Acknowledgments

Working on this book as a member of an academic community has had a profound effect on how I view the world: I have friends and colleagues I knew were there, but also have many I didn't realize existed. These are selfless people who have their own careers to look after and are so busy it is hard to see how they manage to get their work done. Yet, there hasn't been a single instance where a request from me hasn't been responded to quickly, fully, and accurately. These are exceptional people who are full of good ideas, understand the science, and know the critical pieces of information that people can use to make their lives better. To put it simply, they are amazing folks who I acknowledge here as making a positive difference to this book and to the lives of athletes and coaches who will access the information contained in these pages.

Dr. David Martin, with whom I codirect the Laboratory for Elite Athlete Performance, has an encyclopedic understanding of the marathon. His knowledge of how environmental conditions and course elevations affect human running performance is without rival, and a major factor in the success of the USA marathoners at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. His pre-event training camps for marathon competitors who represent the USA at world championships and Olympic games have become legendary and are must-attend events for these talented athletes and their coaches. Over the past years, Dave and I have traveled the world together, and he has always found a way to cleverly clarify complex issues in our discussions. One of my favorites, "The solution to pollution is dilution," cleverly answers many questions related to the confusing results derived from the assessment of dehydrated athletes. Dr. Dave, as he is lovingly called by those who know him, is a rare combination of ionospheric brilliance and plain old-fashioned fun. I owe him much.

Dr. Walter Thompson is an exercise physiologist with extraordinary talent and energy. He is deeply invested, both personally and professionally, in the well-being of inner-city youth, while carrying a full spectrum of committee assignments, research grants, and university teaching. Despite a schedule that would make most people wither, he still manages, with his wife Deon, to bottle some of the best merlot I have ever tasted. Walt has been a close colleague for many years (he was the best man at my wedding), and we have coauthored a number of papers and book chapters. It may seem an overstatement to say that I rely heavily on his council, but I do. He is one of the first people I bounce ideas off, and he always manages to instill clarity to my thoughts.

Dr. Mildred (Missy) Cody is a food scientist with a knowledge base that would make most people explode. But Missy maintains a quiet, pleasant, competent demeanor that often belies the powerhouse that she is. Missy is "cutting edge" in almost everything she does. She is the person people go to for a better grasp of new electronic media functionality, and she constantly tweaks course content and delivery to enhance the possibility that students will be exposed to more information in a better way. For me, besides being a friend and colleague, Missy is a fountain of creative ideas. You just never know what you might learn over lunch with her, which makes her a sheer joy to be around.

The people at Human Kinetics I have worked with on this book-articularly Jana Hunter and Kase Johnstun-re good and bright people who take the edge out of all the details associated with writing a book. Human Kinetics is lucky to have them, and I feel lucky that they were assigned to this project.

I work with athletes. They are too numerous to mention in the context of this acknowledgment, but you know who you are, and this paragraph is directed to you. Without you I would have nothing of use to anyone, so I owe you more than you could ever imagine. You are the best of the best, and you stimulate me to be better than I am. Thank you.

The ideas in this book represent an amalgam from all those mentioned above and many, many others, including my wife, Robin, who provides me with a constant and reliable sounding board. Ideas come from many places: an informal conversation with a coach, a speaker at a conference, lunch with a colleague, dinner with a group of athletes, observation of athletes competing-he soup from where I pulled the information has many ingredients and flavors. I know that every one of my words has someone else's influence on it, and I am thankful.