Best individul sports books according to redditors

Copy pasta'd from another thread asking about how it was made and our backgrounds. Added #6.

The short story is:

1. Phi, me, phrakture, and other mods put it together circa 2012-2013.
   
2. Phi did most of the heavy lifting for putting together the wiki and overall program coordination
   
3. I helped with most of the concepts for routine creation and implementation, much of what was and still is based on my book Overcoming Gravity and Overcoming Gravity 2nd Ed.
   
4. A bunch of stretching/mobility was pulled from Phrak's Starting Stretching and molding mobility, although heavily overlaps with a lot of various concepts already out there.
   
5. Antranik and other mods were instrumental in finally putting it together in video format.
   
6. The RR has undergone a lot of very subtle revisions since then removing some exercises in favor of others. It is one example of how a good beginner routine for bodyweight/gymnastics/calisthenics strength training can work.
   
   As for people's backgrounds, I'll only state my own straight off my website:
   
   > Steven Low is a former gymnast, coach, and the author of the Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength (Second Edition). He has spent thousands of hours independently researching the scientific foundations of health, fitness and nutrition. His unique knowledge base enables him to offer numerous insights into practical care for performance and injuries. Steven holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park, as well as a Doctorate of Physical Therapy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Steven performed with Gymkana, an exhibitional gymnastics troupe. Since then, he has coached Gymkana athletes and serves as a senior trainer for Dragon Door’s Progressive Calisthenics Certification (PCC).
   
   > Steven’s training is varied and intense, with a focus on gymnastics, parkour, rock climbing, and sprinting. Feats of strength include: full back lever, full front lever, four one-arm chin-ups on both arms, ten-second iron cross, straddle planche on rings, five reps of +190-lbs. dips, +130-lbs. pull-ups, +70-lbs. strict muscle-up on rings, eight freestanding handstand pushups on paralettes, five hollow back presses, and twenty degrees off full manna. He is currently working on applying his efforts to achieving high level bouldering.

Putin co-authored a book on the subject. Judo: History, Theory, Practice

Haha, I recognize one of these guys. Phil Elmore. He actually wrote a loltastic book about carrying a katana for self defence.

www.amazon.com/Street-Sword-Practical-Blade-Self-Defense/dp/1581605986

He literally wrote the book on Judo

Anyone interested in a community on this should check out /r/bodyweightfitness

There are also some good books with similar progressions and ideas like You Are Your Own Gym or Overcoming Gravity

Good resources for white belts:

Free Books:
Stephan Kesting's A Roadmap for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Free Videos:
Learning Strategies for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Stephan Kesting's 16 Most Important Techniques for the BJJ Beginner
John B. Will's 36 Core Techniques
Matt Serra's four-volume BJJ Basics

For Pay Books:
Saulo Ribeiro's Jiu-Jitsu University

For Pay Videos:
Jason Scully's Grapplers Guide
Rener and Ryron Gracie's Gracie Combatives
Roy Dean's Blue Belt Requirements, Samples Here

He literally wrote a book on judo. One of the instructors at a dojo I used to attend helped translate it.

i think zinn is the standard. but these days you're probably better looking for a video on youtube.

edit: zinn - https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/193771537X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

Literally wrote the book on Judo.

Most journalists can't put together an article.

This isn't worth a whole post, but since you guys are combat sports enthusiasts I wanted to introduce you to the greatest martial artist alive today. His name is Phil Elmore, who I learned about from r/mallninjashit.

He has written several books on self defence, including classics such as Shorthand Empty Hand Expedient Stylized Fighting, another one about using every day carrying a Katana for self defense called Street Sword: Practical Use of the Long Blade for Self-Defense available on Amazon for 86 dollars. A third notable publication is one for a problem I'm sure we all faced before, How to use physical violence to defend yourself from homeless people.

his "shorthand empty hand" book is worth a gander because it reads like he made it up as he went along and has clearly never fought another human being, but he's thought about it a lot and he's undefeated in his own mind. It also has some hilarious picture references of his fighting styles.

He has a section on Ground Fighting that boils down to "don't do it ever because you can't fight multiple people at once." Which is a recurring theme with this guy, everywhere he go he seems to run into hordes of attackers (all armed, of course).

Another thing that grabbed my attention was the section of the book titled "I'll Make an Exception: Guidelines for Challenging Me To a Fight." For the low low price of $9,999 he will give you the honor of fighting him. Here's the catch:

>Once the fee has been accepted, I (as the challenged party) set any and all conditions. I may bring whatever weapons I wish. I may drive my car and use it as a weapon, if it suits me to do so. I may place on the opponent any restrictions I choose.

He also has an article on his website about how MMA isn't real self defense.

Phil Elmore is a martial arts savant and I think everyone here could learn a lot from him. I only learned about him today but I feel smarter and more enlightened about the martial arts than I was yesterday.

Chris Charlton wrote the book on NJPW and is a really respected source that even Dave Meltzer regularly cites in the Observer.

Three good options listed here, I've done #3, Nestucca River Road and it was great, low-stress and passes through some beautiful country. From Portland take the MAX light rail to the end of the line in Hillsboro (shoot for mid-day so you aren't trying to cram a bike and panniers on a crowded rush hour train).

Elevation profile

Oregonian article from a few years ago

We left a little late, maybe 1pm and just barely made it to our BLM campground (Dovre maybe?) at dusk. It's all downhill after that to Beaver.

I will add that a few miles of 101 south of Beaver are a little uncomfortable to ride as there's little / no shoulder, unlike most of the rest of 101. If you pass through this section from further north (the Tillamook option, for instance) I believe they route bikes around on a scenic alternate road-- these are well marked and a common feature of 101. However the Beaver / Cloverdale area isn't very long, so it's not a huge concern IMO.

If you have the Adventure Cycling maps they might come in handy. Much more detailed info (accurate elevation profiles!) than what's included in the book everyone gets, but the later has a nice narrative.

EDIT: typos

OG2

If you are looking for more structured training, I recommend Pfitzinger's Faster Road Racing. It covers all the types of training needed for road races between 5k and half marathon, and provides sample training programs.

You may find it much harder to go from 42 to sub 40 than it was from 49 to 42. The difference is bigger than it seems.

You're looking for something that's already been written. It's called The Cyclist's Training Bible by Joe Friel and Training and Racing with a Power Meter by Andrew Coggan (the latter is entirely relevant even if you have not got a power meter).

My advice is start with either Jack Daniels' or [Pete Pfitzinger's] (http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Marathoning-Edition-Pete-Pfitzinger/dp/0736074600/ref=pd_sim_b_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=19PK2FVW02JWZ7FA2WGX) books. They are quick reads that have everything you need to know to get started on racing a marathon (or half). Both books are organized well so you don't really need to read them cover to cover. They cover both the science plus have appendices with exact daily plans to follow.

I guarantee you that you will be much better off spending <$20 on one of these books then wasting a lot of time trying to piece together free info on the internet.

Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger is my go-to recommendation.

I'm a fan of Daniels' Running Formula. I'd suggest picking up a copy and following the Red or Blue plan for a season, then trying the 5-10K Training plan. Joining a running club would also be a good option. Good luck!

I found Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro to be very helpful when I first started.

I highly recommend Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro. Practice what your instructors show you, but focus on the white belt stuff in the book daily. At this point, you're basically just wanting to learn to survive.
Focus on the [positional hierarchy] (http://www.beginningbjj.com/BJJ%20Roadmap%201.3.pdf) for strategy (thanks awesome redditor Stephen Kesting for the ebook,) hip escapes, re-guarding, and threatening basic submissions for like the first year, and you'll lose 80% of the anxiety

I think discussions on power meters fit right into the purposes of /r/Velo. Why don't you tell us a little about your riding and training background? How long have you been training, and what sort of goals do you have? Have you read Friel's Training Bible or Allen and Coggan's Training and Racing with a Power Meter?

As far as power meters go, there are a few different types on the market right now (and others will chip in here if i'm forgetting anything, because reasons). Here I'm sorting them from closest to power generation down the driveline:

• Pedal-based meters measure at the foot, and can measure left and right separately (not a useful measurement...yet.). Examples here include Garmin's Vector pedal system and Look/Polar's Keos. PowerTap will be releasing their P1 pedals this summer as well.
  
• Crankarm power meters are newcomers at a lower pricepoint. Stages Power is a left-only power meter that pulled prices down with their introduction of power for $749. Additionally, 4iiiis has released a power meter that is just hitting the market — this is priced insanely competitively, like $350 or something, and it'll be interesting to see if it's a useful player.
  
• Next up is crank-based power, and there are a lot of players here. SRM has been considered the gold standard of power, with a price to match, but that is changing. Quarq (from SRAM) is also well known, Power2Max seems to be highly regarded and is very competitively priced, Rotor has a system, and Pioneer Electronics has a new model that's a little pricier but also quite advanced. PowerTap is also releasing a chainring power system this summer.
  
• Finishing up is hub-based power with the venerable PowerTap hub, which has been around for about forever and is a known quantity and still a solid value proposition.
  
  Head on over to DC Rainmaker and check out his reviews, because his is the gold standard on incredibly detailed information on all things electronics. His reviews are excellent, and he's getting a 4iiii unit to review so we'll know how it fairs. That'd be the best option if you're really price sensitive because their pricing promises to massively undercut all the other players on the market.
  
  So this should be a start.

So which one of those dudes wrote this?

Street Sword: Practical Use of the Long Blade for Self-Defense

We already know how to boomstick. Gotta catch em by surprise with the practical long blade

In before Saulo Ribeiro's Jiujitsu University

You will want to make sure you are doing a body weight routine that includes more difficult movements and not just ricidulous volume on basic exercises.

/r/bodyweightfitness is a good starting point to get you rolling but if you already have great lifts their routine might not be advanced enough for you. Overcoming Gravity is a great resource with writeups and progressions for exercises although through some extremely advanced gymnastics exercises such as planche pushups.

It should be very easy to keep your size for your upper body with BW exercises. Lower body is a bit harder, especially if you have a very big squat/deadlift. Still doable, but for the most part you still will want to add weight, and will be doing things like weighted pistols and weighted shrimp squats.

Dominik Sky and FitnessFAQs both have youtube channels with a good bit of information.

A place to do pullups is all you really need for bodyweight exercises. I would recommend picking up a set of Gymnastics Rings at some point or another though as they are extremely useful for bodyweight training.

I would increasing your flexibility training a bit. A lot of bodyweight stuff benefits hugely from increased flexibility.

Also lastly, I don't know how advanced of a lifter you are, but if you are a very advanced lifter be a little with some of the very advanced straight arm body weight exercises. They require a lot of tendon strength in addition to muscle. Even if you have a 2x body weight bench for example you will want to still do some tendon conditioning before jumping straight to an iron cross to avoid injury.

Older Redditors are probably sick of hearing me say this but…

If you want to get faster, start a structured training program and stick with it. For what it's worth, I've noticed that there are a few different types of riders in each race, and they all finish in the order you'd expect:

• Those who just ride hard a few days a week without any structure.
  
• Those who "train" a few days a week, without much structure other than "endurance rides on Day X, sprints on Day Y, etc."
  
• Those who follow a specific training program over the course of a season, and time their training so they'll peak during the weeks of their "A" races. (The races they're targeting to win the most.)
  
  Needless to say, the riders in the third group win almost every event they enter, with the members of the second group finished in the chase group behind them.
  
  Unfortunately, I wasted my first two seasons of racing in the first group. If you don't have a ton of time to train (6+ hours a day), try the Time Crunched Training Program. Even though it's for people who are "time crunched," you still train 2-3 times during the week, and usually on both weekend days.
  
  By week three you'll be faster, and you peak around weeks 12-14.

I think Zinn & The Art of Road Bike repair could be useful

If you know nothing about marathon training, buy Pfitz's Advanced Marathoning or Daniels' Running Formula and give it a read. Either of those is a good starting point, but I'd probably suggest Daniels' if you're used to shorter races. Pfitz has only marathon info (for the most part) and Daniels has everything, so comparing his marathon info to his shorter info might be helpful for you in particular, since you probably have a decent understanding about the shorter races and can use that as a baseline comparison.

Given your background, 6 months should be okay, but starting at 15mpw is not going to help. I'd look at two months of base building followed by a 4 month plan. 2 months is not a lot to ramp up to 50mpw, but again, if you've done 100mpw in the past, you should be able to go a bit more accelerated than most and still be safe.

I wouldn't even set a goal yet, to be honest. It could be anywhere from 2:30 to 3:00 depending on how you handle getting back up there in mileage.

Good news everyone! It's on Amazon!

By the same author:

Flashlight Fighting: How to Make Your Pocket Flashlight a Take-Anywhere Self-Defense Weapon

Duke Manfist: Bullets, Babes & Bacon

Cycling training, as you can imagine, is complex and there are many opinions on how to best train for races. I'm no expert on coaching/training but I have been a serious cyclist and racer for 25 years.

Today, the most common approach to training is to use 'periodized' training. The idea of periodized training is to structure your year so that you build a foundation of fitness over the winter (after an autumn break) and then tailor your workouts carefully in the spring and summer such that you peak in time for important races.

It is called 'periodized' training because your year is broken up into periods (and those periods are, in turn, broken up into smaller periods). The first of these high-level periods is a rest period around this time of year. Then, over the winter, you'll be in a 'base period' during which you develop a foundation for peak fitness next summer. Your spring and summer will have multiple 'build' and 'peak' periods designed to build your fitness ahead of important races (build) and then to taper off just a bit to reduce fatigue just prior to important races (peak).

Today's training methods (as opposed to training from 2 decades ago when I first started racing) is very scientific and prescriptive thanks to technologies that provide us with metrics on our performance. Specifically, heart rate monitors and, more importantly, power meters. Data from these can be used to maximize your workouts' impact and can be fed into physiological models of how bodies respond to and recover from workouts in order to predict and manage what's called your 'form' during the racing season. Because these model quantify your body's response to workouts, 'form' can be quantified and is defined as: form = fitness - fatigue.

Your goal is to maximize form on race days (so-called 'peaking'). But because your fitness is always dropping when you are not doing workouts and your fatigue is increasing when you do work out, managing your form is a dynamic and not so simple. Furthermore, each person is different and, as we age, our response to training changes. And, to add more complication, each type of race also demands different skills and abilities and so it all becomes complicated which is why coaches exist. Frankly, I find this fascinating though.

For amateurs like us who don't have coaches (or limited coaching), there are tons of online tools and books which can help. Book-wise, I recommend that you get a copy of a The Cyclist's Training Bible by Joe Friel. Check out www.trainingpeaks.com for nice training/planning tools including - if you get the paid version - preplanned workouts. And, for sure, get a power meter (I can't recommend one as I have Vector pedals which, although I like very much, are (too?) expensive and, for some reason, not widely liked) along with a hear rate monitor. For winter training, get a trainer whose resistance you can adjust from your handlebars. You can also get rollers too but don't unless you also get a trainer because a trainer is more versatile.

Frankly, equipment doesn't make a huge difference as long as your bike is reasonably light (and then, this is only important if your races have lots of climbing) and your wheels and components are at least reasonably decent. A Scott Foil 15 and Specialized Allez are both fine bikes.

One last comment. When doing your workouts be sure to follow the planned intensity. Especially in your base periods, many workouts will be at a low level of intensity which will be boring. Don't be tempted to go hard during these long, boring, low-intensity workouts as they really do pay huge dividends in preparing your body for the heavy-duty 'build' workouts that will come a few months later. The metaphor to a building's foundation is not just a trite description - it really is true.

Everyone who is new to bjj hates Side Control. My instructor gets asked how to escape that position more than anything else lol.

Best piece of advice I can give you is to buy this:

Jiu-Jitsu University

It's like the bjj bible man.

Joe Friel's book is good. Take your time with it and really understand what he's recommending. It's a bit complicated to figure out at first, but he knows what he's talking about.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cyclists-Training-Bible-Friel/dp/1934030201/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375132557&sr=8-1&keywords=joe+friel+the+cyclists+training+bible

Street Sword: Practical Use of the Long Blade for Self-Defense

FWIW, I really like this book: Training and Racing with a Power Meter. Your local library might have a copy.

Zinn's art of bike maintenance

I started with this. Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance: The World's Best-Selling Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/193771537X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_.ALcAb2R65KY3

Since I got it, I apprenticed at a shop for about a year and I'd consider that book pretty good. I'm not a huge fan of the wheelbuilding section in it, but it's enough to get you through your first wheel. After that you may want to start exploring other methods as I find the one in that book overly time consuming/confusing compared to the one I learned on the shop.

Edit: I read you might be able to find it in your local library, so you could check it out before you buy it or just simply check it out when you need.

Everyone always recommends Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro http://www.amazon.com/dp/0981504434/
I don't have it myself but I was able to get it from my local library once (people always have it on hold), and it's pretty great.

you're not going to get tons of feedback because you've essentially asked this sub to help you steal from our favourite author.

buy the book

https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Marathoning-2nd-Pete-Pfitzinger/dp/0736074600

Antranik, Tykato, FitnessFAQs, TheBodyweightWarrior, Gregory Scott Fitness, GMB Fitness.

All of them post here regularly/semi-regularly.

/u/eshlow wrote the book Overcoming Gravity on which the Recommended Routine is based off.

I'm sure there's many more that I missed, sorry in advance.

Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is basically the bible of bike repair. Buy that and supplement it with videos on YouTube from Park Tools or GCN.

If you live in a decent sized city, check and see if there's a bike co-op. They usually offer free/low cost repair classes and have a whole bunch of tools so you can see what you like/need.

I'm a Park Tool loyalist and will only buy that brand for 90% of my bike tools (my hex wrenches, tire levers, screwdriver, and fixie chainwhip are not PT). They're more expensive but they're solid and last forever. Can't really go wrong with them.

I bought a copy of Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance specifically because it includes a sensible list of regular maintenance tasks. It has several lists, like “before every ride,” “after every ride (or three),” “every 1000 miles,” “every 20,000 miles,” and helpful hints about how to know specifically when you need to do certain things, regardless of how many rides or miles you do.

Long run I would start at maybe 8:45, and then work down to 8:15ish. If you are going to do 1000 repeats, aim for your current 5k pace or maybe 5 seconds a mile faster with 3 minute rests. I would focus more on tempo runs for the summer, so 3 miles at a 7 minute pace, or 2x2 miles with a 2 minute rest in there and a couple mile warm up/cool down at easy pace.

You might check out summer of malmo, it is pretty much designed for someone like you doing summer work. Also check out Daniels Running Formula, and faster road racing. Daniels is where I pulled the training paces from, and faster road racing has base building plans which would help a great deal. You might be able to find them in a library, but I haven't seen them personally.

This is the same guy who wrote Street Sword: Practical Use of the Long Blade for Self-Defense. A true mall ninja through and through.

A superior book to CC and BtGB IMO is Overcoming Gravity.

To address the post, for upper body I believe bodyweight and weights are fairly similar in effectiveness. However if you are looking to strengthen connective tissue, it seems to be done better (and in particular it is necessitated) by straight-arm bodyweight holds.

In my experience, benching HAS carried strength over into bodyweight movements (planche and handstand pushup) which I did not expect given that many bodyweight training proponents state that this does not happen.

For lower body movements, free weights are just better. You just can't really disadvantage leverage sufficiently as far as I know to get a decent stimulus.

" 1 Used from $923.901 New from $390.99 "
r/holdmycreditcard

This book is good to help you learn about more about the science and ways to measure progress. It also includes some workouts and training plans. I believe that once you understand the "why" behind your training plans and runs, it will help you be a more focused runner. Advanced Marathoning

Why shouldn't you do that much speed work without much rest in between? Think of it this way - are you more likely to give 100% effort if you focus in on one speed session per week or five speed sessions per week?

Since we're all human, there's no way you can recover fully between each speed session if you don't rest adequately - so you end up doing each speed session at 75% of your max effort. Even though you're "working hard" by getting out here five times a week, you can see that each session doesn't get the full attention and effort it deserves - and this is sub-optimal for training.

From Pete Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning, you need the following number of rest days for each type of workout:

• Tempo Run - 4 days
  
• Long Run - 4 days
  
• VO2 max intervals - 5 days
  
  So a sample workout for a marathon in aerobic development phase might be:
  
  
• Monday: Recovery @ Easy Pace (5 miles @ 9:00 pace)
  
• Tuesday: Tempo Run @ LT Pace (4 miles @ 6:30 pace)
  
• Wednesday: Medium Length Aerobic @ Moderate Pace (10 miles @ 8:00 pace)
  
• Thursday: Recovery @ Easy Pace (5 miles @ 9:00 pace)
  
• Friday: Medium Length Aerobic @ Moderate Pace (10 miles @ 8:00 pace)
  
• Saturday: Recovery @ Easy Pace (5 miles @ 9:00 pace)
  
• Sunday: Long Run @ Moderate Pace (15 miles @ 8:15 pace)
  
  I highly suggest you read Advanced Marathoning. I'm trying to qualify as well, so good luck to you!

https://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

> Could you give a simple checklist of things to remember in order to survive in each position for as long as possible.

Dude, you need Jiu Jitsu University. The entire white belt section is exactly what you're asking.

As I said on another thread, he's all about marketing, man.

His form sucks hard. He uses his physique (which is really good, no doubt) as a tool to charge other people, but if you see his videos, you're going to realize his technique sucks.

I was one of his subscribers, but when I started to really dig for knowledge in calisthenics, I realized how he doesn't know whatta hell he's talking about.

If you wanna spend money on something really good, buy the Overcoming Gravity 2 book.

Friel's training bible is very popular - http://amazon.com/The-Cyclists-Training-Bible-Friel/dp/1934030201

For GoPro style race videos, sometimes with commentary - http://bikevideoarchive.com (seems to be down at the moment)

The Cyclist's Training Bible is the go-to introduction to training concepts. It's probably information overload if you're just getting into the sport, but there's a ton of good information.

The Time-Crunched Cyclist is a really good introduction to interval training. You'd need at least an HR monitor to do the workouts. I don't follow Carmichael's plans in that book, but I did adapt it a little to fit my needs last summer.

https://www.amazon.ca/Lions-Pride-Turbulent-History-Wrestling/dp/4990865812

Pretty much the go to book right now.

I think the first order of business for you would be to work up to a frequency of 5-6 days a week and 25-30 MPW. Don't worry about higher intensity running until you have a base established.

Then you would benefit from finding a 5k program that you like. All of the stuff you are wondering about would pretty much have clear answers if you found a good program. A solid 5k program would improve both your 5k and your mile time. And it would also answer questions like how long on your long run, how to get your E mileage, when do to hills, how to do interval work, how fast, etc.

I'm a fan of Jack Daniels, and if I were in your shoes I'd be running one of the 5k plans from Running formula. Pfitzinger is also popular here. And Hal Higdon has some 5k plans posted online.

Level 1 Squats require quite a bit of balance and upper body strength to maintain the position. While it is still beneficial to work on it, having that hold you up from progressing in actual squats doesn't make sense. I would suggest starting off at level 2 in the Squat progression, but still working on Level 1 when you can; it is nice for the mobility, balance and flexibility, but it's going to do very little for you strength-wise, at least in terms of the Squat progression.

Level 2 Pullups, as described in the book, are just ridiculously hard for most people who would be at that step in the progression. What I found worked for me was something I think I read on the Dragon Door forums: instead of working with a bar/table that is waist height, find a bar/table that is more sternum height (the bone between your chest muscles). That will make a huge difference in the level of difficulty and is a more natural progression between Levels 1 and 3.

Most of the other progressions should be good and slowly build you up to where you need to be for each step. Some here believe the number of repetitions is too high; the numbers the book has you do at times will have your muscles focusing on endurance more than strength. But I was starting it from a relatively low level of fitness, so I didn't have a problem if I mixed a little endurance training in with my strength training.

I also had a rule that I had to meet each Progression Standard three times before I actually moved on. It keeps you from moving too fast through the progressions, assures you didn't just have a fluke day or get any cheat reps, and makes sure your form can be nice and stable before moving onto the next step. If you are still feeling like you are making gains at a given level, don't be in a huge rush to jump ahead. I like to look at all the bodyweight exercises as a more long-term thing.

Also, feel free to add things to the exercises if you are interested and able to later on; I did the routine about 3/4 of the way through (getting to level 5-8 in the various exercises) before I started over with a weight vest for added difficulty. After going through back to the beginning with the vest, I'm now back to level 8-10 in everything but pullups and HSPUs, which I'm at 7 and 6 in HSPUs, and now I have been mixing it up with the gymnastic stuff from moderator eshlow's book: Overcoming Gravity

check this out https://spreadsheets0.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en&hl=en&key=0As27w2iX8XXsdFJaUVpSN3huZ1g5RVZrSWZYVTNFdmc&single=true&gid=0&output=html


It list all adult gymnastics classes by state. You can also try picking up books like overcoming gravity or just head over to /r/bodyweightfitness they could probably help you out. Gymnastics is not the easiest thing to get into when your older but it's definetly worth trying out.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1467933120?keywords=overcoming%20gravity&qid=1451949240&ref_=sr_1_1&s=apparel&sr=8-1

just on basic internet shops like amazon. maybe ebay?

Buy two and I'll throw in one of those

You would happen to have a link to where I could buy it online do you? This would make a hilarious graduation gift for a friend of mine.

Edit: found a link. Way too expensive for me. http://www.amazon.com/Street-Sword-Practical-Blade-Self-Defense/dp/1581605986/ref=la_B001JRTNQU_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463259299&sr=1-13&refinements=p_82%3AB001JRTNQU

Sounds like you're ready for Pfitz. Many runners on here have used his book, myself included, to excellent results. Additionally you mention wanting longer runs than 16M, the backbone of Pfitz's plan is a LOT of long runs. He's known to drop "medium-long runs" on a Wednesday that are like 12-15 miles and then throw an 18-20 miler at you on the weekend.

The workouts aren't insane, but he definitely gets you with those long runs. If you stick true to the plan, choose the mileage that's right for you and come into the plan with the right base...you'll crush with Pfitz.

Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger

Fun fact, I chose the name for this subreddit based on his book which I first read when I was 17 and training for the Marine Corps Marathon. Also a fun fact, I do not recommend getting into marathons at age 17. :)

I did it last year. Took just under two weeks.

great place to start: Bicycling the Pacific Coast by Vicky Spring

we also had the rather detailed maps from Adventure Cycling, which had much, much more detailed elevation profiles plus the locations of grocery stores, bike shops and many alternate camping locations that The Book smooths over. We took to calling it The Book because seemingly everyone on the route had a copy.

If you do the trip in August, you'll likely not need to worry about rain gear. I had a fleece and long underwear for the eves, a wool long sleeved jersey for the wet, foggy mornings and a few short-sleeved jerseys for the afternoons.

Expect to spend about $5 / day / person for State Park camping. Showers are free in Oregon, but not in California. The road becomes considerably less comfortable when you leave Oregon-- less shoulder (often none at all), crappier campgrounds, and the pay showers.

If there's one thing you absolutely need to do, it's the scenic detour off 101 on Newton B Drury to Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

edit: start training as soon as possible. do some practice bike camping trips with Cycle Wild to shake down your gear and get used to your setup.

I re-read your original comment -- "zero grappling experience" and "I don't always know what I'm looking at or what it means."

You should buy Jiu-Jitsu University.

You start with survival. Get through your training rounds without tapping (i.e., without getting caught; if you get caught, tap of course!). Keep your elbows tight, protect your collar, keep your back to the mat.

