100-mile week Lydiard tribute

dont listen to the detractors, if you can run 17 miles without stopping you can run 100 miles this week. Just drop the intensity and you'll be fine. That is the same advice "the Coach" gave me when i saw him.

I will drive my car a total of 100 mile this week in a tribute to Lydiard..

Sorry I dont run anymore.. hehehe..

Dont laugh laugh arrrr..

Sev.

I'm going to do as much as I can this week as my tribute.

Email next week to say how I got on.

late bloomer wrote:

As a tribute to the late Arthur Lydiard who was an advocate of high mileage I will run at least 100 miles next week, starting tomorrow Dec. 13th. Will anyone else join me in this tribute?

Sure. I was due to cut mileage and take an easy week anyway. I'm in:)

Track Junkie: Lydiard modified to fit college xc season?

Yes, if you use the summer as base mileage, continue the trend throughout the xc season, sprinkle in some hills, tempos, farlek, drills & strides. I think your athletes can race better at the end of the season than other teams, and your tank will be full, instead of empty in November. That would account for about 26 wks. Do a hill phase in Dec - Jan, anaerobic capaciity in Feb-Mar, speed in May - June. Single periodization year renders better results than 2,3 peaks.

Track Junkie,

I took Lydiard's program and modified it to meet the crazy 3 season American high school year. I had to compromise of course, by shortening the phases, less periodization druing XC and eliminating the hill phase. I also had to greatly de-emphasize the indoor season. To use it for a college program you would have to lengthen the intervals because the program I set up was for a high school kid running 5K XC and 800 to 2 mile during indoor and outdoor. If you want a copy, send me an e-mail.

I'll drink that much beer, and try and remember that I used to run. Lydiard is over rated.

yup, cheers Nemo.

I decided a few weeks ago to run on an exact (at least as exact as possible) Lydiard schedule this winter/spring. I think a fitting tribute would be for any of use who can to run on the Lydiard schedule this spring and report back the results. Sort of a validation project. The collegians and high schoolers on the board surely wouldn't be able to but I'm sure there are enough older runners on the board to make it a worthy project. Now, Lydiard always stressed the personalization of the program to the runner but there are a few things that all Lydiard programs should have:

10-12 weeks or as long as possible:

1. As many miles as you can (preferably 100) in singles at a solid aerobic effort (various aerobic efforts over various distances). Can add additional easy running in the morning up to 30 minutes.

2. Stress the importance of speed development year-round. So add in a day of 100m sprints or even a few races as time trials. The key though is the aerobic development.

4 weeks:

1. Hill training. He wanted you to bound up the hills like a pogo stick with a high knee lift and little forward movement so that a 200-300m hill took 3 minutes to "run". The hill circuit consisted of a 15 minute warmup, 200-300m uphill, 3 minute jog, 200-300m downhill, 50-400m windprints, then repeat the circuit until you are out there for an hour (2-3 circuits total). \

2. A lot of runners who used the program just ran the hills instead of bounding. I say mix it up for variety. There are 3 hill sessions a week so why not do one session bounding, and two sessions running. Or you could even run a race as a time trial, if that fits your schedule, in place of one of the hill sessions (preferably a hilly race).

3. Again, one day for speed development and one Long Run.

4 weeks:

1. Interval training. He says "finish knowing that you could not do much more nor any better." Preferably 3 miles total, equal run to jog LENGTH (800m run, 800m jog...)

2. Again, a day for speed development and a Long Run.

4-6 weeks:

1. Coordinate training/Sharpening. Test for strength and weaknesses using time trials. Say you do a 5k time trial and you go out too fast and die at the end, then next time do a longer time trial. Or, if you do fine but couldn't really go any faster...no zip in your step...next time do a shorter time trial. 1-2 time trials a week, and a race pace session (4x400 or something similar) all depends on your racing goals. Longer races (halfmarathon/marathon) may require longer time trials and fewer intervals.

2. If putting in races during this time, or even during the interval phase the training should be light. As he says you can't train hard and race hard at the same time. So, race week training may include a short speed session (100m sprint every 200m for 4-5 laps, or 50m sprint every 100m for 4-5 laps) and a race pace session (4x400 or 2x800 or something similar).

3. The interval and sharpening phases will vary greatly depending on your race schedule. They should be individualized. For example, his Marathon Program includes very little intervals and a lot of time trials.

4. Race Week/Training Week. When training hard TRAIN HARD when racing do little training to sharpen the sword. So a training week may include two time trials and a short race pace session while a race week may include just a short race pace session and a short speed session.

I think a lot of the successful training programs out there today focus on the 3 month aerobic phase and the interval phase and maybe the hills but his time trials phase isn't used much.

So who's up for this project?

Alan

I am in...it has been a couple of years since I have done anything that scheduled...

31 miles in 2 days

This thread and 'tribute' are both silly and Lydiard would have scoffed at both. ONE 100-mile week? Whoa. Do the shit for a YEAR, that would be something significant.

I have to agree with those that oppose the idea. Unless one is in shape to run 100 mpw, the risks from a massive surge in mileage for a single week clearly outweigh the benefits. Alternatively, how about the following:

When Paul Tergat dies, how many people here are going to attempt a sub-2:05 marathon in his honor?

When the world's greatest ultra-marathoner dies, who is going to go out the following day and run 100 miles?

No thanks.

my points exactly. i am not trying to belittle lydiard and his accomplishments, i just think this "tribute" is an asinine idea. with that said, i for one can't wait until ron jeremy dies. oh man, i can't wait.

jmikeatkins wrote:

31 miles in 2 days

Good job. I'm still in. I did 8 in the morning and 11 in the evening. 29 miles in 2 days.

I predict record high injury related threads next week.

Runningart2004 wrote:

I decided a few weeks ago to run on an exact (at least as exact as possible) Lydiard schedule this winter/spring. I think a fitting tribute would be for any of use who can to run on the Lydiard schedule this spring and report back the results. Sort of a validation project. . . .

So who's up for this project?

Alan

I'm going to go pretty darn close to the schedules for a marathon next fall. Instead of 100 mile weeks in the base period I'll use his time-based approach.

Mon 1 hr

Tue 1 1/2 hr

Wed 1 hr

Thu 2 hr

Fri 1 hr

Sat 2 to 3 hr

Sun 1 1/2 hr

Right now I'm building back up after recovering from some injuries that I probably wouldn't had if I'd paid more attention to his system. I'l be up to that total by Feb, build some effort into it through March, and Apr/May/June is all at fast aerobic efforts.

In July I'll do real Lydiard hill circuits for the first time in my life. August is track training, September is coordination training, October is freshening up and running the race. We'll see how it goes.

DU Cahier.... the doctor has recently recommended me to get shots in my back for reoccuring knee pain. He says i have poor lateral movement in my knees. I have already recieve a shot in my right knee in may which did not help and i am somewhat skeptical. I got an MRI and in which it was shown that i have a herniated disk.

If you could post or email me what your shots in you back were and what your injury was and if it helped you i would really appreciate it.

"I'm going to go pretty darn close to the schedules for a marathon next fall. Instead of 100 mile weeks in the base period I'll use his time-based approach.

Mon 1 hr

Tue 1 1/2 hr

Wed 1 hr

Thu 2 hr

Fri 1 hr

Sat 2 to 3 hr

Sun 1 1/2 hr"

Which is fine because he stressed running for time rather than for distance. His aerobic base is 11 hours per week. For a "top" runner that could easily be 100 miles or more. For others it could be less.

Alan