If you are an endurance athlete, then you should know the name Arthur Lydiard. And by endurance, I mean any distance from 800m to more than 100-mile ultramarathons. That's basically everyone. If you are a 100 or 200 meter sprinter, maybe even 400 meters, you can ignore the teachings of Lydiard. For everyone else, listen up! Lydiard was the greatest coach the world has ever seen. Great New Zealand runner and coach of Olympic athletes. He could turn a neighborhood slacker into an Olympian. Pretty impressive. The main Lydiard focus, but not the entirety of his training, is on development of a solid foundational aerobic base. Lots of running at easy paces. He was the first guy to emphasize 100+ mile training weeks. Same with periodization and peaking for goals races. I'm not an expert on this, but I've read a ton and watched a few videos. Here are the best resources to learn more about Arthur Lydiard and his style of run training:
From the coach himself:
Running with Lydiard
Running to the Top
Great interpretation of Lydiard's philosophy (with modern connections to research and training):
Healthy Intelligent Training: The Proven Pinciples of Arthur Lydiard (by Keith Livingstone)
And a couple of YouTube videos:
and the second part of that lecture...
Enjoy the Athur Lydiard training method. You will get faster and stronger. Special thanks to Coach Jeff for sending me the videos and re-connecting me with this legendary coach.
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