But that book -- Jiu-Jitsu University -- will really help you.

Buy this book!

http://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

It seriously should be issued to all new white belts. It'll teach you techniques to survive when you first start. I found it extremely helpful!

http://www.grapplearts.com/the-16-most-important-techniques-for-the-bjj-beginner/

http://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452780727&sr=8-1&keywords=university+of+jiu+jitsu

I cannot recommend Jack Daniel's book enough! It has fantastic explaining training concepts and making it understandable. It also has specific training plans for every distance from the mile to the marathon.

The 2Q plan dictates two hard workouts per week. One is usually tempo or interval work, one is a long run. Other than those two workouts you just run easy whenever to meet a certain distance per week. I workout hard Tuesdays and Saturdays and then the rest of the week it doesn't matter which days or distances I run ... as long as I get my mileage for the week in.

Ones I have read and recommend:

Jack Daniels
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F0X7U2S/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Pfitz
https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Marathoning-2nd-Pete-Pfitzinger/dp/0736074600/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510544635&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=Pfitinger

Yessis
https://www.amazon.com/Explosive-Running-Science-Kinesiology-Performance/dp/0809298996/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510544911&sr=1-1&keywords=explosive+running

Noakes
https://www.amazon.com/Lore-Running-4th-Timothy-Noakes/dp/0873229592/ref=pd_sim_14_5?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=3QK52ZDHZVX4K6QW383Q

Fitzgerald (one of several)
https://www.amazon.com/Brain-Training-Runners-Revolutionary-Endurance-ebook/dp/B000VMHHBW/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510544985&sr=1-1&keywords=brain+training+for+runners

Ones I have not read but have heard good things about:

Hansons
https://www.amazon.com/Hansons-Marathon-Method-Your-Fastest-ebook/dp/B01C6FBGHW/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510544663&sr=1-3&keywords=hansons+running&dpID=51L6b5-M7OL&preST=_SY445_QL70_&dpSrc=srch


Bill Squires
https://www.amazon.com/Speed-Endurance-Bill-Squires/dp/0977250504

Peter Coe
https://www.amazon.com/Winning-Running-Successful-Racing-Training/dp/1852239972/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1510544703&sr=1-1&keywords=peter+coe&dpID=51lmDYFDyLL&preST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

There is also an out of print (I think) book by Arthur Lydiard that is really good. And for that matter, I am not sure I linked the correct Bill Squires book. One is really good, while the other is an awful, watered-down version.

I have a pretty similar background. I ran in high school, then DIII in college, quit running for many years, got back to it as a pre-masters/masters runner. People kept asking me questions, so I started coaching for free. Then on a spare weekend, I got certified as a USATF level 1 coach, which is really fun. I really recommend it, since you're a T&F fan.

I have been told Higdon plan is not the best for a BQ time. I am currently trying for BQ as well and have been using Pfitzinger 70/18 plan. It's really rough because the first week you start is 53 miles. It tops out at 70mpw which is more than I have ran in a week before. I have been told maybe people have either lowered their time significantly or BQ'd using his plan.

If you are interested, here is an idea how the plan works. To get more in depth about his workouts (which ones are tempo and how fast to run on certain runs) I highly recommend his book. I've been running for about 4 years and learned so much after reading it.

>Do you think my initial goal (3:10) was unrealistic based on my mileage in training?

This question is based on the individual, however increasing your weekly mileage safely will not hinder your performance. There are plenty of people who run much faster on less mileage, but this does not mean that you can.

>Did I simply go out a bit too eager and pay the price?

The marathon is hard. Each race day is different, and with longer distances small things like a few degrees temperature difference take a toll later in the race. General consensus is that if you're running the second half slower than the first you went out too fast.

>If training could have yielded better results, would you put performance drop down to slight illness?

I'm sure getting sick didn't help, but knowing how much it may have slowed you is impossible to know.

>For next marathon, what would you recommend I do differently? I suppose more smart mileage.

Your previous PR times seems to scale pretty well, so I don't know what specifically you should do differently outside of the normal advice that more miles won't hurt.

The Higdon plans are pretty good and I've used them myself in the past. You'll find that many runners here in /r/AdvancedRunning "move up" to the plans in Advanced Marathoning , and Daniel's Running Formula. Advanced Running focuses more specifically on marathons, while the Daniel's book pretty deep into explaining the science being training.


Edit: spelling

I'm not sure how flexible your itinerary is, but I'd highly recommend reversing course and touring from Vancouver to LA. There are two main reasons, 1) Wind! Winds typically blow north to south during the best touring season and this can severely impact your milage. I can cross Oregon comfortably (not going for any records here, I'm an old man) in 5 or 6 days (but more is more fun) heading north to south, but I'd expect it to take at least 10 days in the other direction.

The second reason is that you'll get a very different experience with other people on tour. Especially through Oregon, where there are established hiker-biker camp sites at intervals designed for bike tour (always $5, no reservation necessary). If you are touring from North to South, you will inevitably meet many other folks touring the same route. The option to cycle solo and avoid the other tourers always exists, but if you are going the wrong direction, then you'll miss out on meeting some of the most interesting bike tourers I've met anywhere.

And a final bonus consideration, the view! If you are traveling south, you've got the ocean on your immediate right and the views are unimpeded by the road.

I found this book of limited use when I was actually on the road, but I got some great advice from it while I was in planning stages: http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Vicky-Spring/dp/0898869544/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393962849&sr=8-1&keywords=cycling+the+pacific+coast

The pacific coast from north-to-south is probably the easiest place in the US to do this. There are campgrounds with designated hiker/biker no-reservation campsites at regular intervals, the prevailing winds work to your advantage, and there are cycling-oriented guidebooks and maps covering the route in detail. Those have the advantage of telling you key things like where the last place to buy food before the campground is, and which towns have a shop where you can get a spoke replaced.

Hello new convert, have you read the good book? It's a great place to start when you want to save your sweet neck from being strangled by sweaty strangers.

Keep your arms close to your body and learn to shrimp like a mofucka. Also, take tips/advice from other whitebelts with a grain of salt, except for me of course.

Free: Stephan Kesting's Roadmap to BJJ e-book (requires newsletter sign-up)

For monies: Jiu-jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro

Doorway pull up bar, paralettes, rings, foam roller, lacrosse ball, slack line, agility ladder, yoga matt, some shorts and a vest to workout in, a subscription to GMBs, meggings, Overcoming Gravity 2 just came out https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0990873854/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481498859&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=overcoming+gravity+second+edition

I highly suggest picking up Jack Daniels Running Formula. It will describe what different running workouts are, what they will do for you as a runner, and will provide some training plans. As a coach you need to know your shit, so get to studying. Also, you need to be a leader, so you need to start running as well :)

I'd add Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance to the list.

Whether or not you hit the wall not only is a matter of training but also having and carrying out a solid in-race nutrition plan. The wall hits people because their lower bodies run out of glycogen, and they haven't sufficiently re-fueled those stores with carbohydrate during the race.

Matt Fitzgerald and the Hanson brothers are among the few experienced running writers who seriously get into fueling during races, and they may be worth a read for finer points.

But in general you need to work on fueling during long runs. Thankfully, Chicago's drink stations use Gatorade (which contains carbs; low-cal drinks like Ultima do not), and if you prefer to fuel that way you can practice hitting the Gatorade every 1.3 miles during training runs. You could also practice with gels or gummy-style fuel like Shot Bloks, but that gets a lot more pricey than Gatorade, and Gatorade has the added benefit of also rehydrating you.

Again, others get into the finer points of marathon fueling much better than I just did, but that's a place to start if you want to avoid the wall.

Second Pfitzinger Faster Road Racing. Personally I think that's the best place to start.

Is this you?

[Street Sword: Practical Use of the Long Blade for Self-Defense] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1581605986/)

1. Join a local cycling club. Here's a big one in Chicago
   
   
2. Build up your palmares so that you can ride something more than CAT5. Cycling racing demands that you move up categories based on your experience. Mostly to keep people who have never raced in a bunch sprint or a paceline from hurting competent racing cyclists. Having never raced before you're likely to start for a season or so at the lowest level (CAT5).
   
   
3. Start racing in local centuries or cyclosportives. I don't want to stomp on your dreams, but unless you're clearly (I mean solo to victory 10+ minutes ahead) then you're probably not pro level. Here's a list of rides happening this year in Chicago.
   
   
4. Commit this winter to doing Joe Friel's program, race a few races in the spring then get your personal physiological characteristics measured (VO2max etc). See how you compare to others.
   
   
5. Start sending out packages (palmares, physio stats, any other value you'd bring to a team) to development squads.
   
   
6. Hope that you got the stuff.

First, all you need to get is the cyclists training bible by joe friel. It will tell you everything you ever wanted to know. Base, Build, Peak, baby!

Next, join us over in /r/velo. It's a little dead now in the off season, but things get going in the spring!

edit: I also have the book "Racing Weight" by Matt Fitzgerald. I would highly recommend it.

And you're already thin. Becoming a better cyclist is way more important than losing 2 or 3 more pounds of body fat.

Buy it, read it, do what it says.

I went vegan this time last year and have since run 3 marathons. I don't take any supplements, but I recommend Daniel's Running Formula. I was surprised to learn that training for a marathon entails more than just packing on miles. Good luck.

Although strengthproject has some decent youtube tutorials I can't speak for any of their books.

If you are going to buy any book on bodyweight training, get Overcoming Gravity.

If you're are patient, the author is releasing a second edition of the book sometime this year.

Back in 1998, History Channel made one called "The Unreal Story of Professional Wrestling."

But if you really want to learn about those days, I suggest you read three books: (1) National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling; (2) Gorgeous George: The Outrageous Bad-Boy Wrestler Who Created American Pop Culture; and (3) The Legends of Wrestling - "Classy" Freddie Blassie: Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks.

The recent WWE 50 book may also be useful, but I've yet to read it.

Wait, you mean it's a real book?

...Holy shit, it is.

edit: This guy has a lot of shitty books like this. There is one on how to fight wielding a flashlight. Seriously.

Perhaps this will help cement what a tool he is:
https://www.amazon.com/Street-Sword-Practical-Blade-Self-Defense/dp/1581605986/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?crid=674SC3EBQJQR&keywords=phil+elmore&qid=1556396170&s=gateway&sprefix=phil+elm&sr=8-3

Runner's world. Ugh. Stay away from that garbage, and definitely don't pay for anything from them. You won't get to sub 3 that way.

I know plenty of people use Pfitzinger (you'll see references to Pfitz 18/55 or Pfitz 18/70- 18 weeks, 55 or 70 miles a week). His book is only 14 bucks.

Also, I don't know if there are rules here against linking to letsrun, but there is some good stuff there about training & marathon training (more so in the past...these days, there's more garbage than good training advice).

Marathon training

Key marathon workouts from a Canova training program

You have to buy the book.

I've used Bicycling the Pacific Coast successfully from Vancouver all the way to the Mexican border.

Highly suggest that book. The places it has you stops is frequented by other bike tourers, so there's always people to meet.

A couple ideas:

Jiu-Jitsu University ~$25 ( http://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434 ) One of the best overall BJJ books around. Very detailed, and useful at a number of levels of the game.

If you know what size your person is, you could go the mystery rashguard route: ( http://www.budovideos.com/shop/customer/product.php?productid=32101&cat=417&page=1 )

You can also keep an eye on bjjhq.com - sometimes they have sick deals on rashguards or other bjj related accessories.

Nah man, just get the tap if you can get it. Just don't over think it. As a white I also tapped a lot of people who, as a blue now, I can't tap anymore. They lowered their game to allow me to develop my own. No more playing now, however.

When I started out, the first 3 months were hell while rolling. If you are doing better, that's good for you man! I just remember from my own experience that I had to survive against everyone but the higher belts gave me advice to get better. You should not give up on offence but you should also built a great foundation of defence. http://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434 Is a great book. The white belt chapter is completely about surviving. I like it a lot. I believe Slideyfoot (look at the faq) has a complete review.

Saulo Ribiero and Kevin Howell's Jiu Jitsu University is almost required reading. Click on "Search inside this book" under the book's cover pic to check out the contents.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Theory and Technique (by lots of big names) is also very well done.

Online, Stephan Kesting's Grapple Arts BJJ Techniques are very diverse and broken down incredibly well.

Cane Prevost's 20 week curriculum is some of the best fundamentals instruction I've seen. The focus on and details about posture alone are worth it for people of any rank.

In the end though, ask your instructor. He/she can explain it and then hopefully tell you how to drill a technique to integrate it into your game.

Side Note:

>Ari Bolden is a proven fraud

His early videos were a source of controversy. His newer videos feature big names (Keith Owen, Piet Wilhelm, others) and good technique breakdowns. I'm not defending his earlier actions in the least (I do not like people who misrepresent themselves either intentionally or through a smoke-screen), but I'm also willing to give him a some credit if his recent material is honest and productive for the community as a whole. The BJJ community never forgets, but that shouldn't get in the way of Keith Owen sharing his immense knowledge to a large existing audience. I'll defer to Keith if he has made the decision to give Ari some leeway.

/Side Note

Side Note 2: I just had a delicious sandwich.

• Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro
  
• Drill to Win: 12 months to better BJJ by Andre Galvao
  
• Mastering Jujitsu by Renzo Gracie and John Donaher
  
• Passing the Guard by Ed Beneville
  
• Marcelo Garcia video clips

Jiu Jitsu University is a really good reference book, it helped me pickup some terminology and make some improvements in my noobie defensive game so I didn't get crushed nearly as much.
https://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

It walks the reader through many different BJJ Terms, escapes, guard types, and submissions a lot of people assume everyone know about. It seems to be a pretty good supplement to actually seeing the days/weeks moves, drilling and in general hitting the mat in my opinion.

I have definitely had a few items worth sharing with other newbies that no one ever brought up to us. The most basic but never discussed tip I've found so far was, "look at the elbow of your attacker when someone has you in a cross choke". Everyone always talks about how effective a cross choke is to get someone to relieve pressure, but this simple adjustment negates a huge amount of discomfort, gives you their arm, and blocks the second lapel grip.

Bite the bullet and get the bodyweight bible, Overcoming Gravity 2nd ed. by bwf's /u/eshlow

Pricey, but the absolute best book on bwf par none. Check out his subreddit, /r/overcominggravity/ , for some of the basic info out of the book.

https://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Gravity-Systematic-Gymnastics-Bodyweight/dp/0990873854

I started running in June with a 21:20 or so 5k, and I got down to 18:42 in October. I think I would have been low-18s in November, but I didn't manage to race.

What I did is: buy Daniels and follow it as closely as I was able. That's it.

Can't promise it will work work for you, but it did for me.

These are just my two cents so interpret how you want. From the looks of things, it seems like you've got a lot of interval sessions in there and this time of year you should focusing on base miles (lots of steady efforts)

I know what you're thinking, '..but I've done a lot of long rides over the summer, so I've essentially already done my base miles?' The thing is that developing your aerobic engine (which is what base miles do) takes a lot of hours and this is the time of the year to do it. Also, doing lots of interval sessions can burn you out before racing season even arrives!

My advice, primarily taken from The Cyclist Training Bible by Joe Freil, would be to cut down your interval sessions to once a week. Also, you mentioned you wanted to help your sprint for next year and the perfect way to do that at this time of the year is some weight training once a week. Fill the rest of the time with base miles. Your running is good for base stuff as well so keep that up.

Finally, if you find yourself getting bored on the turbo you could always do some speed skill sessions which focus on how you pedal and to improve the 'smoothness'. Two sesssions that I currently do are:

Spin ups

• For 1min, gradually build up to max cadence (without bouncing)
  
• Maintain this high cadence for as long as possible
  
• 3min recovery and repeat several times
  
  Leg Isolations
  
  
• Unclip one leg and focus on form, especially at 12 o'clock position
  
• When leg gets tired, switch legs and repeat
  
• When leg gets tired, pedal with both legs for 2min and focus on technique. Repeat.

I use a spread sheet I'm fairly sure it was made or at least endorsed by Joel Friel. You can download it here: https://www.trainingbible.com/resource.php.
If you don't have a plan I strongly recommend getting this book called "The Cyclists Training Bible" which will guide you in all aspects of creating a personalized plan and answers a bunch of other training questions. You can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1934030201/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1419837779&sr=8-1&dpPl=1&dpID=519fhwt12TL&ref=plSrch&pi=AC_SY200_QL40. It is also available as an ebook.

Finally, something I can answer:

I have two books in my repertoire:

Bike Science 3rd Ed. - This breaks down the physics of what's happening. It goes in depth about materials, history, really everything bike related. It doesn't go into detail about makes and models though.

Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance - Where Bike Science is the why, Zinn gets down to brass tacks and gives you useful information on how to fix a bike (note that there is also a Zinn book for Mt. Bikes and triathlon bikes which I haven't read yet...). This is my go-to reference when something goes wrong with my bike.

BikeForums.net - So I don't know everything about anything but this is the place to do research. SRAM vs Ultegra? Trek vs Cannondale? Someone has already asked the question and it's on BikeForums somewhere. I trust people who've actually ridden/owned a bike I have a question about far more than some online review that was vetted by the manufacturer.

Hope it helps.

Straightforward directions and easy to understand.

https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030988

For maintenance guide, I really like the Zinn guides. There's one for road bikes and one for mountain bikes, but a lot of the content is the same.

https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/193771537X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

I would also suggest attending a "bike maintenance 101" class. You can often find them through your friendly local bike shop or cycling collective, or sometimes your county DOT will offer them. I took one through the county and learned how to change a flat, adjust brakes and shifters, and clean/lube all the bike parts. It was really helpful!

Zinn and the art of Bike Maintenance

Pretty good reference book to have on hand as well.

How about Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance?

Just picked up this book: http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419283042&sr=8-1&keywords=zinn+and+the+art+of+mountain+bike+maintenance

I don't think there's a thing on my bike I can't fix now. You really need a bike stand and a decent set of tools and you're good to go.

When I asked a fellow MTBer a couple of years ago he suggested I get this book. It has been quite helpful indeed.

They also wrote a road bike one with the similar title.

http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597

You should be fine with any brand that also makes expensive models. Trek, Specialized, Giant, etc. Their bottom-ranked stuff still needs to be solid and reliable because they have a brand reputation to preserve. The REI branded Co-Op bikes should also be OK. You can also search the internet for reviews of any model bike that interests you.

Buying used is a great way to get started but make sure you educate yourself to ensure you aren't buying someone else's wreck victim / maintenance problems or you can fix them easily. I do my own maintenance and learned pretty much everything I know from a book, Sheldon Brown, Google, and YouTube videos.

zen & the art of road bike maintenance is relatively cheap and is a giant text book of everything you would need to know from basic repairs to finetuning the smallest of parts.

there are a lot more training options other than Hal Higdon!

Pfitzinger

Daniels

Hansons


to name just a few

Japanese wrestling has such a storied history that it would be a fool's errand to try and write about it in an all encompassing manner. You're better off going company by company.

But the closest thing there is is the book Lion's Pride: The Turbulent History of New Japan Pro Wrestling, which you can buy on Amazon. But it mainly focuses on the biggest company in Japan today, though there are small bits of other companies where they're relevant.

https://www.amazon.com/Lions-Pride-Turbulent-History-Wrestling/dp/4990865812/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1468814708&sr=8-1&keywords=Lion%27s+Pride

Science

• The Science of Running by Steve Magness, published 2014
  
• Anything by Alex Hutchinson. He has 2 books (one just came out this month) and writes/has written columns in Runner's World, Outside Online, Globe and Mail, among others. His stuff is typically more along the lines of "interesting stuff studies show" not really a global picture of how to train.
  
• Various books by Matt Fitzgerald
  
  Training
  
  
• Daniels' Running Formula by Jack Daniels. The 3rd edition is from 2013.
  
  
• Faster Road Racing: 5K to Half Marathon by Pete Pfitzinger. The 2nd edition is from 2014.
  
• Again, various books by Matt Fitzgerald.

This is a very very basic question and there aren't any real "tips".

Your best bet is to following a training program and see how it treats you. Most people recommend Jack Daniels or Pfitzinger.

Like /u/farkoman noted, high dans are about politics and general "life achievement", probably. Putin is a very visible character and widely known of practicing judo, so that alone probably would count. I think he also has written a few books about self-defense, amongst them at least this book about judo. (Yes - he's not the only author, so there is a chance he's the first author for celebrity power.)

I see he read this...self defense manual

You're fucking shitting me, it's real.

There is so much complexity in becoming a good bike racer... if you can hire a coach you should. But here's some generic advice:

• Buy a copy of The Cyclists Training Bible and read it.
  
• Work on your core strength and stability. This mostly involves static exercises like planks, not lots of situps. Friel's book discusses this in depth.
  
• Go on group rides and pay attention. See who looks the most comfortable on their bike and the smoothest in the group and then learn from them.
  
• After base season, train hard. If your training time is limited by school you can compensate somewhat by doing lots of really high intensity. Again, Friel's book gives good examples.
  
• Be patient. You won't get a pro contract next year. But you could get mononucleosis or crash and end up completely burned out and never want to ride a bike again. It's important to think long-term and stay healthy!
  
  edit: clarified final bullet to not end on such a downer sentence.
  

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cyclists-Training-Bible-Friel/dp/1934030201/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1419807471&sr=8-1

Advanced Marathoning
has an incredible amount of information. I would have said my Garmin 410 was mvp, but i have a 6th place overall finish and 2 BQ's with a $10 Timex because of this book.

I recommend the plans in the book "Advanced Marathoning" by Pfitzinger. The plans themselves are simple, but definitely challenging. I think the lowest mileage plan peaks at about 55 miles, but the more mileage you are able to handle, the faster you will run the marathon. I first started out doing the 55 mile plan back in 2011 and ran a 2:52 marathon. The following year I tried the 85+ (peaking at around 110) and ran a 2:34 at Boston this year.

http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Marathoning-Edition-Peter-Pfitzinger/dp/0736074600

Two books to buy:

1. The Supple Leopard. It is the best thing anybody involved in physical activity can own. You will get your money's worth x10. He says 10 minutes a day of mobility work is what you need.
   
   One of the best things you could probably do for yourself is start increasing your motor control and mobility. It helps tremendously to learn how to brace your spine and position your shoulders into a stable position. Once you learn that you will understand how to create the most force off your movements through torque and maintaining tension in your body.
   
   A lot of "good technique" in bjj or lifting or any sport starts with good bone/joint/spinal/body positioning. When you start practicing these proper body position and maintaining them through a full range of movement (i.e. the basic squat), you learn where your joints/muscles/spine need better range of motion and how to train that--your bjj technique will probably improve. An understanding of basic human movements translates into any physical activity through better performance.
   
   
2. Jiu Jitsu University Saulo Ribeiro breaks down the foundations of learning bjj in steps. Aka, learn how to survive first.
   
   That being said...I would say you don't really need weights or kettlebell swings until you've built a good base of physical strength/conditioning. Start with some general physical preparedness (GPP), bodyweight squats, pushups, situps, planks, chinups and pullups + add a little bit of good form running.

haha. welcome to the grind my friend. there is so much to learn. yes, your experience is totally normal. get a copy of BJJ University.

it's a great book to help you get started.

For strength training, Easy Strength by Pavel and Dan John. There is something in there for anybody.

For cardio training, it's not a book, but Lyle McDonald's series on methods of endurance training, also pretty much anything by Joe Friel.

For diet, Ruhlman's Twenty. It's not about nutrition, but it can teach you all the techniques you need to cook your own healthy (and on occasion not so healthy) foods so that you won't be tempted to go off the reservation and order a double deluxe pizza and chili fries when you don't know what else to eat.

Edit: For something very sport specific, there's also Jiu-Jitsu University by Saulo Ribiero and Kevin Howell. It's pretty much the beginning BJJ bible.

Jiu-Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro

It's an excellent resource for beginners and advanced students that shows a progression of techniques from novice to expert. Even though it is centered on sport (gi) BJJ, I highly recommend it for developing BJJ or any ground game.

/r/running has some excellent advice from regular users, many of whom are quite fast and experienced. They just don't take well to random posts like, "I ran my first 5k today!" and "How do I stop having to poop mid-run?!" and "It's cold out what do I wear?" and "My shin hurts, is running not for me?" The weekly threads are where it's at, in particular Super Moronic Monday (posted on Tuesdays) and the weekly Training Thread (Sunday? I can't recall).

For more specific, constant training advice, /r/advancedrunning, no question. There are professional runners on there, as well as no shortage of national-level sub-elite runners (all distances generally 800m+) and regional/local elites (for running this would mostly correspond to men ~16:00 in the 5k, women ~18:00 in the 5k... so still athletes with loads of competitive training experience).

I'd recommend that OP pick up Daniels' Running Formula, an excellent resource with plenty of information on 800m/1500m training, as well as training for longer distances.

I followed the training plan in this book for my first marathon:

http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Marathoning-2nd-Peter-Pfitzinger/dp/0736074600/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322771448&sr=8-1

My best recommendations are for you to respect the distance and not ramp up your mileage too quickly.

Pfitzinger Advanced Marathoning is what I base most of my training on. The first time I did one of his plans is the major turning point from me being "meh" to actually kind of decent at marathons.

Daniels' Running Formula is a staple, with a wider focus. I tend to lift specific workouts/weeks from his plans.

Hansons also has a great reputation, but I haven't used it personally. They mainly approach it as trying to train you to run the last part of the marathon.

Hal Higdon has good plans if your goal is to just finish and not die.

Most of these guys have plans for various levels of runner. The "easiest" Pfitz plan peaks at about 55 miles per week. Daniels is more "you pick your peak mileage, and then adjust according to a % for each week". It is pretty important to not bite off more than you can chew. As you learned, the most important thing is to get to the start line healthy.

Two great books with excellent marathon training plans are:

• Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas
  
• Hansons Marathon Method
  
  Both have good intermediate plans in the ~50-55 mpw range that take 12-18 weeks. They also both contains tons of good info for a new marathoner.
  
  Good luck!

I started BJJ a few months ago and recently discovered this sub. This is the first I'd heard of this book, so thank you for sharing, /u/Khulo! A quick search for it revealed a lot of praise, so I ventured over to Amazon and ordered it immediately. For others interested, the paperback version is currently at its lowest price ever on Amazon ($20.27). Figured that was worth mentioning!

Jiu Jitsu University not written by a Gracie but a fantastic "first BJJ book", pretty much a must have

...I don't think it is - I just checked:

https://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434/ref=sr_1_1?crid=SS7TAS1J1XCS&keywords=bjj+university&qid=1568894251&sprefix=bjj+un%2Caps%2C202&sr=8-1

as of posting, its $22.83

I really hate the whole "just show up to class" argument.


If you're struggling with something like escaping the armbar, it could be months before the professor does a lesson on it.


For now, buy jiujitsu university (https://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=jiu+jitsu+university&qid=1571404783&sr=8-1) and watch YouTube videos from trusted resources.


After a few months and you realize you're committed, look into grappler's guide.

Get ready to feel like you've been dropped in molasses. But once you get over the initial frustration you'll hopefully start enjoying the technical gripping game, and the chokes of course. Gi training is also helpful if you train with self defense in mind.

Book wise, Saulo Ribeiro's Jiu-Jitsu University is a really good blueprint.

It's called Gracie University. Sounds like a reasonable plan.

Alternatively, you could get a great video or book and follow the lesson plan in that. Something like Jiu Jitsu University or the Gracie Barra Fundamentals video ($50 for a 16 week curriculum on 4 DVDs).

