Best Lydiard Book?

I own running to the top which is a good read. It has included training programs for the 800, 1500m, 5k-10k, and marathon runner. It doesn't go into great depth with physiology or anything but you will definitely get insight into Lydiard's philosophy and reasons for it (which in my opinion is brilliant).

It's "Run to the Top" not "Running to the Top". Either way, it is the better book.

I have both.

good books wrote:

It's "Run to the Top" not "Running to the Top". Either way, it is the better book.

I have both.

Actually it is "Running to the Top". Lydiard's main 4 books (IMO) are:

Run To The Top (copyright 1962)

Running The Lydiard Way (copyright 1978)

Running To The Top (copyright 1995)

Running With Lydiard (copyright 2000)

Each of them are must reads for any Lydiard enthusiast. However, the first two are pretty hard to find. If I had to pick just one, I'd suggest Running To The Top. It's easy to find and gives a lot of information.

I stand corrected.

I have "Run to the Top". I wasn't aware of "Runnning to the Top".

It certainly is confusing. They just changed a couple words here and there to make new titles.

true

believe it or not, i also have a book called "Jogging with Lydiard" published in '83

Thanks all. Does any of them cover marathon training (that is, training for a marathon as one's goal race) than the others?

Not by Lydiard himself, but maybe more catholic than the pope:

Healthy Intelligent Training, by Keith Livingstone

W. Mitty wrote:

Not by Lydiard himself, but maybe more catholic than the pope:

Healthy Intelligent Training, by Keith Livingstone

I would agree. HIT is a great book. Keith is very knowledgeable and tells some very good stories.

Best book by Arthur is still his original "Run to the Top"(1962) but the ones that follow help immensely.

Keith Livingstone's Healthy Intelligent Training is massively excellent if you want a clearer understanding of Arthur's ideas.

Run The Lydiard Way

Most of Lydiard is outdated,ridiculous or simply inaccurate. But a glaring weakness is the severe lack of individuality. Lydiard had no knowledge of fiber type characteristics for example, or how enzymes or mitochondria actually work. He also wrote that 2:12 was about as fast as runners would go on accurate flat courses.

Nobody in right mind believes Kipchoge would run faster with some added hill bounding. Or that all mileage is beneficial, however much you do, no matter how slow you go.

Lydiard had some very strange and obsessive beliefs which makes his approach a hazard for roughly 98% of runners out there and rather cult-like for a few.

dsrunner wrote:

Most of Lydiard is outdated,ridiculous or simply inaccurate. But a glaring weakness is the severe lack of individuality. Lydiard had no knowledge of fiber type characteristics for example, or how enzymes or mitochondria actually work. He also wrote that 2:12 was about as fast as runners would go on accurate flat courses.

Nobody in right mind believes Kipchoge would run faster with some added hill bounding. Or that all mileage is beneficial, however much you do, no matter how slow you go.

Lydiard had some very strange and obsessive beliefs which makes his approach a hazard for roughly 98% of runners out there and rather cult-like for a few.

Yup. It's silly to think no innovative minds have come along in the sport in the past 50 some years to improve on Lydiard's notably innovative model. Even annointed Lydiard acolyte Wetmore mentions that he uses a modified version and is constantly tinkering to find improvements.

Certainly, we have far more knowledge today than when Lydiard was, through trial and error, developing his training program. But, it can't be denied that he got a ton of things right.

: He insisted that his athletes build up a large aerobic base before embarking upon harder, more anaerobic (glycolytic)

training. And, to his credit, this base (as he called it, marathon training), was NOT just a lot of easy running. During

base training his runners did tempo runs (near marathon pace) twice weekly, and short, quick alactic sprints. So, contrary

to what many believe, Lydiard did not advocate just long slow distance at any point in his training plans.

: He was a pioneer of plyometric training (hill bounding)

: Mileage Matters: His runners did far more mileage than others of his day, but not more than current middle/long distance

stars perform. He was ahead of his time.

: His program was far more long-term focused, more sustainable, and more humane than the hard interval focused

programs that had previously dominated world-class training.

Yes, Lydiard could be very set in his ways, but there was no one more influential in the way the world's best middle/long distance runners train today. No one.

I prefer "Running With Lydiard". I found this book here https://booksrun.com/textbooks/9781782551188-running-with-lydiard-greatest-running-coach-of-all-time-3rd-edition , I really liked the description and I found it on Amazon. This is a really good motivational tutorial for runners. As far as I know from the reviews, the first book "Running to the Top" is also very good, but I haven't read it.

Yes, this book is just now being republished with a sequel and new illustrations

I would add this later book by Livingstone. It simplifies Lydiard even more.

Ron Daws’s books from the 1970s (The Self Made Olympian) and 1980s (Running Your Best) are also good and more readable than the books written by Lydiard/Garth Gilmour.

Lydiard got right the concepts of high mileage, tempos, short alactic speed work, and a little bit of hands in knees intervals near peaking. The exact details though need to be individualized to the particular runner. That’s where running books falter and the art of a personal coach comes in.