Customer Reviews

Running to the Top

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

To those who say his theories are outdated, show me the results where Americans pounding the intervals or following a Daniels type plan are beating those like the Kenyans and the Japanese marathoners and Paula Radcliffe who train much more like Lydiard suggests. It's not a coincidence that Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi became the first two Americans to win Olympic marathon medals in 20 years. They are also two of the few Americans who follow a Lydiard-based training philosophy. The Kenyans do not train at LT pace all the time. Anyone who knows how they train knows that they train much like Lydiard suggests.

Yes, his writings are hard to read. He has a great mind when it comes to running technique but not quite so great when it comes to writing style. However, the wealth of wisdom in his writings is worth working yourself through the less than spectacular writing style if you are interested in racing performance.

My first thoughts were - "This is a book?" This is the most unprofessional job I have ever seen. The forward is one the most laughable English translations I have ever seen printed. As for the body of the text, it is clearly a compilation of various things Lydiard wrote over the years. The editors took all this different stuff, threw it together, and called it a book. The end has some charts sitting around with absolutely no explanation. The book repeats itself a lot, and there is a long section written exclusively about rugby. Apparently Lydiard once adapted his training ideas to rugby, and the resulting article was thrown into the book as a "bonus" or something.

That aside, it is fun to read some old Lydiard stuff. This book takes me way back to the glory days of the running boom, to Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers running in their heydays, which is funny since I was born in 1984. Always nice to hear that the reason "the negroid" is beating me is that he can lift his knees while leaning forward. Thousands of people have been trying for years to find out why the East Africans are so dominant, and here Lydiard had it all figured out years ago!

Joking aside, this is a decent book about training. Lydiard is not a proponent of Long Slow Distance. He supports Long Steady Distance. His focus on high mileage and basic speed is key. Many well-informed people believe that if Americans would spend more time developing their aerobic bases and less time on the track doing hard intervals, they would run much faster. I have found this to be true in my own running.

One thing I would have liked is a better description of the hill-bounding exercises. Lydiard mentions that you should do bounding exercises up a hill, but he doesn't go into the detail of exactly what this bounding should look like. That's my only true complaint.

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.

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 are endurance and aerobic development. Lydiard's advice in this regard remains unexcelled. The Africans train as the New Zealanders under Lydiard did in the 1960s. (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. Interested readers can find a modern, better-organized (and better-edited) presentation of Lydiard's ideas in Keith Livingstone's wonderful book, Health Intelligent Training: The Proven Ideas of Arthur Lydiard - gets my vote for best book on running training ever published.

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.

This book is a must read for those who believe in true strength training. The training technique that is talked about in this book is something that can be used at any level. A definite must read.

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.

Classic Arthur Lydiard! Nice reading a simplified approach to training which has been so complicated by today's standards. Definitely had to keep reminding myself when this book was written! I am able to refer right to the training plans and apply them. Good stuff!

This book is really relevant to today! for any type of runner and any age! has programmes and helpful hints for runners from all walks of life! will helpo you get to the top! has really helped me with this crosscountry season! I believe there are also swimming ones as well!