I used the FAQ of /r/bodyweightfitness But I've heard good things about Overcoming Gravity

Jack Daniels in Daniels' Running Formula on why easy running is benifitial:

> Easy running does a good job of developing the heart muscle, since the maximum force of each stroke of the heart is reached when the heart rate is 60 percent of maximum. As you run faster, the heart rate and the amount of blood pumped with each heartbeat (referred to as stroke volume) increases minimally. So fairly easy running is a good developer of the heart muscle, and although it doesn't feel as if you are working very hard, your heart is.

> Another benefit of Easy running is an increase in vascularization (opening of more tiny blood vessels that feed the exercising muscles) and the development of characteristics of the muscles themselves that are involved in running. Even during easy running, your heart id developing a good amount of blood and oxygen to the exercising muscles, and these muscles respond by making changes in the muscle fibers that allow the muscles to accept more oxygen and convert more fuel into energy in a given period. In fact, many of the benefits gained as a result of this process are a function of time spent stressing the muscle fibers. You will no doubt spend more time accomplishing this goal by running easily because it is easier to last longer at a comfortable pace than it is at a hard pace.

Hello Aron156,

I noticed that you're still in high school, which means you've got the benefit of youth on your side. So it really comes down to what you want to get out of cycling.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to follow the three rules of the French.

1. Ride the bike
   
2. Ride the bike
   
3. Ride the bike
   
   If in doubt, check the rules again.
   
   The problem you're going to run into is that most cycling trainging programs are focused on road cycling, because that's where people make money.
   
   If you're serious about racing, then fitness should be your #1 priority. This site has some good information on nutrition and training, so you can get started for free.
   
   robbyking's suggestion is pretty good, but if you think you might want to make a career of cycling then, The Time Crunched Training Program will only get you started. TTCTP focuses on high intensity interval training, and that's good, but there's more to it than that. A more complete book on training and nutrition is The Cyclists Training Bible. This covers several of the techniques the pro road riders that I know use for their own training.
   
   Personally, I do HR zone training, but I'm a bit older, and I work in a job where I have to sit all day (read: I need fitness more than performance, and I get the most benefit from HR Zone training). A decent HR monitor can be had for relatively cheap. Get a heart rate monitor that can track your Max HR and Average for a ride. They can be had for about $50USD. Then you can start to figure out where you're at fitness wise.
   
   Hope this helps. :)
   
   *edit: formatting and clarity

Training and Racing with a Power Meter and Cyclist's Training Bible are probably the closest two. Also check out Reading the Race for strategy tips and race craft.

I use Zinn & The Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance. It's great too, and focuses on, ummm... mountain bikes.

At this point I would just get a new bottom bracket. If it has run while being able to move like that at all, the bearings and races are going to be completely trashed.
You should be able to get a new one that is compatible with those cranks for cheap.

If you are interested in doing your own repairs now or in the future get a good book like Zinn's art of mountain bike maintenance.
https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499692786&sr=8-1&keywords=zinns+mountain+bike+maintenance

I think some of your questions are subjective and open to personal opinion. So take my response as such.

1. I think your bike is worth it to you and that's what matters most. (Honestly I think it was a good deal and a good bike.) What's more important, do you feel comfortable on it? Do you want to ride it? Than it's worth every penny. If you have a bike you don't want to ride, well, then the reverse is true.
   
2. YouTube is your friend for maintenance. There are some things you can check without tools, such as chain stretch, checking the cassette for wear, seeing if your cables stick or are frayed. Give the bike a good wash, clean the chain, cassette, frame. Make sure your brakes don't stick or don't grab properly, shift through all the gears, front and rear. If they stick you can put some oil into the cable housings or consider changing out cables. Bike maintenance isn't hard, it's just getting past some of the black magic of making things just right. That can be the difference that a bike shop can bring. But honestly, if you know how to do it yourself, I think you gain confidence in your skills and can easily tweak something without relying on a shop.
   
3. Anything is possible. It's a hard question to answer without knowing your current fitness level, but I'd say in a few months you can be ready for a century. Will you be breaking land speed records, probably not, but you will be able to do it. Just keep riding a bit longer or a bit harder each week. You don't need to do a century ride before actually doing one officially. You just have to find a pace you are comfortable with that you know you can ride for a long time. That's the pace you will need to finish a century. It's that "I could do this all day pace" that you are looking for in a long ride.
   
4. I can't answer this one as I've picked up most of what I do with a few books and fellow riders. One book I enjoy is Time Crunched Cyclist by Chris Carmichael. http://www.amazon.com/The-Time-Crunched-Cyclist-2nd-Ed/dp/193403083X
   It's great for those of us who may not have the time to train like a pro.
   
5. This is a subjective question again. A good cruising speed is what you are comfortable with. 32kph would be very respectable for a century and a good pace for any day to day ride. You'll need to get a feel for what you can handle however. Might have to build up to that, might find you can easily blow that speed out of the water.
   
   Good luck and have fun!

http://www.amazon.com/The-Time-Crunched-Cyclist-2nd-Ed/dp/193403083X

This assumes you have a power meter and/or heart rate monitor. If you don't, and you're serious about making the most of your short training time, get one.

Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance

I use this one all the time, great and easy to understand.

Can anyone comment on Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance?

I really like Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance for most projects. Much easier for me than YouTube videos.

1. Books - Bought Faster Road Racing a few days ago. Hoping to gain some wisdom from the pros.
   
2. Training programs - In the past, whatever I found online that fit my schedule.
   
3. Reading - A while ago I read Eat and Run by Scott Jurek. I was amazed at how he made the best of whatever little he had growing up. Lots of good info about food and running.
   
4. Podcasts - I don't listen to any running related podcasts. I did listen to episode RA068 of Runner Academy podcast only because it featured Peter Sagal from NPR. I'm a big fan of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.
   Edit: Words

First change is you need more variability both in your pace (easy runs should be A LOT easier), and you should vary your weekly mileage as well. Every 3rd week or so do a week of lower mileage to let your body recover.

​

Plug your most recent 5k into this calculator https://runsmartproject.com/calculator/ , and you'll see your correct training paces.

​

I'd keep ht monday 5miles with 3 at tempo (your tempo pace is close to where it should be based on your 5k time), but for sure add in some much slower easier runs (perhaps on non-recovery weeks you can do 1 longer (10+ mi) easy run and a few shorter runs instead of a bunch of moderately hard runs in the 5-8 mile range).

​

Check out a book like Faster Road Racing (https://www.amazon.com/Faster-Road-Racing-Half-Marathon/dp/1450470459) for programs, or even an online program like Hal Hidgon if you want to do a half marathon with a training plan

​

You need to get on Instagram, brotha.

I feel like I'm rehashing a lot of what's widely available on the webs, but you probably need to start by thinking through the complexity of your question.

Yes, you can train at low rep ranges with bodyweight. That's the goal, in fact, if you train that way. But it's a unique pursuit in that the leverages required of training with maximal intensity first require what we might call an intermediate/advanced mastery of technique, form, balance, and all that jazz. In the bodyweight-training community, the top-end movements are all considered skill movements: only after mastering handstands, planches, levers can you implement the patterns dynamically, i.e. handstand pushups, planche pushups, front lever rows, one-arm chinups.

Here are some good resources for you to explore:

• Jason Ferruggia writes about this a lot, but this is the best intro article.
  
• Al Kavadlo isn't a "power" guy, but is a great entry point.
  
• Baristi Workout is fantastic, and will direct you to tons of other people you should explore (like Frank Medrano, Barstarzz, etc)
  
• Battle of the Bars = badass
  
• Christopher Sommer runs the Gymnasticbodies.com training service, but this is the article that started it all and is highly informative.
  
• The /r/bodyweightfitness/ subreddit is a gold-mine resource, but beware the Crossfit-esque insider attitude.
  
• Overcoming Gravity is arguably the most comprehensive bodyweight training book around.
  
• I'm currently obsessed with Ido Portal's training methods - they're among the most unique on the planet.
  
  Ahhh, there's so much to explore. The problem is that there ISN'T (yet) a cohesive system for developing maximal power with bodyweight movements. IMO, Ferruggia has done the best job, merging bodyweight and barbell training for maximum development. In the end it just becomes an issue of personal preference - though you can develop immense strength and power with bodyweight training, it takes infinitely longer than barbell training. If you're a coach, and raw power is the goal, then BW training almost necessarily gets reduced to supplemental training.
  
  Good luck to you, have fun, and definitely consider reposting this on r/bodyweightfitness. They'll sort you out something proper.

>untrained novice

>plateau after some relatively short period of time

I'm not sure what you mean by a relatively short period of time, but many bodyweight exercises can take years to progress fully in.

Example exercises, from the book Overcoming Gravity.

Books are usually a good way to ingest lots of information on a certain topic.

For example, if somebody wanted to learn something about gymnastics he could read Overcoming Gravity. You won't find any TV show that featuers the same amount of knowledge about this topic as this book does. Sure, you could also learn the same stuff by listening to people, or watching youtube videos or something, but books are "better" because they contain more information on the same spot than your typical TV show, YT video or conversation do.

Call this my TL.net bias, but I have to suggest Overcoming Gravity as the single best read regarding bodyweight training, the author is a regular poster over at r/bodyweightfitness

National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling

It's a great, very detailed book that goes back to even before the NWA was initially started.

Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling

Another great book all about the Harts promotion.

I mean, territories falling apart had been inevitable for a long time, starting with AWA breaking away and Lou Thesz's ego not allowing him to give Verne Gagne a test-run.

But the downfall sped up in the 80s, when the cracks from the 60's started to appear again. Territorial promotions were starting to use cable to put their wrestling on TV, where fans outside of the territory could see it. This flew in the face of NWA's business model - which required the territorial bubbles so fans couldn't see how the angles in their own areas conflicted with the what other territories were doing.

The NWA, as an organisation, wouldn't support national television because they no longer had control over what fans could see, and they got left behind because of it. It really screwed over smaller territories. Their larger promotions who had TV deals, the ones that arguably had the stars to match the WWF, were under poor management from people who were drunk on success. They pissed away money and expanded too quickly.

A lack of unity, resistance to embrace cable TV, and financial mismanagement by the bigger promotions opened cracks that Vince took advantage of. There's still debate as to whether Vince's tactics were unethical or not - I think the answer is somewhere in the middle, as the NWA left themselves wide open to be taken advantage of. And a lot of Vince's tactics were tactics that the NWA themselves had used decades before to take over wrestling in America.

But 'Vince killed the territories' is a very oversimplified version of events, which doesn't give the NWA their due blame for not changing with the times, and treating both fans and wrestlers badly.

For more information, this book is really useful: https://www.amazon.co.uk/National-Wrestling-Alliance-Strangled-Professional/dp/1550227416

But hey, the counter-arguments you made were totally valid as well.

judo

Start doing intervals. Here's a decent guide. Here's another.

I'd recommend getting a book like Serious Cycling or The Cyclist's Training Bible if you'd like to learn more about how to go about training in a structured way.

Buy and read The Cyclists Training Bible by Joe Friel.
http://www.amazon.com/Cyclists-Training-Bible-Joe-Friel/dp/1934030201

Even if you aren't targeting a particular race, the best way to improve is to train in cycles.

"ride lots" is fine too, esp. since you aren't particularly interested in racing, but the truth is if you want to get as fast as possible as soon as possible, train like you're racing. This may not be as fun, but you have to decide what's worth it to you.

Daniels has some "Running for Fitness" plans in his book. I highly recommend it.

Daniels' Running Formula has a chapter on 1,500 to 2-mile training. That book is pretty well respected in general, but I've never trained for those distances so I'll let others speak to the quality of the specific mile training advice he gives.

The Bible of this subreddit is Overcoming Gravity

"Overcoming Gravity" by Steven Low has everything that you are looking for. Regarding nutrition, I found this article to be very informative

Aside from what was recommended you could try
http://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Gravity-Systematic-Gymnastics-Bodyweight/dp/1467933120

This book is sure to give you the low down

My recommendation, /u/cannatown: bodyweight/gymnastics-focused, Overcoming Gravity by Steven Low is very comprehensive in terms of understanding the how's and why's of putting together a strength plan. Does not touch on nutrition, though, but it looks like you've already made up your mind on that (which you shouldn't! lots of valid opinions on both sides of the aisle, there).

You can do SS, they have 15lb barbells at most gyms.

In the meantime, check out /r/bodyweightfitness. As the program picker in the sidebar points out, Overcoming Gravity is a great guide, with the it's own subreddit /r/overcominggravity that the author visits regularly.

Use the kettlebell to do snatches, turkish get ups and kettlebell swings.

The TL:DR version is that when Wrestling from a regional industry to a national one in the 1980's, the NWA territories put their eggs in the Jim Crockett Promotions basket. It's an interesting, but too long for this post history why. Crockett did well for a time, but a combination of behind the scenes mismanagement and WWF ended up driving Crockett into bankruptcy in 1988. Turner Broadcasting bought the TV company side(overly simplifying that) that's how WCW was born.

As far as fans knew NWA = WCW. In reality, WCW was the TV and wrestling company. The NWA was a committee that controlled the booking the NWA titles. In 1991 there was controversy regarding who should be NWA Champion. Some complicated title history shenanigans happened and basically you needed up with two titles. The WCW title and the NWA title. The title histories of both belts criss cross through between 1991-1993 with some reigns being recognized by both, and some recognized by only one side. There was also a WCW international title in 1993-1994. It's all very complicated. In 1994 WCW and the NWA finally 100% split.

The NWA decides to crown a Champion based out of Philadelphia's NWA: Eastern Championship Wrestling booked by Paul Heyman. They pick Shane Douglas. Douglas and Heyman swerve the NWA and disown the title forming Extreme Championship Wrestling. By that point the NWA is basically a joke. Nothing but a bunch of indie promotions with no hope calling themselves the NWA. The NWA did crown Dan Severn as NWA champion in 1995. He wore it to UFC and WWE, which was cool, and the title did pop up in New Japan and Mexico a few times over the years, but basically the people that where in charge of the NWA from this point on didn't have any sort of power or money to compete. They were local indies basically. TNA started as an NWA indie and that brought the title back into prominence a little bit in the early 2000's. TNA eventually grew big enough that they felt like they didn't need the NWA name any more. After that the NWA went back to being a local indie thing until Billy Corgan bought it.


The history of the NWA is basically the history of professional wrestling on a global scale. I recommend this book. It's a long, but very interesting read.

[edit]

In case any of yall want to pickup a copy
Street Sword: Practical Use of the Long Blade for Self-Defense https://www.amazon.com/dp/1581605986/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_guwEDb4ZK9B13

I mean yes. But, would it really?

Read Pfitz. You can totally kill that PR.

The Pacific Coast bike tour is one of the most traveled bike tours in America. I'm a huge proponent of it. If you google pacific coast in this subreddit, you'll see a ton of results and information.

Not only that but there are maps and a book.

The maps: https://www.adventurecycling.org/

The book:
https://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Complete-Canada/dp/0898869544/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517787322&sr=8-1&keywords=bicycling+the+pacific+coast

I recommend the book. My GF and I did the full tour in 6 weeks about 2 years ago - and we took our time. Many of the folks we met were doing it in 30 days. It's about 1800-2000 miles. We started in Vancouver, many start in Seattle.

I've ridden bits and pieces of the same route several times now. Feel free to ask me any questions - I love discussing the coast tour/best campsites/best routes, etc. (see my profile, that's all it is :-)

Two resources that helped me, and continue to help me are:

Jiu Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro: When I started out, I read this a few times a week to make sure that my defensive posture was right, and it's helped prolong a lot of my rolls. Even as a blue belt my sub game is still pretty dire, but I feel confident in my ability to defend against people at my level.

Blue Belt Requirements by Roy Dean: This probably won't be of much help for someone starting out, but this helped supplement what I had learned in class in an easy-to-digest video. I bought this as a rough guide for training after my first comp at white belt, and it helped me realise some holes in my game to work on.

How early are we talking? Helio wrote a book, but it's incredibly expensive.

http://www.amazon.com/Gracie-Jiu-Jitsu-Helio/dp/0975941119

I like Renzo and Royler's book. It's the first BJJ book I bought, and while I think it's poorly organized, the details are solid, but not overwhelming. My favorite part about the book is John Danaher's preface. Worth getting.

http://www.amazon.com/Brazilian-Jiu-Jitsu-Theory-Technique/dp/1931229082

Not written by a Gracie, late or early, but the best intro to BJJ I have found:

http://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

1)

• class is practice, not fighting. your primary goal should be to not get injured and not injure your training partners.
  
  
• be respectful.
  
  
• wash your Gi after every class
  
  
• never step off the mat barefoot
  
  

• Yes. Higher the belt the better.
  
  
• IMO you shouldn't even be rolling with white belts unless you're both 3+ stripe.
  
  3)
  
  >Mobility:
  
  
• All things Kelly Starrett
  
  
• https://www.youtube.com/user/sanfranciscocrossfit
  
  
• Limber 11
  
  
• http://www.defrancostraining.com/ask-joe/44-flexibilitymobility/302-joe-ds-qlimber-11q-flexibility-routine.html
  
  
• Ginastica Natural
  
  
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO-cTKL52Rk
  
  
• Yoga for MMA
  
  
• http://www.doyogawithme.com/yoga_programs
  
  >Conditioning:
  
  
• http://www.grapplearts.com/Blog/2012/03/conditioning-for-the-bjj-fighter/
  
  
• Anything Joel Jamieson
  
  
• http://www.8weeksout.com/
  
  >Study
  
  
• Jiu-Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395885167&sr=8-1&keywords=jiu+jitsu+university
  
  
• The Path to the Black Belt by Rodrigo Gracie
  
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395885167&sr=8-1&keywords=jiu+jitsu+university

Jiu-Jitsu University By Saulo Ribiero has a very in depth guide to escapes and survival positions this book is a MUST for beginners

https://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

There's no definitive source of fundamentals, b/c you'll never get a variety of people to agree on what constitutes fundamentals.

That said, Jiu Jitsu University is a good place to start.

Also, you can do searches on youtube for things like "jiu jitsu mount basics", "jiu jitsu guard basics", etc.

The best answer is to ask your instructor what he/she thinks are the fundamentals.

Jiu-Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro

Almost a must read for any new student imo. The focus on positional postures and whys is especially under taught imo.

Also you can take it to the mats and look at it while drilling. Also it's cheap.

(But for dvd series Saulo's early series and Demian Maia's Science of JiuJitsu are both amazing.)

https://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

some of the pictures aren't the greatest but the really cool part is they go over a lot of common mistakes in the beginning chapters, more so than anything offensive.

Saulo Ribiero's Jiu Jitsu University is a great resource for all things BJJ. It goes through many many individual moves, and also covers the general theory so you can adapt to whatever situation arrises.

Check out the Jiu-Jitsu University book, it has a whole section on survival and what to do (and what not to do) in situations

EDIT: Link to book https://www.amazon.com.au/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

Woo the price has certainly increased, it used to be like $25

Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength (Second Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0990873854/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_m.4HybHH9F2P2

Edit: Sorry, I guess I glossed over the part where you said street workout related. This isn't so much street workout, but still such great info.

I would recommend this book instead: Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength (Second Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0990873854/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_vbYCDbH4ZNXQD

Good luck!

Something you may wish to consider is Overcoming Gravity (Second Edition), by /u/eshlow (web). It will allow you to construct your own routine from the information in the book (and there's lots of it!).

You should check out his book Overcoming Gravity. It's almost 600 pages of details.

You should check out Jack Daniels Running Formula, it is a wealth of information for training and covers almost everything you're asking about including breathing, pace, cadence, as well as training plans for runners of all paces. You can find it [here] (http://www.amazon.com/Daniels-Running-Formula-3rd-Edition-Jack/dp/1450431836) on Amazon for about 20 bucks!

Buy and read all of this;

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cyclists-Training-Bible-Friel/dp/1934030201

Tons of invaluable knowledge

The standard book that most will refer to is Zinn & the Art of Road Bicycle Maintenance.

As for terminology, AASHTA (as always Sheldon has the answer)

Devour this

See if your bike shop has this.

or this.

When I first started riding I was in the same position. I was good friends with a guy who'd been riding his whole life. (1) I asked him to teach me. (2) There was a bike shop that did free workshops and I would go to those. (3) Lastly I watched a lot of YouTube videos. (4) I'd also get a book like Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance. It will be trial and error at first, but eventually the basics become second nature and the more advanced repairs can be done with reference material, patience, and luck. Good luck.

Check out "The Time Crunched Cyclist" by Carmichael it's a great book.

You can effectively train for longer rides by doing shorter ones at a higher level of effort. My longest rides tend to be 60 miles (usually average 120-150/week) and I have no trouble doing a century. It can be done, you just need to do it right and avoid "junk" miles - every mile must count. As a roadie, I'm able to incorporate trainer rides as well during the week to ensure I"m targeting the right things. If you're riding a MTB, your approach will need to be different. After I complete 6 Gap century in Sept., I'm switching to 'cross and training for the Gravel Grovel in late Nov. I'll be doing more short max. effort intervals and VO2 max work and much less endurance-type training.

I haven't read it, or really pursued training programs at all, but I see "The Time-Crunched Cyclist" recommended pretty frequently, including by the amateur racers in my club.

Copy pasta of a comment from another thread about intervals:

> If you're really interested in doing intervals check out the Time Crunched Cyclist. It's meant to get you race ready only using different types of intervals three times a week. There are plans for newbies and advanced riders, as well as for specific types of riding like long distance or for cross.

> I've been riding for three years and just did the beginner block over the winter and spring. I definitely got faster from it...which is expected as I've never followed a strict plan before.

I'd really recommend starting with the beginner plan and swap in at least 30 mins of dedicated skills work on the Sunday easy miles ride. Most peoplebeginners don't/haven't put a lot of time in practicing barriers, dismounts, and run ups and you can really put the hurt on them if you're even halfway decent.

As I said above, I started with the beginner block and I felt like I started noticing results at about 7 to 8 weeks in to the plan...which fits with the planned 'peak' the training block is supposed to provide. So figure out what your important races might be and plan to start training 8 weeks out.

Races count as workouts, just make sure you're getting enough saddle time though. Eg, if your race is 30 mins and the day calls for 90 mins total, make sure you're getting that extra 60 between warmups, pre-riding, etc...go for a short ride when you get home if you have to.

What age are you? Officially masters start at 30 or 31, I forget. If you're going to a bigger race with a masters category you're going to get destroyed. You'll find lots of racers that used to be hard core Cat1s in there who are just looking for a win, along with a few people in the same situation you're in. I'd really recommend staying in the beginner category this season. If you haven't made the podium in the beginner category you're in no way ready for the masters. (Even if you had, I still wouldn't suggest it)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1934030988/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_qqqMzb0NX0S76

And there's an mtb version if that's your flavor. It'll teach you anything you could want to know about working on a bike

Have you heard of the Hansons Marathon Method?

Hansons First Marathon: Step Up to 26.2 the Hansons Way https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937715795/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_F-b2CbYJDP0PT

Hansons Half-Marathon Method: Run Your Best Half-Marathon the Hansons Way https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937715191/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_w1b2CbF4SNEZR

Hansons Marathon Method: Run Your Fastest Marathon the Hansons Way https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937715485/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_nSb2CbR4V7518

Once you get into the longer distances, it's worth buying a book on the program you will use. You can find the plan online for free but it's best to understand the ins and outs of a program so you are following it correctly. The hansons marathon method is amazing. The book is structured to help you understand what running does to your body, how to adapt your body through the various workouts (how to do the workouts and which paces) and the concept of cumulative fatigue. It goes over goal selection, the workouts, schedule modifications, diet, rest, cross training, etc.


Luke Humphrey has online community forums (Facebook and elsewhere) as well as blogs and podcasts that help to reinforce the content of the book.


I was amazed at the quality of the program and I'm a full believer in the program. I used this program for my first marathon and I'm starting it again in July for the Philly marathon.

Fantastic post, in-depth but not baggy, nicely written.

Have you read Lion's Pride? It's a great book, very easy to read but with a wealth of information about the history of NJPW and it's quirks. I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in the history of the company or Japanese wrestling in general.

I can only tackle a few of those questions - I'm entering my second season on a team, but I joined the team a month after buying my road bike and only did one race last season so may not be the best source on all of this....

1. First, where do you live? I live in northern California, and the Northern California Nevada Cycling Association (NCNCA) posts a pretty good calendar of races here. There will be time trials, road races, criteriums, and circuits posted once the calendar finalizes and different events announce their schedules. Time trials are classically solo events - you start off and ride by yourself, and ride against the clock. There are team time trials, but you're not going to see that as a starting racer (though i may be wrong about that). Road races are your longer races (the one I did last year was 49 miles). Criteriums and circuit races are shorter, much faster races (quick and tight turns, requiring good handling skills). I'll let someone else give details on those, though, since I havent raced in either type myself...
   
   
2. You'll start seeing some races in February, but I think the season in chief starts around April and will end in August or September. This is purely based on the calendar of races I'm looking at this year, though, so grain of salt. There's other bike racing events in the off months (namely, cyclocross) if you can't keep yourself off two wheels...
   
   
3. I cant speak to other races, but the road race I competed in (Cat 5) was won by a racer going an average of 18 mph over those 49 miles.
   
   
4. I think in the Cat 5 races you can probably be competitive riding solo... You'll have riders working together despite team affiliations, and it's not like youre going to see Cat 5 teams forming leadouts in the final stretches to launch their sprinters. Unless theyre taking it reaaaaaally seriously.
   
   Unsolicited, but think its helpful: read up on how to train up... Last season I rode when I felt like it, usually one long ride on the weekend and then a few commutes to work (28 miles roundtrip), and was in decent shape so thought I'd do okay. Racing was faaaaar harder than I expected. I picked up this book and read it cover to cover for this season, and am working on building up a base to start out this season stronger (and it's already made a big difference). You can also find a lot of the information in various locations online, but it'll help lay out the transition/base/build/peak cycles that are helpful in training for a race, and what kind of workouts to do to reach your goals.
   
   Beyond that, just enter a race or two and see how it goes and if you enjoy it - theres no need to go insane without knowing whether you're going to like it.
   
   But that being said, enjoy your first season!

Personally, I'd work on over-unders, in your case going uphill; for a given work interval, stand up for 1-2 minutes bringing your HR/Power/RPE above threshold, then back down into the saddle and to tempo or sub threshold for 1-2 minutes (to start I would recommend doubling your work time to find your "recovery" time). Repeat this 3-4 times, then rest for an equal amount of time going very very easy, ie zone 1-2. Repeat. This mixed in with some steadier efforts. If you haven't read Friel that's a good place to start. Racing Weight and the Quick Start Guide help me lose weight. Depending on the type of racing you're doing, you may not have to lose all that much more weight. I race in NYC (virtually flat, no hill more than 40m) and I race fine at 5'10" and 165-170 lbs. Hope this helps.

i personally love this book.

I have found Zinn's books good for beginners:

Mountain Bikes

Road Bikes

Power Meter + this book

Try rollers instead of a spinning bike or stationary trainer. They're a lot more interesting to ride, and like any indoor trainer, is great for structured training sessions with a power meter because you can hold a certain power level very consistently (compared to being outside on a real bike).

But yeah, it sounds like you are itching really hard to jump into the deep end. In that case, the power meter will be the best thing you'll ever buy for your bike :) And the FTP test will be one of, if not THE most miserable things you will do on your bike, so learn to embrace the suffering.

