Rating: 
Summary: Great Book for Long Distance Runners of All Ages
Review: I bought this book for my son, a high school XC runner. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. The runner's bio's were interesting and their training programs amazing and very helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for runners and track fans
Review: I've read many running books and this is quite possibly my favorite one. Reading all of the tidbits about these great runners of the past is still great fun months after I first bought the book. I urge you, don't read the book cover to cover when you first get it. Instead, just flip through it. That way, you can enjoy reading interesting tidbits months after you originally buy it. There are still runners whose bios I haven't read yet, which makes it much more fun to read.If you are a serious runner or a serious track fan, you definitely want to get this book. It's truly excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for runners and track fans
Review: I've read many running books and this is quite possibly my favorite one. Reading all of the tidbits about these great runners of the past is still great fun months after I first bought the book. I urge you, don't read the book cover to cover when you first get it. Instead, just flip through it. That way, you can enjoy reading interesting tidbits months after you originally buy it. There are still runners whose bios I haven't read yet, which makes it much more fun to read. If you are a serious runner or a serious track fan, you definitely want to get this book. It's truly excellent.
Rating: 
Summary: a decent introduction
Review: If you don't know much about the history of American distance running, this book will give you a good introduction. Each runner profiled gets only 3 pages, though. Of course the result is that the book is super-formulaic and gets boring after a while.
The info on how the elites trained is very interesting. However, at its root this book is written in the Runner's World style: it's stated purpose is to promote the advancement of American distance running, while the book itself is a work of mediocrity that promotes only mediocrity.
In addition to 50 profiles, Bloom also includes a long essay on how to make Americans competitive again on the international stage. The essay is more of a fanatical diatribe than a thought-out exposition; Bloom never really even explains why he believes distance running is so much more important than any other sport. He has all these plans to coerce kids into joining cross country teams and he chastises Americans for being lazy and always seeking the short-term payoff. I don't understand why Bloom has the right to cast the accusing finger at US runners - he stated himself in the book that he was never a very good runner in high school (and apparently never became good after that, either), and as far as I can tell the only coaching he has done is at the high school level. I just can't help but think of this guy as some failed jock who spends the rest of his life hanging on to the sport for lack of anything better to do with himself.
For an excellent book of sketches of famous runners, read Kenny Moore's "Best Efforts".
Rating:
Summary: just a test review
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Rating:
Summary: The Inside Training Techniqes Of 50 Top Runners
Review: One of the best books on the training methods of runners I have ever read. The author gives the training methods of 50 great runners. This book is to the point and very informative. One of the best books (if not the best) book on training routines for runners that I have found. Buy it, you won't be disapointed.
Rating:
Summary: The Inside Training Techniqes Of 50 Top Runners
Review: One of the best books on the training methods of runners I have ever read. The author gives the training methods of 50 great runners. This book is to the point and very informative. One of the best books (if not the best) book on training routines for runners that I have found. Buy it, you won't be disapointed.
Rating:
Summary: This one is a must-have
Review: One thing stands out as you review each featured runner's favorite training program. No two are alike - something to keep in mind as you develop your own program. What works for one person is not necessarily going to work for someone else. You'll also find that a few of the training routines show a great deal of creativity. This is one book you'll refer back to often, if for nothing else the inspiration it provides.
Rating: 
Summary: Who would attempt it?
Review: This book is destined to inspire controversy, because of the rankings, the athletes included and those left out. Marc Bloom does what few knowledgeable fans of distance running would ever attempt: to rank 30 of the greatest American male distance runners and twenty American female distance runners. It contains both biographical and and personal information about each runner, as well as a summary of titles won, and lists of personal records for a range of events. Road running enthusiasts may be disapointed by the focus on the track, and indoor acheivements are virtually ignored, but the author does a reasonably good job of trying to provide apples to apples comparisons. This book in invaluable for serious athletes because it documents incredible variation among the training regimes of the athletes profiled. It was a pleasure to read and can be consulted again and again. However, the book is not without flaws. For example, there are only four pages or so for each athlete when more would have been more desireable and easy to include, particularly for exceptional talents or world famous runners such as Jim Ryun, Steve Prefontaine, Sydney Maree, Joan Benoit Samuelson or Mary Decker Tabb. I'm sure that most buyers would have paid more for a thicker book. Second, the descriptions of workouts could have been a lot more precise, or consistent between athletes. Some chapters appear to describe the athlete's greatest workouts, and others are so general it seems like the athlete is keeping secrets. Third, the book includes too many chapters on athletes whose career ended before the 1960s, when the sport was noticeably immature, and American dominance was more a factor of limited competition than athletic prowess. And finally, there are no discussions about the disapointments of the athletes' careers, which any fan would find fascinating. The absence of this element at times reduces the book to a public relations piece.
Rating:
Summary: Who would attempt it?
Review: This book is destined to inspire controversy, because of the rankings, the athletes included and those left out. Marc Bloom does what few knowledgeable fans of distance running would ever attempt: to rank 30 of the greatest American male distance runners and twenty American female distance runners. It contains both biographical and and personal information about each runner, as well as a summary of titles won, and lists of personal records for a range of events. Road running enthusiasts may be disapointed by the focus on the track, and indoor acheivements are virtually ignored, but the author does a reasonably good job of trying to provide apples to apples comparisons. This book in invaluable for serious athletes because it documents incredible variation among the training regimes of the athletes profiled. It was a pleasure to read and can be consulted again and again. However, the book is not without flaws. For example, there are only four pages or so for each athlete when more would have been more desireable and easy to include, particularly for exceptional talents or world famous runners such as Jim Ryun, Steve Prefontaine, Sydney Maree, Joan Benoit Samuelson or Mary Decker Tabb. I'm sure that most buyers would have paid more for a thicker book. Second, the descriptions of workouts could have been a lot more precise, or consistent between athletes. Some chapters appear to describe the athlete's greatest workouts, and others are so general it seems like the athlete is keeping secrets. Third, the book includes too many chapters on athletes whose career ended before the 1960s, when the sport was noticeably immature, and American dominance was more a factor of limited competition than athletic prowess. And finally, there are no discussions about the disapointments of the athletes' careers, which any fan would find fascinating. The absence of this element at times reduces the book to a public relations piece.
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