate workouts for training and racing. You and rsquo;ll find chapters dedicated to

and bull; long runs, to help develop aerobic endurance
and bull; off-road training, to build and strengthen the legs;
and bull; fartlek training or the and quot;speedplay, and quot; to discover variety;
and bull; interval workouts, to increase speed;
and bull; hill workouts, to build strength and stamina;
and bull; tempo runs, to push anaerobic thresholds;
and bull; recovery fun runs, to heal muscles while emphasizing the enjoyment of the sport; and
and bull; building a program, to prepare for competition.

With Running Tough, you and rsquo;ll have the tools to create enhanced training programs, discover new plateaus in your workout regimes, and meet the challenges of world-class competition. You and rsquo;ll find that whether you and rsquo;re looking for increased strength and endurance, improved aerobic or anaerobic capacity, or just a competitive edge, Running Tough will help you train with more efficiency, more enthusiasm, and more variety.

To become an expert on what this book is all about, simply take a few minutes to read the following...

Congratulations.

You've finally found the ultimate solution to fueling your body with the thousands of calories necessary for Ironman triathlon and ultra-endurance sports - without doing lasting damage to your vital organs, brain cells, skin and immune system!

And now, a word from author Ben Greenfield:

"You, as an endurance athlete, need to eat massive quantities of food, which is why I wrote this book (OK, I also wrote it for you coaches who really want to help your athletes optimize their daily nutrition habits for peak performance).

As a matter of fact, compared to an average person, during your training for ultra-endurance events such as Ironman triathlon, you will burn through an extra 1500-3000 calories per day. And with this extreme amount of energy utilization, most triathletes don and rsquo;t feel the need to bother with dieting or weight maintenance. Heck, some of us do this sport so we can eat as much as we want!

Unfortunately many endurance athletes use the rigor of training and a speedy metabolism to justify a diet that is incredibly calorie dense (as it should be), but is also high in foods that can cause damage to human performance, the immune system, the heart, the hormones and overall health. Even though you may think that as long as your and ldquo;furnace is burning hot enough and rdquo; you can fuel it with whatever you and rsquo;d like, this is simply not the case. The combustible byproducts actually matter!

For example, common traditional foods for fueling endurance sports include high carbohydrate sources such as orange juice, bagels, cereal, crackers, bread, pasta, scones and fruit smoothies. With the advent of commercialized sports nutrition, the dietary staples of an Ironman triathlete now include sports bars and cookies, gels, powders, gummy chews and specially formulated and ldquo;energy and rdquo; drinks.

But a diet high in these type of refined carbohydrates and and ldquo;fabricated and rdquo; foods can cause excessive levels of glucose in the bloodstream, a condition known as hyperglycemia. During exercise, the excess glucose is used for energy. But most triathletes continue to consume these type of high-carbohydrate foods, even outside training.

Several studies have demonstrated a link between hyperglycemia and production of free radicals by immune cells. These free radicals can not only cause inflammation, but also increase potential for insulin resistance, damage the immune system, and reduce exercise recovery. In addition, as you will find in this book, an enormous number of chronic diseases have been linked with hyperglycemia.

When this diet-based inflammation is combined with muscle tissue inflammation from repetitive motion training such as hundred mile bike rides and twenty mile runs, the body is constantly barraged with damaging free radicals. As a result of chronic inflammation, an athlete may experience constant fatigue, sore joints, disrupted sleep patterns, and frequent sickness. New studies on plaque formation in the coronary arteries has even suggested that refined sugars may play a larger role than saturated fat in dangerous LDL cholesterol production.

In this book, you and rsquo;ll learn all about the nitty-gritty details of hyperglycemia, as well as exactly what type of foods you can eat to both control inflammation and reduce your risk for sending your blood sugar levels on a roller-coaster ride. You and rsquo;ll also learn important timing techniques to enhance your sensitivity to insulin, a very important hormone involved with sugar utilization.

But your concern as an Ironman triathlete does not stop with refined sugar consumption. For example, an extremely high daily calorie intake also increases the likelihood of consuming large amounts of common food allergens such as dairy, wheat, whey, soy and eggs. As a result, many triathletes experience bloating, gas, constipation, skin problems and increased susceptibility to colds and flu.

These immune system difficulties are often chalked up to "hard training". However, even when the high volume of training finally does subside, many of these problems can continue to cause a triathlete to experience poor health and gain significant amounts of fat (leading to the ever-growing population of overweight or sick ex-Ironman athletes).

So while an Ironman triathlete may appear to be slim and fit, there are often complex, diet-related health issues that go far beyond physical appearance. Maybe you and rsquo;ve experienced this phenomenon.

You look at your body in the mirror. Perhaps your body looks fit and trim on the outside (although most endurance athletes have that small pouch on inflammatory-based fat on the hips or abdominals). But inside, you and rsquo;ve experienced extreme fatigue in the afternoons, mind and ldquo;fuzziness and rdquo;, aches and pains that are constantly barraging one joint or another, mood swings, stale legs during a workout, frequent and ldquo;hitting the wall and rdquo; during races, and constant colds, flus, and immune system breakdowns.

It is very important to understand that with an exercise regimen that is already very difficult for the average human body to absorb, you as a triathlete must adopt a nutrition protocol that supports complete health, and not just and ldquo;gasoline fuel and rdquo; for exercise.

The solution that is presented in this book involves a diet that focuses on fighting inflammation and controlling refined sugar consumption, insulin levels and potential food allergens.

How is this accomplished? For example, large amounts of wheat and cereal-based carbohydrates are decreased in favor of non-gluten sugars such as sweet potatoes and yams, healthy whole grains like quinoa, amaranth, and millet, and inflammation-fighting, fiber-based carbohydrate sources like chickpeas and lentils. Healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, avocadoes, fish, and olive oil are also included to provide dense, long-lasting energy sources.

Lean protein needs are often satisfied by the foods listed above, but in this book, protein sources also include amino acid supplements, rice milk, almond milk, goat protein or goat milk, and, if tolerated, eggs, beef, lamb and lean dairy.

There are even many spices and herbs such as turmeric, ginger and chilies which can help fight inflammation. Meanwhile, packaged and processed and ldquo;fake and rdquo; foods such as energy bars and gels are limited to longer training sessions, during which carrying real food can be logistically challenging. These are just a few of the considerations and solutions laid out in the pages of this book for the health-conscious triathlete.

After reading and ldquo;Holistic Fueling For Ironman Triathletes and rdquo;, you and rsquo;re going to know exactly how to develop a healthy meal plan that includes anti-inflammatory foods and nutrition supplements, how to avoid common traps while grocery shopping, and how to balance ratios of protein, carbohydrate and fat with training. You and rsquo;re going to be supplied with a and ldquo;no-guesswork and rdquo; nutrition plan that you can simply plug into your existing training routine.

But perhaps most importantly, you and rsquo;re going to be empowered with the knowledge of why you and rsquo;re eating what you and rsquo;re eating!

Whether this is your first or tenth Ironman, whether this is your off-season, your preparatory phase or your build to a race, or whether you feel like you eat healthy but still have physical problems, now is the time to ensure that your diet is clean, healthy and conducive to ideal physical performance.

You and rsquo;re going to be very surprised when you adopt the fueling system in this book and your body suddenly functions properly. When your cells are and ldquo;firing on all cylinders and rdquo;, it is really a magical feeling, especially during a long day like Ironman. This book holds the key to ensuring that you cross the finish line with a smile on your face, knowing that you and rsquo;ve cared for your body and that you and rsquo;ve done no damage with your high daily caloric intake."

Enjoy the feeling!

Ben Greenfield