LINK to Fred Wilt's "HOW THEY TRAIN: Half Mile to Six Mile" (FANTASTIC resource from 1959)

When polled for their training schedules, pretty much everybody sent Wilt their most impressive and highest-intensity weeks. Go figure.

asdfadsfadsf wrote:

When polled for their training schedules, pretty much everybody sent Wilt their most impressive and highest-intensity weeks. Go figure.

Correct!

I believe it was in the next edition of "How They Train" that Bruce Kidd's training was listed. When I mentioned to East York Track Coach Fred Foot that I did not think our training was quit that fast he said that it would the next year.

Coach Mihaly Igloi had the right idea. I never knew how fast or slow I had run any of my workouts. It was all done by effort.

thank you

Fred Wilt, newly inducted into the National Distance Running Hall of Fame.

I used to own this book. It, along with 14 years of training logs, Percy Cerruty and other books and every award I won from age 12 (7th grade) to 26 was mistakenly thrown away by someone helping me move.

Yes, it was a great book.

good informaiton

asdfadsfadsf wrote:

When polled for their training schedules, pretty much everybody sent Wilt their most impressive and highest-intensity weeks. Go figure.

Well, I'm sure that was true of most, if not actually all. I did the same thing when someone once surveyed *my* training habits: gave him a legit week, but my best week.

Anyway, I was more interested in the *patterns* of their training, rather than specific times.

I still have it, and many other running books that I never look at anymore.

Wow, people used to read top to bottom and right to left? Or was this part of their training?

I ran from 1968-1971 before I decided to actually begin to race. I went to my local library to find running books. There was no internet or running stores in my area. This is the first book I read. I adapted some of the schedules and a year later ran my first road race.

J.R. wrote:

I still have it, and many other running books that I never look at anymore.

I also have it. I think it's an interesting look back at what people did pre-Lydiard influence and all that came from that. I really wish that Wilt had talked to Lydiard or Halberg for this edition, or not published until a couple years later when Snell and co were famous. The contrast in schedules and methods would have made for a more interesting read, I think.

I too owned a copy of "How They Train".

A great resource for any time period.

sandybeaver wrote:

J.R. wrote:

I still have it, and many other running books that I never look at anymore.

I also have it. I think it's an interesting look back at what people did pre-Lydiard influence and all that came from that. I really wish that Wilt had talked to Lydiard or Halberg for this edition, or not published until a couple years later when Snell and co were famous. The contrast in schedules and methods would have made for a more interesting read, I think.

Wilt coached Buddy Edelen, who ran 2:14:28 to break the marathon WR in 1963. His training was much more progressive and modern than Lydiard's, similar to Canova's modern training of today.

Edelen's book "A Cold Clear Day" is one of my favorites.

lease wrote:

Makes ya think...

That people train even better today.