EDIT: Here is one of the authoritative books on the subject, and is what I used to learn about all of this stuff: https://www.amazon.com/Training-Racing-Power-Meter-2nd/dp/1934030554/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1467250018&sr=1-1&keywords=training+and+racing+with+a+power+meter

https://smile.amazon.com/Training-Racing-Power-Meter-Hunter/dp/1934030554/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8

Read this

Before signing up for any sort of program, buy this book and read it all. During that time, just record your data and ride as your normally do.

I'd highly recommend finding some software other than strava to use as well, it's pretty terrible for analyzing power data, and some of the power charts with Premium are just flat out broken. Personally, I use Training Peaks, but there are other options, and other free options.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/1934030554

Lots of great information in this thread about training with power so far.

Training with power is much more than generating big numbers and showing off to your friends. It's a great tool for tracking your fitness and fatigue over time to make sure you don't over train and peak at the right times. Look into Performance Management Charts and how they are used for training.

Even if you have a coach, you should get this book and read through it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934030554/

Also, sign up for TrainingPeaks or learn how to use golden cheetah. TP costs money, is super nice and automated. Strava is a fun toy, but it sucks compared to a real tool like TP.

I've loved this resource for many of those questions

https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524678006&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=zin+and+the+art+of+bike

I strongly suggest that you buy this and begin by reading it cover to cover. This will give you the basics for everything, then you can learn the specifics from there.

All good advice. I second the thought that buying from a shop is better than buying from Dicks or whatever for a lot of reasons, especially if you are a relatively new rider. And that Diamondback does not look that good for actual trailriding. The components on the Felt are just ok, but the Diamondback is not very good. If you are serious about riding I'd suggest trying to get something 1 notch above the Felt, but if that is the price limit that is okay too.

For bike maintenance one of the standard books is: Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance . Although I think you can get by for the most part with the internet these days, it is supposed to be a good book and the author is very knowledgable. For internet resources, there are many, but Park Tool's website has some very good guides available.

• I can't recommend this book enough: Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance. It taught me so much about bike maintenance and repair, and easily paid for itself the first time I trued wheels on my three bikes going by instructions from it (couldn't stop after just one pair, it was too much fun). So yeah, invest $16 and save lots money down the road.
  
  
• Try as many different kinds of riding as you can. Hit the local trails, go down to a skate park, check out local dirt jumps and the pump track, try yourself at some lighter DH sections. That Trek 3500 should carry you through most of it (I started with a crappy Walmart bike, then moved onto Trek 4300 which proved to be an excellent "real" starting point). I find that my dirt jumping and skatepark background helps immensely when it comes to "flowing" down trails, pumping, jumping over rooty/rocky sections, and overall confidence on the bike. These skills translate directly into freeride riding, DH, AM stuff. Basically, the more you ride, the better you'll get. Added variety speeds up this process quite a bit.

Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance is a great resource. Also check out a picture like this and then google "How to install x". You'll find plenty of youtube videos that will help you along the way.

Awesome! Never would have found this gem without Reddit :).

Link for the lazy: http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597.

The sets are generally not recommended because 1) you don't need all the tools right away and 2) you generally don't need half of the tools.

There are only a handful of tools that are really important to have, the rest is to make things easier. And some tools are better left to the LBS (such as a real headset press).

To remove the chain you will need a chain tool (get a quicklink/powerlink while you have the chain off of the wheel, they're much easier). To adjust the wheels, you will need a spoke tool (assuming it isn't bent too much). Replacing a derailleur shouldn't require any special tools (screw drivers, allen keys). Although if you're going to be replacing shifter cable housing having a proper cable cutter (such as the park one) is important. You probably won't need to though. Don't forget cable ends (maybe ask for a few from your LBS).

Also, this has been helpful (and seems quite popular): http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597

The rest you can find out from videos online. There generally isn't anything you can't do yourself (although some pressurized components prevent you from reassembling).

The Zinn books are a great hard copy reference, as well. I keep the Road and MTB editions in my garage near the tools. Great resources with excellent diagrams and descriptions.

I'd second the time crunched program - using a slightly modified version of the commuter program blended with the MTB program and it has been awesome.

http://www.amazon.ca/Time-Crunched-Cyclist-2nd-Ed-Powerful/dp/193403083X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396165978&sr=8-1&keywords=time+crunched+cyclist

To learn about bikes, riding, and culture or how to fix them?

For maintenance this is a good start (or the MTB version): http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030988/ref=la_B001JP36Q0_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413652170&sr=1-1

YouTube is great for specific. I would also recommend reading Zinn & The art of road bike maintenance for fairly detailed explanations. It also has a fairly good glossary and troubleshooting section.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030988

Poorly adjusted front derailleur, worn chain rings and worn chain can all cause or contribute to this

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help

https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030988

Then get this one.

Sheldon Brown's website is going to be better than pretty much any book out there. If you insist on a book, Zinn is pretty solid.

Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance: The World's Best-Selling Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/193771537X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_57YjDbVJ58GA7

If you haven't noticed yet, you'll see this reference mentioned everywhere. Because it really is that good. It's exactly how I got started with my first build, and I know at least two others that started the same way. You need to know nothing more, and nothing less than what this man has written. I found that even the parts I didn't understand at first, later made sense after building a bicycle. It's wonderful. Next, check and see if there are any community bike shop cooperatives near you. They're bicycle goldmines, and nearly anyone involved will be happy to give you a hand. Most of them are ran by volunteers. If they didn't want to help you, they wouldn't be there. If you have access to a cooperative shop, and read through some Sheldon Brown, building your first bike is going to be awesome.

If you prefer paper references, I would also suggest this. Another very well written, knowledgeable guide for first time builders/tinkerers.

Do you still have the original chain? This guide might help.

It's a little different for each cable, so I always end up YouTube searching. Park Tool also has a ton of repair resource videos (which is what I linked above). This book is supposedly a really good resource, too, but I haven't bought it yet.

Yeah, that is some serious RTFM kinda stuff. In addition to your other suggestions, OP should get the Zinn book, if they really want to dive into bicycle repair.

Buy this book - Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance. it's under $20 on Amazon. Couple of points:

1. Amazingly comprehensive. Includes old stuff and new stuff.
   
   
2. A book is great for having when actually wrenching. Way better than trying to scroll on your phone with greasy hands.
   
   
3. All tasks are broken into three levels of difficulty. The first level is for people like you, and you'll be pleasantly surprised how much that covers. Has tool recommendations for each level.
   
   
4. Most tools don't need to be bike specific. A set of Allen keys, needlenose pliers, and an adjustable wrench will get you further than you think.
   
   Good luck!

Do yourself a favor and pick up the 5th edition (just came out) of Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance.
http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/193771537X/

The cost of the book will pay for itself in repair savings and educate you about tools, parts, and even some safety information. A little knowledge will save you money and frustration.

park tools website

https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/193771537X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=193771537X&pd_rd_r=R8YN2XFTHMWAE783999N&pd_rd_w=DMd4u&pd_rd_wg=dezz3&psc=1&refRID=R8YN2XFTHMWAE783999N

Here’s a good starting point...

Takaaki Kidani's New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW): A brief history, sort of

And you can check out Chris Charlton’s book on the subject... pretty good read. And it’s on Kindle Unlimited, if you have that service.

Lion's Pride: The Turbulent History of New Japan Pro Wrestling

They're all terms from Daniel's Running Formula, a fairly technical book on run training.

1 - I just finished Running for Fitness (recommended on the wiki). What is a peak as in the program here? Is this the same as a tapering phase? If so then what's happing here between the peak and the taper?

2 - According to Running for Fitness you can run a 5k or 10k just about every weekend. Since you tend to reduce mileage towards the end of a program would I continue that reduced mileage if I want to continue racing every 2-3 weeks or so? How about 1-2 months?

3 - Is Running Formula a good book to learn about running 5k and 10k (I plan to really only run these)? Any other recommendations?

I definitely think you can get it or come pretty close. You clearly have some solid natural talent and those lifetime miles always help, even if its been a while. Plus the fact that you haven't put on weight helps too.

I think it depends on what type of training you respond to best, but from reading Daniels and Pfitz books recently, there are sort of the 4 types of training that are important for the 5K. Easy aerobic runs/long runs, tempo(about what you could run for an hour or so), interval/V02 max(3k-5k pace) and repetition/speed(about mile pace or so). I think tempo and V02 are more important than the speed in the 5k so those should be the focus.

For a 5k time of 17:00 you want to be hitting tempo workouts around 5:54. Things like 4-6x1 mile with 1 min rest, 2-3x2 mile with 2 min rest, or a 4 mile tempo run. For the V02 stuff you want to be at around 5:25 mile pace or 2:42 800 pace. Workouts like 8x800 with 2 minutes jog. 6x1000 with 2-3 min jog. 5x1200 with 3 min jog. The shorter faster stuff is around mile pace. so 75 and under for 400 or 37 and under for 200. Workouts like 200 repeats with 200 jog or 400 repeats with 400 jog.

Maybe try to do any two of those workouts each week and a long run and you can get there I think. One week do a tempo workout and speed. Then the next week V02 and tempo. The week after V02 and speed. Try to get all those systems working. I would say try to make sure you can get your long run up to 10-13 miles or so.

These are what you should be running for a 17 min 5K, so its fine that you work into it. If it means slower pace or less reps, cool. These are just some benchmarks that to shoot for as you get closer to the race. Obviously if you can't handle the 2 quality sessions and a long run right now, back off a little and stick to the tempo and V02 stuff once a week and alternate them maybe. You can always do strides after runs or 200s after tempo workouts to keep some turnover going.

Do yourself a favor and pick up a book if you are serious about it so you can understand why you are doing these workouts instead of listening to me on the internet haha.

http://www.amazon.com/Daniels-Running-Formula-3rd-Edition-Jack/dp/1450431836

http://www.amazon.com/Faster-Road-Racing-Half-Marathon/dp/1450470459/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456842179&sr=1-1&keywords=pete+pfitzinger

Good luck. Keep us posted.

The purpose of long runs is to build mitochondria and capillary beds. This takes time. You won't see immediate results. How long have you been running and how long are your slow runs?

A general rule of thumb is that 80% of your running should be at a slow pace. But this rule applies to runners who have built up their base mileage. You need to go base to square 1 and continue building base mileage by strictly running easy runs. Probably your 10 min per mile pace, but as long as it is in heart rate zone 2 (aerobic) or lower, you're good. These easy runs are critically important for building aerobic capacity and strengthening your skeletal system (including tendons/ligaments/joints). If you skip this base building phase, your risk of injury can be dramatically higher. All new runners should be running all of their runs at an easy pace. I can't stress to you how important this is. If you want to get faster or be a lifelong runner, the month or two this will take is a drop in the bucket in terms of time.

Speed work during this base building phase can be done as strides. Add them into your easy runs once or twice per week. Strides are 15-20 second bouts that are run at mile pace. They are NOT sprints. You won't be running on the balls of your feet. After each stride, you'll recover over the course of 90-120 seconds. Long enough that your heart rate settles. Then you can start the next one. Do the strides at the end of your easy run. Start with 5 strides once per week. You can begin increasing the number and frequency that you do them each week. These will help improve your running economy and get your body accustomed to running at faster paces.

You can safely add 10% more miles each week. Get your mileage up to 25 miles per week for a couple weeks, then you can begin doing other speed work like intervals and repetitions.

I'm speaking to you as someone who followed these rules to a T since May of this year. When I started in May I was slow. Frustratingly slow. But I stuck with the plan and got my miles up. Then I added speed work. Here's my progression since May.




Month | Mileage | Avg Pace (min/mi)
-----|--------|--------
May | 24| 11:18
June | 51| 11:02
Jul | 91| 10:22
Aug | 119| 9:44
Sept | 162| 9:43
Oct | 103| 9:01

Note that the average pace listed is the average for all miles run during that month. I just ran a 5k over the weekend in 19:46 (6:22 min/mile). I'm not young either, 36.

Be patient. Slowly add miles. Train smartly and you won't get injured.

If you want a book to follow, get Daniels' Running Formula. He lays everything out that you need to do. Once you get your base mileage down, he has speed workouts in there that will kick your ass and make you faster.

It all depends on the kind of shape they're in. This included my own mother when she was sedentary and wanted to get into shape like the people I coached. She was overweight and about 60 at the time. In one year she went from couch potato to finishing a half marathon in 2:45ish with no injuries and maintained that on her own after for several years.

For someone who is healthy, active, and only 23: read up on the best way to race a 5k, then go run the 5k. You should feel like you are about to vomit and fall over right after you cross the finish line. From there you can put together a good baseline.

Check out Daniels Running Formula for a chart/graph that you could then use for all sorts of paces. It's one of the best books for medium distance I found. If you want to specifically go for marathons, after you've done your first transition to Advanced Marathoning for some amazing training schedules.

It sounds like you're taking enough recovery then. If I were you I'd also look into buying the Dr. Jack Daniels running book; https://www.amazon.com/Daniels-Running-Formula-3rd-Jack/dp/1450431836/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502830279&sr=8-1&keywords=Jack+Daniels+running+book . This will give you a good idea of what splits should look like for certain paces across most workouts and races. Just seeing the runners world plan means you're just seeing basically one out of 70 plus columns from the book with no reference of what your splits are actually suggesting you are capable of. This book is truly a running bible and will help you better understand your training now and into the future.

Gotcha. Well, you have the benefit of not having a hard deadline to meet these goals, so that pressure is off!

1. Recommend you look into a book such as Daniels' Running Formula or something by Matt Fitzgerald. They will have plans and workouts you can follow to help you bring your 5k time down; these guys are life long professional coaches and, while I think some of their theory is overly complicated, the workouts are awesome. The Daniels' book has sample plans and weeks in there as well.
   
   
2. See above.
   
   
3. Check out this guide to swimming to 1 mile with no stops. I'm using this to build my initial swimming base for a half iron later this year. Despite having zero swimming background before this year, I'm up to week 5 and this plan is working for me even though I'm only swimming 2 days a week. Doesn't seem hard to add another week or two to extend to 2k, and there are links at the bottom of that page for workouts that you can do to increase your strength and speed.
   
   Hope that helps.

I'm not an expert by any means, but I have read a lot, so I will give you some of my thoughts based on my readings. However, I highly recommend you research this yourself, and thus draw your own meanings. My two favourite books are Road Racing for Serious Runners by Pete Pfitzinger and Daniels' Running Formula by Jack Daniels.

For your "high quality" long runs, Pftizinger recommends doing them twice out of every three long runs (so take it easier every 3rd week). His quality long run is the progression run, where you start ~1:30 slower than your marathon pace and end the run ~45s slower than your marathon pace.

Daniels in his half marathon training plan has a number of different quality long runs. One is 10% of your weekly mileage at marathon pace, while another is a variety of intervals of easy, marathon, and threshold pace.

As a word of advice, don't do your long runs at your half marathon pace. Generally, tempo runs are run at 15k-half marathon pace and you would never do a tempo run for that long. Doing your long runs too hard will force a longer recovery, and your other workouts will suffer (according to Pfitz).

Since you have the running background and are interested in improvement, I'd recommend picking up a book from one of the better known coaches. Two very well-regarded resources are Pete Pfitzinger's Faster Road Racing or Jack Daniels Running Formula. For more information on different training plans, check out the Summer Series from /r/AdvancedRunning.

Not only will you find training plans for various distances, but you can read about the philosophy behind the training: What is the purpose of each run you do? How do you structure a training plan for optimal performance?

Edit: And now that I see what the bot linked, I HIGHLY recommend reading /u/itsjustzach's Bicentennial Race Report.

Faster Road Racing: 5K to Half Marathon https://www.amazon.com/dp/1450470459/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_-R6bAbHH6CD30

Of course not!

I'm using a bit of a hybrid of a a 5K training plan and a half-marathon training plan from Faster Road Racing (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Faster-Road-Racing-Peter-Pfitzinger-x/dp/1450470459)

Typically six days a week, Monday a rest day. Typically two proper speed work sessions during the week. This week, for example, on Wednesday I did 1,200m, 800m and 800m off 50% interval time recovery, x2. I swapped out today's speed work for actually 'racing'. But yeah, two proper sessions a week (with a longer endurance run at the weekend, although when I move into the more half-marathon focussed stuff there tends to be a couple of longer runs with one of the speed sessions during the week being replaced by a longer run).

https://www.amazon.com/Faster-Road-Racing-Half-Marathon/dp/1450470459

For the 5K (and shorter than marathon distance), there's Pfitz's Faster Road Racing.

For the marathon distance, there's his Advanced Marathoning.

It never hurts to add a faster day a week if you feel up to it - and that can be the 4th short run OR the middle section of a longer day - but mostly I meant to simply add more easy mileage. You can look at Higdon as linked above, or even some of the more advanced, structured plans; those though you'd need to work up to consistently running probably 25-30 MPW over 5 days per week before jumping on to them.

You might want to invest in a copy of Pfitz's Faster Road Racing, where the lowest volume half marathon plan starts at 30 mpw and a 10 mile long run.

I am no expert, but I have read several different plans now. I think it's fair to say that with ~20 mpw currently, you would likely be happier come race day if you prioritize building up gradually (~+10% mpw) but fairly steadily (recover/consolidate every 4th week) to 35-40 mpw instead of your target 25-30 and spread over 5 days instead of your target 3-4. You can do three quality runs a week at this volume -- a couple of threshold/tempo intervals/runs (might want to base one on hills) and a long run -- with the others be easy/recovery runs. The other runs can incorporate some strides.

A valuable part of a formal training plan is getting the taper right, but you can probably piece this together from internet sources.

It's in Pete Pfitzinger's Faster Road Racing. It has a ton of other helpful information, exercises/stretches, and training plans, but if you just want the plan pm me and I can send it to you when I get back to my apartment later tonight. I know there's a pdf of the book floating around somewhere though, I remember finding it but I don't remember where unfortunately.

This thing is a freaking textbook full of info but it is great applied to climbing.
http://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Gravity-Systematic-Gymnastics-Bodyweight/dp/1467933120

Wrestling's as real as theater or opera; instead of verses or arias, they do spots and promos. The latter is one of the reason the indy scene gets a more passionate following, as they understand that they cannot push the product as a con or rigged show; the only reals marks are kids until they figure it out, which, with the Internet, is quite easy.

Their history as a whole is quite intricate, from a carnival attraction in the late 1800s to a "legitimate" sport in the 1930 (at the time you had to be a real wrestler to hold the title, as you either could be betrayed by the opponent, the referee, the booker, the territory or the wrestling institution). It's only when you get to the 70s that we get a glimpse of the perverse effect of sensationalism had on the squared circle, which we see in full effect in Natch's article, such as cocaine, steroids, ring rats, ludicrous contracts, alcohol, etc.

We were lucky to have a solid 20 years of awesome wrestling, such as the WWF and NWA in the 80's and the WCW/WWE feuds in the 90s which prompted the consolidation & the end of the territory system across North America. However, it was a steep price: Natch is only one of many troubled performers that, when everything settle down, became a lost asset; and that's without including roster attrition to drug & physical abuse and crime-related incidents, which are at an all-time high in the sport's 150 year existence. Moreover, there is the lost integrity of the martial art, which at the time was for self-defense and competition, that, if performed correctly (e.g. Piledriver or chokehold) can be devastating for an opponent; most wrestlers today cannot wrestle efficiently to fully compete with another martial artist.

If you want to learn more, I can easily recommend the following books:

• National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly that Strangled Pro Wrestling
  
• Eric Bischoff: Controversy Creates Cash
  
• Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks
  
• The World According To Dutch
  
  I'm still looking for books regarding: Eddie Quinn and the Quebec territory from 1950 to 1980, The Japan scene from the NWA days to today and The indy scene from 1990 to today (including ECW).
  
  There is a lot of interesting material for such a fake show. :)

He's quite well-known for judo- he has been a black belt since 1970, is a former champion and has co-authored a judo manual.

https://www.amazon.com/Judo-History-Practice-Vladimir-Putin/dp/1556434456

Definitely possible. I went from 290lbs couch potato to 230lbs full marathoner in 11 months. Big help was "The Non Runner's Marathon Trainer"
http://www.amazon.com/Non-Runners-Marathon-Trainer-David-Whitsett/dp/1570281823

Holy shit i thought this was a joke

http://www.amazon.com/Street-Sword-Practical-Blade-Self-Defense/dp/1581605986

Try and get your hands on this classic https://www.amazon.ca/Street-Sword-Practical-Blade-Self-defense/dp/1581605986

While you were making fun of us, I studied the blade. Don't mess with me.

https://www.amazon.com/Street-Sword-Practical-Blade-Self-Defense/dp/1581605986

No worries - cycling is full of random terms that you have to get wrong a few times before you start to sound like a real cyclist!

As far as long-term plans - you can't go wrong with anything by Joe Friel

https://www.amazon.com/Cyclists-Training-Bible-Joe-Friel/dp/1934030201

And again, there's nothing wrong with an intense program this year so you can get some racing under your belt - just know the limitations of it. Also, since cross is so technical, a season of racing on a shortened training plan will probably do you wonders next year. That way you won't have any jitters and will know what you're in for.

Also, "Base Building for Cyclists" is very good as well:

https://www.amazon.com/Base-Building-Cyclists-Foundation-Performance/dp/193138293X

Hi from the US!

Have you dropped by a local bike shop? There might be some one more experienced with the route for this race and be able to give you a more specialized answer so you can be better prepared.

Make sure to check out /r/mtb and maybe /r/velo.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/275683-racing-bikes-vs-mountain-bikes/

My friends and I like to do uphill sprints, and intervals on a couple times a week, at least, in addition to a long road or gravel rides.

Honestly, I wouldn't hit the gym up much this close to a race- I'd focus on riding, with a long ride once a week plus a couple smaller ones later in the well, separated by intervals. And then a good full week of recovery before the race.

But, in general, medium intensity-medium volume (6 sets of 12) squats, deadlifts, leg press, never the same day or day before a long ride or race, worked best for us during the off-season.

I'd pack several snack bars, a first aid kit, a rear derailleur hanger, multitool with chain breaker, extra chain, tire levers, tubes and patches, paper currency, toilet paper or wet wipes, plenty of water. Maybe an extra tire.

Rest as needed. I wouldn't worry about time, so much as finishing and navigating the route.

There will be more races! Wait until you discover enduro... Until then, have fun, check out "The Cyclist Training Bible" and http://www.ridethedividemovie.com

A lot of people around here recommend Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning. I just started one of his plans so I can't speak too much on how much improvement I've made personally.

He lists specific heart rate zones for every type of workout that you will do on his plan. It takes out the guesswork of always trying to run a specific pace. Basically, your heart rate dictates the pace you run each workout.

I've noticed that I have to run slower than usual to keep my heart rate in the correct zone (just like OP says in his blog.) After just 4 weeks I've noticed that I'm running faster at a lower heart rate and my resting heart rate is almost 5% lower.

+1 for Pfitzinger's Advanced Marathoning. Higdon's plans are OK, but his book is pretty bad, IMO. Also, check out Fitzgerald's New Rules of Marathon Nutrition.

I'm a bit rusty on the science and don't have my trusty copy of Advanced Marathoning with me but I'll give it a shot!

>But what's the point of that mileage? I prob don't reach the fat >burning (over glycogen) point that I would from a long run
>(17+miler).

Becoming more efficient at burning fat can be important but it's not the purpose of most your long runs because if all goes well, you shouldn't have to burn fat in the marathon.

Really, marathon training is getting your body storing as much glycogen as possible while burning it at efficiently as possible. That's because when you run out you start burning fat (requiring a lot more O2) and you hit the wall.

>It's also not helping with speed.

Real speed work is barely featured in marathon training. In the last couple of weeks leading up to the marathon you'll see some 400s etc as a sharpening workout but otherwise it's pretty useless because you'll never see it i the race. Longer intervals like mile repeats, 2 mi, 5k are useful to improve aerobic efficiency. I'll usually do one workout a week like this.

>And intuitively, I would think that taking a day off would be better for >recovery than doing a short and easy run.

>Wouldn't I run better/smarter if I prioritized each of my workouts (my >long runs, intervals, tempo) and gave it 100% rather than struggle to >complete them b/c of fatigue for instance?

Ah but marathon training is about running when you're not fully recovered. How else do you teach your body to recover more quickly? How else do you encourage it to store more glycogen and use it more efficiently? How else do you learn to run on tired legs? Don't take me wrong, you shouldn't be struggling to complete them but you shouldn't feel fresh either.

edit: Check out the weekly marathon training thread over at LetsRun to see what type of training people are doing. You'll see guys who are OT qualifiers and others who are like you shooting for Boston. Pay attention to the easy mileage they're running compared to the workouts.

I used a modified version of Hal Higdon's for my first half marathon. Actually I pretty much just ran 5-6 days a week with one long run a week, adding a mile each week and topping off at 12.5 miles a few weeks before the race.

I would suggest reading Pfitzinger's Avdanced Marathoning and adjusting the training schedule to be for distances for the half. A 12 week program might be enough for the half.

Try and run on segements of the course for some of your long runs and if you can't make it to the course try and train for the same elevation profile as the race you'll be running. Best of luck, with 3 months to go you should have no problem racking that 7 mile long run up to 12+

+1 to the library (that's how I first got a hold of the plans), but FWIW, I've had great success with Pfitz's training plans and think the $18+ for the book is well worth it, given the price you'd pay for other quality training plans out there.

It's very doable to aim for 5-7 hours of sleep and be plenty rested for that regimen. Also "50+" is a huge range, and there's a massive difference between the needs of someone running 50MPW (which is still on the border between a 'casual' and 'semi serious' runner) and someone running 100MPW. I was recently reading about one of the authors of this book who was averaging 70 MPW and peaked at 125, all while working 45+ hours per week and freelance writing. So it's totally possible to make the time even if you're busy. It's just a matter of what you make time for in life.

Maybe check out Advanced Marathoning and pick a plan that best suites your desires and ability.

I've ridden parts of it. Don't feel like you have to reserve campsites ahead of time. There's a book called Bicycling the Pacific Coast (https://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Complete-Canada/dp/0898869544) which is an amazing resource.

I highly recommend getting Bicycling the Pacific Coast and following the route it describes once you get out to the coast.

People tend to go N to S due to winds. This book makes a good case for going that way in the first few pages.

Two other sources you might want to Google for route info would be the Adventure Cycling Association as well as Crazy Guy On A Bike journals. Journals are also a good place to see what other people packed.

So - some of these are out of print but you should be able to find all of them on-line:


75 Classic Rides Washington Mike McQuaide


Biking Puget Sound: 50 Rides from Olympia to the San Juans Bill Thorness


Bicycling the Backroads of Northwest Washington Bill Woods, Erin Woods


Bicycling the Backroads Around Puget Sound Erin & Bill Woods


Bicycling the backroads of southwest Washington (OOP) Erin Woods


Bicycling The Pacific Coast Vicky Spring, Tom Kirkendall


Bakeries by bicycle: A guide to Puget Sound's Best Bakeries (OOP) Fred Wert


Biking the Great Northwest: 20 Tours in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana (OOP) Jean Henderson


Cycling Sojourner: A Guide to the Best Multi-Day Tours in Washington Ellee Thalheimer

Best Bike Rides Seattle: Great Recreational Rides in the Metro Area Gene Bisbee

Welcome!

I'll be doing this very trip next month.

