Healthy Intelligent Training: The Proven Principles of Arthur Lydiard Paperback – 22 July 2010

If you are just going to buy one book about training for running, buy this one. It's all about Lydiard's training methods, but with the rough edges taken off. Plenty of detail and real life examples. I've got loads of running books and this is the one I keep dipping into, along with Lore of Running and (for inspiration) The Lonely Breed (Ron Clarke).

I`ve read Running with Lydiard and Running to the top, both by Lydiard- which are great books - but this book explains how to put training into practice much better - especially the hill phase and the reasons for it (possible alternatives). Its a book i will keep going back to.If you want to become a great runner and are not looking for shortcuts to get there this is the book for you.

Excellent book. Essential reading for all Lydiard disciples except that it might change your interpretation of the New Zealand coach's training. Not all slow mileage - in fact quite the opposite.

Great read

Brilliant book, excellent diagrams and great explanation of lydiards system of train. Great insight into training, racing and coaching. Really helped me a midlife runner make good progress. I cant recommend it highly enough.

Easy to understand, great tips and an interesting read

Really excellent book. Aimed at athletes, but I think any ambitious club runner has a lot to gain from the basic philosophy.

This book sets out some great plans. And hidden in it's clumsy writing are the secrets to brilliant running. All the theories make sense, and they are relate-able to real world training. But I'm afraid the style of writing just requires every sentence and every paragraph to be read more than once, particularly once the theory kicks in. Somehow it just doesn't scan. But the meaning is hidden in there somewhere, and when you extract it, you're all set.

Ho imparato ad apprezzare e conoscere Arthur Lydiard solo di recente. Ho letteralmente divorato questo libro e gli altri 2 che sto leggendo.Devo dire che i suoi metodi sono tanto semplici quanto efficaci.Letalmente un genio in materia!Il libro, inoltre, è ben scritto e strutturato e guida il lettore vero un nuovo modo di concepire gli allenamenti e la corsa, in modo tale da massimizzare il nostro potenziale.

Desarrolla el método de entrenamiento de Lydiard aunque tiene partes demasiado técnicas para un corredor popular. Muy bien el capítulo de las zonas cardíacas. Le habría dedicado más espacio a cómo preparar carreras 5K,10K,Media y Maratón. En general, es un buen libro.

One of the best books on running I have read. Explains the science in a way that is easy to understand, and is not filled with pages and pages of overly complicated running plans, it assumes you are smart enough to put those together yourself with the information given in the book.

For whoever is serious about trainning for top performance this book is a MUST!! It will bring out the best in anyone serious about the sport.

This book is a thorough presentation of the training principles developed by the late Arthur Lydiard, a legendary figure in the world of distance running. The book is a state-of-the-art resource for the beginning distance runner who is, of necessity, self-coached. In particular, any intelligent young runner who has no access to knowledgeable coaching would be extremely wise to read and internalize Parts 1 through 6 of this book before beginning a serious running program.The author, Keith Livingstone, knew Arthur Lydiard and many of those who were in his stable of world-class runners. In addition, Livingstone was coached by Barry Magee, a contemporary of Snell and Halberg in Lydiard's first and most famous group of world-class runners. Using Lydiard-style training programs, Livingstone achieved personal bests of 3000m in 8:06 and 10,000m in 29:19. It is therefore clear that Livingstone writes with the authority of one who has not only acquired a deep intellectual understanding of Lydiard's training program, but has also successfully applied that understanding to his own training to produce significant results.Every runner I know who has accumulated more than 20 years' running experience attests to the fundamental wisdom of Arthur Lydiard's training principles. The development of an extensive aerobic foundation through many miles of sub-threshold running (and not 100 miles per week of Long Slow Distance, as some have erroneously characterized it) produces amazing long-term results for competitors at all distances from 800m through the marathon. It requires patience and dedication, but it works, as proven by the results achieved by Snell, Halberg, Viren, Walker, and many others.But even (or especially) for those of us who do not run to compete, Lydiard's training guidance has proven to be profoundly relevant. The gentle, sub-threshold runs he advocated are so energizing and enjoyable that one actually awakens most mornings with a strong desire to get out the door and run; anyone who has ever had to "flog" himself into completing a daily workout will immediately appreciate the profound significance of this basic psychological fact. The aerobic training, performed at the appropriate level of intensity, leaves one pleasantly tired; I have often heard it described as a pleasant feeling of "hollowness." (It is in sharp contrast with the wretched feelings one acquires from the effects of acidosis, brought on by a brutal interval session.) One quickly recovers from this sort of aerobic stress, feeling strong and prepared to run again the next day and the next, thus ensuring a regularity and consistency to training that can otherwise be quite elusive. The development is slow, safe, steady, measurable, and most importantly, enjoyable and therefore sustainable.The young, inexperienced runner is particularly susceptible to the questionable advice of those who recommend emulation of the training used by current world champions. When I was 13, my gym coach distributed a pamphlet from the President's Council on Physical Fitness that had a brief discussion of the training of the great Jim Ryun. There was actually a paragraph that glibly encouraged the young, beginning runner to "try the following workout," before listing one of Ryun's many legendary interval workouts: 20 x 400m run in under 60 sec with a short recover jog in between. With coaching advice like this, it was a miracle that we didn't all die on the track. There is simply no need to foist this sort of bad advice on today's young runners. We are wiser now, and we know how young runners can safely achieve their potential through enjoyable, sustainable training. This is what Arthur Lydiard advocated and what Livingstone presents in his book.One might reasonably think that the best place to learn about Arthur Lydiard's ideas on training would be from one of the many books that he co-authored with Garth Gilmour; after all , it's better to go directly to the source, right? Not in this case. I have studied most of Lydiard's books, and it is clear that Livingstone has done a far, far better job of distilling and presenting the essence of Lydiard's system, primarily because Livingstone is willing to be far more explicit than Lydiard ever was in his books. (The great Peter Snell, Lydiard's most famous athlete, went on to earn a doctorate in exercise physiology; I would love to see Dr. Snell write a book such as Livingstone's just for the alternate perspective it would provide.) The discussion in Part 1 of the use of heart rate to gauge the various training intensities, for but one example of specificity, is masterful. Once the beginner determines his resting and maximal heart rates, he can easily compute heart rates that correspond with VO2 max pace, anaerobic threshold pace, the so-called "`bread and butter" zone where most of the daily runs will be completed, and aerobic threshold pace, the gentlest pace that one will typically ever run during recoveries and between harder runs. This material provides a pragmatic, workable method that the beginner can actually use to gauge intensity, thereby helping to correct the single most common mistake that beginning runners make-----running too fast.Out of all the publications on distance running currently available, this would be my first recommendation to any young runner (or a beginner of any age) who asked for my advice. Dr. Livingstone provides just enough specificity to guide the intelligent beginner in constructing a training program custom-tailored to his own unique needs. For the truly serious runner who also wants to learn more about the physiology behind Lydiard's programs, I would recommend as supplementary reading the definitive book "The Lore of Running, 4th Ed.," by Dr. Timothy Noakes (a book that Livingstone himself recommends).