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Books > Sport & Leisure > Sports & outdoor recreation > Track & field sports, athletics
OLYMPIAN, WORLD CHAMPION RUNNER AND IRISH SPORTING LEGEND 'Sonia
walked to the start line with the other athletes, her tummy full of
butterflies. She could feel the eyes of the crowd upon them.
Sixty-five thousand people, all here to watch their race. She had
dreamt about this moment for so long, and now it was here.' As a
little girl, playing with her friends in Cobh, Co. Cork, Sonia
O'Sullivan was known as the fastest runner. When she joined a
running club and started to win races, she began to dream of the
Olympic Games. Through her talent, dedication and her ability to
get back up and dust herself down when things went wrong. Sonia
went from an ordinary girl who loved to run to an extraordinary
world class athlete. The story of one of Ireland's greatest ever
athletes -- and a dream made real.
Designed specifically for young people, this manual contains a wide
range of progressive practice drills to help them develop their
fitness. Fun, educational and challenging, all drills are
illustrated and cover the essential technical skills, including:
agility speed peripheral vision body awareness strength and general
fitness As well as easy-to-follow instructions, each drill contains
information on the equipment needed, the space required, how to
construct a safe and effective training session and how to organise
the athletes.
Armed with a toilet trowel and a converted Mazda Bongo called Roxy,
self-styled 'ordinary' ultrarunner, Gavin Boyter, embarks on his
latest long-distance challenge: to run the 3400km from Paris to
Istanbul along the route of the world's most illustrious railway
journey, the Orient Express. And, despite work on Roxy having
hampered his training programme, Gavin remains undeterred and plans
to run through eight countries, to cross 180 rivers and to ascend
16,500 metres, through forests, mountains, plains and major cities
- aided all the way by temperamental mapping technology and the
ever encouraging support of his girlfriend, Aradhna. En route,
Gavin will pass through urban edgelands and breathtaking scenery,
battlefields and private estates, industrial plants and abandoned
villages, and on through a drawn-back Iron Curtain where the East
meets West. He will encounter packs of snarling, feral dogs, wild
boar, menacing cows, and a herd of hundreds of deer. But he will
also meet many fascinating characters, including a German,
leg-slapping masseuse, music-loving Austrian farmers, middle-class
Romanians, itinerant Romanies, stoic soldiers, and boisterous
Turks. However, confined to the cramped conditions of Roxy, and
each other's company, Gavin and Aradhna's journey is not only a
test of the endurance and stamina required to put in the hard
miles, but of their relationship, too. After all, if they can
survive this challenge, they can survive anything. But will Gavin's
legs make it all the way to Istanbul, where he has planned a
special surprise for Aradhna?
In the spring of 2021, as the UK's latest pandemic lockdowns were
lifted, Nick Butter set out from the Eden Project to become the
fastest person to cover every mile of Britain's mainland coastline
on foot. Battling the most extreme winds Britain had seen in 100
years, days of torrential rain and the unrelenting hills of Western
Scotland and Cornwall, Nick suffered two broken bones and countless
injuries, whilst taking on two marathons a day, every day, for 100
days. Covering an extraordinary 5,250 miles, running for over 12
hours a day, struggling to take in the 8,000 daily calories
required to fuel his body, Nick battled sleep deprivation and
extreme weight loss as he pushed his body and mind to their limit.
Supported by close friends and family (including his
ever-dependable right-hand man, Andy Swain, whose diary extracts
feature in this book), Nick experienced spiralling lows and
euphoric highs. As he traversed footpaths, country lanes and busy A
roads, he passed through over two thousand coastal communities,
buoyed along by supporters cheering from windows, balconies,
passing cars and pavements, by school children and fellow runners,
and by the stunning sights and sounds of the British coast. Run
Britain is Nick's account of his extraordinary adventure.
Part sport and part exercise, running boosts health, longevity and
mental well-being. However, running is a demanding activity that
can potentially tax the runner's body and mind. Therefore,
possessing durability for running-a fusion of toughness and
flexibility-is desirable to enhance a runner's physical and mental
experience. This book-the first of its kind to combine corrective
exercise, self-myofascial release, and yoga-empowers runners with
measures to avoid unnecessary pain, injury and burnout. It is a
comprehensive guide to creating a simple and efficient system of
personalized supplemental training in which runners learn to
identify and address areas of imbalance and overuse. These training
methods increase strength, stability, mobility, and resiliency, and
require as little as 15 minutes per day to implement. Runners can
decrease the risk of injury, improve running performance, and
maintain joint health. The result: a more durable body and mind
that will support your running-and your life-for years to come.
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