*handlebar high five*

I plan on using this book : Bicycling The Pacific Coast

There's a book called Bicycling The Pacific Coast which is very useful for the whole route. I'd recommend getting a hold of a copy if you can.

Could I get one or two more recommendations? I'm still on the fence...



Just kidding. I'm buying the book today. It sounds awesome. Link for anyone else interested: The book

Just take up another hobby and try not to obsess about mat time you're missing out on. I started playing DnD, that is a great time. I read BJJ University. I've been back about 2 months now. Just being patient and diligent about physical therapy is tough. I've since transitioned to more of a overall strength and conditioning focus. There is this magical time after you get going at physical therapy where you'll feel really good. You'll be back to drilling and it'll be going great, you'll have all your range of motion back and you'll probably feel like you can do a light round. Just take it slow dawg.

PS. The time off actually I think has helped my game. Time off isn't so terrible.

People have been grappling since the beginning of time. This would be the intro volume. I recommend BJJ University

edit: grammar

Boy, do I have a surprise for you.

The Jiu-Jitsu University is the most comprehensive book to date on BJJ.

Touching many topics of Newaza along the way.

Books could be cool.
Jiu-Jitsu University by Saulo Ribeiro is relatively cheap and a great resource.
http://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

The only thing I can think of to explain this at multiple levels is the intro in the book Jiu Jitsu University.

I recommend getting Saulo Ribeiro's Jiu Jitsu University.

When I first started I bought this book to help me get past the awkwardness of being a noob.

A few key points I took away, that have really helped me:

Each belt has a purpose, white you learn to be invincible. You focus on learning out to defend each position. Then you learn to escape those positions. So you should be focused on survival.

Learn to get comfortable in uncomfortable positions.

Learn to tap early, and tap often. There's no sense hurting yourself.

And outside of sparing, never be afraid to ask questions. Even during sparing you can say, "hey that was awesome, can you show me that after class?"

There is no best routine for everyone. It all depends on your goals.

The RR is not the best routine for everyone. It's just a pretty balanced good routine for a lot of people.

But honestly, you already sound intermediate/advanced. You can look at the RR as a good structure (paired exercises, push-pull, vertical-horizontal) and try to borrow it's structure but modify for your strengths and goals.

If you really want to learn, I would recommend you read Overcoming Gravity 2nd Edition. https://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Gravity-Systematic-Gymnastics-Bodyweight/dp/0990873854 That will teach you how to make your own body weight routine.

It depends on your goal. You have plenty of time to train properly for a December Marathon, if you desire the challenge of moving up in distance. On the other hand, some people prefer to work on their speed at shorter races before moving up in distance. That's less common these days, but it's a legitimate strategy.

Higdon, Pfitzinger, and Hanson have good books that offer training plans. You could do well with any of them.

thank you very much for your detailed response, this totally sounds like me and wow your race times sound fantastic to me, I will be giving the 18/55 a try I think for my next serious marathon (phuket in June) perhaps I can cut the first week of the 18/55 plan to make the timeline fit.

i am assuming you are talking about this book here:

https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Marathoning-2nd-Pete-Pfitzinger/dp/0736074600

I will get that and have a read and then probably do the 18/55 first before trying the 18/70

1 More question on a practicality side, I have tried plans from books before and have never found a simple system of transferring everything into a readable format that I could pin on the fridge. do you tend to create a excel spreadsheet of simply copy the page in the book (I am assuming sometimes dates and rest days have to be shuffled around cause life gets in the way) or do you not keep a log that way?

thanks again for your help :)

Am I shooting too high??

I'll try to keep this question as short as possible..

• Been training just over a year.
  
• Current 5k PR (3 months ago)- 18:59
  
• Current 1/2 Marathon PR (2 months ago)- 1:26:15
  
• Goal Marathon (Mid-November)- Boston Qualify, close to or sub-3
  
  For my PRs I was at 25 miles per week, currently I am at 35ish and building. Added to that, I have been focusing on triathlon 'til now (and will continue to do so to some extent) and have gotten 2-3 miles swimming and 50-80 miles biking in per week.
  
  Just over a year ago my untrained (as a runner, I played lots of ice hockey) PRs were:
  
  
• 5k- 21 mins
  
• 1/2 Marathon- 1:56 and change
  
  I bought this book (Advanced Marathoning) an plan on following it as closely as possible, with some triathlon modifications, but my main focus is going to be running.
  
  This will be my first marathon, but I've done a couple half-ironmans so I do know what suffering at the end of a race feels like, although I understand that marathon suffering can be even worse if one does not train properly. So /r/running... am I setting myself up for disappointment or is this an ambitions yet realistic goal (the kind I like)?

Its a period of time in between a microcycle (e.g. a week) and a macrocycle (e.g. 5 months marathon buildup and recovery).

Pfitzinger splits a macrocycle into 5 mesocycles for the marathon. Each mesocycle focuses on a particular aspect of preparation for a race.

Just got back from a Portland-SF ride, 14 days, 797 miles. I rode a Kona Dew commuter, my dad rode my Specialized Tricross, and we had zero bike issues whatsoever - not even a flat tire. The roads are in good shape, so you can do that ride on pretty much any bike. Just make sure its comfortable.

For breweries - we weren't as concerned with them as you seem to be, and didn't spend time at any of them, but would have if we had planned them out a bit more in advance. The North Coast Brewery in Fort Bragg is easily visited from Highway 1, they did tours and had a taproom and pub. If you can book in advance, the Anchor Brewery in SF offers tours for free on weekdays.

You'll meet lots of great people in the summer time. Most of the state parks along the coast offer hiker-biker campsites, $5 a head, which is great for catching up with other bikers. If you want an extremely detailed guide to these places and a route, you want Bicycling the Pacific Coast as your guide. We met a few others with this book and those who didn't have it were envious.

The Oregon coast was beautiful. Fog usually hung around until at least 11am. One night we went to bed under clear skies and woke up in a 2" deep puddle - the rain can hit at any time. The north California coast was all fog. When we split from 101 to follow hwy 1 along the coast, we didn't see the sun for three days. No rain though. Good luck!

started in portland, got a ride to the coast, then pretty much followed the book rest of way.

i also had the gpx file of ACA route and the pdf of brochure from oregon department of transportation that had a recommended route.

reading the book every morning/evening to get an idea of the route and points of interest was really nice.

You need to have a helmet and an ID, check to make sure the base isn't closed due to some security stuff

Also get http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Vicky-Spring/dp/0898869544 if you want some really good advice and plenty of routes to do the Pacific Coast top to bottom.

So, I have done Vancouver to Tijuana and used almost exclusively this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Vicky-Spring/dp/0898869544/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323197410&sr=1-1

I ended up hating it, some things are wrong,it's hard to use a book while riding, etc. but it got the job done.

Another alternative that is really useful are the adventure cycling maps:
http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/pacificcoast.cfm

Or like fayette said, ditch the preplanned route, it honestly is way more fun and feels more like you are on your own adventure. A lot of areas will have free bike maps of the region, like the Discovery Trail on the Olympic Peninsula. And you can just use road maps bought at a gas station. The downside to this is that many times you will take a big highway when there was a barely used country road that you could have taken.

Luckily for you there are hiker/biker sites in most campgrounds all the way up the coast. They normally cost around $5 a person and will have warm showers. Or, what it took me forever to learn was to bush camp. Go to a park and find somewhere hidden, get out your sleeping bag and sleep. Not having a car really helps hide in the park and it ends up saving a lot of money.

Also, I would consider taking Highway 1 up as far as you can. The grades are a little steeper and the shoulders a little smaller, but it is much better riding than the 101. Once you hit California(from Oregon), highway 101 turns into a highway, 4 fast lanes, wide shoulders and shallow grades. This comes at a cost, it is hotter, dustier and less scenic. While this doesn't sound so bad, it gets old quick.

For food I'm not sure what your plan is. I highly recommend getting a backpacking stove and lightweight pot. It will save you a lot of money and make you much more flexible. Usually you can go to most places and they will fill up your water or you can fill it up at their soda machines.

http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Vicky-Spring/dp/0898869544/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405709687&sr=8-1&keywords=biking+pacific+coast

Great little book.

Buy this book: https://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Complete-Canada/dp/0898869544

It covers everything from Vancouver to the Mexican border and is basically the bible for the Pacific Coast route.

Maps out each day for you into manageable chunks, has campground info etc etc. It has everything you need for that trip, and the people you'll meet along the way will fill in any gaps.

This is a great run down of lightweight sleeping pads (there's a second link in the article for an updated list too): http://www.bikepacking.com/gear/lightweight-bike-touring-sleeping-pads/

I haven't done the Pacific Coast Route yet. I was planning for this May but going to Europe with my wife and can't take that much time off of work to do both. So I'll go next May.

But I have been researching the PCR for awhile.

There is a lot of info out there about the trip.

Search "Pacific Coast Route on this sub and Google, you'll get tons of info.

Get this book there is lots of info on the route, camping, side trips, etc.

I have read a lot about it and talked with a lot of people that have done it, but I can't give you any 1st hand info, "yet"

Ride the coast. Logistics are really easy with this book. http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Vicky-Spring/dp/0898869544

I took "the book" which you can find here https://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Complete-Canada/dp/0898869544/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496184596&sr=8-1&keywords=biking+the+pacific+coast and that was totally good. The details get a little shady the farther south you get but I'd recommend just taking that. I took an ebook version of it too which was super handy.

I used this on my pacific coast tour:

http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Vicky-Spring/dp/0898869544

Worked well enough. You will be camping most of the time, but I would highly suggest making use of warmshowers.com

Sorry. The book is called "Bicycling the Pacific Coast." (not the west coast) My bad.

http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Vicky-Spring/dp/0898869544/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342381092&sr=8-1&keywords=bicycling+the+pacific+coast

I didn't do the entire coast. My tour went from Newport, OR to San Francisco, CA. It was 12 days of riding to do that stretch.

I did seattle to Santa Cruz, I can tell you a bit about my trip. I did it a little differently than Ben I believe, by going along the coast the whole time.

• I really didn't plan my trip, and I liked it that way. I knew I was going to visit a friend from high school in Seattle, and visit a friend in Humboldt, but that was it. I bought a map for each state I passed through, and carried a book with me called 'bicycling the pacific coast': http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Complete-Canada/dp/0898869544.
  
  
  -I mainly stayed on the 1/101. Sometimes you have, or want to, veer off onto smaller highways, just look at a map.
  
  -I used a jetboil, a handy backpacking cooking thing. Good for heating up liquid substances, bad for stir-frying and stuff like that. A common meal for me was bread, beans, and avocado.
  
  -I camped every night. I use a hammock for backpacking, and I love it because it is very comfortable and keeps you completely dry when it rains. For biking, it is a godsend. It stretched out my legs while I slept so my knees felt good in the morning. I slept one night on the ground, and it was awful.
  
  -Sunglasses, rocks and bugs are scary.
  Even thought these fit into the 'spare parts' category, bring extra screws. I never would have thought of that, I there were times where i was.... screwed.
  
  -Do it!

this book lays out exactly which state parks have hiker/biker sites, where on the coast they are, and what other amenities there are.

This book is helpful: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0898869544/

Almost everyone I met on my tour was using this book (and I used it as well). I would recommend it.

here's a good one for grapplers

The first thing I think of when I hear about people getting nauseous is dehydration. If you are not drinking in the 6-7 hours before class then you are certainly going to be dehydrated. Try drinking a lot more water during the day (I keep a glass next to me at work). And yeah, eat closer to class.

For reading: the go-to recommendation is always Saulo Ribero's Jiu Jitsu University: http://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

Best of luck!

The first rule of being a jiujitsu beginner- and make no mistake, I am still very much a beginner- is to make your parameter for success showing up to class.

I cannot emphasize this enough. If you make it to class, great! Everything else is gravy. I would probably try to keep this outlook through to your blue belt, although it will definitely be a difficult attitude to maintain (but hey, you're in this to learn discipline, in my best Eric Cartman voice, right?).

Part of the reason for this is because you've got a long, frustrating road ahead of you, and you want to make the long haul. On the wall of my gym are HUGE letters spelling out, "a black belt is a white belt who never quit." At first I thought that was kind of cheeky, because, like any gym, my not quitting is lining someone's pocket... but now I get it; training is always frustrating, at any level. You think the frustration ends at blue belt? Well, now you have purple belts kicking your ass in ways you don't even understand yet. You think after purple the road is clear? A black belt will LOL at you. Part of what makes the experience and the journey so incredible is learning to deal with the frustration.

You'll have great classes, where you walk out with a goofy smile on your facing thinking, "I'm finally getting it!" ... and then the next class you feel like it's your first day again. You'll have to endure long periods of stagnation, or seeing people who joined after you progressing faster. But did you make it to class? Mission accomplished.

Even in the short time I've been at my school I've seen guys come and go within the amount of time you've been training (three to four weeks). I totally understand this; one month is just about the honeymoon period where you've picked up the basics, feel a little shine, and then see the long road ahead of you and say FUCK IT.

This will not be you. Why? Because your parameter for success is getting to class.

Try to find value in your shitty moments. You get thrown around for a half hour by a college wrestler (cheating bastards, that's NO FAIR lol), and a judoka who started BJJ to kick even more ass- which was my Friday night- embrace it. In the very least, getting your ass kicked makes you a tougher son of a bitch in the long run. Can't get a new technique down? I'm just starting to feel confident in my arm-bar/triangle/omoplata skills and it's been six months and 5-6 classes where we covered it. Very few people learn a new technique once and can implement it in rolling, much less remember it the next day.

Here are a few odds and ends off the top of my head:

• Rolling for you right now is learning survival and feeling comfortable in uncomfortable situations. Learn how to survive in mount/side-control, and even if you can't get out, you're developing a comfort in being under someone and having their weight on you.
  
  
• Buttttt, if you want to get out, start by learning one go-to escape for each position: mount, side-control, half-guard, and guard. Not that you shouldn't know more, but be sure to have HAVE really solid escape for each position in your arsenal.
  
  
• A good, highly regarded book for this is jujitsu university, but there are also countless YouTube channels like Chewjitsu (I happen to like his style).
  
  
• Tap often and early, which is a kind of meme on this subreddit for a good reason. At this stage in the game, the most you can do is defend, so you'll feel inclined to tap only when it's your VERY LAST OPTION- or, you know, rolling will be all of 30 second spurts of brutalization. I felt the exact same way, and kind of wanted to "earn the respect" of my partners by toughing certain grey area submissions out. This is stupid- for one, you earn their respect by showing up to class, and two, you will get injured that way. Whomever said this is "the injury free martial art" is clearly unfamiliar with BJJ, and since injuries are going to happen anyway, you don't want to encourage them. I usually tried to make my partner earn their choke on me, and if it wasn't under the chin, sunk in deep, I'd tough it out, and now there's this weird click when I open my mouth wide. Is that a huge deal? No. But it was my own damn fault, and totally avoidable.
  
  
• Get to class early and drill with your classmates. BJJ is all muscle memory, and being diligent with your submission/escape drills will pay off huge in the long run.
  
  
• Keep a journal. Seriously. Write down how your class went, what you did well with, what you struggled with, questions you may have, and the techniques you did that night (if you can, a step-by-step "how to" for each). I'll admit, I don't do this as much as I should because when I get home from class I'm usually wiped, but it really will pay off big time.
  
  I hope this helped! Good luck, and feel deep, horrifying shame if you quit! :)
  

Focus on the basics, you won't be able to get the advances fancy stuff until you master the basics.
Pick up Jiu Jitsu Univeristy by Saulo Riberio. It's $25, and will the best thing to ever happen to your BJJ game. The white and blue belt section will be helpful RN and will save frustration. It'll tell you how to position your body so that you can survive (bc you will be on bottom a lot), tells you common mistakes to avoid, and then goes into escapes. http://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

Drill a lot, drill what you learn in class, (hopefully your school has a beginner program, so you'll be learning relevant stuff to your skill level) Ask for feedback after every roll, anything you could work on, or ask them watt they felt that you did good.
Roll with higher belts, ask for help. They've been doing this for a while, pry their knowledge and maybe ask what some basic escapes are from a certain position that you keep getting stuck in.
Go to Open Mat. Open mat is the best time of the week, you get to roll for 2 hours straight. You can drill, roll, or just hang out for a couple hours, working on some part of your game. This is probably where the most improvement will happen as you are putting in some solid mat time here.
For Gis? Don't go all out and buy the $420 Lucky Hemp Gi. http://luckygi.miiduu.com/lucky-gi-hemp-tzar
Hell, don't ever but that actually.
Stay cheap, if the academy has an affiliate or a school GI, ex. Gracie Barra, then you should buy that, if not then I can recommend Killer Bee GIs. They are cheap, high quality, great customer service.
http://www.killerbeegi.com/
I recommend the Scutellata GI Top, and the Drill Cotton Gi Pants. For a total that will be $125. That's a steal considering the quality of the GI, also Jessi usually has some sort of promotion going on, so you can find a coupon code for some even extra cash off.
Overall, just keep showing up to class, more mat time equals more improvement RN. Don't be a spaz, and slam someone in guard..

Jiu-jitsu University
by Saulo Ribeiro might be helpful if it's not a bit too stylistically specific.

http://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367553325&sr=8-1&keywords=saulo+ribeiro

It's a great book, although it's entirely gi-focused (I do no-gi roughly three to five times as much as I do gi). Chapters are broken down into belts, and each belt is themed.

White Belt is survival.
Blue Belt is the guard.
Purple Belt is sweeps.
Brown Belt is top game or something.
Black Belt is submissions.

Obviously Jiujistu isn't really taught like that in class (if you don't learn sweeps until purple belt, you are probably not at a good gym), but I think that the way the book is organized nicely outlines Saulo Ribeiro's philosophy on what to prioritize in each skill level.

> What's a good resource to learn the nuts and bolts

Time and a good gym.

I'd love to say you could buy Jiu Jitsu University or Jiu Jitsu Revolution and learn everything you need from them, but that's not the case.

What kind of foundational work are you looking for though? After 6 months I'd suspect you've probably seen how to survive, if not escape, the basic bad positions and maybe have a couple of reliable sweeps/transitions and submissions for when you're going with other white belts. That's normal and good.

Do everything (full body) three times a week, focusing on lots of compound exercises. Splitting up a routine when you only workout 3 days a week means you work each body part once a week maybe twice if you're lucky. Over the course of a year it's a significant difference.

Say you go with push/pull one day and then legs training each twice a week, which is actually four days of training. Over 52 weeks you would only train deadlifts 104 times. With a full body workout you would be up at 156, potentially six months ahead of option A after a year. Obviously your overall volume and endurance levels and other variables come into play but I would give serious consideration to this option if that's all the time you can spare.

For the record this is not my logic I'm just parroting Steven Low in OG2 which is a pretty great resource. (https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/0990873854/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile)

Wildland firefighter here. I like to hike/walk my dog and/or run about 4-5 days a week all winter. I work out in the gym 2-3 days/week, focusing mostly on legs. Upper body is kinda 'meh' I just aim to be able to do like 15 pull ups. I'd suggest Daniel's Running Formula if you're starting totally from scratch.

daniels' running formula

its more than a training plan...its science.

https://www.amazon.com/Daniels-Running-Formula-Jack/dp/1450431836

Googled

Also, if anyone is interested in learning more about vo2 max stuff and/or especially running training, I highly recommend you check out Jack Daniels' Running Formula (the physiologist not the distiller). He lays out all that stuff pretty well and it's very readable.

The easiest would be to just go to a local bike shop, ask them what needs to be done, and have them do it.

It sounds like you are interested in getting your hands dirty and doing the work yourself. In that case, the usual advice would be to get to your nearest bike coop, take one of their bike maintenance classes or rent space in their shop and have someone help you out figuring out what you need to do and how to do it. But it looks like your closest bike coop might be in Sacramento, which is a bit of a hike. There is apparently a guy in Chico who is in the process of starting a bike coop, so you might want to try contacting him.

Beyond that, you can try striking out on your own. A few good resources for learning about bike maintenance are Sheldon Brown's website (ignore the crappy 90's style design, he has tons of good information on his site) and the Park Tool website (they have lots of good repair info, and they will sell you all of the tools you might need). If paper is more your thing, then good beginning books would include Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance, Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, or the Park Tool book. And I know you've already been redirected to /r/bicycling from AskReddit, but for bike repair questions, /r/bikewrench might be more helpful (check out the sidebar here on /r/bicycling for links to FAQs and other relevant subreddits).

As far as not riding like a douchebag, if you ask 10 cyclists you'll probably get 11 different answers (and if you ask non-cyclists, you will probably get a lot of dangerous advice). There will be endless debates as to whether it's OK to run red lights, whether you should pass on the right or split lanes, whether bike lanes are a good thing or not, whether you should wear a helmet, etc. Some of the more universal tips: ride with lights at night. Don't ride on the sidewalk. Don't be a bike salmon (riding the wrong way in traffic). Be predictable. I find that BicycleSafe.com has some practical tips on safety without getting too much into the endlessly debatable points.

And finally, welcome to cycling! I hope you enjoy it; it can be a lot of fun, get you some exercise without even really trying, and is so much cheaper and less hassle to deal with than driving a car.

You've gotten links to Sheldon Brown's website. His site is an incredible resource.

Past that, I like Zinn and the Art. He has some great illustrations that really see you through some situations.

Also useful is Park tools webpage. It is basically the BBB (Big Blue Book) in electronic form.
Don't be afraid to spend on tools - they are invaluable. Just use your mechanical intuition, and think things through before doing them.

I had to replace a rear derailleur one time and Lennard Zinn Art of Road Bike Maintenance was a major help. If you like a quick witty read check out the Bike Snob

Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance and youtube were my best friends when I built up my road bike from a frameset and components (new and used).

The best way to think of it is this, you can judge your fitness based on a few things: Speed, Heart rate, or watts.
Speed is the simpliest(I'm getting faster! I'm not getting faster.) but it can be effected by a lot; wind, terrain, drafting, aerodynamics, ect.
Heart rate is the next when used with speed(I'm getting faster and my heart rate isn't exploding!) but like speed it can be effected by alot too. Are you sick today, not rested, to much caffeine, along with all the things effecting speed. There is also a lag between effort and heart rate(If you do a 30sec or less effort your heartrate will only see a change near the end or after.
A power meter or watts is the most effective. In short if you are producing more watts, you will be going faster, longer or both. And the things that effect speed does not effect watts. And unlike Heartrate there is little to no lag since it is measuring the effort you are doing.

I'd suggest reading Joel Friel has some great books about using power meters: Training and Racing with a power meter or Powermeter Handbook

Max: 1592w ---- 5s: 1363w ---- 20mins: 345w 4.2w/kg

Played basketball for 15+ years which I would say attributed to my fast twitch muscle fibres.

With structured training you'll see your FTP increase heaps. As others have mentioned, get a copy of Training and Racing with a Power Meter, by Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan.

Other option is get a coach which will help heaps too !

Considering this is all in build up for IM Chattanooga(longer race and in sept) I would try to find a training plan for IM distance and let that carry you up to half IM in the next 12 weeks. george-bob's suggestion of triradar is good but you can also take a look at http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/ironman-workouts/ and http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/training/training-plans-view.asp?planid=33&memberlevel=1 . It isn't so important which plan you pick. Just pick one and try to stay consistent with it.

Also since you just got a power meter and are playing around with it I highly recommend Andrew Coggan's Training and Racing with a Power Meter: http://www.amazon.com/Training-Racing-Power-Meter-Hunter/dp/1934030554

I agree with FastFreire being successful in bike racing is much more than power to weight ratio at FTP. (Although yours is a good start) You may want check out this post on power profiles.

http://home.trainingpeaks.com/blog/article/power-profiling

Also I'd recommend checking out a few other resources on bike racing and power.

https://www.trainerroad.com/podcast


https://www.velopress.com/books/reading-the-race/


https://www.amazon.com/Training-Racing-Power-Meter-2nd/dp/1934030554



If you have the funds you may also want to look into getting a coach to help you interpret your power data and lay out a training plan.

Do you endorse this book?

Power2Max. I was holding out for the Garmin Vector but gave up waiting. They ended up shipping 6 months after I got my Power2Max. Still, I'm very happy with it. The other bonus for me with the Power2Max is that I was already running a Rotor crank and just needed to replace the spider which kept the power meter to about $1,000 taxes and shipping in. However, replacing the spider on the crank was a feat in and of itself. Brutal. Turns out its something Rotor does not support. - i.e., if you screw up your crank while taking the factory spider off, they won't support you. In the end, it turned out OK. (key: Use a hair dryer to heat the spider up)

It is completely justified. Just for the ability to use it indoors using TrainerRoad makes it worth it by itself (for me). Also, after upgrading my Strava account to premium, all of the additional training features that require a power meter are great.

I've just started reading/following the Training & racing with a power meter as well which I hope brings positive results...

*edit: spelling

Buy this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1310172528&sr=8-2

Read it and you'll never pay a bike mechanic again. I podiumed XC races back in the day on a wheelset I built by hand using what I learned from this book.

Just pick up a Zinn book and then start wrenching, covers everything you could possibly want to know. If you want mountain bike specific try this one, https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597

Tryon Bike

Join their wrench club & buy this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597

Ask lots of questions (bike people are nice folks) and try to become self sufficient with basic repairs because it's all pretty simple and walking home sucks!

A tool kit (or a good bike multi-tool) is fairly inexpensive, and is incredibly useful for maintaining, repairing, and upgrading bikes. It's not going to directly affect your ride to and from work, buthelp you keep your bike in top condition so that your ride is easy and safe.

Something like this kit, or this one would be a good place to start, and supplement with individual tools as you need them.

A fairly comprehensive multi-tool like this one would also work for infrequent repairs, though they can be somewhat cumbersome to use at times.

Lastly, a good repair book might not be a bad idea. I like Lenard Zinn's Zinn and the Art of (Road/Mountain) Bike Maintenance. However, there are also man great websites and youtube tutorials (park tools has some excellent guides on their site) that will fulfil the same role.

This book is really good and easy to follow.
http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1345502099&sr=8-3&keywords=bike+maintenance

Also, pinkbike tech tuesdays. Scroll down to see a list of a whole bunch of articles and videos.
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Tech-Tuesday-Gorilla-Tape-Tubeless-Conversion.html

Buy this book: Zinn & the Art of Mt. Bike Maintenance
Best mechanic guide out there. (Take it from me... I'm an ex-mechanic) There's a road bike one too, however much of it is applicable to all bike drive-trains.

One thing I would never skimp on is a quality saddle. Buy a slightly cheaper chain, shifters, whatever... but never settle on a saddle.

You should be able to get a road bike for £500-600. However, it will be entry level so a year or two into it's life (depending no how much you ride) there will be replacements. You could always get a rigid hybrid for the road too if you want to save some money. Here's an example Trek FX Hybrid line

Lights...One thing to know about lights. Unless you're spending $100 on a front light, they're meant so you're seen, not so you can see the road ahead. If you want to see the road, here's an example of what to get Niterider

One final note on a helmet. They all pass the same safety tests. The price increases due to other factors. Comfort of pads and straps, ventilation, etc.

Zinn and the art of Mountain Bike Maintenance

I'm no expert mechanic but this is a really good book.

Regular maintenance mostly includes stuff like lubing your chain, keeping everything clean, checking bolt tightness, and making minor adjustments to keep your drivetrain and brakes working smoothly. Occasionally you'll need to do something more in-depth like bleed your hydraulic disc brakes or replace suspension seals - your local shop will be happy to do that stuff if you don't want to mess with it.

