Rating: 
Summary: I laughed when I heard them criticize Lydiard...
Review: Arthur Lydiard experienced his greatest popularity in the '70s. Since then, everyone has soured on just straight high-mileage (lots of long slow distance) with many working in more quality work, or altitude training, or trying to do everything at lactate threshold like the Kenyans do. So, in a large part, Lydiard's training techniques are no longer state of the art. To purchase this book as a training bible would be to miss the point, however. "Running to the Top" is best treated as a manifesto of a brilliantly indosyncratic man, a man who genuinely belived in his theory. Lydiard's occasional asides about rugby team training (he put them on a high mileage plan, and they started having more endurance in matches) and his (absolutely correct) insistence on vibrant and prolonged physical activity in children (of any kind) are gems. Buy "Running to the Top" to get a glimpse at Lydiard the man and to pick up some tips on how to engage with your children in sport. Don't buy it and start running 150 miles a week.
Rating: 
Summary: an interesting historical document
Review: Arthur Lydiard experienced his greatest popularity in the '70s. Since then, everyone has soured on just straight high-mileage (lots of long slow distance) with many working in more quality work, or altitude training, or trying to do everything at lactate threshold like the Kenyans do. So, in a large part, Lydiard's training techniques are no longer state of the art. To purchase this book as a training bible would be to miss the point, however. "Running to the Top" is best treated as a manifesto of a brilliantly indosyncratic man, a man who genuinely belived in his theory. Lydiard's occasional asides about rugby team training (he put them on a high mileage plan, and they started having more endurance in matches) and his (absolutely correct) insistence on vibrant and prolonged physical activity in children (of any kind) are gems. Buy "Running to the Top" to get a glimpse at Lydiard the man and to pick up some tips on how to engage with your children in sport. Don't buy it and start running 150 miles a week.
Rating:
Summary: I laughed when I heard them criticize Lydiard...
Review: Arthur Lydiard's ideas are "outdated"???? Hardly. Lydiard was responsible for the training that led to world domination by successive waves of New Zealanders, Finns, and Africans. Ingrid Kristiansen's Lydiard-like training enabled her to set a marathon record that stood for 15 years. Peter Snell's 4:54 mile time, 30 years ago, would still place him high in many international competitions. As for runners who criticize Lydiard--to quote Peter Snell, "Where are the results?" The basics of ALL distance training is endurance and aerobic development. Lydiard's advice in this regard remains unexcelled. Let the Africans train at threshold pace. They also weigh less than 118 lbs on average, compared to Americans' 130+. Let's see what a 115-lb US runner can do against them on Lydiard's training regime. Then we'll talk about "outdated." This is a great book.
Rating:
Summary: I laughed when I heard them criticize Lydiard...
Review: Arthur Lydiard's ideas are "outdated"???? Hardly. Lydiard was responsible for the training that led to world domination by successive waves of New Zealanders, Finns, and Africans. Ingrid Kristiansen's Lydiard-like training enabled her to set a marathon record that stood for 15 years. Peter Snell's 4:54 mile time, 30 years ago, would still place him high in many international competitions. As for <American> runners who criticize Lydiard--to quote Peter Snell, "Where are the results?" The basics of ALL distance training is endurance and aerobic development. Lydiard's advice in this regard remains unexcelled. Let the Africans train at threshold pace. They also weigh less than 118 lbs on average, compared to Americans' 130+. Let's see what a 115-lb US runner can do against them on Lydiard's training regime. Then we'll talk about "outdated." This is a great book.
Rating:
Summary: A great book to use as a guideline for running and racing
Review: Arthur Lydiard, the legendary coach of the New Zealand track teams, knows running. Want proof? He has coached many Olympic Gold medal winners and many coaches today base their training philosophies on Lydiard. This book is easy to understand and provides clear, realistic work-outs for all levels. Whether you are training for a marathon, 10K, 5K or 800m, this book will get you started. Many of his training ideas from 40 years ago are still used today. This amazing book put his brain on paper. Get this book if you are serious about running or coaching.
Rating:
Summary: Try actually reading it
Review: Criticism of Lydiard based on the idea that he recommended "long slow running" indicates that the reviewer didn't actually try paying attention to what Lydiard wrote. If a three-hour marathoner running his Monday ten-miler at 6:30 pace and his Friday 10-miler at 6:15 pace - not even in base phase, this is in conditioning BEFORE you get to base phase - it that is your idea of "slow" distance, then your idea varies greatly from mine. Go back and read what he says comprises "half-effort" - for a 5:00 miler, Lydiard's version of half-effort is 5:16. If you're going to criticize an author, please read the source document.
Rating:
Summary: Try actually reading it
Review: Criticism of Lydiard based on the idea that he recommended "long slow running" indicates that the reviewer didn't actually try paying attention to what Lydiard wrote. If a three-hour marathoner running his Monday ten-miler at 6:30 pace and his Friday 10-miler at 6:15 pace - not even in base phase, this is in conditioning BEFORE you get to base phase - it that is your idea of "slow" distance, then your idea varies greatly from mine. Go back and read what he says comprises "half-effort" - for a 5:00 miler, Lydiard's version of half-effort is 5:16. If you're going to criticize an author, please read the source document.
Rating:
Summary: best distance coach ever
Review: He's trained 18 olympians, has taken years of physiology, and has been perfecting his programs since the 60's. This is definitely the book to get. I was one of the people who didn't know what the training did, so I got fired up and hammered it every day. Thankfully, I was able to learn about Lydiard and find a real way to train. He explains all of the physiology behind running so you have a revamped knowledge and know what to do instead of training blindly. Definitely a must have.
Rating: 
Summary: Older But Not Wiser: Outdated, Shopworn, DOA
Review: I admire Arthur Lydiard as a coach and one of the new theorists of modern training. His books from 20+ years ago were inspiring and interesting.This one rambles and it is hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. Most of the material, physiology and at this point even training advice are badly outdated, contain misinformation not based on any scientific reasoning or knowledge and go into areas where Lydiard and his co-author need not go. The anecdotal medical advice (and mispellings "bursar" for "bursa")are worse than pathetic. Another reason why not to trust your coach or his co-author with diagnosing or treating medical problems. There are many other good sources of medical information from Noakes books, to Michaeli to even the web. For training skip this and get Jack Daniel's book "Running Formula". For Lydiard get his older and out of print books and don't torture yourself with this thrown together and poorly translated text. Interesting a guy who starts off speaking english, gets translated into German, and then back to English and not well at that.
Rating:
Summary: Oh please!
Review: If Lydiard is "outdated" as you sugest, then how do you explain this: Mark Wetmore(Colorado @ Boulder - Buffaloes) uses a slightly modified version of Ludiard's training (so that his athletes are able to peak three times a year). They obviously have had much success.
|
