Run Fast: How to Beat Your Best Time Every Time
by Hal Higdon
Rodale, 2000 (ISBN: 1-57954-269-7)

Hal Higdon is a senior writer for Runner's World magazine and author of more than 30 books, including Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide, Hal Higdon's Smart Running, and Hal Higdon's How to Train.  He is a competitive masters runner, coach, and lecturer, and offers expert advice on the Internet.

This book spells out a complete program to help you increase your speed, improve your race times, and motivate yourself to achieve your running goal.

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Here are a few quotes from this book:

"It is a physiological fact that if you can teach yourself to run faster at shorter distances such as the 5Km, you will be able to improve your performance at longer distances as well."

"Running fast[er] requires mainly a change of attitude and a willingness to experiment with different workouts and training methods."

"One reason why the Kenyans have been able to dominate the world distance running ranks recently is that they train together and push each other every day in practice."

"We [all] want to get better, and that brings us face to face with the quintessential training question: How can you train hard enough to improve, but not so hard that you get burned out and/or injured?"

"The experts all tell us: You can't run fast[er] unless you train fast[er]."

"... [running] success depends on the development of a strong aerobic base.  Endurance is the foundation of your [entire] running performance."

"Endurance training must come first, insists Bill Dellinger, former track coach at the University of Oregon and a bronze medal winner at the 1964 Olympic Games.  Speed is merely a supplement to strength."

"The more and more [running] you do, the tougher it is to improve ... and at some point, the curve tips downward.  So be cautious in increasing [your] workload."

"The best method for developing speed ... is to begin with a slow aerobic base, then move to the fast[er] anaerobic training."

"The secret is to start slow during your long runs, but finish fast[er]."

"In '3/1 training', you run at a comfortable pace for the first three-fourths of the workout.  In the final one-fourth, you gradually accelerate to a pace 30 to 90 seconds faster per mile than the pace you had been running.  For those who use heart rate monitors to guide them in training, the first three-fourths of the run might be executed at an easy pace (65 to 75 percent of maximum heart rate) before moving to a medium pace (75 to 80 percent of maximim)."

"The key to endurance training ... is to gradually increase your exercise stress.  In order to induce an adaptation, you have to force the system to do something it is not currently adapted to."

"The combination of intensity and frequency that elicits the greatest absolute and relative change [in your endurance] is 75 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate, four times per week, with exercise duration of 35 to 45 minutes."

"Acquiring speed endurance requires some natural talent, but with the mental focus to train ... and to train smart ... anyone can develop a faster, stronger pace."

"... regardless of your ability or performance potential, you can improve if you train correctly."

"If running two or three marathons a year is your life focus, you may be able to achieve a breakthrough performance after a season working on your short-distnace times."

"An economical runner is one who burns modest amounts of oxygen at a given pace; an uneconomical runner requires large amounts of oxygen (and energy) for the same running speed."

"Most better runners land on their midfoot, that is, at a point just behind the ball of the foot."

"Interval training has been proven as a way of improving running ability [form]."

"If you want to be a fast[er] runner, you must be willing to accept a certain amount of discomfort."

"Too many people write themselves off as having bad bodies when they possess more potential than they realize.  They simply are unwilling to do the hard work, including speed training, necessary to convert their supposed bad body into a good one."

"Speedwork is a training method that may allow you, after many months or even years of long, steady running, to continue to progress after you seem to have reached a performance plateau."

"Speedwork consists of any training done at race pace or faster."

"Build your speedwork the way you build your distance.  Start easily and gradually increase the pace for the full length of the [run]."