Alan and Liz from Running Book Reviews...review my book!

by Bryan Green June 9, 2021

I joined Alan and Liz on their podcast Running Book Reviews to discuss Make the Leap. The episode aired mid-May. I really enjoyed our conversation and we went much longer than we anticipated. (Save it for a long run!)

I asked Alan and Liz to provide me a formal quote/blurb/review. Here's what they sent me.

First, from Alan:

“Have you heard of a self-improvement book called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People? Well, Make the Leap by Bryan Green could easily have been called The 11 Habits of Highly Effective Runners!

Bryan will help you to think about your running improvement in a way that will push you forward no matter what your current level.

Maybe you should stop concentrating on that impossible goal at the top of the hill and start working on building the momentum that is going to push you higher than you ever imagined.”

Liz's review is a little longer.

"Have you ever really improved in something seemingly over night? Sometimes the main reason you are surprised with your improvement, is because for weeks or months you have been working on something, say training for a new 10k PB, and seen little or no improvement. Now all of a sudden, your 10k improves by over a minute?!! This has happened to me throughout my years of running, and I would subsequently get frustrated when the improvement stopped…. I mean shouldn’t I just continue taking 30 seconds off my 10k times at every race?

Bryan’s fantastic book, Make the Leap, explains this phenomenon. It was eye opening to look back at the improvements I made in the past and realize that this is the way improvement happens, and it is normal to have the “plateaus” in between jumps in performance. Looking back, I also found other things I was doing right on a consistent basis… Bryan calls this the “hidden training program”.

Although the book was truly eye opening in the context of my running, I can also look back and see that I made leaps in other areas through consistent effort. One example is learning calculus when I went back to school at the age of 28 and had not done any math since graduating from high school more than a decade earlier. I consistently went to class because I knew I used to be good at math. I refused to admit to myself that I’ve suddenly become “bad” at math, and after weeks of copying notes from the black board that I didn’t understand, it all started to make sense!

I definitely recommend that every athlete read this book to start thinking differently about your training and performance. I even believe non-athletes can benefit from reading this book; anyone who strives to be the best that they can be, will benefit from thinking differently about the way they practice their skill."

I hope you will check out my conversation with Alan and Liz and subscribe to their podcast, Running Book Reviews.