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Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. It is not geared at all toward the older runner except in the photos and in the title. Arthur Lydiard still thinks that the older runner needs to work up to a weekly mileage of 160km (100mi) a week to insure he or she is running fit. For the older runner and for that matter for most runners this is excessive. His schedules also advocate running every day. This also contradicts much of the advice given by other experts who advise at least one day of rest per week, especially for the older runner. I was also very disappointed in the photos. The photos depict an older runner doing various running drills. However, these drills are not described at all in the text. As a matter of fact it seems that for the most part the photos bear little relation to the text they are embedded in. My bottom line recommendation is to forget this book. There are much better books on the market for the Master runner that provide a lot more useful information.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. It is not geared at all toward the older runner except in the photos and in the title. Arthur Lydiard still thinks that the older runner needs to work up to a weekly mileage of 160km (100mi) a week to insure he or she is running fit. For the older runner and for that matter for most runners this is excessive. His schedules also advocate running every day. This also contradicts much of the advice given by other experts who advise at least one day of rest per week, especially for the older runner. I was also very disappointed in the photos. The photos depict an older runner doing various running drills. However, these drills are not described at all in the text. As a matter of fact it seems that for the most part the photos bear little relation to the text they are embedded in. My bottom line recommendation is to forget this book. There are much better books on the market for the Master runner that provide a lot more useful information.
Rating: 
Summary: Good stuff to jog an older memory
Review: This book brings out points that older runners maybe weren't aware of or had forgotten. For instance the emphasis on the high knee kick was something I did naturally when in my 20s but after taking 15 years off from running, my body just doesn't do it naturally. I've begun to really notice my form in training. The emphasis on quality running vs. high quantity for older runners is sitting very well with me. I can't do high miles per week anymore but I make sure there's lots of quality. Exercising the posterior muscles to enhance form is something I never thought of. I think we all get in the habit of developing arms and chest for our egos and forget about the back. The book is definitely a jumpstart in attitude. I just wish they used a younger looking runner to demonstrate the exercises. I feel old looking at the book's cover and knowing its geared toward me, a 44 year old. The guy on the cover must be in his 60s.
Rating:
Summary: Good stuff to jog an older memory
Review: This book brings out points that older runners maybe weren't aware of or had forgotten. For instance the emphasis on the high knee kick was something I did naturally when in my 20s but after taking 15 years off from running, my body just doesn't do it naturally. I've begun to really notice my form in training. The emphasis on quality running vs. high quantity for older runners is sitting very well with me. I can't do high miles per week anymore but I make sure there's lots of quality. Exercising the posterior muscles to enhance form is something I never thought of. I think we all get in the habit of developing arms and chest for our egos and forget about the back. The book is definitely a jumpstart in attitude. I just wish they used a younger looking runner to demonstrate the exercises. I feel old looking at the book's cover and knowing its geared toward me, a 44 year old. The guy on the cover must be in his 60s.
Rating:
Summary: Schedule is worth the price
Review: This book doesn't go into detail about why you should do each of the exercises shown in the schedule, but I recommend this book anyway because the schedule for masters would be a useful guide. This is basically why I got this book. I have read a previous book of his from '79 called Run the Lydiard Way, which gave the purpose of each of his exercises. Unfortunately this appears to be out of print, and I don't know if any other of his existing books provide the details. For example, you do hill springing for ankle flexibily and knee lift, repetitions (time, distance, and quantity don't matter, as long as you feel tired at the end) for anaerobic capacity, leg speed and sprint training for speed and technique, 100 and 50m windsprints for sharpening and maintaining anaerobic capacity, and time trials for getting the body conditioned to running your race distance. Some say his training concepts are outdated, but the fact is that all middle and long distance training are based on them. I have tried other schedules and have found his schedules to be the most effective for me. Some have said his 100 miles per week recommendation is outdated, but I have found his schedules will still work for you regardless of what mileage you decide to do. Btw, fyi the 'old' man on the cover that another reviewer lammented over is an Olympic Bronze medalist (Barry Magee) in the '60 Rome Olympics, trained by Lydiard to be the fastest white man over the distance at that time.
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