Breakthrough Women’s Running: Dream Big and Train Smart, by Neely Spence Gracey and Cindy Kuzma (Human Kinetics, April 2022)
Breakthrough Women’s Running is written just for you—a woman runner who has big goals and needs a plan to achieve them. In her trademark fun and upbeat style, professional runner and coach Neely Spence Gracey will set you up for success with an inside look at her own story in the sport—paired with the science, experience, strategies, and insights that have worked for her and countless other female runners who set challenging goals and achieved them.
Told with engaging storytelling and packed with colorful images and practical recommendations to improve your running, Breakthrough Women’s Running offers 5K, 10K, half-marathon, marathon, and run-walk training plans to suit your current distance or pacing goals. With the strength and mobility workouts included in the plans, you don’t have to wonder where and how to fit in these important (but often overlooked) components of a successful running training program. Learn how to breathe in rhythm and how to focus with mantras and mindfulness exercises. Get specific guidance on how to best manage unique challenges that women confront such as hormone fluctuations; training through the menstrual cycle, while pregnant, or after childbirth; and training while also raising a family. Know how to train to prevent injury as well as how to return to running should an injury occur. And fuel your training with five simple recipes that are nutrient dense and simple to prepare.
You’ll hear from well-known, successful women runners such as Sara Hall and Nell Rojas on how even elite runners experience highs and lows in their training as well as how they themselves overcame obstacles to reach their goals. At the ends of chapters, you’ll find Breakthrough Goals—a section of small, tangible actions that you can apply in your own training to overcome specific obstacles.
If you’re looking for a strategic and progressive approach for breaking through your physical or mental barriers to achieve more successful and fulfilling running, you’ve found it with Breakthrough Women’s Running.
Rebound: Training Your Mind to Bounce Back Stronger from Sports Injuries, by Carrie Jackson Cheadle and Cindy Kuzma (Bloomsbury Sport, Oct. 2019)
Visit The Injured Athletes Club for more details about the book and the rest of our work with injured athletes.
Injuries affect every athlete, from the elite Olympian to the weekend racer. In the moment, a traumatic crash, a torn muscle, or a stress fracture can feel like the most devastating event possible. While some athletes are destroyed by the experience, others emerge from their recovery better, stronger, and more confident than ever.
The key to a swifter, stronger comeback is the use of mental skills: psychological tools that enable an athlete to take control of their recovery and ultimately use the experience to their advantage. Injury and other setbacks are inevitable – but with training, overcoming them skillfully and confidently is possible
Rebound provides a clear, compelling explanation of psychological recovery from injury and a practical guide to building mental resilience. Weaving together personal narratives from star athletes, scientific research, and the specialized clinical expertise of mental skills coach Carrie Jackson Cheadle, it contains more than 45 Mental Skills and Drills that athletes can use at every phase of their recovery process. These same strategies can help athletes who aren’t currently injured reduce their vulnerability to injury, and enable any individual to reach new heights within their sport and beyond.
Marathon Spectator Guide: How to Support Your Runner All 26.2 Miles, by Matt and Cindy Kuzma
Running a marathon requires months of training, a high tolerance for pain, and an intimate familiarity with a product called Body Glide. Fortunately for you, watching a marathon involves none of the above!
Doing just a little bit of planning and preparing of your own will make things a lot more fun and enjoyable for you on race day, while also allowing you to be the best possible cheerleader, photographer, and crew member for your runner.
Matt and Cindy Kuzma—a pair of experienced runners, spectators, and writers—bring you this step-by-step guide to watching your first or best 26.2-mile adventure. Buy it to learn to support the runner in your life. Runners, buy it for your friends and family; place them in our capable hands so you can focus on your race!
The Superfood Swap: The 4-Week Plan to Eat What You Crave Without the C.R.A.P., by Dawn Jackson Blatner, R.D.N. with Cindy Kuzma
For more than fifteen years, nutritionist Dawn Jackson Blatner has helped hundreds of clients lose their bad eating habits and step up to optimal health. The key? Not deprivation, but a new kind of gratification, which she calls “super swapping”—exchanging fake foods for wholesome high-quality foods—superfoods. A largely plant-based diet rich in fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants stabilizes hunger hormones, speeds metabolism, and fights disease.