We know that it can sometimes be tricky finding that piece of gear or perfect gift this holiday season, but we definitely think it can be done. This holiday gift guide is full of books that are sure to please the outdoor or fitness buff in your life. We have found books on running, triathlons, cycling and more. We hope that you can find the perfect book for that outdoors bookworm in your life.
Climbing Fitz Roy, 1968
Climbing Fitz Roy, 1968 tells the tale of a six-month excursion to Patagonia, Chile that changed the lives of three rock climbers who wanted to ascend Cerro Fitz Roy.
While San Francisco raved through the summer of love, three rock climbers, a skier and a filmmaker struck out on their own journey. The goal was the ascent of the iconic Cerro Fitz Roy in Patagonia, Chile. This six-month excursion resulted in the formation of a groundbreaking movie and several innovative companies (Patagonia, The North Face, Esprit) and the participants’ lifelong commitment to the environment.
• Hardcover
• 90 photos
• Printed on 100% recycled paper
• Page Count: 138
• http://www.patagonia.com/us/product/climbing-fitz-roy-1968-hardcover-book?p=BK670-0
• MSRP: $35.00
• Climbing Fitz Roy, 1968: Reflections on the Lost Photos of the Third Ascent
A Million Steps
Kurt Koontz thought he was well prepared for his 490-mile walking trip on the historic Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain. He was fit and strong. He had a good guidebook and all the right equipment. His pilgrim passport would grant him access to the shelter of hostels along the way. But all that, however helpful, did not begin to encompass the grandeur of his external or internal adventure.
A Million Steps climbs over the high meadows of the Pyrenees, quests through the unceasing wind of the Meseta, and dances in the rains of Galicia. While following the yellow arrows that mark the route, Koontz also navigates through his personal history of addiction, recovery, and love. With outgoing humor and friendliness, he embraces the beauty of the countryside and joyful connections to other pilgrims from around the world. Part diary, part travelogue, A Million Steps is a journey within a journey all the way to the Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela and beyond.
• Page count: 197
• MSRP: $15.99
The Feed Zone Cookbook
The Feed Zone Cookbook offers 150 athlete-friendly recipes that are simple, delicious, and easy to prepare. When Dr. Allen Lim left the lab to work with pro cyclists, he found a peloton weary of food. For years the sport’s elite athletes had been underperforming on bland fare and processed bars and gels. Science held few easy answers for nutrition in the real world, where hungry athletes must buy ingredients; make meals; and enjoy eating before, during, and after each workout, day after day.
The Feed Zone Cookbook strikes the perfect balance between science and practice so that athletes will change the way they think about food, replacing highly processed food substitutes with real, nourishing foods that will satisfy every athlete’s cravings.
The Feed Zone Cookbook includes:
• 150 delicious recipes illustrated with full-color photographs
• Breakfasts, lunches, recovery meals, dinners, snacks, desserts
• Dr. Allen Lim’s take on the science and practice of food
• Portable real food snacks, including Lim’s famous rice cakes
• Dozens of quick-prep meals for before and after workouts
• Shortcuts, substitutions, and techniques to save time in the kitchen
• Over 100 gluten-free and vegetarian alternatives to favorite dishes
• Try sample recipes at FeedZoneCookbook.com.
• Hardcover with full-color photographs throughout
• Page count: 320
• MSRP: $24.95
• The Feed Zone Cookbook: Fast and Flavorful Food for Athletes
The World’s Toughest Endurance Challenges
The World’s Toughest Endurance Challenges profiles 50 of the most extreme marathons, triathlons, bike rides, adventure races, climbs, open-water swims and other iconic endurance events from around the world. Breathtaking full-color photographs and insider commentary from top athletes will thrill endurance athletes, extreme sports addicts, and outdoor adventurers of all stripes.
Across the world seemingly ordinary people are undertaking extraordinary challenges that will push their minds and bodies to achieve the impossible – by sea, bike, foot, or sled. For many, these once-in-a-lifetime experiences become strangely addictive. From the Badwater Ultramarathon in the unforgiving heat of Death Valley to the South Pole Race in the freezing wilderness of Antarctica, there is an unbreakable drive in these tenacious competitors to see just how far they can push themselves.
The World’s Toughest Endurance Challenges is a truly inspiring and beautiful collection of what the human body can achieve when racing to the limits. With full-color amazing imagery and every detail of these cruel challenges, plus stories from competitors who have lived to tell the tale, this book is a wonderful testament to those who face Mother Nature and survive.
• Hardcover with jacket. Full-color photographs throughout.
• Page Count: 208
• MSRP: $29.95
• The World’s Toughest Endurance Challenges
The Elite Bicycle
The Elite Bicycle brings together intimate portraits of the world’s greatest bicycle artisans, examining the philosophies, the meticulous workmanship, and the eccentric personalities behind cycling’s most prestigious brands. Their materials and methods could not be more disparate, yet their pursuit is the same: the perfect bicycle.
