The Lydiard Method – Training for your next big race
Many athletes struggle with their competitive careers after graduating from high school or college. Some athletes are exhausted and take a break from the sport and have to get back in shape. Others lose all motivation to run once they leave the team environment, and some just don’t know how to develop a training program.
Developing a training program is not always an easy thing to do. Many runners just don’t know much about why they do different workouts. They may not understand exactly when they are supposed to incorporate their long runs, pace runs, or interval training into their training program. The goal of this article is to discuss a method for organizing your training. The method was developed by Arthur Lydiard. Arthur Lydiard is considered by most of the running community to be the greatest running coach of all time.
Marathon conditioning (10 weeks)
According to the Lydiard method, the first phase of your training for any endurance race should be marathon conditioning. The marathon conditioning phase should last 10 weeks. The goals of this phase are to improve your aerobic base and help prevent injury. Improved function of your heart and lungs increases your aerobic base. Marathon Conditioning also strengthens connective tissues and ligaments, which will help prevent injury.
To develop your training program for the marathon conditioning phase, you need to start with sprints on a consistent basis. You can gradually lengthen the distance of your runs. To lengthen your running distance start by lengthening one run a week. You can then increase that number to two runs per week. When planning your training for this phase, be sure to follow the hard/easy principle. This principle says that you should run hard one day and then one or two easy days before doing another hard day. During the marathon conditioning phase, a longer mileage day is considered a hard day. It doesn’t necessarily have to be executed fast or hard. This is an example of what preparing for a marathon conditioning phase can look like. If you can run three miles every day without getting too tired, you might start lengthening your runs. After a few weeks, your weekly training might have changed from three miles every day to five miles on Monday, three miles on Tuesday, five miles on Wednesday, three miles on Thursday and Friday, and 8 miles on Saturday. Sunday would be a day of rest. That is just an example and may not be the best way to organize a schedule for you. If you noticed on Saturday, the sample program included an eight-mile run. During the conditioning phase of the marathon, Lydiard suggests increasing the time to one run per week until that run reaches two hours in length. If you’re a newcomer to running, the two-hour run may be adding to your total running time too quickly in the 10-week phase. If this is the case, you should choose a shorter duration for your long ride.
Mountain Endurance (4 weeks)
The choline resistance phase should last for 4 weeks and serves as a transition phase. The goal of this phase is to get your body going from a slower run in the marathon phase to a faster run in the track training phase. The Hill Endurance phase will begin to introduce you to anaerobic exercise and add power and flexibility to your legs.
There are several different types of workouts that can be included in your schedule during this phase. The first is running steep hills. While maintaining good running form, you can climb a steep hill 300 to 800 meters long. As you do this exercise, your legs should be raised until they are almost horizontal to the ground. The second workout is jumping hills. Find a hill with a moderate slope and a length of about 200 meters. Use jumping lunges to go up the hill. You should feel like a deer jumping a fence. A third workout is Sprinting Drills. Examples of speed drills are high knees, lunges, jumping jacks, and butt kicks. You should do one of these workouts, or a workout similar to it, 1-3 times per week during the hill endurance phase. The rest of the week should include easy runs.
Track training (4 weeks)
The track training phase lasts for 4 weeks and is a phase in which you will do intervals and/or repetitions on the track that will help you in your goal race. The workouts you choose for this phase should focus on building the systems you’ll need for your goal run. Some examples of these workouts might include 400-meter repeats, 800-meter repeats, 1-2 mile repeats, and ladder drills. The phase is called track training, but the workouts don’t have to be done on the track. Finding a flat section of road and doing intervals from telephone pole to telephone pole may be the desired way to train during this phase.
This is a very important phase in your training, but when you do track training, you must exercise caution. This is the phase where injuries are most likely to occur due to the increased intensity of the workouts. It is better to be undertrained at this stage than overtrained. Once your body starts to overtrain, it will have a hard time fighting off illness and avoiding injury. This is your body’s way of telling you to take it easy. One way to help prevent overtraining is to make sure you follow the hard/easy principle discussed above.
Coordination (4 weeks)
The coordination phase is where you begin to prepare all of your systems for the finish line race in a few weeks. The coordination phase is the time for you to start incorporating speed and time trial drills into your training.
Running time trials allows your body to become familiar with the effort required during your target race. One thing to remember about time trials is not to get discouraged with your time. Once you get to this phase of your training, you should be in great shape. Many times you can set a personal record for an event during a time trial. Other times you may not run as fast as you think you can. If this is the case for your time trial, remember that most people can’t run as fast by themselves in a time trial as they can against the competition in a race.
Sprint drills are also important to your race goal. These exercises allow you to develop more leg rotation (speed) by building muscle strength. These exercises also improve your running form, which improves your efficiency.
Cool off (1-2 weeks)
The renewal phase (also known as the reduction phase) is when everything should start to come together. In this phase, your training decreases and your body recovers from the hard work you have done during the last 22 weeks. This is the time when you may not be able to sit still due to the extra energy your body has that it is not using due to decreased training. Be careful during this phase. This is not the time to go out and play a game of basketball to burn off some extra energy. This is also not the time to do extra training because you feel energized. The duration of the update phase is usually 1-2 weeks, but can depend on the athlete and the target event. Cooling down for a marathon usually takes 3 weeks.
lack of time
Once you get to the end of the upgrade phase, you have your target run. If all goes according to plan, you should have run one of the best races of your life. After this race comes a much deserved period of your training. This is also a very important part of your training. While this period is not an actual named part of the Lydiard Method, it is part of almost every training method. After your target run, you should have some free time. During this downtime, you should take a few weeks to relax and refresh yourself physically and mentally. These few weeks of relaxation should include easy jogging. Don’t feel guilty if you miss a few days here or there during your free time. Be careful not to miss too many days because you will start to lose all the progress you made during the previous training cycle.
If you haven’t already, now is the time to choose your next target run and start the training cycle all over again, building on the progress you’ve made. The Lydiard Method is a training cycle that can be followed over and over again to prepare for finish runs. As with all training methods, it takes time to improve. If you continue to follow the Lydiard Method for an extended period of time, you can set personal records in races that you could only dream of a few years ago. To quote the great coach Arthur Lydiard, “It is not the best athlete who wins, but the best prepared.”
Information for this article came from the Lydiard Foundation. http://lydiardfoundation.org