More From Joe Newton

Two posts ago in the article entitled,"Some Thoughts on Character and the Athlete," I referenced Joe Newton, a truly great American running coach.What follows are a few of what is called Newton's Rules of Running. He has acknowledged the influence of Arthur Lydiard on his training system in the past and you can see evidence of this in these "Rules." They are: "Running is a science.Build your program around cardiac efficiency. Distance training must never end.It is a 365-day-a-year job. Improvement in distance running is directly related to footpounds of work.Build strength through hill training and sprinting. Do not run so many meets(races) that you never have time for practice.Warming up and cooling down are two of the most important parts of a training schedule." What is the common theme evident among these "Rules?" It is a reliance on the fundamentals of long-distance training. Conditioning is a progressive process in which more stressful work is introduced as the body is ready to tolerate it thus leading to a point where the athlete is in peak fitness to race. Varying from the fundamentals increases the possibility of injury and not racing at your optimal level.