“Summing up this key to conditioning; It is advisable to run about a hundred miles a week for track or marathon training at a regulated, controlled speed. This one hundred miles I found to be the balance between over and under-training. It must be done at good speeds according to the runner’s condition and ability.”
— Arthur Lydiard, 1962
Now that I have completed the Key to Conditioning segment I wanted to give a few of my own thoughts and recap this segment. As usual, if you have any questions please email me at thedailyrun@gmail.com.
- Lydiard says to run a hundred miles a week. And while I am in agreement with this statement, I think the mileage number is relative, but I think the point is to run more and to make sure that the number one focus is on aerobic conditioning.
- The other stuff (which we’ll get to later) is irrelevant if you don’t have the aerobic conditioning to support it. You have to develop aerobically first and then move into those ‘hands on knees’, gut-burning workouts.
- It’s not just EASY running. It’s ‘at good speeds’ and according to your condition. A big misconception about Lydiard’s training was that it was all long slow running. That’s just not the case. The efforts were STRONG aerobic, usually termed Best Aerobic Effort (BAE).
- You have to ENJOY the journey. As we walk through Lydiard’s concepts and his book, you have to know that the essence of athletics is the ENJOYMENT you get from it.
Phillips Running 