Four-time Olympian and multi-marathon champion Lorraine Moller will be in Saanich for three days in November to teach the famed Arthur Lydiard method of run training.
Lydiard method is widely used among elite distance runners and will draw a field of coaches and athletes of all abilities during the three day session of Level 1 and 2 courses at the Pacific Institute for Sports Excellence, Friday to Sunday, Nov. 14 to 16.
Two-time Olympian Bruce Deacon of Saanich uses the Lydiard method when he coaches the Prairie Inn Harriers Youth Team as well as adults.
“Most runners have no idea the debt that they owe to the training theories of Arthur Lydiard. His views laid the foundations upon which most modern distance running training theory now sits,” Deacon said.
“Few athletes have had the success, let alone the range, of Lorraine Moller," Deacon added. "She proved that with grit, determination and the proper training methods you can run well at everything from 800m to the marathon."
The Lydiard method is generally considered the most common type of training for distance runners of all abilities, from 800m to the marathon and beyond. Lydiard, a self-taught New Zealander, is credited with coaching athletes to 17 Olympic gold medals.
Though he coached five different countries, his time with Finland was renowned, as the Finns rose to the top of the world in 1970s.
Moller is the co-founder of the Lydiard Foundation. She was a pupil and used it to success, as she won big marathons in her time, including bronze during the 1992 Barcelona Olympic marathon (at age 37), as well as Boston, three Commonwealth Games medals and bronze in the World Cross Country Championships.
She will present the lectures with another co-founder of the Foundation, Nobuya Hashizume, who lived with Lydiard for a year and became well versed in the principles.
Lydiard has since passed away.
When President Kennedy honoured Nike founder Bill Bowerman for his contributions to getting America running, Bowerman said, “I am merely the disciple, Arthur Lydiard of New Zealand is the profit.”
- From Chris Kelsall, sales associate with the Saanich News and managing editor of Athletics Illustrated