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Running Within: A Guide to Mastering the Body-Mind-Spirit: A Guide to Mastering the Body-Mind-Spirit Connection for Ultimate Training and Racing

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There are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of books on the market about how to train smarter, better, harder, or what have you. Some of them are quite good, and some of them quite bad. However, these books often neglect one of the key aspects of running and that is its mental component. And that's where Running Within: A Guide to Mastering the Body-Mind-Spirit Connection to the Ultimate Training and Racing comes in.

This book is designed for all runners from the novice runner to the elite athlete, and I think everyone who reads it will benefit tremendously. The book is designed to enable the reader to take his or her running to the next level, not only by giving concrete tips to mentally help one race faster, but also by helping one enjoy his or her running more, by exploring running's spiritual side and understanding the reasons we do run. As the authors state in the introduction, "Running Within uniquely presents the reciprocal relationship among the physiological, mental, and spiritual aspects of running performance, and how you can use specific mental exercises and attitudinal shifts in your daily training and racing to great advantage".

Spiritual Running Although many of us run for physical reasons (i.e. to say fit, to lose wait, to get faster, to win races), those of us who truly enjoy running recognize what it does for us mentally. Not only the ability to clear our minds at the end of a tough day, but the ability to explore and learn about ourselves, as we transform preconceived notions about ourselves.

One intent of the book is to connect runners with the spiritual side of running. It wants to help them explore fully the reasons they run. The book explains that often the concrete goals we have in running (i.e. I want to run a certain time in a certain race, be All-State, finish a marathon) are not what give us joy from running. Rather, it's the steps we take along the way to reach these goals that make running so enjoyable. By better understanding our motivations for running, we can not only get more enjoyment out of running, but can learn how to run faster.

Running faster. And the book definitely can helps us run faster. Those who like to say that running is 99% physical are missing the point. Sure we can not run beyond our bodies' limits, or use mental tricks to make up for not training. But often the limits we set upon ourselves are self-imposed limits. One of the greatest things about running is the self discovery and self-confidence that comes from getting our body to do what once seemed impossible.

Running Within has excellent advice on goal setting and the type of goals we should set. It helps us set goals that push beyond our self-imposed barriers, but at the same time makes sure these goals do not end up discouraging us because they are too unreasonable.

But as all runners know, goal setting is not enough because the toughest part of running is the battle of mind versus body during a race or tough workout. No matter what kind of shape we are in physically, there comes a point in a race when our bodies start to feel that they've had enough. As the race or workout progresses, the urges to back off a bit, slow down, or quit altogether grow. If one is able to recognize these urges and overcome them one can come closer to reaching his or her physical potential.

To overcome these urges to quit, Running Within helps its readers come up with the self-confidence necessary to achieve their goals and not give in to the urges to quit. It provides a mental framework on how to approach races and workouts and has many practical strategies for dealing with fatigue, racing, race strategies, and the like.

But all of these things combined would still leave a lot of our potential untapped. For one of the keys to racing fast is a bit paradoxical, and that is to learn to relax. It seems impossible to do, to relax while the body is using all of its resources to struggle. But Running Within teaches us ways to relax while straining, and shows us the tremendous physiological benefits that come from relaxing.

Summary I recommend this book whole heartedly. Most sports psychology books are full of many tips and tricks to help us perform better, but there is often little foundation to tie the things together. Ultimately, these books fail because they are not much more than a list of things to try. This book is different for while it does list many tips that are useful, it only does so after providing a larger framework to tie them together. The overall theme is the "body-mind-spirit" connection of running. With this framework, the book helps us explore the reasons why we run and what we get from our running. Once we have a better understanding of these things or are at least are aware of them, the books builds upon them and very effectively makes us get more from our running (and become better racers if that's our goal).

On a personal note, I credit this book with as being instrumental to my improvement as a runner (my 10k time went from 29:49 to 28:27 in one year). I am intrigued by the mental side of running and knew there was a lot more I could learn. However, at the same time, I've always been very skeptical of a lot of the "pop-psychology" and sports psychology books on the market. This book pleasantly surprised me and should be on the book shelves of all runners.

This book talks about the mental side of running and the way you can tap that something within that lets you go farther and faster then you ever thought you could. It also speaks on how running brings one closer to true realizations about your life. If your believe running is about more then miles and you see your running as a time of reflection for your mind, body, and spirit then you should pick up this book. Instead of just telling you about that experience it gives a framework from which to understand and appreciate that experience.

I started reading this book 2wks before the Chicago Marathon. The relaxation techniques and the different exercises for distraction during the race really worked. I have read dozens of books on training the body. This was the first I have read on training the mind. I plan to use these techniques with the children I coach. It really explains in basic and interesting format how important mental preparation is for competition. I highly recomend this book for anyone competing on any level.

