Endure

Very good book. I really liked how it interweaves various stories about endurance while maintaining the overarching question of how it might be possible to run a sub-two-hour marathon. The author’s own story and the motivation that led him to write this book are also fascinating.

The book is packed with really interesting science, presenting many different theories that all attempt to explain what endurance actually is. It examines the concept from a wide variety of perspectives, ranging from physiology to psychology.

Personally, I found the model of perceived effort the most convincing. It captures both the physical and the mental aspects of endurance. Your physical training certainly influences perceived effort, but so do psychological and situational factors such as how well you slept, your stress levels, your motivation, and many other variables. It provides a more holistic framework for understanding endurance than purely physiological models.