More Fire: How to Run the Kenyan Way

This is Toby Tanser's third book on Kenyan distance running, the other two being Train Hard, Win Easy, published in 1997, and a revised 2001 edition. He is uniquely qualified to write about Kenyan running. He lived in Kenya for 6 months (1995) and is a professional runner himself. The East African dominance of world distance running remains unchallenged and exceeds the reign of other of history's national dynasties such as Finland, Hungary, New Zealand and Australia. This book explores the various theories on this dominance and rejects most of them. Altitude, poverty, genetics, performance enhancing drugs, all are examined and dismissed. Readers looking for the secret will not be disappointed though; it's the ability to focus in an uncluttered environment (no cell phones, TV's, DVD's, play stations), a love of hard training followed by more hard training, a belief in doing whatever it takes, and an inherently optimistic nature. All these characteristics are developed in a life that Paul Tergat, former world record holder at the marathon, describes as "sheer hard work and persistent hard struggle, especially to get the basic necessities of daily living." Mr. Tanser's treatment of his subject is thorough, if not exhaustive. The book includes chapters on a brief history of Kenyan running, training, diet, coaches and over 100 pages of profiles on all the prominent Kenyan middle distance and distance runners. Mr. Tanser has done a terrific job of illuminating this subject and book collectors should note that his other 2 volumes on Kenyan running, now out of print, are selling on Amazon.com for over $100. More Fire is not for collectors though, but for distance runners and anyone in that category will be inspired by Tanser's account of the ferocious simplicity of Kenyan running.

I read book during high school and fell with it.As a person who used to be very fat, I read some of the runner's stories who used to be in my situation and said, "Hey, I can prove it to you that I can run with 'more fire'". Years later, the runners who used to be fat were very lean, and represented their country well.I'm also humbled by the background of these runners. Compared to the upbringing to today's runners in the United States, most of them, by socioeconomic reasons and health reasons, should not have succeeded in the Olympics or in any other international championships. Yet, despite all of the poverty, malaria, AIDS, etc., they have proved to the world that they have a dominance in distance running, and are happy to share that it's nothing special, but hard work, and doing the right things to become champions.This book is a recommended read for both Olympic Champions, and the beginner in distance running. It will definitely make you run more fire like the Kenyans do daily.

For many folks that truly admire and respect what the Kenyan runner's have done in the last several years and will never make it over to Kenya, either because a lack of money or speed to hang with these "elites", this book provides unique insight into the Kenyan runner's mind and life in their running camps that they live and train in. A must read if you are into running.

I loved this book on so many different levels. It's was very interesting to learn more about how Kenyans have emerged in the running scene in recent decades. In addition, very inspirational on how hard poverty stricken Kenyans train to become elite athletes, many can't even afford running shoes. It was happy and sad to hear about the future of successful runners....some champions get mixed into the wrong crowd and lose everything while others give back to the community and make a difference.I learned a lot about Kenyan training methods. After implementing a few methods/philosophies from the book (the ones that I could), I was able to run a 38 mile week for the first time...no problem and pain free. I'm a 40 yrs old woman and am fairly new to running so this is a huge milestone. I also finished my last race with a 7:20 min/mile pace. I really feel that I'm a stronger and faster runner. Can't wait for my next half marathon.If you are a runner looking to improve, I highly recommend this book. It will inspire you to be a better runner.

It has a lot of information about Kenyan and it's runners. It does talk about who they are and gives examples of their work out, and discusses some of the principles of their training. However, the whole style of the book drove me crazy. To many stories within stories within stories. It made if very difficult to put all of the stories together and learn from them.

This was a great book that I'll be going back and reading several times.Could be better edited, because I found myself stopping and trying to figure out what was going on. Part of that was formatting issues that had captions doubled up, but on different pages, so there are random sentences in the middle of a paragraph.For someone who has really followed the running scene for a long time, the names will be a lot more familiar, but I had a hard time remembering which athlete was which (particularly as the first name of many of them start with Kip!). If you're looking for the training schedules, they're in the back, under profiles. Many of the major athletes' average week program is there, along with their running/training philosophy.tl;dr If you're into running and want to take it to the next level, read this book.

The book talks about many Kenyan athletes, and how they managed to succeed despite the poverty and lack of resources. A good book to know more about the environment elite Kenyan runners generally grow up.

Really enjoyed this book, a must read for any runner. Having been to Iten - and meeting Toby (the author) - his writing can bring you back to Kenya without having to leave your house. There’s something special in those dirt roads and outstanding runners, and Toby paints a beautiful picture

Livre arrivé neuf en parfait état. Conforme à ce qui était prévu.C'est un excellent livre technique. Je precise bien technique ce n'est pas un roman. Dommage qu'il ne soit pas traduit en Français. Il y a énormément de plans d'entraînement des plus grands champions kenyans. Ça va dans le détail de la semaine type avec le contenu et la recup. Et pourquoi ces choix. Du 800 au marathon. Ce livre vous donnera vraiment un éclairage et une autre façon d'appréhender l'entraînement. De ce que vous avez peut être appris en club en Europe. Qu'au final doubler ce n'est infaisable. Que les kenyans ne courent pas tout le temps à fond. Il y a beaucoup de footings easy ou easy easy. Tout consiste à bien doser les séances et le repos.Après il manquera toujours le temps pour appliquer la recette et le fait de ne pas courir tout le temps en groupe comme ils le font et le gain que cela procure quand ils parlent des runs 30min high speed.

Nicht, wie die hundert anderen Bücher zum Laufen. Erzählungen aus dem wahren Leben, echte Motivation schwappt über. Niemals wird man voll gesäuselt mit den üblichen Tipps. Dazu noch die Tatsache, dass pro Buch etwas für einen guten Zweck weiter gegeben wird, top!

This book feels fair and factual. You don't read this book to learn something, you read it out of curiosity and the author simply tells us what he saw and leaved as well as lot of data for those who love it.