In chapters featuring some of cycling’s greatest craftspeople, The Elite Bicycle offers up a conversation with the men and women who make the most coveted bicycles. Lavish, oversize photographs and personal interviews invite readers into their workshops to show the melding of old-world craftsmanship with space-age materials in fascinating studios and factories that fabricate superb machines.
The Elite Bicycle is both an homage to the bicycle maker and a collector’s piece in its own right, celebrating the stories behind the greatest bicycles and components in the world.
• Hardcover with jacket.
• Full-color interior with 250 photographs
• Page Count: 224
• MSRP: $39.95
• The Elite Bicycle: Portraits of Great Marques, Makers, and Designers
Tour de France 100
The Tour de France, first staged in 1903, is the world’s greatest sports spectacle, packed with heart-stopping drama, legendary rivalries, bitter tragedy, and outright farce. In its 100 runnings—the race was interrupted twice by war—it has cast its spotlight on some of the greatest athletes of all time, who fought their way across France’s magnificent landscape in pursuit of victory and the yellow jersey worn by the Tour’s overall leader.
In Tour de France 100, award-winning journalist Richard Moore celebrates all that is great, fantastic, amusing, outrageous, and overwhelming in the Tour through illuminating text and a cascade of defining images from the race’s extraordinary history.
Vividly reproduced photos abound of heroes of the race, from pioneers like Octave Lapize and Eugène Christophe—first to wear the yellow jersey—to legendary warriors like Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain. The great battles—Fausto Coppi versus Gino Bartali, Greg LeMond versus Bernard Hinault—are richly told, as is the shocking death of Tom Simpson and the controversial disgrace of Lance Armstrong. And the high drama of the modern era, represented by super-sprinter Mark Cavendish and the droll Bradley Wiggins, is fully covered as well.
There is nothing else that compares to the Tour, and Tour de France 100 is a superb celebration, as well as a keepsake of the Tour’s 100th edition that will be treasured by all cyclists and bike racing fans.
• Hardcover with jacket.
• More than 250 b&w and color photographs throughout.
• Page Count: 224
• MSRP: $34.95
• Tour de France 100: A Photographic History of the World’s Greatest Race
FASTER
Triathlon is among the world’s most gear-intensive sports. The gear you select and how you use it can mean big results—or bigger disappointment. FASTER takes a scientific look at triathlon to see what truly makes you faster—and busts the myths and doublespeak that waste your money and race times. In this fascinating exploration of the forces at play in the swim-bike-run sport, astronautical engineer and triathlete Jim Gourley shows where to find free speed, speed on a budget, and the gear upgrades that are worth it.
FASTER offers specific, science-based guidance on the fastest techniques and the most effective gear, answering questions like:
• Which wetsuit is best for me?
• What’s the best way to draft a swimmer?
• Should I buy a lighter bike?
• Deep dish or disc wheels?
• Are lighter shoes faster?
• Who’s right about running technique?
Gourley reviews published studies in peer-reviewed journals to show what scientists have learned about swim drafting, pacing the bike leg, race strategy for short and long-course racing, and the fastest ways to handle transitions. FASTER will change how you think about your body, your gear, and the world around you. With science on your side, you’ll make the smart calls that will make you a better, faster triathlete.
• Paperback.
• Infographics and and illustrations throughout.
• Page Count: 216
• MSRP: $18.95
• Faster: Demystifying the Science of Triathlon Speed
As the Crow Flies
When he became just the fourth man to win three Ironman World Championships, Craig “Crowie” Alexander joined triathlon’s most elite inner circle of champions.
In As the Crow Flies, the five-time world champion reveals his approach, his training, and the relationships that delivered the record-breaking race performance he says was a decade in the making. In his own words and through striking photographs from acclaimed sports photographer Paul K. Robbins, Alexander shows what it takes to race at the elite level—and how he balances the work of triathlon with his first priority, his wife Neri and their young kids Lucy and Austin.
Alexander reflects on influential moments of his early career and his entire 2011 and early 2012 season, bringing triathletes inside his head during key workouts, training blocks, and pivotal moments in big races. Crowie struggles through injury, illness, and changing sponsorships, revealing the delicate balance between elite performance and disaster. Yet hardship on the road to Kona yielded to Crowie’s hard work and determination as he won both the Ironman and Ironman 70.3 world championships, making him the first person to win both championships in the same year.
As the Crow Flies offers triathletes and sports enthusiasts a beautiful, intimate, and honest portrait of the life and work of professional triathlete Craig “Crowie” Alexander, five-time triathlon world champion and one of the sport’s most successful athletes.
