More from Boulder....Lydiard Coaching Training

So after we perfected natural running on ourselves and on others we did some solid reviewing on the course and closed out this portion.  2 hours for dinner and then the next class began: Lydiard Coaching.  

Arthur Leslie Lydiard, ONZ, OBE (6 July 1917 – 11 December 2004) was a New Zealand runner and athletics coach. He has been lauded as one of the outstanding athletics coaches of all time and is credited with popularizing the sport of running and making it commonplace across the sporting world. His training methods are based on a strong endurance base and periodization

Lydiard's ground-breaking impact on distance running was recognized by Runner's World, which hailed him as All-time best running coach. 

You are training to race. Don't race your training.

One of Lydiard's many quotes

The conditioning phase of Lydiard's system is known as base training, as it creates the foundation for all subsequent training. Lydiard's emphasis on an endurance base for his athletes, combined with his introduction of periodization in the training of distance runners, were the decisive elements in the world-beating success of the athletes he coached or influenced

Periodization comprises emphasizing different aspects of training in successive phases as an athlete approaches an intended target race. After the base training phase, Lydiard advocated four weeks of strength work. This included hill running and springing, followed by a maximum of four weeks of anaerobic training (Lydiard found through physiological testing that four weeks was the maximum amount of anaerobic development needed—any more caused negative effects such a decrease in aerobic enzymes and increased mental stress, often referred to as burnout, due to lowered blood pH).  How many of us do week after week of anaerobic training.... track workouts every week all year long? 

Then followed a co-ordination phase of six weeks in which anaerobic work and volume taper off and the athlete races each week, learning from each race to fine-tune himself or herself for the target race.  

It's not best athlete who wins, but the best prepared

I heard this many times from coach KP

For those of us who coach/train using periodization this it not too far off..... but is a running program vs triathlon.  But it does not seem hard to apply the principals and key factors to swim,bike, run.

with 2+ years coaching and 7 years racing...... we often do NOT build the foundation because aerobic training can be boring..long and slow.  We in general are impatient and want results NOW.  We also tend to train the same way, week after week with long run, long ride, track workout, hill workout- every week thus.  But I am excited about the long term approach with Lydiard- build the foundation and then work from there. 

The teachers were amazing.... Lorraine Moller - 4 x Olympic Marathoner form NZ and Nobby Hashizume a long time elite running coach from Japan.  

So I just need to pass my test and I will be a Level II Lydiard Coach!