hill question

Yes and no. I assume you mean something like "Stair Master" type of machine??? Anything to strengthen upper thigh muscles would benefit (same concept as cycling) when it comes to knee lift maintenance and "push-off"; but I think it would be awefully difficult to simulate "plyometric" affect of hill bounding on a stair master type machine, which is a huge part of hill bounding/springing exercises. Even a simple "steep hill running" where you run up the hill with an exaggerated running action, you will still get "snapping" action on your ankles.

Also if you want to simulate "real" Lydiard hill exercise, make sure you stretch your Achilles which, again, I don't think you can get as much by doing stair master; also you certainly don't get "leg speed" from downhill striding which is also an important element to prepare for faster running to come. Downhill running is very important. Coach Koide used to have Takahashi run up 30k and have her turn around and come down 5k.

In the absense of a good hill, would doing circuits with a stair-master, and form drills such as 4x100 with high-knees, quick turnovers, etc., would at least provide some of the effects of lydiard's hills?

Absolutely! Include some depth-jumping (jumping off the box and, as you land, jump right back up onto another box) for plyometric effect. In fact, Arthur used to say that for people who don't live close to any hill. Of course, just going up and down the steps is better than not doing it anyways. Stadium steps are one of the best alternatives as Glenn McCarthy can explain for you. Marty Liquori swears that, had Lydiard lived on a flat land, he would have come up with stadium steps training...

When I worked with Arthur in Venezuela, we were headquartered in Maracaibo. Flat as a pancake. However the national stadium, where Arthur and the runners stayed, was solid concrete and had 30 rows of seats. He had one runner in particular, run loops of running up the seats (higher lift, more like the bounding he recommended, than the steps), and back down the steps. Luis, this runner, did 3 minutes on each stadium side, so that he would be working the fibers we were targeting to near exhaustion. After a 1 1/2 lap jog around the track, he would do his sprints on the track, first a 400, jog another 3 minutes, then 2 laps of sprint the straights, jog the curves, before another 3 minute jog then running up the other side of the stadium. Arthur had Luis do these for 4 weeks while the remainder of the national team did some anaerobic work in preparation for the Central American Championships. After these workouts, Luis ran in the trials with the remainder of the national runners. Luis was nick-named "sloth" as he could run forever at 6 minute pace, but rarely ran faster. In the 3rd trial series he took his 800 PR from 2:03 to 1:52 and his 200 from 26 to 22.7. All that strength work paid off big time.

Glenn

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