Basic Training Principles for Middle and Long-Distance Running

by John Davis

"Rome, 1960. World record holder Roger Moens headlined an impressive field in the men’s 800m final at the Olympic Games. At the gun, Moens led with a fast pace, and by 600m, the lead pack had thinned to five runners. It looked to be a sure victory for the Belgian. But then, something curious happened..."

So begins Basic Training Principles for Middle and Long-Distance Running, a short booklet which gives you an introduction into the structure of a proper training program through the eyes of Arthur Lydiard's legendary training methods, first described in 1962. This booklet is short, gripping, informative, and written at a level which even complete novices can understand. It is designed to be an introductory lesson in fundamental training methods for newly-minted competitive runners.

This booklet was written to get young, promising high school runners eager to embark on a training journey and to set them on the right track for long term development, but any runner, young or old, newbie or veteran, can gain something from Basic Training Principles.

17 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 25, 2015

Reviews

[RJ Highfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and Sweet

I was disappointed the book came to an end so soon. An Interesting read but abrupt ending to the book.

[Michael Romero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Does not claim otherwise but know this is about a ten minute read

Good distillation of several training theories for runners but very short. Not a book really, more of a pamphlet. What's here is good but not much of it.

[mundiemom5 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent chapter on runner's block and aggressive running

[Fabio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very simple pamphlet, a bit dated (with some conceptual error in the physiology part) but an interesting attempt at making a super-simple guide to running "the Lydiard way".

[Steven Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Succinct.

This book boils down the Arthur Lydia’s principles into a small number of pages. It’s brevity is it’s value. Read it, learn it, live it.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great intro for a beginner. Very short, too short to satisfy any deep curiosity about programming.

[Joshua Loong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure what I expected. If you’ve read Davis’ other book, then I wouldn’t suggest you need to read this one. This is pretty much a pamphlet that gives an abbreviated explanation of his larger thoughts captured in the longer one. The balance between intensity and overall aerobic development, the Lydiard style training of higher volume, and some of the science behind lactate. All of it is here, but just… smaller and less in-depth than his other book.

It’s not bad, but given that I read the other, it wasn’t super useful. But it was free on Kindle Unlimited so I figured might as well.