Distance Training for Masters [Paperback]

Arthur Lydiard (Author), Garth Gilmour (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Meyer & Meyer Verlag (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841260185
• ISBN-13: 978-1841260181
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,799 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good stuff to jog an older memory, August 31, 2000

By 

Richard Belanger (Ipswich, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Distance Training for Masters (Paperback)

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.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Schedule is worth the price, July 7, 2001

By 

kfer "kfer1461" (Redmond, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Distance Training for Masters (Paperback)

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.

15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, October 6, 2000

By 

Arthur H Schwartz (Ellicott City, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Distance Training for Masters (Paperback)

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.