Lydiard was a wealth of wisdom on all things about and related to running.The man had a passion for the sport like few others I have seen.Consider the following written several decades ago:
"Successful training is intelligent training: intelligent training is knowing the why of an exercise,as well as the what and how."
One of the nice things that have happened in recent years has been the availability of information which explains what your training is supposed to accomplish. How many of you,when you were starting out,just did what the coach told you to do,or perhaps you just went out and ran? Knowing what you are trying to achieve in your workouts adds an importance and a purpose to your training.
"Once the fun goes out of training and racing,the true value of running to the individual has also gone."
This doesn't mean that training is always a joy but we must keep things in their proper perspective. I have seen dozens of people get into the sport with loads of enthusiasm only to crash and burn years later because they got hung up on performance and where they placed.They seemed to forget what initially drew them to running. One runner I knew would get very angry if he didn't reach the times he desired at the local road races. I finally said to him,even if you got that 36 minute10k you were shooting for,where does that place you in comparison to everyone else in the area? For those of you who may be like my friend,how many runners in the next race you're in will eventually be running in a national championship? Like I said,keep things in perspective.As nice as medals and pr's are,running is so much more than awards and prizes. The run is what really matters.
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