A good comeback makes a great story. In The Comeback Quotient, sports journalist Matt Fitzgerald shares the stories of top athletic comebacks, to give you inspiration and tools for your own comeback in sport or life.

Every sports fan loves a great comeback. Is there a special quality shared by top athletes who triumph over great challenges? And can anyone acquire it? In The Comeback Quotient, celebrated sportswriter Matt Fitzgerald supplies the answer to both questions. He identifies these mega-achievers of astounding athletic comebacks as “ultrarealists,” men and women who succeed where others fail by fully accepting, embracing, and addressing the reality of their situations. From ultrarunners like Rob Krar to triathletes like Mirinda Carfrae to rowers, skiers, cyclists, and runners all over the world, Fitzgerald highlights and speculates on just what makes these comebacks so compelling. As for whether anyone can stage his or her own great comeback, the answer is a resounding yes: Anyone can become an ultrarealist to some degree. In the tradition of his best-selling How Bad Do You Want It?, The Comeback Quotient combines gripping sports stories with mind-blowing science to deliver a book that will forever change how you perceive the challenges you face, giving you the inspiration and the tools to make the next great comeback you witness your own.

About The Author

Matt Fitzgerald

Matt Fitzgerald is a certified sports nutritionist and the author of numerous books on running, triathlon, nutrition, and weight loss. His most recent books are Racing Weight Cookbook, Racing Weight Quick Start Guide, RUN: The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel, Racing Weight, Brain Training for Runners, and The Runner's Diary. Matt is a regular contributor to Men's Fitness, Men's Health, Outside, Runner's World, Bicycling, Running Times, Women's Running, and other sports and fitness publications. Fitzgerald is a featured coach on TrainingPeaks, Pear Sports, and Active.com. He is a certified sports nutritionist (CISSN) licensed by the International Society of Sports Nutrition. He lives and trains near San Francisco, California.

Product Details

Publisher: VeloPress (December 8, 2020)
Length: 224 pages
ISBN13: 9781948007160

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Raves and Reviews

“When the worst has happened, the best is next. The Comeback Quotient by Matt Fitzgerald provides elite-tested mental strategies for loving the comeback more than hating the setback.”

– Jim Afremow, PhD, author of The Champion’s Mind

“Fitzgerald has been writing about the psychology of endurance performance for more than a decade and is one of the pioneers in terms of trying to take this body of research out of the laboratory and into the field for everyone to try.”

– Runner’s World

“From the master of the mental game in endurance sports, a fresh look at what it takes to bounce back from adversity. Fitzgerald weaves together science and practical advice with his usual deft storytelling.”

– Alex Hutchinson, author of Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance

“Matt Fitzgerald has a winner in The Comeback Quotient. You will be on the edge of your seat as he tells the inspiring comeback stories from some of the most interesting individuals on the face of the earth, realizing by the end that along the way you have been given a blueprint to orchestrate a few comebacks of your own.”

– Ben Rosario, Head Coach, HOKA ONE ONE NAZ Elite