• Hardcover with jacket
• Photographs throughout
• Page Count: 240
• MSRP: $39.95
• As the Crow Flies: My Journey to Ironman World Champion
Iron War
The 1989 Ironman World Championship was the greatest race ever in endurance sports. In a spectacular duel that became known as the Iron War, the world’s two strongest athletes raced side by side at world-record pace for a grueling 139 miles.
Driven by one of the fiercest rivalries in triathlon, Dave Scott and Mark Allen raced shoulder to shoulder through Ironman’s 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike race, and 26.2-mile marathon. After 8 punishing hours, both men would demolish the previous record—and cross the finish line a mere 58 seconds apart.
In his new book Iron War, sports journalist Matt Fitzgerald writes a riveting epic about how Allen and Scott drove themselves and each other through the most awe-inspiring race in sports history. Iron War goes beyond the pulse-pounding race story to offer a fascinating exploration of the lives of the world’s two toughest men and their unquenchable desire to succeed.
Weaving an examination of mental resolve into a gripping tale of athletic adventure, Iron War is a soaring narrative of two champions and the paths that led to their stunning final showdown.
• Hardcover with jacket color photosections
• Page Count: 320
• MSRP: $25.95
• Iron War: Dave Scott, Mark Allen, & the Greatest Race Ever Run
Run or Die
Kilian Jornet has conquered some of the toughest physical tests on the planet. He has run up and down Mt. Kilimanjaro faster than any other human being, and struck down world records in every challenge that has been proposed, all before the age of 25. Redefining what is possible, Jornet continually pushes the limits of human ability, astonishing competitors with his near-superhuman fitness and ability.
Jornet adores the mountains with the same ferocity with which he runs them. In Run or Die he shares his passion, inviting readers into a fascinating world rich with the beauty of rugged trails and mountain vistas, the pulse-pounding drama of racing, and an intense love for sport and the landscapes that surround him.
In turns inspiring, insightful, candid, and deeply personal, this is a book written from the heart of the world’s greatest endurance runner, for whom life presents one simple choice: Run. Or die.
• Paperback
• Page Count: 208
• MSRP: $16.95
An Accidental Athlete
Known by fans as “The Penguin” for his back-of-the-pack speed, John Bingham is the unlikely hero of the modern running boom. In his new book An Accidental Athlete, the best-selling author and magazine columnist recalls his childhood dreams of athletic glory, sedentary years of unhealthy excess, and a life-changing transformation from couch potato to “adult-onset athlete.”
Overweight, uninspired, and saddled with a pack-and-a-half-a-day smoking habit, Bingham found himself firmly wedged into a middle-age slump. Then two frightening trips to the emergency room and a conversation with a happy piano tuner led him to discover running and changed his life for the better.
In turns inspiring, poignant, hilarious, and heartbreaking, An Accidental Athlete is a warm and engaging book for the everyday athlete. Bingham tells stories of the joys of running; the pride of the finisher’s medal, a bureau-busting t-shirt collection, intense back-of-the-pack strategizing. An Accidental Athlete is about one man’s discovery that middle age was not the finish line after all, but only the beginning.
• Paperback
• Page Count: 216
• MSRP: $16.95
• An Accidental Athlete: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Middle Age
The Runner’s Guide to Yoga
Millions of runners practice yoga daily because it cuts injuries and leads to more fluid, enjoyable running. In The Runner’s Guide to Yoga, Sage Rountree—America’s leading expert on yoga for athletes—shows you the poses and practices for stronger, healthier running.
Filled with color photographs, clear instruction, and easy-to-follow routines, The Runner’s Guide to Yoga offers simple ways to make yoga a part of your everyday training, even if you have never set foot in a yoga studio. This practical guide highlights the routines that ease tightness in the hamstrings and hips, strengthen the core, build strength and flexibility throughout your body, and speed recovery from minor injuries.
Rountree highlights over 100 key poses modeled by real runners and includes focused routines as well as key pre- and post-race yoga sequences. The Runner’s Guide to Yoga will complement your running every day, all season long.
Discover how yoga can improve your running with:
• Dynamic warm-ups and cooldowns for your workouts
• Poses that target typical trouble spots, such as hips, calves, and hamstrings
• Self-tests to determine areas of weakness or imbalance
• Breath and meditation exercises to sharpen mental focus
• Paperback with full-color interior
• Page Count: 224
• MSRP: $19.95
Hansons Marathon Method
In Hansons Marathon Method, the coaches of the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project reveal the methods they’ve used to turn their runners into race winners, national champions, and Olympians. Hansons Marathon Method offers a radical overhaul of marathon training that promises to turn any runner into a true marathoner and help experienced marathoners set new personal bests.
Hansons Marathon Method does away with mega-long runs and high-mileage weekends—two outdated traditions that make most runners miserable. Instead, runners using the Hansons method will gradually build up to the moderate-high mileage required for marathon success, spreading those miles more sensibly throughout the week. Running easy days mixed with precisely paced speed, strength, and tempo workouts, runners will steel their bodies and minds to run the hardest miles of the marathon.