Many people start to run because they want to get in a better shape. This book teaches your mind to get in a better shape too. You learn to focus in a new way and you are able to concentrate much better. Your mind learns not to wander so much and stay within the race. I have used the exercises in the book for my preparation of the Boston Marathon which I finished, despite running with an injury, with a new personal best by more than two minutes. I recalled the learned exercises during my preparation in the race and was even able to float up heartbreak hill without considerably more effort. I wonder how I would have raced hadn't I been hindered by a nagging hamstring injury.

I just completed my first marathon and don't think I would have finished had I not purchased and read this book. During training, we had "long runs". The night before each long run (in excess of 17 miles) I would read the sections of this book that addressed issues I was likely to face during the following days long run. That helped me tremendously. The book gave me a sense of calm.

There are virtually thousands of books on the market concerning running. Most of those books however don't spend nearly enough time on the most critical aspect which is mental preparedness and toughness. However, this book gives what most trainig books and groups do not..a way to deal with the mental aspects of running.

This book is wonderful because it gives the reader techniques on how to deal with stress, anxiety, pain, disappointments, setbacks injuries, fatigue etc., all from the MENTAL side. I like how the authors make the connection between mind and body. They focus on the mind first and how the mind can often control the body.

I found MANY useful mental exercises from "breathwatching", visualization, dealing with fatigue and disappointments, learning from mistakes etc., Most importantly, the book focuses on the process of running and self discovery and NOT the result. This book helps novice runners like myself enjoy the process, find our own tools that work for us and realize that it is often mind over matter. This book is a must have for those just starting out "marathoning" or for anyone who just wants to enjoy the mental benefits of running and the pleaseure it gives.

New to running, and inspired by a commitment to my first triathlon (Danskin), I borrowed this book from the library. Needless to say, I quickly had to own my own copy. The inspiring words danced in my head and filled my soul with belief of dreams not yet realized. A recommendation to anyone who so much as "cares" about their health and the quality of their life. A part-time instructor of "spinning" classes I found these words of wisdom crossing over into my classes, filling me wtih motivation, which in turn motivates my students. This book raises the ceiling on your limits and reconfirms your potential is ...endless.

I've run 15 marathons, and re-read this book every time I begin training. It is such a powerful tool, especially for distance sports. These guys give great examples, and really make the process enjoyable. If you want to perform at your best level, get this book.

Too many running books focus on things you need to be doing, which granted are important, but this book's emphasis is about relaxing and running because you love it. My speed and enjoyment both increased notably thanks to this book. A must read for every runner!

Don't let the Tolkien-ish font on the cover throw you. This book is nightly bedtime reading for the focused runner (doesn't hurt before every workout either). Endlessly inspiring, uplifting, focusing. You will become a better runner after reading this book. If you're not a runner, you will want to become one. Thank you, Lynch and Scott, for this work.

If the authors had "Exhibited the Warrior Within", as outlined in the fifth chapter of their book, and engaged self-knowledge, persistence and integrity in writing this book, we may have gotten something worthwhile. They didn't and we didn't. It would seem that there is such a demand for books on running that half-baked scripts get published at the expense of obscuring more qualified efforts.

Two telling examples set the tone of this effort. The authors inaccurately recount a piece of running legend and mysteriously confuse the 1982 Boston Marathon "Duel in the Sun" between Salazar and Beardsley with some prior Bill Rodgers Boston Marathon victory. As I wasn't looking for a book on running history, I tried to ignore this error, but I was left wondering "are these guys really runners?" and whether there was a kernel of truth somewhere in their anecdote. Also: Breathing exercises, body sensing, and relaxation techniques offered by these authors do not appear to be consistent with or as well developed as other more qualified sources. While these are serious considerations and invaluable tools for runners who are interested in "mastering the body-mind-spirit connection", you may be better served by practicing yoga from a qualified source, rather than rely on the "knowledge" of these authors.

Even if you are able to suspend judgement in the light of such failures, the guts of their effort was apparently devoted to the power of affirmations and visualizations. Here too, I was disappointed. For me, affirmations that endure through the battles of fatigue and self-doubt that plague us a some point during most every marathon must call upon the lessons of our personal running experience rather than rely upon borrowed examples of self-deceit (or self-direction as these authors suggest). I would be more satisfied with a process that helped to "conceptualize" those personal running lessons in the form of personally powerful affirmations. I'm sorry, but affirmations such as "I'm tired, yet I know I'm not alone" will be of little help in carrying me to the finish.

I was most intrigued, and by corollary, most disappointed with their effort to cultivate the idea of the "Warrior Within." We have all experienced those fleeting moments during good runs when the magic kicks in and we feel invincible. Any book that helps to achieve and sustain those feelings is worth its retail cover price. This one doesn't and isn't.