I would take it back and have them do some more work on it. I'd avoid using soap/water on the chain unless you plan on putting more lube on it. Also use a soft rag or towel rather than toilet paper. Look into this book, it will help you out a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597

i've heard that coaching really helps you improve, but it sounds kind of like a book would be sufficient for your needs.

I have made great improvements using http://www.amazon.com/The-Time-Crunched-Cyclist-2nd-Ed/dp/193403083X

perfect for me because i don't have lots of time, and that book aims for about 7 hours a week max except for the endurance mtb program. and, this book has a cyclocross specific workout plan. i have gone from finishing bottom 25% of 4/5 to being competitive 3/4. i have also learned what my strengths and weaknesses are and am focusing on those before getting back into mtb season.

buy Zinn's book: https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030988

I've found this book to be a great reference:

http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030988

In my casual experience working with bikes, once you go beyond stuff that's on your multitool, it's all pretty specialized and a tad costly.

Depending on what bike you're building, you might have more in tools than the bike. If you were talking about fabrication because you wanted to make your own tubing or braze your own frame -- sounds like a great long term hobby, but I don't know that I would ride your first self-taught creation.

Here is the book you need

I'd give a commuter bike a self service every month myself checking

• Chain wear
  
  
• General condition of brakes, tyres, cables
  
  
• Clean and lubricate chain, cassette, chainring etc.
  
  
• Visual inspection for any issues
  
  

Did you by chance mean this?

I have the Shimano A530 on my city/rain bike and they're great. It's nice to have the ability to ride in regular sneakers as well as being able to clip in. Installing pedals is simple as well. No need to bring it to the shop. All you need is a 15mm wrench and some grease (which you can buy at the LBS).

For the most part I work on my own bike with the help of youtube and this book.. I think as long as you're somewhat mechanically inclined, the hardest part about working on your own bike or car is having the guts to just do it. You're likely not going to screw anything up beyond repair.

bteske01's answer is spot on. If you want to learn more about all of the things, check out Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance (or the mountain bike version if you have a mountain bike).
https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030988

https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1937715477

For a derailleur hanger, go here: http://www.derailleurhanger.com/

I've ordered from them in the past and they were great. They even worked with me to exchange a hanger since I ordered the wrong one. Very painless.

For other parts, I just shop around via Google. Generally I go with Amazon since I have a Prime account but other times shops will pop up with better prices. I've ordered from most of the places /u/TallBobbyB listed (for the US) and have had good results. Probikekit is based in the UK but they usually have pretty great prices too.

If you want to learn how to fix stuff, you can find just about everything you need on Youtube or the Park Tool Website. If you want something to hold in your hands, Lennard Zinn wrote the bible.

I picked up this book when I started to get into more complicated repairs. When it came to adjusting brakes and derailleurs and what not, it was trial and error and youtube videos.

In regards to getting a new bike, don't be afraid to go to your lbs and share your concerns. They are going to be able to fit you with a bike that is the best fit for you. As said, you are probably going to need a new wheelset so I'd say try to stay away for your max so you have room to get wheels that are designed to support the extra weight.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1934030988?pc_redir=1408852823&robot_redir=1

The industry has really moved toward this as a way away from custom bikes. Once they had a lot of fit data statistics, some of the bigger companies actually adjusted their sizing philosophies, too. There's more to it than height and inseam. CompetitiveCyclist.com has a fit calculator that will have you do the measurements of each joint, etc. That's close but it's not a substitute for a pro fit.

I just (last week) bought a new bike by mail order. Know that if you do this you will have to have some (but honestly not a lot) mechanical ability to put it together and get it running and adjusted.

Check out http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/193771537X/ref=dp_ob_title_bk There's probably a copy at your local public library.

If you're looking for a book, Zinn is hard to beat. Basically the Bible of bike maintenance.

>pretty puzzling that your mechanic hasn’t dialed it in.

The mechanic I'm usually talking to is a right sweetheart, but he's not been in the job for long. I've seen them checking YouTube-videos for guidance on how to fix everyday tasks on common parts, like the Shimano Tiagra handle assembly. When I think about that, I'm not too surprised over the situation, to be honest.

I never cross chain. I always have the chain on the big ring and small gear, or vice versa. Despite this, the chain rubs. I've bought this book, and will try to see if I can't fix it myself before I turn it in.

Hansons Marathon Method: Run Your Fastest Marathon the Hansons Way https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937715485/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_MC1QzbJFVENZQ

This is easy to follow and myself and some friends have had success with it.

Based on the Advanced plan in Hansons Marathon Method

Here's what I put together: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e8jA8rkztZCARBXYecGUSjmfsuSQyxU_08Az4LhADeQ/edit?usp=sharing

The sheet uses some formulas to add up weekly mileage -- specific workout distances are further to the right

• Tuesday workouts are speed sessions on the track for 7 weeks, and HMP intervals thereafter
  
• Thursdays are goal pace workouts
  
• Sundays are long runs
  
• All other running is easy (goal-pace + 1-2min/mile)

I definitely recommend reading their book . Even if you end up going with a different plan, the book has very valuable information on the different types of workout and the science behind each of them.

I've collected a few guides and stuff over the years and bookmarked them, here they are if you want them...

Guide to different Japanese styles - https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/2xzbgx/guide_to_japanse_wrestling_styles/

A really great video on the rise of Puro in Japan - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLyqDSXgYQI. I'd say this is honestly the best direct answer to your question.

Another great video on how puro fits into Japan nowadays, another great watch - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7fZTuR5bgU

How to sign up for New Japan World (Puro's biggest promotion's streaming service - https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/2nxb1q/how_to_sign_up_for_njpw_world_compliments_of/

Recommended viewing for NJ World - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZsZCBTpKjHzdbCpKZ1No1KAdpmOd2OcgSMfC1-oa7pI/edit?pli=1#gid=0

A book on the history of NJPW - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lions-Pride-Turbulent-History-Wrestling/dp/4990865812

A couple of podcasts on puro/New Japan...

• http://lawradio.proboards.com/thread/2187/japanese-audio-wrestling - Japanese Audio Wrestling, two westerners living in Japan, talking about puro (and one of them wrote the aforementioned book!)
  
• http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/phoenix-plex-review - Another good 'cast
  
• http://newjapanpurocast.com/
  
• http://wrestlingwithwords.com/podcast/puro-in-the-rough-2716/ - a podcast on more indie style puro.
  
  Both Wrestling With Words and Voices of Wrestling are great sites who do reviews and occasional features on puro. In particular, check out Voices Of Wrestling's features on how to understand Dragon Gate(Dragon Gate is the no.2 promotion in Japan right now.)
  
  A guide on four of Japan's biggest wrestlers ever, from the All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion - https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/4ebhia/the_four_pillars_of_heaven_mitsuharu_misawa/
  
  And another legend from puro/AJPW, Jumbo Tsuruta - https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/3iqsgy/jumbo_tsuruta_an_introduction/
  
  I could go on longer, but lastly, the r/NJPW and r/PuroresuRevolution are great subs for more info.
  
  

I'm not sure, but I'm waiting for my Amazon purchase of Chris Charlton's book on the history of NJPW. It's supposed to be awesome, and I know it does into your question in depth.

Here! https://www.amazon.ca/Lions-Pride-Turbulent-History-Wrestling/dp/4990865812

You might want to try Lion's Pride: The Turbulent History of New Japan Pro Wrestling as a book its not only going to possibly expand your vocab but also expand your knowledge on Japanese culture.

I finished Chris Charlton's (awesome) NJPW book "Lion's Pride" recently. This isn't even the worst spot NJPW has been in, but it seems that a lot of the reason they have ended up in bad places over the last 45 years has been a reticence to let outsiders in and take them seriously.

Just read it , that's good one buddy !
Also you convince me to read this one : http://www.amazon.com/Lions-Pride-Turbulent-History-Wrestling/dp/4990865812

If you'd like a good idea of how New Japan was formed, the Inoki/Baba booking styles and a general guide to boom and bust periods for Japanese wrestling, I'd highly recommend reading Chris Charlton's Lion's Pride; I think it's $5 on Amazon (Kindle). Was a good three day read.

So the shared links are gone, and I couldn't find out what they were, but you can buy the book it's based on here, or you can also....arrrr. Except it's on one of the alternative sites, not...arrrr.

A couple options to check out:

• Faster Road Racing by Pete Pfitzinger
  
  
• Jack Daniels' Running Formula

There’s a book

http://www.amazon.com/Daniels-Running-Formula-3rd-Edition-Jack/dp/1450431836 buy this. do what he says.

This is the book for you, assuming you want to geek out at charts and numbers

There are a few ways to determine it.

Personally I go by heart rate, using a chest strap (the wrist based are too inaccurate to rely on IMO). Once you do a max heart rate test, you can use that to set zones 1 (easy) through 5 (hard). Zone 1 is too easy to really be used much except for recovery runs. Zone 2 is where I do the bulk of my training. It's a somewhat easy, conversational pace. For me this works well because I like to run on trails most of the time, and pace will vary depending on hills, sand, grass, rocks, etc. This way I can run off effort rather than a specified pace. My Z2 trail pace ends up averaging around 10-11 min/mile, even through my road 5k pace is 7 min/mile. On the road, my Z2 pace is around 9:30 min/mile. Z3 doesn't get used too much. Z4 is a threshold/tempo or other "comfortably hard" effort. Z5 I really only hit during intervals or a 5k where I'm going all out.

The other way would be off pace, if most of your running is done on relatively flat roads. Jack Daniels VDOT calculator gives some estimates of training paces. Based on your most recent 24 min 5k, assuming that was pretty much all out:

Easy: 9:48-10:46 (bulk of miles)

Workout paces:

Marathon: 8:44 (can be used for long run efforts)

Threshold (5-15min efforts): 8:10

Intervals (3-5min efforts): 7:31

Reps (1-2 in efforts): 7:07

Notice the big gap between easy runs (9:48) and the start of the workout paces (8:44). Between that are sort of "junk miles" and because they aren't targeting any system in particular, they don't increase fitness as well as other paces.

Keep in mind, these numbers are going to change pretty fast as you increase your race performances.

Lots of great books out there on running, and most tend to follow the same general approach, with the small details being the difference.

Matt Fitzgerald 80/20 - a good primer on why slower running mixed with hard efforts can work really well https://www.amazon.com/dp/0451470885

Jack Daniels - A much more specific book on figuring out a good training plan. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1450431836

Daniels' Running Formula

http://www.amazon.com/Daniels-Running-Formula-3rd-Edition-Jack/dp/1450431836

I'd recommend getting this this book. It shows you how to set up an entire training plan based on your preferred distance, and the author has two PhDs in physiology.
His philosophy is the least amount of effort for the greatest amount of improvement.

Your legs will adapt to the stresses of running if you give them time and don't demand effort levels that they're not ready to provide yet. I agree with the "slow down" advice that others have posted. If you are a total beginner, you cannot expect to run with Meb Keflezghi levels of endurance. If you are feeling tired, slow down a bit to a sustainable pace. Mix in walking breaks if you feel like you need it.

However - and this has been really useful advice for me - slow running has its place, and fast running has its place. I'm going to take a page out of Coach Jack Daniels' book here: whenever you go for a run, you should know the purpose of the workout. Is the point of your run to develop a base for further training? to develop the heart muscle? to develop resistance to injury? to adapt to the stresses of running? Then run slow and easy. Is the point of your run to develop the ability of your aerobic system to utilize air? or to develop speed? Then run fast and hard (in a controlled way, of course).

The point is that running at an easy effort is very good for you and not something to be looked down upon. It is also a good idea to mix easy effort runs in with quality workouts (i.e., high-intensity interval workouts).

Given what you've said, it sounds to me like you're at the point where most of your running, if not all of it, should be at an easy effort level. Consider doing some sessions where you walk for a few minutes to warm up, then alternate running for a few minutes and walking for a few minutes to recover. After a while, that will get easy. Then you can gradually increase distance, pace, etc. Just build up slowly.

I'm not an expert on 5K plans, but generally speaking, I like running 5-6 days a week, with 1 workout day, and 1 long run day. The rest are easy runs. For my schedule, I do workouts on Tuesday and long runs on Friday, but you should find what works for your schedule. So you don't want to suddenly increase to 5-6 days, but see about adding one easy day to what you're doing already. Make sure the effort is easy and I'd probably start it shorter than your normal runs. Sustain that for a few weeks and make sure you're doing ok, and if so, then either add another day (if needed), or start adding a little mileage on your easy days.

I saw someone say the other day that there are three key areas to think about when increasing your training...total volume, speed, and number of running days. At most, only increase one of those things each week as you build up. And feel free to hold for an extra week if you don't feel you're ready for another increase.

If you really want to get better answers and structured plans, I'd look into getting this book

They’re in his other book:
https://www.amazon.com/Faster-Road-Racing-Half-Marathon/dp/1450470459/

ive never read it... so credibility is a bit out the window but Overcoming Gravity is suppose to be a great resource.

Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength

http://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Gravity-Systematic-Gymnastics-Bodyweight/dp/1467933120/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323471034&sr=1-1

Kettlebells, jumprope and bodyweight exercises for fitness!

There's a bit of cost to kettlebells, but they're compact, indestructible and kick your ass. Jumprope will take wear and tear if you're on concrete but are fairly cheap if you need to replace, and will also kick your ass.

If you're doing bodyweight exercise, have a look at Steven Low's "Overcoming Gravity".

I commented on the Youtube, but yeah, work on your handstands, everything else looks really solid. Keep on keepin' on.

Also, you may want to buy this:

http://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Gravity-Systematic-Gymnastics-Bodyweight/dp/1467933120

;)

I'm a gymnastics coach. This is a bible to me.

If you are interested in gymnastics, I highly recommend getting Overcoming Gravity by Steven Low. It has all the progressions, sample workout regimens, rehab and injury prevention info, and a ton of other stuff.

There are a few bodyweight-based programs, all of them are fairly similar, but they take a different slant on things.

You Are Your Own Gym is built around military-style calisthenics. There are variations of all the different movements that are based around making them easier so you can do fifty of them and experience that brand of misery, or to make them more difficult and strength-focused. YAYOG has a very nice set of apps that go with it as well.

Convict Conditioning is another bodyweight program based around six different movements (handstand, pull-up, push-up, leg-raises, back-bridges, pistol squats). The progressions are pretty nice, but the way it's presented is like it was written for fifteen year-olds. 2edgy4u, and such.

Overcoming Gravity is a gymnastics-based program, but is also a huge firehose of information about fitness in general. It's a great resource for designing your own program, but if you're a beginner, I don't think the sheer volume of information would be helpful.

All of these would require a pull-up bar. There's the classic Iron Gym, or this thing if the Iron Gym ends up being too low, and if you can screw something into a wall somewhere, I suggest this one.

I'll add:

• Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength
  
  
  This one covers way more than just gymnastics. I was very surprised at the breadth of coverage in this book, from how strength vs hypertrophy works, mobility, developing your own programming and quite a few other things that closely relate to CF.
  
  
  
• Olympic Weightlifting: A Complete Guide for Athletes & Coaches
  
  
  This book sort of hit the spot with me because I'm trying to be a better oly lifter. I was having trouble with banging my shoulders during heavy cleans. Low and behold, I was looking through this book and found a paragraph on just that topic and on how to correct it.
  
  

> So, couple of questions before I get going. Can one build sufficient muscle mass through just body weight exercises or do I need to be lifting too?


Yes, I build for example 8kgs of muscles + 3kg of fat/water over the past 6 months. You will never/hardly get to look like a bodybuilder. You will have lean muscles with a aesthetic look.


> Is some of this even achievable by mere mortals or is the truly impressive stuff out of reach for a guy who until recently, was in some pretty rough shape?


Yes, everything is possible. It's all about staying active and working on it regulary. If you want to learn a handstand for example, you just have to keep working on it. There are progression videos/tutorials wich explain you, how to approach to a new move, to learn it steady and slow and to have a good form.


> How does one go about building a routine around it?

• Check the Beginner Routine
  
• Read the Book Overcoming Gravity by Steven Low - The first chapter of the book is about, how to build the routine that fits to yourself - The author is also very active in this subreddit with /u/eshlow so he can even answer your questions, related to his book.
  
• 3rd possibilty: Here are some Routines , I have build before some time. Feel free to take a look at them.

https://www.amazon.com/National-Wrestling-Alliance-Monopoly-Strangled/dp/1550227416

The Death of WCW by R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez

National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly That Strangled Pro Wrestling by Tim Hornbaker

The Rise & Fall of ECW (though it's basically just the DVD in written form)

I believe this is a really good one https://www.amazon.com/National-Wrestling-Alliance-Monopoly-Strangled/dp/1550227416/ I've heard anything by Tim Hornbaker is really good, but that might be a bit earlier than you are wanting

If you are interested in the origins of prowrestling in the US, I highly recommend National Wrestling Alliance: The Untold Story of the Monopoly that Strangled Pro Wrestling.

It reads more like a history book than entertainment, and it's pretty far back in time. But I appreciated getting a thorough look at the behind the scenes politics that helped create what we know now as the professional wrestling industry.

None I can think of that are all interviews as wrestling was protected. Try this though or Lou Thesz's book.

As for some good Mania era dirt, check out Sex, Lies, and Headlocks. It ain't perfect but it's a good read.

And check out Dave Meltzer's Tributes books. They're reprintings of obituaries from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter but they're most likely new to you. If they're not new to you, don't bother.

Hope that helps.

Seriously. He even knows Judo

As someone who only recently got into running I was given this: Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer to help me out. It's a 16 week training program designed to train you to complete a marathon. It starts out slow so that your body gets used to the trauma of running, hopefully preventing the stress fractures that you've had issues with in the past.

For shoes, you need to go to a real running shoe store. They will analyze your gait, and show you the type of shoes you need. They should give you a handful of the "right" (for you) shoes to try on, and let you spend some time on a treadmill in each pair, allowing you to ask plenty of questions. The shoes should be pretty big, since over a long run your feet will swell. You should at least be able to press your thumb (width) between your toes and the end of the shoes.

Regarding stretching, there ARE a lot of schools of thought out there. I am sort of lazy about stretching beforehand, but I recommend doing dynamic stretches (not the static kind) ... marching in place, jumping jacks, body twists, things like that.

I also recommend (strongly) stretching afterwards ~ these can be static.

For your first marathon, I can't recommend strongly enough this book. I used it, and know at least 5 others who did, as well. Every single person finished their first marathon injury-free.

If you DON'T get the book, the rules I consider to be unbreakable are:

• good shoes
  
  
• excellent hydration
  
  
• good nutrition
  
  
• good recovery (rest or do light cross-training the day after a long run. Refuel. Rehydrate. Start getting a good night's sleep if you don't already.)
  
  
• FLEXIBILITY (in terms of your schedule. If you are "supposed" to run, but sick or more sore than just achy, then wait a day. No point in setting yourself up for injury. Also, if you are supposed to run, say, 12 miles, and you start, and then halfway through you are out of water and it's 90 degrees out, then STOP. Don't be an idiot in your training.)
  
  Breakable rules, but still good to follow:
  
  
• train your brain. Mantras, positive thinking, etc., are great
  
  
• learn what works for your GI system. Don't change anything on race day, and only make small tweaks throughout your training.
  
  
• practice hydrating with whatever they will provide on the course.
  
  
• try to find a friend or group to run with, at least sometimes.
  
  
  Good luck and have fun :)

Once you can run for 30 mins straight you are ready to start a 15 week program to run a marathon, (26.2 miles) for reals!

This book is a great next step.

Because he wrote these books.

This may be a joke or you may be into it, but the Phil Elmore books are worth a look for the covers alone, Flashlight Fighting: How to Make Your Pocket Flashlight a Take-Anywhere Self-Defense Weapon, Street Sword: Practical Use of the Long Blade for Self-Defense, Short Hand Empty Hand, etc.

It's up there with the likes of Phil Elmore's Street Sword

Shit, I thought this was a shop or some shit, maybe a blog.

It's an actual book.

://www.amazon.com/Street-Sword-Practical-Blade-Self-Defense/dp/1581605986

It's a steal at only $86!

The reviews for it are genius, or the first one is at least

Joe Friel's The Cyclist's Training Bible

Wrt when you have gym access again.

My current program is split into 2 phases, Phase 1 (Growth) and Phase 2 (Recovery), the prior lasting 4 weeks and the latter 2 weeks. Each week has a Day A and a Day B (Wednesday and Friday for me) in which I go to the gym and work on a specific routine. Both days focus on lifts/exercises which are targeting key areas and muscle groups that are utilised when cycling.


>Day A Routine

> * Pre-Lifting Stretches

• Squat
  
• Lying Leg Curls
  
• Leg Extensions
  
• Deadlift
  
• Lateral Pull Downs
  
• Push Ups
  
• Inverted Rows
  
• Ab Wheeling
  
• Post-Lifting Stretches
  
  
  >Day B Routine
  
  >
  
• Pre-Lifting Stretches
  
• Squat
  
• Lying Leg Curls
  
• Leg Extensions
  
• Deadlift
  
• Overhead Press
  
• Dumbbell Rows
  
• Leg Raises
  
• Post-Lifting Stretches
  
  In Phase 1 I'm always building on what I did on the previous Day, so either adding weight to the bar, or doing more reps in a set. So it works out that in terms of sets/reps and weight I'm doing this during Phase 1:
  
  >
  Day A
  >
  
• Squat (3x5) +2.5KG each day
  
• Lying Leg Curls (3xN+1) N = # of reps done last time. Starting at 3x5 working to 3x10, then adding 7KG and going back down to 3x5
  
• Leg Extensions (3xN+1) same progression in reps and weight as Lying Leg Curls
  
• Deadlift (3x5) +5KG each day
  
• Lat Pull Downs (3xN+1) same progression in reps and weight as Lying Leg Curls
  
• Push Ups (3xN+1) N = # of reps done last time
  
• Inverted Rows (3xN+1) N = # of reps done last time
  
• Ab Wheeling (3xN+1) N = # of reps done last time
  
  > Day B
  >
  
• Squat (3x5) +2.5KG each day
  
• Lying Leg Curls (3xN+1) N = # of reps done last time. Starting at 3x5 working to 3x10, then adding 7KG and going back down to 3x5
  
• Leg Extensions (3xN+1) same progression in reps and weight as Lying Leg Curls
  
• Deadlift (3x5) +5KG each day
  
• Overhead Press (3xN+1) N = # of reps done last time. Starting at 3x5 working to 3x10, then adding 2.5KG and going back down to 3x5
  
• Dumbell Rows (3xN+1) same progression in reps and weight as OHP
  
  So that's 4 weeks of progression in each of those lifts/exercises either amounting to an additional 8 reps or 20KG. I should probably note here that I'm only on my second round of Phase 1 so progression is still coming easily.
  
  Phase 2 as I mentioned is all about Recovering and is essentially my deloading week(s) in terms of lifting. So I will drop the weight on the bar, and halt the progression in the number of reps. Below is what happens in terms of sets/reps and weight during Phase 2:
  
  >
  Day A
  >
  
• Squat (3x5) -NKG. N = 1/4 of the final weight lifted in Phase 1, i.e. if I lifted 80KG in my final day of Phase 1 I'll drop the weight by 20KG
  
• Lying Leg Curls (3xN) N = # of reps done last time. -7KG in weight
  
• Leg Extensions (3xN) same as Lying Leg Curls
  
• Deadlift (3x5) same as Squat
  
• Lat Pull Downs (3xN) same as Lying Leg Curls
  
• Push Ups (3xN) N = # of reps done last time
  
• Inverted Rows (3xN) N = # of reps done last time
  
• Ab Wheeling (3xN) N = # of reps done last time
  
  > Day B
  >
  
• Squat (3x5) -NKG. N = 1/4 of the final weight lifted in Phase 1
  
• Lying Leg Curls (3xN) N = # of reps done last time. -7KG in weight
  
• Leg Extensions (3xN) same as Lying Leg Curls
  
• Deadlift (3x5) same as Squat
  
• Overhead Press (3xN) N = # of reps done last time. -2.5KG in weight
  
• Dumbell Rows (3xN) N = # of reps done last time. Weight remains unchanged
  
  
  After Phase 2 is complete I simply start over again with Phase 1 and repeat it all over.
  
  As I mentioned I just finished my second round of Phase 1 and I can't believe the leaps and bounds I've come on since starting. I mean both in terms of my lifting ability, and in terms of my cycling. And not just specific areas of my cycling, but across the board in all aspects of my cycling. From impressive gains in my sprinting (both in speed and technique) to my hill climbing (again both in speed and technique). My overall fitness and stamina has also seen the upside to adding some gym work to supplement my cycling programme. What I thought were big strong legs at the beginning turned out to be relatively weak things, as evidenced by the numbers I was lifting at the start 4 months ago, and the numbers I'm lifting now.
  
  This all supplements my current cycling plan which is a 4/5 day plan of; Day 1 (Medium Cycle), Day 2 (Short Cycle), Day 3 (Bonus Cycle), Day 4 (Short Cycle), and Day 5 (Long Cycle). The lengths equating to:
  
  
• Short = 10 - 20 miles
  
• Medium = 30 - 60 miles
  
• Long = >60 miles
  
• Bonus = either Short or Medium
  
  
  During Phase 1 of my lifting I tend to stick to the lower to middle end of those distances, whereas in Phase 2 I tend to be in the upper end of those distances.
  
  This leaves my week looking like the following:
  
  
• Monday - Rest Day
  
• Tuesday - Day 1 (Medium Cycle)
  
• Wednesday - Day A & Day 2 (Short Cycle)
  
• Thursday - Day 3 (Bonus Cycle)
  
• Friday - Day B & Day 4 (Short Cycle)
  
• Saturday - Rest or Bonus Day
  
• Sunday - Day 5 (Long Cycle)
  
  Hope this provides some insight into potential directions for you to go in terms of your training to supplement your cycling. For more Joe Friels "The Cyclist Training Bible" is definitely a recommended buy from me.

http://www.amazon.com/Cyclists-Training-Bible-Joe-Friel/dp/1934030201

You are going to need to increase your power (FTP) and introduce long intervals into your training. I"m talking about specific rides where your only goal is something like 3x20 minute intervals at 85-90% of your max power or heart rate. These are rides done by yourself, alone, and in some degree of pain towards the end of the session.

There's plenty of information on the internet on increasing your FTP, but essentially you want a decent (20 minute) warm up followed by 3 x 20 minute intervals at 85-90% of your max power or HR with 5 minutes of rest (riding super slow). You can start at 10 minute intervals first if you like. This has always worked very well for me in the past and I'm old school before Power Meters so it does work using HR, but most modern training is now done with power meters. It will still work with a heart rate monitor, but you need to know a few things about your heart rate zones, max hr, etc.

A good book that will probably get mentioned here is "The Cyclist's Training Bible" and it is highly recommended. Good luck, getting faster is hard work, but the rewards are worth it.

Generally accepted cadence for aerobic focused pedaling is between 80-100. Any less than 60 is considered grinding. Bradley Wiggins won the hour world record with a cadence of 105, shorter cranks have higher cadence typically.

The generally accepted book for cyclist training is: https://www.amazon.com/Cyclists-Training-Bible-Joe-Friel/dp/1934030201

The next step is attending local group rides. Guys will tell you what you're doing wrong quickly if they're anything like me and they'll drill good habits into you. Hanging with them will make you cycle longer and harder than you're used to and bump up your fitness.

