The “Up & Down” is a hill running specific workout based on the ‘Out & Back‘ session usually done in the Base Period. It teaches you to run at the fastest pace you can sustain aerobically, that is, burning mainly fat and oxygen for fuel and incurring minimal oxygen debt while climbing long hills similar to…
Tag Archives: Aerobic
What pace will trigger glycogen depletion on long runs? (a response)
Earlier today a runner wrote me an email: “René, congratulations on you contribution to coaching. I am following Lydiard’s philosophy – 2 years now. I read an article by (ed: Peter) Snell on the long run – he said you need to run the 20 milers at 7 min pace to recruit the 2II fibres after glycogen…
Don’t take the LSD! (Long slow versus Long steady distance)
Arthur Lydiard first popularised the term “LSD” meaning “Long STEADY distance” as one of the mainstays of a successful athletic development programme. Unfortunately, over the years the concept came to mean “Long SLOW distance” which combined with the often misused phrase “miles make champions” started the descent into “logging miles for the sake of it”…
Circuit run (sub-threshold run)
The “Circuit run” workout is the fastest type of endurance workouts you will do during the early stages of the Quantity (traditionally called the Base or Aerobic) phase. It teaches you to run at the fastest pace you can sustain without “huffing and puffing”, that is – by burning mainly fat and oxygen for fuel and…
Aerobic phase (base phase)
The aerobic phase, sometimes called “base training”, “foundation” or “conditioning”, consists mainly of long, steady distance (LSD) running mixed with fartleks, easy leg speed work (strides), slower easy runs when needed and a weekly faster aerobic run (such as “Out and Backs“). The aim of the aerobic phase is to run as high a mileage…
Max aerobic function (MAF) test
The “max aerobic function” (MAF) test is part of our ChampionsEverywhere program for prevention of underperformance in our athletes. This test does not focus on under-recovery and overtraining as much as it tries to detect whether your recent training has damaged your level of aerobic fitness and through this provide an early indication of problems…
Lydiard and Canova – coaches’ round-table
In part two of our series dedicated to comparing the teachings of Arthur Lydiard with those of enigmatic Italian coach Renato Canova, I asked a panel of experienced Lydiard-coaches of their opinions on the matter among them Colin Livingstone, coach of Welsh international Tim Davies, Keith Livingstone, author of “Healthy Intelligent Training” and manager of…
Medium Long Runs
Thursday evening I completed my first “medium-long” mid-week run in almost six months: a 19.7 km run run at the best aerobic pace I could muster on the day without really pushing the effort. I knew afterwards that after my long period of ankle troubles, the body is beginning to function properly again. If there…
Steady state – what it means
Steady state is a term coined by Arthur Lydiard to describe faster intensities of aerobic running, the point being that while running at this intensity your effort is “steady” rather than “easy” or “hard”. More importantly, running at your steady state pace allows you to decide whether you want to speed up or slow down.…
Up and down
The “up and down” workout is a variation of the standard threshold run in our programmes: the “out and back”. Using the same high-aerobic intensity, this workout targets the specific requirements of mountain, fell and hill running and has a greater strength element. The “up and down” workout can be done every second or third week…
Long recovery run
This article used to be “Long recovery jog” but as “jogging” really refers to a damaging hybrid movement between walking and running, we are now avoiding this term. Even for short runs, you should aim to keep proper technique. Your long recovery runs are slower and more leisurely versions of your long aerobic runs. Like…
Out and back (sub-threshold run)
The “out and back” workout is the fastest aerobic workout you will do during the aerobic phase. It teaches you to run at the fastest pace you can sustain aerobically, that is, burning mainly fat and oxygen for fuel and incurring little or no oxygen debt. This workout will allow you to run faster before…
Long aerobic run
The long aerobic run is the cornerstone of all our training programmes and the most important run of the week throughout the General and Related phases and also often into the Specific phase. It builds the foundation for every other training workout you undertake and maintains general fitness during the Competitive period. Instruction: Run comfortably…
Medium long run (Aerobic run)
Aerobic runs or Medium Long Runs form the backbone of all our training programmes. They are high priority runs throughout the aerobic phase, where they play a key part in building the highest possible peak for later racing. In the strength, anaerobic, coordination and taper phases, they are lower priority workouts that serve to help…
Why you don’t do anaerobic exercise during the aerobic phase
“No anaerobic training during certain parts of the year?” This may seem heretical to many but it is a firm principle of the Lydiard system which cannot be violated without giving away some of the benefits of the system. Since many will contest this point, I found it essential that this article be among the…
