The Lydiard connection
It's a small world after all
I got a huge kick out of the article "Arthur Lydiard's lasting legacy" by David E. Weiss in the June issue of Silent Sports. The reason? When I started coaching skiers, I based my training programs on Lydiard's principles, adapted of course for Nordic skiing. I thought he made a lot more sense than what I found in the cross-country ski scene at the time.
The skiers from the first group I coached had a chance to meet and know the great Lydiard in person when they took part in the first extended study of skiers done in America. The goal of the study was to measure the long-term physiological changes brought about by elite training and racing.
The study was conducted by Dr. Peter Snell (now Sir Peter Snell) and Dr. Jim Stray-Gundersen at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. Snell had been coached by Lydiard and won three gold medals in the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics. And in the background was Lydiard himself. Amazingly, some of my athletes thought that Lydiard was some old guy who was just hanging around.
Read Lee Borowski's entire column in the September 2012 issue of Silent Sports. Don't miss an issue and subscribe here.
More from Cross Country Skiing
- Two lame ducks & a flying goose
- Three steps to balance on Nordic skis
- Finding my way on skinny skis
- To ski beyond comfort
- The apparent dichotomy of skate skiing
- A running-only approach won't do
- ABR, the upper Midwest's Nordic bellwether
- The running guru had much to teach Nordic skiers about training: Skiing the Lydiard way
- The Lydiard connection
- Extreme skiing (1)