This.

Sure! I just picked up this book: https://www.amazon.com/Daniels-Running-Formula-3rd-Jack/dp/1450431836/

I read through most of it (there is a ton of information in the book), but the 40 mile 2Q marathon plan was the one I ended up choosing. It seemed to fit best with my current commitments and was also challenging for me without being too intimidating.

This also seemed like a good comparison between marathon plans: http://fellrnr.com/wiki/A_Comparison_of_Marathon_Training_Plans

I don't have experience with many of those plans, so I'm basically taking the author at his word. I assumed I would fit into the "Improver" or "Enthusiast" category and went from there (even though I had never run a marathon before).

Good luck!

1 - I'd say your times are pretty decent. For reference a sub 20min 5k is quite good and a sub 17min 5k is elite.


2 - For training tips, I recommend this book: Daniels' Running Formula

It has training programs from 800m to marathon and it is a very useful resource.

Or you can simply just add speedwork into your weekly routine to get better at sprinting.

> Any advice in training for a 5k/10k?

Here are some 5K training plans to choose from.

Daniels' Running Formula will make you knowledgeable so you can be a smart runner and train in the most effective way.

Or you could just buy the book.

i started on hal higdons and ended up not liking it. too much just running, not nearly enough quality to make me feel like i was improving.

i picked up Jack Daniels Running Formula and really, really like it. it has plans from general fitness to 800m to full marathons. i recently PRed my half after doing his blue fitness into an HM plan, all the while i was getting faster on my easy days. the book teaches a lot about programming weeks, which i consider to be the most important thing one can take away from this book. its worth checking out imo.

If you’re a fan of sweat elite, I could also recommend you look to the NOP (I know, unpopular opinion) training logs, it’s quite the opposite. Their sample week is something like . Additionally, training for a marathon, and training more specifically for 10-mi and down are two different things.

Also, the easy pace isn’t an indicator of race performance, obviously. It’s an indicator of ability to handle work volume (see Daniels , Hansons , Heinonen & Heinonen , Fixx , and especially Noakes ), which actually supports your statement about the intersection between speed and endurance (threshold runs, tempo-oriented intervals, etc - is at least what I’m assuming you’re talking about).

Furthermore, as I stated in an above comment, this is casual pace. I could tape a one-person podcast at these paces. Granted, because I’m running the audio quality wouldn’t be that great; but these paces feel like a trot. I’m painfully bored, and barely exerting. I’m never above an 11RPE on the 6-20 scale.

Thank you for the notes and article recommendation, though.

EDIT: All About Road Racing link addition.

Saint Jack's book will answer these questions for you. It's an easy read.

Sure, probably should've included that. I have been running competitively since 1992, and have raced every distance from 400m to marathon. From 2004-2008, I was coached by Jack Daniels in Flagstaff, AZ. I draw heavily upon that experience and Daniels' Running Formula in my training. When I'm physically sound, I train 80-100 miles per week.

My training has been sporadic the last three years as a result of a sports hernia. Surgery last summer left me slightly improved, and a follow-up surgery last Wednesday will hopefully put me in a position to be more competitive. Leading up to last week's surgery, I was training ~60 miles per week.

Last month, I ran my first race in 3 years - 5k, 17:02. Not where I want to be, but I was satisfied given the circumstances. PRs at other distances: 2:51 marathon; 1:17 half; 34:22 10k. I'm not setting any records out there, but I worked hard for those times and I'm proud of them.

I have no formal experience as a coach, but I have provided training plans and guidance to many friends, family members, and coworkers over the years. Also, I recently went through a program offered by NFHS and USATF, and am now a certified track and field coach.

To put it in perspective... I can go 16 mile long runs in the 5:50s, but I can't go sub 4:30 in a mile.

So, try and get to at least 40-50 miles perk week. Buy good shows. Get new shoes every 300 miles. Log your miles on your shoes. Try to get your regular training pace below 7min. A GPS watch is amazing. Then, once you are at 40mpw, which could take a new runner a few months to get to (try and add a few miles per week), then throw in workouts like tempo runs, fartleks and intervals. You can google those and find out what they are. Want a book? http://www.amazon.com/Daniels-Running-Formula-3rd-Edition-Jack/dp/1450431836

In reference to your edit, I think a great beginner/intermediate running training book is Jack Daniel's Running Formula. Some stuff in it may already be familiar to you, but if you want to know enough about running training to plan/understand your own workouts (which I assume you do as a former good cyclist) it's a really good start.

I'm not going to go too indepth on training (that's what the book is for, plus I wouldn't even make a dent in really talking about training) but I will make a few points just from what you've said here.

> I've been doing around 3 miles a day for the past two weeks and can usually hold an 8 min pace for a 5k effort. My heart rate is through the rough and it doesn't seem like it is going to get any easier.

Slow down. I know, it's going to be a blow to the ego, but running is a fairly specific activity and it's going to take some time for your body to adjust. You'll still see improvements without grinding every single run. The good news is with your background, you should see quick improvement as your running economy begins to improve, as a lot of the cardiovascular base is already there. This will be a nice change after being elite at cycling (where so much work is required for even a minuscule improvement). If you want to go fast, set specific workout days, and even those should have an easy warmup and cooldown.

>rack up some serious mileage in the future months/years to come.

Just a warning to not do too much, too fast. A huge difference between running and cycling is the amount of wear that the impact of running can put on your body. Slowly ramp up your mileage over time, giving the joints and tendons time to adapt, or else you'll end up hurt (like me....). It's tempting to pour yourself into this new sport with as much intensity as you put into cycling, but you can't be running 100+ km weeks right off the bat.

>been doing around 3 miles a day for the past two weeks

I'd take a rest day once a week. Maybe go for a swim or bike on Sunday's instead. Even when I was running 8 times/week I still took Fridays completely off.

Feel free to ask if you've got any other questions I can try to help with!

When I first started training for a full marathon, I used the book Daniels Running Formula to develop a plan.

Were I stating out today I'd DL the Runkeeper App on my cell and pay for the year membership - doing so adds some bells and whistles but importantly it adds a customizable training plan for marathon training.

It literally can't be simpler, and the app tracks your progress.

I'm currently really enjoying Daniels' Running Formula.

You could read up on it. More knowledge is better. Everyone here seems to like this book (mine arrives today):

https://www.amazon.com/Daniels-Running-Formula-Jack-Tupper/dp/1450431836

Sounds like you should read http://www.amazon.com/Daniels-Running-Formula-3rd-Edition-Jack/dp/1450431836

Hey, I know I'm late to the party but I wanted to help. I highly recommend two things:

1. Purchase... or "find"... a copy of Daniel's Running Formula. There's currently a 3rd edition out, but there isn't much new stuff from the 2nd edition that would benefit you. So, if you can get a cheap 2nd edition, just roll with that. This will help you TREMENDOUSLY with your training.
   
   
   
   
2. Check out r/running. It's a great community and there are tons of posts that will help you with these kinds of problems.
   
   
   
   Good luck!

First of all, congratulations! I'm not sure it's necessary to take an entire week off, but it might be helpful to reduce your mileage and throw in some slow recovery runs for the next week or two.

Depending on what your goals are, it might be helpful to further build up your base level of aerobic fitness by increasing your weekly mileage before you begin training for your next half. I just bought a copy of Faster Road Racing by Pete Pfitzinger, which has a number of great training programs for building up base mileage (as well as for specific race distances).

Ich kann Ihnen auch "Faster Road Running" empfehlen. Es tut mir einfach Leid, dass ich nicht weiss, ob es auf Deutsch kommt oder nicht. Es hat mir viel geholfen, Beide beim Theorie und auch mit Praxis. Ihr Englisch ist einfach wunderbar, höffentlich ist mein Deutsch mindesten verstandbar!
ETA: Link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Faster-Road-Racing-Peter-Pfitzinger/dp/1450470459
alles gut beim Laufen!
Splodge

I'm really hoping I get the book Fast Road Racing for Christmas.

Does he have a buff?

I'm about to start week 7 of my C25K program and I'm really enjoying it. I'm looking for other programs after I finish this one. I put in a request for my library to buy Faster Road Racing by Pete Pfitizinger. I wanted to check it out before buying a copy. I know they are about $10 but still, unless someone has a copy they don't need anymore...and would like to donate. I've noticed a better feeling in my breathing. Backstory, when I was 13,14, and again at 19, I had a spontaneous pneumothorax. Twice my left side and once on my right. Eventually, I had surgery when I was 19 to adhere my lung to my chest wall to prevent any further collapses. The result however had limited my lung capacity permanently, something I didn't really know was controversial at the time. I saw a very cocky specialist years later that wanted to point that out to me... but I can't really cause them so I've always moved on and done what I could. But lately I've noticed a bit less pain and these weekly runs are improving my lungs.

Broadly speaking there are several reasons to choose a plan:

• Weekly mileage. Week 1 of a plan should be fairly similar to what you're currently doing. If it's lower, you are not really getting the best out of yourself. If it's higher you risk injury adapting the even the early miles before it ramps up. Pfitzinger is the most oft-cited 'high mileage fan'.
  
  
• Amount of cross-training scheduled. Some plans are big on regimenting sessions for cross-training & weights. If you already cycle / swim / cross-fit / do weights a lot, you want a plan that works around that. FIRST is big on this with 2 sessions a week.
  
  
• Target. A plan that involves just finishing is very different to a plan aiming to allow you to run at pace for the entire distance. For the half marathon this is obvious by the number of runs beyond a half marathon distance. For the faster runners, a half marathon training plan will involve runs beyond half marathon distance - meaning that simply finishing is no longer the question. For the marathon it's often the distance and number of "marathon-pace" runs and the number of 20 + mile runs (there's two main components to running a fast marathon). Higdon and Hanson have novice plans. FIRST and Pfitzinger don't really do Novice.
  
  There's a LOT of half plans out there. Hanson obviously has two, Higdon has 7, Pfitzinger has at least one. FIRST has one. And that's just the 'big names'. Every running plan generator and running website will have a plan - most only subtly different from the ones already linked.
  
  Regarding 'easy'. You should be fully in the aerobic zone, able to hold a conversation (I talk to myself occasionally to prove I'm going easy enough).
  
  Your current mileage is fine for individual runs, but most plans will have you training more than 3-4 times a week, be that runs or cross-training. So your first step needs to be:
  
  a) Making sure you have time for that
  b) Gradually building in another short run in preparation for a plan.

There's this u/eshlow chap who hangs here. He wrote this awesome book called overcoming gravity about gymnastic training. I've found gymnastic training quite beneficial for climbing, overall strength, and injury prevention. There's a dedicated sub --> r/overcominggravity. There's really good progressions + programming for creating a routine.

also:

http://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Gravity-Systematic-Gymnastics-Bodyweight/dp/1467933120

Bonus: The author regularly posts and replies in /r/bodyweightfitness

It's not the only thing I'm working on, but as far as tuck planche is concerned I do 5 sets for as long as I can hold it, and I do that 3-4 times a week. The full routine:

Tuck/Adv Tuck PL 5 x hold to failure

Straddle Front Lever 5 x hold to failure

Wall Handstand 3-5 x hold to failure

Adv Front Lever Pullups 3 x 8-10

Straight Bar Muscle Ups 3 x 2-4 (working on increasing the reps)

Tuck PL Pushups 3 x 4 (working on increasing the reps)

Lots of stretching for the lower back, shoulders, hips, and hamstrings on the off days. This routine is almost straight out of Overcoming Gravity, which I highly recommend: http://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Gravity-Systematic-Gymnastics-Bodyweight/dp/1467933120

I know people here like Overcoming Gravity a lot. I think that probably fits your criteria.

Overcoming gravity? I'll take a look into it.

This one?
http://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Gravity-Systematic-Gymnastics-Bodyweight/dp/1467933120/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415417714&sr=8-1&keywords=overcoming+gravity

Overcoming Gravity is $50 bucks new on amazon (500+ pages). Anything a little easier on the wallet?

I personally think that the best way to be a better crossfit athlete is to gain as much knowledge of specific sports - gymnastics, weightlifting, track, powerlifting, etc. On that basis, I'd recommend https://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Gravity-Systematic-Gymnastics-Bodyweight/dp/1467933120

I think Supertraining by Yuri Verkhoshanski is a great (super dense) read for any training.

Kelly Starrett has two notable books, most specifically becoming a supple Leopard.

Steve Low, author of the Fundamentals of Bodyweight Training article above has written extensively on progressions and programming for bodyweight training. I think the most important thing he's said is the need to train bodyweight exercises in antagonistic pairs, so that you don't overdevelop in one way and cause structural problems while pursuing one particular feat. His example that has stuck with me was the need to train something like the manna and skin the cats to match the constant training of exercises such as pullups and pushups. I've added both manna progressions and skin the cats, and my shoulders feel stronger and more mobile than they used to.
I haven't read the above article in few years, so I don't recall if he does into the specifics of how to pair your exercises, but I know he's written about it in his book, "Overcoming Gravity".

Overcoming Gravity

I'm only 1/6 through the book, but it's answered a ton of questions that I've had. Here's an intro to routine construction, the book goes into much much more detail about programming. Lots of explanations, lots of detail on progressions, and the author (/u/eshlow) is around here and /r/overcominggravity answering questions.

• Walk. Seriously its like it flicks the on switch of your metabolism. Your energy levels go up and your appetite goes down. Do it regularly, for at least half an hour at a time (but any walking is good). Getting a pedometer and aiming for 10,000 step can really motivate you.
  
  These three books are about doing strength training at home. They are a fantastic to build up serious strength in a way that's actually better than doing it at the gym in a lot of ways.
  
  
• Overcoming Gravity
  
  
• Enter the Kettlebell
  
  
• Convict Conditioning

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1467933120

この本良かったのでオススメ。

Oh my bad. It's called Overcoming Gravity. Sorry!

It's very popular on r/bodyweightfitness. I haven't read it, but I do follow a lot of Convict Conditioning. Overcoming Gravity is supposed to be a little more in-depth.

I would also recommend Beast Skills and Ryan Ford's Demon Drills.

The FAQ in r/bodyweightfitness should also be a help.

If you'd like to know the history, this book is a good place to start.

• Bret Hart's Book
  
• Dynamite Kid's Book
  
• Ted DiBiase's WWE Book
  
• Ring of Hell by Matthew Randazzo - Re: Benoit - The Amazon rating is bad, but methinks it's just butthurt fanboys
  
• Hardcore History - The Unauthorized History of ECW by Scott E. Williams - Some of the dates are off and the name spellings aren't consistent, but a great read, especially if you're interested in the early days of ECW
  
• The NWA - The Untold Story of the Monopoly that Strangled Pro Wrestling by Tim Hornbaker - Extremely detailed.
  Fixing the Indies by Norm Kaiser - Some of what he talks about is beyond the means of some indies, but the model is very sound.
  
• The Death of WCW by RD Reynolds & Bryan Alvarez - It reads like a dirtsheet, but the detail is there.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1550227416?pc_redir=1408084640&robot_redir=1

I had this book a few years ago. I cannot recommend it though as it was stolen before I could really get into it.

I think Tim Hornbaker's great NWA book covers it too. Just a warning, it's written more like a history book than mass market non-fiction. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1550227416/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1503624950&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=nwa+wrestling&dpPl=1&dpID=51zwoNaeUIL&ref=plSrch

You're right that Putin didn't force anyone to do anything - he encouraged it. Putin is a devoted follower of judo, the art of adding to your enemy's own momentum in order to defeat him. He wrote a book about it. So when Bush does something that makes people distrust us, Putin does everything he can to maximize the effect.

>the unpopularity for the war came from very different political and social parties.

That's how you know an external force was behind it. When you're trying to destabilize your enemy, you don't fund only his right wing, or his left wing - because your goal isn't to make him right-wing or left-wing - you fund extremists on both right and left. The goal of destabilization is to divide and paralyze your enemies, so they can't stop you from doing something like invading Ukraine, for example. Russia does that in the US too - in 2016 they supported not only right-wingers like Trump, but also extreme leftists like Jill Stein. Anything to encourage our instability.

No, I wasn't in Europe at that time, but it's still true.

Edit: quote from Putin's book:

>This decisive victory gave judo's creator the chance to confirm that he was right about the importance of a set of techniques - like kuzushi - for putting an opponent off-balance in preparation for a throw. Any novice judoka knows that today. But at the time, for many people, the technique was a revelation. Jigoro Kano himself maintained that kuzushi was an important stage of a throw, since an opponent, even a more powerful one, can be overcome without too much effort after being properly off-balanced.

https://www.amazon.com/Judo-History-Practice-Vladimir-Putin/dp/1556434456

Putin literally wrote the book on Judo

I really doubt it, Victory Belt was/is a pretty small publisher- for a while it was a hard enough to find an English version of some their books. Is there any Russian BJJ books? I am sure there is a shitload of good and bad Judo books in Russian written or not written by Putin.

https://amzn.com/1556434456

Congrats on taking the plunge to Marathoning! I am new too, but I wanted to suggest this book, The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer (used, loved, and suggested to me by a 5x marathoner) it's pretty much a 5K to marathon 16 week starters guide with excellent tips on nutrition and hydration, stretching and cross training, mental strength for the long runs, and of course the mileage plan, goal to finish without injury. It suggests 4-day per week running (Mon, Wed ,Thurs, Sat for me) starting at 15 miles (3,4,3,5) and increasing 1-2 miles a week until week 13 where you start to taper. Week 12 and 13 are 5,8,5,18.

It is not a 4 hour plan but is pretty much guaranteed to get you to the finish

I personally feel that visualization and a positive attitude go a long way. If you dread it to begin with...it's going to suck. Sounds silly and simple but it works for me. Other than that, I totally agree with increasing your mileage. Not only will you hit your stride later on, but you will enjoy once you do and that will make you look forward to your next run. I recommend a fabulous training book (even if you're not training for a marathon). It got me past the initial "this sucks" period.

http://www.amazon.com/Non-Runners-Marathon-Trainer-David-Whitsett/dp/1570281823/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314227232&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Non-Runners-Marathon-Trainer-David-Whitsett/dp/1570281823

Run a marathon:

http://www.amazon.com/Non-Runners-Marathon-Trainer-David-Whitsett/dp/1570281823/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

(Just to be clear: I am in no way affiliated with the authors.)

It's one of those things that you think that you can't do, but this book shows you that you CAN do it. It teaches you to think positively. It teaches you to keep your goals realistic - yes, they make running a marathon realistic. I just ran my first 10 mile run today and I feel that I can do ANYTHING. Doing this course has helped me with work, with my personal life, you name it. I've started eating better, sleeping better... I know I'm sounding like an informercial, but an endorphin rush does that to you.

It sounds to me like you need an experience of persevering and succeeding. So run a marathon :)

Get this book Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer. It will take you from couch to marathon in 16 weeks (I believe) and I used it to complete my first marathon- granted I probably started off in better shape than you but I recommend it highly.

Cheers for wanting to do a marathon- and good luck.

Congrats on your 100 days!

On a side note, if you don't have a plan for your marathon training, check out The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer. I signed up for one on a whim after getting out of a long hospital stay and this book was great. It's not for serious runners but it was just what I needed to get me through my first one.

I used The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer and it worked wonderfully. It includes info on training schedule, taking care of your body, and mental preparation.

Training schedule can be halved to work with 13.1 but I have a feeling you'll do a full soon. Actually I would guess you could train for a full now. This book is a 16 week schedule.

If you are just interested in completion and not pace, I highly recommend The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer by David Whitsett

Holy moly, 30 pounds since February is awesome!! That is absolutely awesome and I look forward to hearing about your continued success!

I hear you on meditation. Perhaps not meditation per say, but a few months ago my girlfriend convinced me to go to bikram yoga and I found it to be tremendously helpful for all the fitness stuff. Not really because of anything physical as much as the mental fortitude and discipline it requires. I actually REALLY enjoyed how the meditation/introspection of those sessions trickled into my every day.

Honestly, my view on running is that it is 80% mental. I remember training for my first half marathon, someone told me "if you can run 6 miles, you can do a half marathon" which sounded insane to me. But I think they were absolutely right-- those remaining miles are a mental hurdle far more than a physical one. Right now I am training for the NYC marathon and honestly most of my training is on regulating my attitude while working out. I know you're doing the 5k program, but you may enjoy the meditative aspects of the book I am using to train-- The Non Runners Marathon Trainer. It's ALL about how to approach running from a meditative, psychological standpoint. While the physical program is for a marathon, the mental training program is (I think) 100% applicable to anyone who slips on their sneakers and hits the pavement :)

The Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer. worked like a charm. had just enough perspective and information on all the crucial topics to get me through all the injuries and doubts.

Probably this

He trained with the author of this.

Don't you just feel awfully silly now

https://www.amazon.com/Street-Sword-Practical-Blade-Self-Defense/dp/1581605986

The link to this masterpiece

Holy Shit ! Your New Sword Book.

I tried to ride 3-4 times per week. Some weeks are better than others. I am going to participate in my first race on March 11th, so I am riding every day until then. Sometimes it is only 30 minutes, but other times it is 2-4 hours. I have two young children and a full time+ job, so I just work it in where I can.

My suggestion is to find a community around a good bike shop or a club. If you live in a populated area at all, there will be a bike club. Check Facebook.

There are two books that really helped me.

The Bicycling Big Book of Cycling for Beginners: Everything a new cyclist needs to know to gear up and start riding https://www.amazon.com/dp/1623361648/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_IcXBybG217E1R

The Cyclist's Training Bible https://www.amazon.com/dp/1934030201/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.cXByb7BXMY38

*This is from a layman's perspective on exercise science and physiology as it relates to amateur cycling training

I'd rank ways to measure the training load of intervals like this from least to most helpful:

4. Distance at RPE or Speed
3. Time at RPE or Speed
2. Time at HR

1. Time at a specific Power Rating
   
   My understanding is that Time and Intensity are what matter for training for specific physiological adaptations, so the more accurately you measure those two factors, the better quality your training will be. Distance tells you nothing about time it takes to complete a specific interval. It's related to time in that at a given speed on unvarying terrain different distances will take different times to complete, but we can't control for those variables on the road. On a track or a very flat course with no wind....maybe.
   
   Speed tells you very little about intensity because of the same factors as well as your level of rest and recovery.
   
   Rate of Perceived Exertion (how hard am I working on a scale of 1-5 or 10 or whatever) can be a really good training cue for yourself, but until you have something more objective to measure it against (heart rate or power) it doesn't necessarily tell you much.
   
   Heart rate is influenced by a number of factors outside of the intensity of a specific workout, including rest, hydration, health, recovery, etc. It does, however, control for a lot of environmental variances (gradient, wind, etc.)
   
   Power is probably the most accurate way to measure intensity, and when coupled with heart rate and RPE you can draw some pretty profound conclusions about physiological responses from your body.
   
   I train with heart rate since I'm too much of a peasant to own a power meter. Typically I try to do my intervals at different heart rate levels based on what I'm attempting to train (muscular endurance, power, etc.) and try to return to a baseline heart rate within a designated resting interval. If I can't recover in time, typically it means I'm not rested enough for the workout or I haven't done enough base training and I change my plans for the day or the week.
   
   I'd recommend the Cyclist's Training Bible by Joe Friel
   https://www.amazon.com/Cyclists-Training-Bible-Joe-Friel/dp/1934030201
   
   It certainly helped me.

Before you do that, you might want to read this: http://www.amazon.com/The-Cyclists-Training-Bible-Friel/dp/1934030201/

You can use that with this: http://www.amazon.com/Training-Racing-Power-Meter-Hunter/dp/1934030554/

And create your own workouts and training plan.

Read The Cyclists Training Bible by Joe Friel.

Like others say its such a hard question to answer. I (and many others) found that book to be a very good starting point.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cyclists-Training-Bible-Friel/dp/1934030201

So no one has really mentioned this yet, but if you want to be going stronger next summer, don't do hills / hard rides over the winter. Base miles are relatively easy miles. Also, a bike trainer takes up way less space than an elliptical, and lets you use the same seat / bike geometry / etc.
Take a look at Joe Friel's training book (http://www.amazon.com/The-Cyclists-Training-Bible-Friel/dp/1934030201/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1377283726&sr=8-3) or this one - http://www.amazon.com/Base-Building-Cyclists-Foundation-Performance/dp/193138293X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377283778&sr=8-1

You are right. SO MUCH OUT THERE.

The training bible is a great start/must read - https://www.amazon.com/Cyclists-Training-Bible-Joe-Friel/dp/1934030201

From there, I'd think about what worked for you as a rower and try to build out a plan that makes sense for how you individually enjoy training. Success is heavily tied to your happiness during the activity/training grind (as I am sure you know from rowing).

I am happy to try and give you tips as questions come up, feel free to DM me. I am not the best rider, but I've been fortunate enough to learn from some very smart riders.

Welcome to the dangerous world of road bike racing. It is a deep hole and how far down you go depends on you.

A few tips below:

• Come check out /r/velo.
  
• Find a few local group rides and get used to riding in a pack
  
• Meet people that know more than you and ask questions
  
• Sign up for a race or two
  
• Get dropped in said races
  
• Start doing some intervals. An even simpler way to look at it is ride hard one day, ride easy the next.
  
• Maybe join a team, maybe ride unattached for now.
  
• Check out The Cyclist's Training Bible. Disclaimer: I still haven't read it.
  
• Look at TrainerRoad or get a coach (I can't afford a coach so I use TrainerRoad plans)
  
• Do more intervals
  
• Hang on and finish mid pack in race
  
• Repeat
  
  Hope this helps some :)
  
  Edit: Sponsorship. If you're racing road you'll end up joining a team if you choose to. That team will have sponsors and will get you deals. My current team has Specialized, a local shop, Stages power meters, Castelli, Selle Italia, Sidi, and a few more. Everything is pretty much 20-50% off. We put together a packet of why they should sponsor us, who the riders are, and what we plan to do to promote their brands. If you're looking to join a team then find one that you get along well with. Having people that will answer your dumb questions, that show you what a paceline is, and are focused on having fun is way more important than 20% off a tire.

Advanced Marathoning is dense with great information!

The first 2/3 of the book covers everything from mitochondria and glycogen to heart rate ranges for various types of training runs to how much water your stomach can digest over time and how to drink on the run. An endless number of gems really, I love to just open the book up and read a page and see what I learn.

The last 1/3 is the various training schedules based on your weekly miles...up to 55/week, up to 75/week, and beyond.

Ive bought other running books but this is the first one that was full of information you don't naturally encounter on the web.

$13 at Amazon

Yeah, Pete Pfitzinger wrote the definitive guide to marathon training, it's considered to be the bible on /r/running and /r/advancedrunning... http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Marathoning-2nd-Pete-Pfitzinger/dp/0736074600

In the book there are sample training regimens for all sorts of scenarios, weekly milages, skill levels, etc. Hal Higdon also has this sort of thing on his website, but I think Pfitz does a better job with speedwork.

Advanced Marathoning - 2nd Edition

Its a worthwhile read both for pacing for the plan and overall how you should be training for the marathon.

https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Marathoning-Pete-Pfitzinger/dp/0736074600/ref=asc_df_0736074600/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312067454590&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3170337343675217601&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1018127&hvtargid=pla-523949029352&psc=1

Buy that. You’re asking questions that have already been answered by experts in the field. My honest assessment is that if you’re saying you ran 1:42 “without pushing yourself” and can crank out 8 min miles as recovery pace while still asking about strength and eating then you’re nowhere close to BQ. Learn the basics of marathoning, get a plan, and be patient. I’d say you’re 18-24 months away if you do your research and dedicate yourself.

