People run for various reasons like to lose weight, to stay fit, to reduce the risk of disease, to feel relaxed and reduce stress. But for most of us running is partly recreational therefore we usually are not able to reach our maximum potential while running and tend to waste a lot of energy that could be used otherwise. In the 1970’s, Arthur Lydiard shot to fame for his training and technique on long distance running.
Lydiard came up with a training plan which he had used on himself for easy distance running for the everyday man and woman when such a thing as exercising to reduce heart diseases was unheard of. He used his own learning and experience to propagate that losing weight and becoming fit could be done easily by increasing one’s stamina and using that very stamina to burn more calories. In his own words “running to your full potential is all about having just a substantial mileage base, not overdoing any of your anaerobic training”. He emphasized that aerobic exercises enhance your running economy a lot more as compared to anaerobic exercise. He promoted sustained running and believed that it is the speed of running that stops you and not the distance, by maintaing a steady pace you will be able to cover large distances without knowing it. Therefore most of training is a balanced combination of both aerobic and anaerobic exercises. He went on to write books and training manuals like “Running the Lydiard way” where he detailed his plan of training for distance running.
One Lydiard’s most popular training schedules have also been called running with Lydiard. This training plan is of 28weeks, of which base conditioning consists of 12 weeks, and this implies weeks of three hour runs to condition your body to a steady pace of your running. The next 8 weeks would be for speed development and hill training where in running up and downhill will be able to increase your stamina and develop a good running form. Speed development is basically done through a number of track session and sprint training to develop speed and motion. The next 6 weeks is for sharpening, which are dedicated to sharpening and honing the running skills that have been acquired over the past weeks this is the time for a complete work out trial. And the last 10 days are considered to be for tapering or rest and prepare you mentally and physically for your target or goal. The key to running with Lydiard is to practice and build your running economy.