Both Beginner and Advanced training programs feature the unique Hansons 16-mile long run which, as part of the Hansons program, is ideal for preparing the body for the marathon. Humphrey explains how runners should set their goal race pace and shows how to customize the Hansons method to their own needs, like adding extra racing, running more miles, and handling training interruptions.
Detailed nutrition and hydration chapters help runners pinpoint their personal energy and hydration needs so they know precisely how much to eat and drink during workouts, race week, race day, and for recovery. The Hansons approach to pacing and nutrition means marathoners will never hit the wall.
Hansons Marathon Method lays out the smartest marathon training program available from one of the most accomplished running groups in the nation. Using this innovative approach, runners will mold real marathon muscles, train their body to never hit the wall, and prepare to run their fastest marathon.
• Paperback with illustrations and tables throughout
• Page Count: 256
• MSRP: $18.95
• Hansons Marathon Method: A Renegade Path to Your Fastest Marathon
The Last Wilderness: Alaska’s Rugged Coast
The Last Wilderness describes Mike and Diane McBride’s remarkable journey as they left Homer, Alaska and went across the bay to an abandoned spit of land. The couple wanted to live off the land and raise a family. After fifteen years of dedication and struggle, they built the environmentally- conscious Kachemak Bay Wilderness Lodge. Their story conveys the beauty, joy, and dangers of Alaska and the people they came to know. Beautifully written with humorous stories of people and events, this is a book everyone who likes adventure and eco-travel must read.
• Hardcover with jacket
• Page Count: 256
• MSRP: $27.95
• The Last Wilderness: Alaska’s Rugged Coast
The Dogs and I: True Tails from the Mississippi
Join Kenny and the dogs who have been his companions over the past fifty years. In this collection of stories, readers will delight in dog days on the farm herding cows and along the Mississippi trapping and fishing. Rover the mutt, Pepper the rat terrier, and many more will guide you through these humorous, warm, and adventure-filled stories that are a must for dog and outdoor lovers everywhere.
Listen to Kenny’s interview on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “The Larry Meiller Show” here
• Paperback
• Page Count: 160
• MSRP: $15.00
• The Dogs and I: True Tails from the Mississippi
Pathfinder Outdoor Survival Series
Imagine you found yourself alone in the woods with no food, water, shelter—or cell phone reception. Left to our own devices and without supplies, the majority of us lack the necessary skills to survive. Fortunately, it’s never too late to learn. The Pathfinder Outdoor Survival Guides are designed to help you take control in a dangerous environment by teaching you how to use the resources available—whatever they may be. The Pathfinder method, honed over 20 years of hands-on experience by master woodsman and survivalist Dave Canterbury, is now presented in a pocket-sized, 10-guide series from Waterford Press.
Like the Pathfinder School System on which they are based, these guides follow the wisdom of the ancient Native American scouts, or “pathfinders”. Charged with the task of locating the perfect spot to sustain their nomadic tribes, the pathfinders learned to recognize resources that would afford food, shelter, water, medicines and protection. Today, the Pathfinder Outdoor Survival Guides equip 21st century explorers with the skillset they need to be their own pathfinders.
Lightweight, waterproof, and virtually indestructible, the Pathfinder guides are an essential part of every pack. With Pathfinder Outdoor Survival Guides in your pocket, no matter where you are, you’ve got the answer.
• 10 different guides available
• MSRP: $6.95
• Pathfinder Outdoor Survival Guide
Jeff Corwin’s Explorer Series
Waterford Press and Emmy Award-winning TV Host and explorer Jeff Corwin are excited to announce their media collaboration with the launch of Jeff Corwin’s Explorer Series. Waterford Press will work side-by-side with JeffCorwinConnect, Inc., furthering the multimedia education company’s efforts to create the next generation of environmental stewards. Together, they will provide programs and products designed to engage people in the enjoyment and preservation of the natural world.
For their initial offering, Waterford Press and JeffCorwinConnect take on The World of Sharks, Primates, Wild Cats, Wild Dogs, Snakes and Bears in a 6-part series of Pocket Naturalist Guides, which are co-authored by Jeff Corwin and James Kavanagh, and will follow up with a series of Nature Activity Books focused on the same species to complement the learning experience.
Jeff Corwin’s Explorer Series is a species-focused introduction to the world of wildlife that seamlessly integrates the highlights and need-to-know information about some of the planet’s most critical and endangered species.
Pocket Naturalist Guides are lightweight, waterproof, easy-to-digest, and small enough to be read just about anywhere: at home, even on readers’ own field adventures.
• MSRP: $7.95
• Available direct from Waterford Press: orders@waterfordpress.com or you can call at 800-434-2555