The New Rules of Marathon and Half Marathon Nutrition by Matt Fitzgerald is a good book that talks mainly about nutrition. Some people say it was written as a marketing ploy by Matt Fitzgerald, however there's still some great info in there about nutrition for training and race day.

Advanced Marathoning by Pete Pfitzinger is also a great resource for all things training. Ignore the training plans in the back as they're likely too advanced for your first marathon, but the rest of the book has amazing information about physiology, cross-training, recovery, nutrition, types of workouts... Highly recommend. Then, if you get to a point where you want to take your marathoning to the next level, you'll have some great plans to work off.

Another great online resource is fellrnr.com (i've linked you straight to the marathon section) -- this guys has compiled A LOT of data if you're a data nerd, and there's also a lot of good info in there.

Just a note on using different resources -- you'll see that sometimes they can contradict each other. For example, Matt's book and fellrnr both speak to the benefits of fat loading during your pre-race carb load phase, but Pfitz's book writes this off as not necessary. This is normal, and don't get too caught up in what's right and what's not. The point is that everyones different, and you need to find what works for you.

This sub-reddit is also a great trove of information, with many people willing to answer specific questions about anything running related, so never hesitate to ask!

Good luck with your training and race!

Honestly I'd say that with a 1:57 half and five months to train, 4:30 is a pessimistic time. You'll just have to make sure to get some good long runs in, and don't jump into things too fast after the half (to avoid getting an injury).

I would look at the Hal Higdon intermediate plans or (more preferably) one of the lower mileage Pfitzinger plans from Advanced Marathoning

Just to give you the flavor of Pfitz, the peak distance week of the 18/55 plan has you running 88km (55 miles) split up as:

Mon: Rest / cross-train

Tues: 10K w/ strides

Wednesday: 19K

Thurs: Rest / cross-train

Fri: 19K w/ 11K tempo

Saturday: 8K

Sunday: 32K

Here's the amazon link

I ran in college, had no idea how to train for a marathon, and just sorta winged it for a couple marathons before someone recommended me this book. I've never had better results than the season I followed the training in this book to a T. They have all kinds of distances too, so if you want to do a high mileage training season, they have that, or if you're looking for a 50-60 mile season, that's possible too.

If anyone is looking for a real recovery plan, the book "Advanced Marathoning" by Pfitzinger has lots of recovery-specific plans, over varying lengths, from a couple weeks, up to 3 months, I believe.

It's a nice way to get back into it without allowing yourself to push too hard.

Obviously they include running and cross-training ;)

https://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Marathoning-2nd-Pete-Pfitzinger/dp/0736074600

Aside from the plans themselves this book covers everything. It's a great resource. Diet, pacing, stretching, and the science behind all of it. It goes into heart rate training and everything. Highly recommend.

Most marathon training books will have everything your looking. Probably the most commonly recommended is Advanced Marathoning but there are quite a few.

This the one? Advanced Marathoning?

I biked that. I rented this book from my local library to use as a reference. It made things easy as far as what type of daily goals to set, tourist options, camping options, etc. But, my biggest piece of advice is to plan around the weather conditions. This is the single most important thing I have to pass on. I will let other people offer advice on getting your bike there and back and just go into more detail about my experience with the weather.

So, I biked from Canada to Mexico in mid-March/mid-April 2012 and this particular section was the most challenging because of the
weather. Although the Oregon coast is beautiful, it rains 350 days out of the year according to a local in Port Orford. So make sure to go at the right time. Not in March/April. The wind was aggressively pointed north. So much so that I had to peddle down hills just to keep moving. It was crazy! From what I remember the wind changes directions later in the year (I think somewhere in the summer months) and the wind pushes you south. That would have been a big game changer. It sucks being wet constantly and moving less than a third a day of what I was doing later in California (up to 90 miles a day in April).

All in all, this particular section of my trip that you are referring to was, for me, the least memorable and least enjoyable of the entire coast. Things got better for me after Crescent City when I took a route in land (and off the guide book) from the Coast to San Fransisco (good choice on my part). The wind was significantly reduced and the weather was much better in general. The highlights of the trip for me were the Redwoods just north of San Fransisco and the coast between San Fransisco and LA. Also, another thing I noticed is that because this area is so popular, you get treated a lot worse than most places. Lots of hippies, and druggies, and bums, and such hitchhike or travel south along this route. The bad seeds stick out in people's minds. Whereas when I went in land (and off the book) people were much nicer to -even impressed by- a vegabond like me.

I'm trying to look up what the wind and weather is like for labour day weekend. I'm not trying hard enough though. Look into it. I'm sure it will be better for you than it was for me and you will have a blast, but double check.


TL;DR: Plan around weather/wind/season.

I've done the exact ride before. I recommend you camp at the state parks! This book has great maps and details for the trip:
http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Vicky-Spring/dp/0898869544

Well this book has the route planned out. We stopped at most of the places it recommended http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Complete-Canada/dp/0898869544/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324037901&sr=8-1

And these maps were invaluable http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/pacificcoast.cfm probably used them more than we used the book. If you want more detail I can dig out my journal and tell you exactly what we did.

Bicycling The Pacific Coast has a route for you if want to spend a little time going around BC rather than direct.

I know some people who did Vancouver - San Diego and they swore by this book.

Enjoy, I rode this section early April 2015. Should be even more beautiful in June, too! Consider getting this book before you go: https://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Complete-Canada/dp/0898869544

Note that some specific details are beginning to be outdated. Still, it is basically the bible of the west coast bike route!

P.S. If you can ride like that in training you're good to go. I find a pace of 50 miles a day while touring to be my personal favorite amount. Everyone is different though, so you'll find your balance after a few days. Consider a day off halfway through your first week to let your body catch up to the new lifestyle.

Ya, I may have messed up the names. But we were planning on using the route that is in "Bicycling the Pacific Coast" by Vicky Spring and Tom Kirkendall

I rode from portland, oregon south to San Francisco this past summer. If your unfamiliar with the weather patterns on the west coast you may want to check out the wind situation. Every afternoon a powerful wind would come from the northwest, and I mean EVERY night. I met many north bound riders who had to stop riding by 4 or 5 pm because the headwinds were just to harsh. either way i hope you have a great trip. Check out this book http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Vicky-Spring/dp/0898869544
It helped me a lot with planning campgrounds.

Here is a link to the book but if you only pick one thing get the ACA maps.

https://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Complete-Canada/dp/0898869544/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497547375&sr=8-1&keywords=pacific+coast+bike

Good luck on the trip! I just bought this book on Amazon. Canada to Mexico guide. $10 used.

http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Vicky-Spring/dp/0898869544

Not sure this book has the area listed because I don't have it downloaded anymore, but its useful for finding the best sites on the west coast. Highly recommend it.

Grab this book. A lot cheaper than the ACA maps and works great for the route. When I rode it a few years back, a lot of people used this as a route guide.
https://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Complete-Canada/dp/0898869544/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494339991&sr=8-1&keywords=Cycling+the+Pacific+Coast

I don't have much experience yet with stealth or bike camping above Santa Barbara (100mi north of LA) but you can look here for California State Park campgrounds that have a "Hike or Bike" camping option (click on By Feature on the left and check the box that says Hike or Bike). These campsites are usually $5-$10 per person per night with a 2 night max. I would try to use these when you can because they're a great resource. Unfortunately, many people abuse them by not paying, and the State Parks Commission is pulling them out of some campgrounds and not putting them in new ones.

From what I hear, it's easier to stealth camp once you're north of SF and especially north of California in general. A great resource for touring the coast is Bicycling the Pacific Coast with lots of directions and camping info. I think others may have a better idea of stealth camping options but that's what I know so far!

I more or less followed this guys route - Bicycling the Pacific Coast, I highly recommend it. It breaks down the day by day and gives you good advice on where to stop/see along the route even though it's 20 years out of print. A lot of people I met along the way, I was traveling by myself, were doing the same route.

I've done this route before. The Northern section is really great, but it can get a little hairy once you get into California. Take all the detours you can, it can be pretty heavily trafficked. The lost coast section near Klamath is really cool if your bikes can handle it. Stop off at casinos for free coffee. Bring a kite, they're a lot of fun. Get lost in the redwoods if you can, try to plan a couple days. There's a great swimming hole (or at least there used to be) along the avenue of the giants near Miranda with a big tree sticking out of the water that you can dive off of. You've got to be a little more serious about planning your days as you get south, it gets more built up.

There's a great book that lists routes, good hiker-biker spots, local history, and activities along the way.

Adventure cycling makes some maps with milages and elevations that list campsites, etc. They're expensive new, but you can get used copies.

The route is very well marked. I brought a copy of this map but really only used it to find camp grounds.

I have some ACA maps from the trip, but this book was better written. I would happily send you some ACA maps if you'd like. I think that I have the Northern Washington to LA sections. I have no need to keep them around. I gave my copy of that book away to someone else towards the end of my trip.

Personally I used this guide book to find both our route and our nightly campsites: https://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Pacific-Coast-Vicky-Spring/dp/0898869544, but it looks like it hasn't been updated since 2005. Like https://www.reddit.com/user/tony3011 mentioned, it would be prudent to call ahead. You might also be able to get some good, up-to-date info by looking at some trip journals at https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/locales/?locale_id=51157&doctype=journal.

Edit: Also, I would guess that the Adventure Cycling Association maps have fairly comprehensive and up-to-date info about hiker biker campsites.

You Can Find it Here

hmmm. Not sure about videos for beginners, but this is what I give all of my friends I convince to start BJJ https://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

Pick up a book called BJJ university. Its fantastic and will give you all the essentials you need to survive on the ground.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Jiu-jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

Came here to make sure this was mentioned. Derp, of course it is. It's a nice big book, textbook size with clear photos and great techniques.

Good deal on Amazon, 22 bucks and change. https://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

What I find helpful:

http://www.bjjlegends.com/maps/whitebeltmindmap_files/whitebeltmindmap.html

https://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

http://secure.gracieacademy.com/categories/dvds/GSD-GCDVD.html (they catch a lot of flak for various reasons, but I like this a whole lot to supplement class).

I just got Jiu-Jitsu University and absolutely love it. And you are correct, the white belt section is just survival positions.

I don't really know what the other sections are focused on as I am not going to read them until I have the corresponding belt.

https://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

You need to buy Saulos book:
http://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

It will explain a lot. It is a go to encyclopedia of bjj. I really wish I had bought it sooner. You should just study the first and second chapter for now.

I have and throughly recommend the following:

Jiu-Jitsu University

Drill to Win

Advanced Brazilian Jiujitsu Techniques

Yes, each technique is presented as a sequence of pictures, sometimes from two different angles. Take a look here. You can click on 'LOOK INSIDE' to see some sample pages.

Get this book: Jiu-Jitsu University

https://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434/ref=sr_1_1?crid=A2PG8M8L4R5C

And practice everything in the white belt chapter. It is appropriately titled "Survival". The blue belt chapter is "Escapes".

Practice makes perfect. As you said you only have 2 lessons behind you, upper belts having their way with you is par for the course. If you keep going you will get better. In the meantime order this book, it'll point you in the right direction.

As far as I know there are two programs that you should really consider. Overcoming Gravity by Steven Low and the Gymnastics Bodies series by Coach Sommers.

https://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Gravity-Systematic-Gymnastics-Bodyweight/dp/0990873854

https://www.gymnasticbodies.com/

I'm doing the program by Coach Sommers currently but I have experience with Steven's program as well since I have the first edition of his book.

I like Coach's program because you don't have to mess around with details, you can just buy the program (or borrow it from a friend) and get to work. Also, the mobility sections are absolutely amazing! The bad parts are that Coach himself isn't very friendly in my opinion and most of his experience is working with children. This is potentially not good because training children and training adults is totally different.

Steven's book is fine too and I believe the new edition tackles things not in Coach's program such as the Human Flag and some other cool skills. In my opinion, the first edition isn't really put together that well compared to Coach's product in terms of content and design. But the 2nd edition may have fixed these issues. He doesn't have as much experience as Coach but he is a much more friendly character and helps people out on many different forums.

Hard choice since both will get you to a planche but choose wisely! Have fun!

$110? Are you sure? Amazon.ca lists the book at $49.93 Canadian currently with shipping.

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/0990873854/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_YCgFzbZ400D4P

Overcoming Gravity: A Systematic Approach to Gymnastics and Bodyweight Strength (Second Edition)

Not sure for how long it's been up.

I find that my new coach's look like a deer in headlights when I ask them to scale simple moves. You'd be shocked at hard this for some people (in least I am shocked.) You are referring to this book http://amzn.to/2kJBxy2 right? Do you (or anyone else that would like to chime in, please do) think it's better than Free+style http://amzn.to/2lgZ39l. I've taken crossfit gymnastics cert, but I like to have good references available for my coaches.

Speaking of which, here's a link to list of our favorite books.
https://www.sandandsteelfitness.com/top-personal-training-books-crossfit-nutrition/

That is very interesting. The thing I often wonder about Amazon is who is selling the product. The $50 option wasn't there when I did the search. If you look at the sellers one is selling it for $50 and the other is $110. Someone must of gotten it in stock.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/ol/0990873854/ref=mw_dp_olp?ie=UTF8&condition=new

Has anyone applied the concepts and formulas from Daniels' famous book to other endurance sports?

This book really helped my distance running in college, but now that my knees are getting a little dodgy with age, I wonder about using the advice for cross-country skiing, etc. Or even using them to structure gym training on the exercise bike, elliptical, etc. to maintain cardiovascular fitness for health benefits.

Check out Daniel's Running Formula, it's what my coach used and it felt pretty effective to me at least.

I would suggest a lot of Interval paced training, assuming you already have a strong base to work with. Speed workouts when it counts of course, but from what I remember, Interval pace is the bread and butter of mid-distance events like the 800.

All the answers you need are here:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Mountain-Bikers-Training-Bible/dp/1884737714

As /u/milliken says, having a structured training plan is definitely beneficial. I'm just now starting to develop my plan as I get back into racing after a long layoff, and I've found this book indispensable.

FWIW, I also recommend:

• http://www.amazon.com/Lactate-Threshold-Training-Peter-Janssen/dp/0736037551
  
• http://www.amazon.com/The-Cyclists-Training-Bible-Friel/dp/1934030201/ref=pd_sim_b_5?ie=UTF8&refRID=1BHJ1VR61WPGYDBP8TAC
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Training-Racing-Power-Meter-Hunter/dp/1934030554/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y
  
• http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Meter-Handbook-Triathletes/dp/1934030953/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Precision-Heart-Training-Edmund-Burke/dp/0880117702/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427498205&sr=1-1
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Serious-Training-Endurance-Athletes-2nd/dp/0873226445/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427498205&sr=1-5
  

Here is the mobile version of your link

At less than 65% you would drop into "Active Recovery" zone. The % of your max heart rate correlates to (perceived) effort.

after training, your 65% MHR power would go up dramatically. A typical training plan you would do base training for long hours at 65% for 2-3 months. Then start adding in higher intensity intervals.

This is pretty much the TLDR for The Cyclist Training Bible

Thanks for the advice. I have Zinn as reference for essential tools.

is this the book you're talking about?
http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030422/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1332775060&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030422/ref=la_B001JP36Q0_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1343795038&sr=1-2

I find this very good also

I bought an old 12 speed racing Peugeot 3 months ago and I am delighted with it.

Since I live on a steep hill and had not done any kind of exercise in years, I asked a LBS for a solution and they put a mountain freewheel on it. I changed the tires (got bigger tires, good quality) and brake pads, cables and housing myself (some googling and checking my new knowledge at the LBS did the trick).

In other words, I went for the second hand, vintage (but a good make) bike because I was not sure I would stick to biking. With the tires I have, my road bike can handle gravel but certainly not trails with rocks and the likes.

Maybe the friend you borrowed the bike from could help you with a second-hand purchase.

If money is not an issue, put the money into a decent cyclocross bike but go to a reliable shop and discuss your options with them.

Oh... and I bought this book, it has got everything on bike maintenance (it is no rocket science... what is hard is to figure out components compatibility when you want to upgrade an old bike. If you are just maintaining your bike, it is pretty basic).

Unless you live in a very hilly area, basic biking is not that hard: the bike carries your weight. Essentially, you have to keep in mind that you should strive to pedal at a regular cadence and use your gears astutely. Increasing the length of your rides is probably what you are aiming for, if you enjoy the touristy aspect of riding. If you are more into fitness/cardio, well... I don't know (pedal faster, probably).

The only problem I encountered is finding a good saddle (it seems my last purchase might do) and finding raingear that does not make you feel like you are sitting in a hot bath.

[boom]
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1934030422/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1346883908&sr=8-1&keywords=zinn+and+the+art+of+road+bike+maintenance&condition=used)

I'm guessing the book is this, but I would be surprised if that were truly something Coggan had written. It doesn't sound like him.

This book is invaluable if you want to step your game up https://www.amazon.com/Training-Racing-Power-Meter-Hunter/dp/1934030554

OP, if you have not yet, please read Training and Racing with a Power Meter. If you have not read it I recommend just reading it through once, even if you start saying "what the hell is this part getting at?" Then once you are done reread it. It makes a ton of sense the second time through when you can see what he is laying ground work for later in the book.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/1934030554


There are PDF online free and also ereader versions. For the cost I just ordered online.

I highly recommend Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance

Look into getting some reference books, this book is a great one for mountain bike maintenance, and there is also a road bike equivalent.

You'll also need some fairly specialized tools, something like this would be more than enough, but if you get more serious you will want to replace items with the Park Tools equivalent.

You will also need a work stand, but in all honesty I just use something like this, but would not be a great option to work on long term. You will need something that clamps the bike in place, like this Park Tools stand.

TLDR; Bike maintenance requires a decent investment (for a 17 year old) for anything beyond changing a tube.

this helps me a lot

http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597

>Zinn and the art of mountain bike maintenance

Ha! There is such a thing!

https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597

I honestly thought it was a typo for Zen, and there is a billion "Zen and the art of something..." out there, and just figured that was one of those. And I was going to pass on yet again, another philosophy of life outlook. Read one, read them all. LOL.

Cool. Thanks.

http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Mountain-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030597

Not sure if this is applicable, but Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance is really good. I just picked up a copy and have been slowly making adjustments to my bike. It's really helpful.

There is also one for Mountain Bikes as well, which may better serve you.

I only briefly flipped through the Mountain Bike edition, but saw that it does cover flat bars and disc brakes, so I'd probably go with that version. Amazon has a preview of the book if you're not sure.

I used to think building and truing wheels was some kind of black magic. Then I decided to build my own wheel and it turned out to be pretty simple. I followed in instructions in Zinn's guide with a Park Tool TS-8 truing stand. Now I build and true all my wheels. It's pretty quick, too: about an hour for building and less than five minutes for truing.

https://www.amazon.com/Time-Crunched-Cyclist-2nd-Ed-Powerful/dp/193403083X

Here you go...

If you hate yourself, then Sufferfest videos. Otherwise, http://www.amazon.com/The-Time-Crunched-Cyclist-2nd-Ed/dp/193403083X

The Time-Crunched Cyclist, 2nd Ed.: Fit, Fast, Powerful in 6 Hours a Week (The Time-Crunched Athlete) https://www.amazon.com/dp/193403083X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_URwRyb1H75ZRE

I've got some semi-local rides that I can check that out on.

Will definitely check out Joe Friel's books. Thanks for the beta! :)

The books that helped me the most this year are listed below. What books, or training programs, do you recommend for someone who can get on 2-3 rides a week?



http://www.amazon.com/The-Time-Crunched-Cyclist-2nd-Ed/dp/193403083X

http://www.amazon.com/The-Feed-Zone-Cookbook-Flavorful/dp/1934030767

I'm trying to do more and more of my own repairs as I go. Flats are a non-issue...5 minutes on the side of the road and I'm back in the saddle. I've been slowly buying tools as I need them and the other day got this tool kit in the mail so I could replace a worn out bottom bracket and have some extra tools on hand that I don't have yet. My next project is replacing my gear and brake cables...haven't done that before so it should be interesting. I use this guy for a workstand - it does what it needs to do but it would be nice if it was a bit sturdier. Any time I need to sort out how to fix something I haven't done yet I consult Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, YouTube, and finally /r/bikewrench. I haven't royally screwed anything up yet and I hope to keep it that way!

Get a good book on bicycle maintenance. There are lots out there but I like Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance. If you're new to the whole thing it might feel overwhelming. Start with simple things like cleaning your drive train. You're probably also short on tools and all the specialized bike tools can get expensive. I'd recommend a starter tool kit from Park Tool. While you're there check out the Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair. If you think you'll really get into it think about buying a bicycle work stand. It makes working on a bike a whole lot easier which will make you want to do it more often.

Yep, Sheldon is my go to for answers. I also have Zinn's guide which can be pretty useful as well.

Heck yes, and in the spirit of this thread, bike tools! So much simpler to learn to do your own maintenance on a bike than on a car. It will save you a chunk of money too.

http://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030988

Zinn and the Art of Roadbike maintenance.

If you have the time and a few basic tools, bike maintenance is pretty easy to learn. My copy of Zinn and The Art of Road Bike Maintenance has saved me a lot of money over the years! Also, youtube and r/bikewrench.

I have this book and it has everything I wanted to know thus far. Plus it is pretty easy to read and understand. Good number of pictures as well if that helps you.
I have found that this channel is a great source also.

There are a few basic tool kits out there that should do the trick for you. Of course, I had to get a few additional tools along the way. I am just starting to learn how to do my own work as well, good luck!

Zinn's book has helped me immensely.

Also got a Park Tools toolset with some of the basic tools listed in the first part of Zinn's book, it's worked great so far. My bike is spotless and I clean it every 3 or so rides, takes 10 minutes.

This book is a great resource if you want to learn how to work on bikes:
Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance: The World's Best-Selling Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/1934030988/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_k3ZNDbA2KEHXE

The author is the tech writer for Velonews and he really knows his stuff.

be sure to get a copy of zinn's book: https://www.amazon.com/Zinn-Art-Road-Bike-Maintenance/dp/1934030988

It's actually not that hard. Aside from cassette/bottom bracket tools you will mainly just need a decent set of Allen (hex) keys and some spanners. A decent pair of cable cutters is probably worth it too if you're going to play around with cables/cable housing.

Sheldon Brown or "Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintence" will get you a very long way. Take the plunge :)

Zinn & The Art of Road Bike Maintenance for a book. Sheldon Brown for articles. Against the chainring or crank arm? If chainring, then it sounds like you just need to lube your chain.

In general, it's good to wipe your chain down after a ride using a rag and just pedaling the bike backwards with your hand. When the chain is no longer quiet, it needs lube. Different lubes last different lengths of time, so I can't really give a schedule for this. Riding in the rain is a good way to make the lube go bye-bye. Eventually the chain will need to be cleaned. Some people clean it on the bike with something like the Park Tools contraption, and some take it off. I take it off, clean it, and lube it before I put it back on (unique to the lube I use)

Can anyone recommend a good bike repair book? I was deciding between these two:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1934030988/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097655304X/

Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance: The World's Best-Selling Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Guide

I started with this book (mine is the older version): Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance

I custom build my touring bike with this book. And of course Shelton Brown.

Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance: The World's Best-Selling Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Guide https://www.amazon.com/dp/193771537X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Tsl8AbQ1CPQ4M

It is important to note how they explain the paces for each of the runs. There are mixes of easy/hard runs for a purpose and you should make sure your easy runs are actually easy. Use a recent race to determine your training paces using a calculator like VDOT or McMillian Running.

• Higdon (I would advise on selecting one of these for a beginner, probably novice 2)
  
• Hanson
  
• Pfitz (probably too advanced for you right now since it is designed for people that have finished a marathon)
  
  Another option is to join a running group. Many running stores such as Fleet Feet or Jack Rabbit offer marathon training programs. They will provide you with their own plan, running routes for the plan, and coaches and more experienced runners to gain advice from which is valuable for things like knowing your paces and learning about fueling. Plus it is much easier to run 20-milers when you are talking to others.

Welcome to the journey! Have you considered Hanson’s? It’s an absolutely fabulous plan. Very solid theory and science, a great community on FB, and once people try it they’re raving fans. It’s based on the concept of cumulative fatigue during training. As a result the longest long run is only 16 miles.

Hansons Marathon Method: Run Your Fastest Marathon the Hansons Way https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937715485/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_OFPcBb30SPJ11

https://www.amazon.com/Lions-Pride-Turbulent-History-Wrestling/dp/4990865812

Watch the match and judge for yourself.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x481v1j

Chris Charlton also made special mention of it in his book which is a great way to get educated on NJPW.

https://www.amazon.com/Lions-Pride-Turbulent-History-Wrestling/dp/4990865812/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523824175&sr=8-1&keywords=lions+pride

There's this book

I'm currently reading a book that does a great job of going through NJPW history. It's from 2015 and touches on the history of the belts.

https://www.amazon.com/Lions-Pride-Turbulent-History-Wrestling/dp/4990865812

I read the NJPW book the Lion's Pride and found out that one of Inoki's protégés had tried to start that a while ago and that is when the NEVER Title was created. However, the spinoff brand only ran a few shows and died off.

http://www.amazon.com/Lions-Pride-Turbulent-History-Wrestling/dp/4990865812

Okay, good luck with that. I’d be amazed if you read them.

Mondo Lucha A Go Go

Lion’s Pride

Those will give you some history of Lucha and Puroresu respectively.

Checking it out now, thanks.

http://www.amazon.com/Jiu-Jitsu-University-Saulo-Ribeiro/dp/0981504434

Got it. A one mile effort is run basically at your maximal oxygen capacity, or VO2max. To increase your VO2max, you need to incorporate some kind of interval training to your runs. This stimulates your cardiovascular system to adapt, increase your maximal aerobic capacity, allowing you to run at faster paces for a longer period of time.

For specifics, both for your goal and running in general, I recommend Daniel's Running Formula, or if you don't want to buy the book, there are tons of summaries online. It's a well validated, evidence based approach to running and training. PM me if you have any other questions. I'm happy to help in any way I can.

Source: Am Exercise Physiologist

Can't pass up this beauty of a book.

https://www.amazon.com/Street-Sword-Practical-Blade-Self-Defense/dp/1581605986

This isn't going to be a popular answer: don't buy upgrades.
Ride your bike and save your money. Then replace your existing bike with something better later.

If something breaks/wears out, by all means, replace it with something a little better. But, the bit-by-bit upgrades thing doesn't dramatically improve the bike.

Instead of buying a power meter, how about finding two group rides a week that are vaguely competitive and reading Joel Friel's book? http://www.amazon.com/The-Cyclists-Training-Bible-Friel/dp/1934030201

The simple act of trying to go faster a couple of times a week will improve your performance. Friel's book will give you an idea how to structure a week. Remember that the number of hours/week in the book is very high for most.

If you really want to train with power, once you have a plan using Friel's book, find a stretch of road that you can easily and safely ride hard without stopping for about 5 minutes and has two landmarks to start/stop a stopwatch. Ride the stretch of road the same time in the week every other week and log the times. Over time, (many weeks) you should see increases in performance. There's your power meter.

I'm not saying power meters are useless. I'm saying there's quite a bit to learn before using one has definite benefits.

Why is Overcoming Gravity so damn expensive? I'm not above paying for a book, but twenty eight quid is a bit much for me...