I am reading the Lydiard book, Running to the Top.
On long easy runs, it says, “don’t stop for more than 12 or 15 seconds. The East Germans have proved that stopping longer retards capillary development”
Is there any up to date science on this, as I haven’t heard of this aspect before?
I am reading the Lydiard book, Running to the Top.
On long easy runs, it says, “don’t stop for more than 12 or 15 seconds. The East Germans have proved that stopping longer retards capillary development”
Is there any up to date science on this, as I haven’t heard of this aspect before?
I don't know about research. I do know he'd tell you that. But I also know that on some of their long runs they'd stop to drink from streams or pick fruit from trees and eat it.
I suppose I am seeing this as a bit of a catch 22.
The long run is being emphasised, and it is easier to run longer, with breaks. I have never really thought about measuring how long the breaks are. if the long run should be sustained, it may have to be shorter, if no breaks. A pee is going to take longer than 15 secs. Do walking breaks count?
“The East Germans have proved that stopping longer retards capillary development”
Really??
My personal anecdote (we are in a way, an experiment of one):
I started daily (almost) running (jogging?) again after a year off (with just an occasional outing over that time.)
Currently most of my daily sessions are up to an hour of “easy”, with some faster experiments thrown in only occasionally.
I strictly modulate “easy” using a heart rate monitor (an electrode chest strap) on every run. These sessions are what I call “Run/Walk Heart Rate Bounce”. By that, I mean I set high/low Heart Rate vibration alerts on the watch. When it hits the high alert, I walk, and when it hits the low alert, I start running again.
My high alert is set to 75% Heart Rate Max. My low alert is set to 67% Heart Rate Max. Typically, sessions end up where over the whole hour, the Avg. Heart Rate is 70-72% Heart Rate Max.
So I ask you, did I actually retard my capillary development by stopping to walk sometimes for several seconds, even though the Heart Rate was >70% on average over the whole session.
You're over thinking if you're worried about stopping for a moment during your run.
A stop for, a drink, a pee, a phone call, traffic lights, etc is going to be more than 15 secs.
I had simply never heard before that this could be detrimental? Just asking if this is backed up by any research.
I'm pretty sure this was POV from Lydiard was just a classic old school psychological click more than anything scientific. And if it did come from the East Germans - well, let's just say it ranks quite lowly on the spectrum of performance enhancing techniques that came out of that geographical location of the planet.
I remember old school guys that were like "if I stopped for more than 20 seconds the run was voided and I had to start again" - non-sensical but (at least to them) high "nobility" stuff that built "toughness". And I believed them.
But honestly I don't think there is any merit to this unless we are talking about sitting down for a cup of tea for half an hour.
I am reading the Lydiard book, Running to the Top.
On long easy runs, it says, “don’t stop for more than 12 or 15 seconds. The East Germans have proved that stopping longer retards capillary development”
Is there any up to date science on this, as I haven’t heard of this aspect before?
Everyone knows that Lydiard was a fraud. Jeff Galloway proved this wrong decades ago…
I suppose I am seeing this as a bit of a catch 22.
The long run is being emphasised, and it is easier to run longer, with breaks. I have never really thought about measuring how longntnt the breaks are. if the long run should be sustained, it may have to be shorter, if no breaks. A pee is going to take longer than 15 secs. Do walking breaks count?
As a possible counterpoint, Ernst van Aaken was a firm proponent of taking walking breaks during a run. The really slow paces you see referenced in articles about EVA and his athletes are often because the actual running paces were much faster but the overall time for the run was slower because the breaks slowed the overall times.
