brilliant books to be a better athlete
Book review: Failure is an Option by Matt Whyman
I have never run an ultramarathon. I can very honestly say I will never run one either. But I have supported at many (my husband runs them) and I work with many ultrarunners on their mental preparation skills as a Sport Psychologist. It is a sport that is fascinating;...
Book Review: Smart Climbing by Dr Rebecca Williams
When I think of the sports that would be most likely to prompt a large dose of fear, Climbing is high (sorry!) up there; particularly the fear of falling or the fear I’d get myself into a position I couldn’t escape. I, like many others I suspect, watched Free Solo...
Book Review: Listen by Kathryn Mannix
When I began my training as a psychologist my supervisor suggested that all sports psychs should attend a counselling course. It was enlightening. On our MSc we had been taught a couple of interventions but on this course we were taught not to intervene, not to...
Female athlete autobiographies
A great sport psychologist I chat to says 'Success leaves clues'. And it does. We can often learn what works, and what doesn't work from others. We can be inspired by their journeys, comforted by how they survived their setbacks and learn lots about sport and...
Review: 1001 Running Tips, Robbie Britton.
Robbie Britton is known for being one of Britain’s best ultra-runners and long-distance coaches. He thrives at the races where most of us would recoil in horror (like 24 hours non-stop) but usually writes about them in a way you are almost (and I stress only almost)...
Review: Master the Marathon, Ali Nolan
‘Master the Marathon’ arrived to review just after I’d figured out with my physio that my hip really wasn’t designed for marathon running and that I should instead focus on getting faster at 5k and 10ks. I saw the book and sulked. I love the magic and power of a...
Book review: Revolutions: How Women Changed the World on Two Wheels by Hannah Ross
I love cycling: riding in races, training or commuting, watching it standing by the side of a road, somewhere muddy or at the track. I’m also passionate about women’s sport; how can we get more women active, enjoying the brilliant benefits of movement, community and...
12 lessons for Sport Psychologists from a former FBI hostage negotiator
I needed to get a handle on a corporate contract recently and felt I was doing an awful job of it – as a psychologist my ‘wanting to help people and improve their wellbeing’ side overtook my ‘I won’t be much support to anyone if I can’t pay the mortgage’ side. A...
Book review: You’re so strong
I have a bit of an issue with books – a good one, but an expensive one; I love them. Something so special about holding one and knowing it is going to teach you something, make you feel differently about a subject or just completely sweep you away into a...
Book Review: Bespoke (Tom Bromley)
I was recently working on a piece for Cycling Weekly on Imposter Syndrome and realised one of the reasons cycling can seem such a mysterious world (even to really competent riders) is the history and the language. We may know that simply grabbing our bike and going...
Book review: Start at the End
Dan Bigham is a cyclist and engineer who wanted to use his engineering knowledge to have a crack at the national team pursuit championships. I won’t give too much of a spoiler but the process went well and gives a story we all love to read; the wannabe’s underdogs...
Book Review: Running Stories
I was intrigued about this book as one of the authors (Jerry Lockspeiser) is at the same running club as I am. It was co-authored by Andrew Roberts. I love hearing the stories of runners; what they love about running, what they hate, what helps them to thrive and what...
Eating Disorders: Resource directory
Over lockdown a number of people reached out who needed support for disordered eating but didn’t fit the NHS guidelines for getting support. They couldn’t afford private psychology and nutrition help and were struggling. This lack of NHS support unless you have a...
Book Review: In it for the Long Run
So, hands up – I am biased. I am in this book! Just a little bit but Damian and I worked together before his epic Pennine Way record attempt in the summer of 2020 and he discusses the work we did in the book. But despite me marring the pages I still loved it. It is...
Autobiographies: Male Track and Road runners
I work a lot with teenage track runners and while many of the girls are inspired by Autobiographies by athletes like Kelly Holmes, Jess Ennis or Chrissie Wellington I struggled to find some that teenage boys felt they could really relate to. So a quick shout out on...
Book Review: Start with Why, Simon Sinek
The performers I work with often ask which books they should be reading in order to be able to maintain their high performance. There are always two I recommend because their subject matter is so fundamental to being able to perform under pressure; Professor Steve...
Book review: The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg
I raced in one of those triathlon’s recently where you register and put your stuff in transition at 5:30am and then, because it is in a swimming pool, have to sit around for literally hours until your slot opens up. I had over 400 people ahead of me. I took a grown up...
Book review: Need for the bike, Paul Fournel
I recently broke my elbow. It at the end of a triathlon I was savagely thrown off my bike by a bump or a dent in the road and so now, in the glorious heat of the summer, having suffered all winter, I cannot get my reward and go out riding (or running, or swimming, or...
Book review: The Passion Paradox, Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness
If you want some basic, good quality health and wellbeing advice then Brad Stulberg is your guy. His twitter feed (@BStulberg) is full of simple common sense and his articles, while always evidence based, are written in a way you actually want to read. He turns the...
Review: How to support a champion, Steve Ingham
I attended a week long workshop a couple of years ago at the English Institute of Sport and one of the people leading it was Steve Ingham. He had some great advice on how to build our skills as applied sport scientists so I bought his book as soon as it came out. And...