Acceptable in the 80s

11 watchers

jono Apr 2013 10:15am, 2 Apr 2013 11,559 posts	0 jono interesting stuff - think Dvorak has hot the nail on the head, we lead, most of us very sedentary lifestyles - last year there was a very good programme on BBC 2 - the last segment of the programme measured how many calories were burnt by a couple of individuals - I think they were a waitress, sports journalist (who regulary attended a gym) and a journalist who did nothing (he later amended his routine to include - bike rides, walking up stairs). The waitress lost the most calories per day due to her job, her cycle to work - general movement each day.
Canute Apr 2013 11:44am, 2 Apr 2013 556 posts	0 Canute I agree with SOPM. Mass participation in exercise is probably better for the well-being of the nation than winning a few Olympic medals. However, if running a fast marathon takes your fancy, then it is probably useful to ask what was different a few decades ago. In the pre-internet days when even Lydiard’s ideas were spread mainly by rumour, most of us knew that 100 miles or more per week was the foundation for the success of Peter Snell and others, but few of us knew that Lydiard’s recommended schedule included ‘quarter pace’ runs, so most of us ran fairly fast in every session. I was not a dedicated runner, but nonetheless, on the relatively rare occasions when I did run more than 100 miles in a week, I doubt if any of those miles (apart from a brief warm up; and some of the long hill climbs) were slower than 6 min/mile, and many were substantially faster. However, doing a lot of fast running without a good base is risky. In my case, the base came from running to and from school as a kid, and from mountaineering. I suspect that most kids in those days ran a lot more than nowadays, and young adults led a generally more active life.
Keefy Beefy Apr 2013 11:49am, 2 Apr 2013 8,349 posts	0 Keefy Beefy I've been meaning to shoehorn this link in for a while, and this seems like a good enough spot: nzonscreen.com
Nick Cook Apr 2013 11:58am, 2 Apr 2013 12,121 posts	0 Nick Cook I thought this was going to be something about temperature.
Wobbling Apr 2013 12:04pm, 2 Apr 2013 1,769 posts	0 Wobbling Jono - that was the Horizon programme "the truth about exercise". It advocated doing nothing more than 10 minutes flat-out on a static bike everyday as the best way to improve your health through exercise.
Canute Apr 2013 4:26pm, 2 Apr 2013 557 posts	0 Canute KB Thanks for posting that link. Although most of my own running was on the other side of the Tasman sea and a decade or two before that film was made, it brought back wonderful memories of running in the wide open spaces. It appears to be a long way from gritty Durham in the eighties that Mike Crawley is re-living in his blog, though of course a film doesn’t tell the whole story. The sequence with Jack Foster whooping as he careers down an NZ scree slope depicts the fun, but his description of racing (‘I run my tripes out’) could as easily have come from Mike’s hard-bitten mentor.
jono Apr 2013 4:31pm, 2 Apr 2013 11,578 posts	0 jono thats yer one wobbling
Garfield Apr 2013 9:32pm, 3 Apr 2013 2,615 posts	0 Garfield Cars are probably another factor...people use them for very small journeys now when in the past they would have walked/cycled. There are far more cars now than there were in the 70s and 80s. Hubby and I find it amusing watching old movies...circa 1970s era and note how little traffic there is on the roads.
Gobi Apr 2013 6:34pm, 4 Apr 2013 50,831 posts	0 Gobi Mass participation in exercise is probably better for the well-being of the nation than winning a few Olympic medals. If people want to be fat and lazy let them be fat and watch sport. Why should sport be for all? Really does it need to be ? Peer pressure has to be one of the worst things on the planet and because of it many people resent exercise due to being pressured into running a 5km/marathon/ultra. Get injured badly and then do even less exercise than they did before. What is wrong with encouraging people to walk a dog/dig the garden - does exercise have to be sport ? I like elite level sport and want to see the countries best at the front of the field. Sadly mass participation in jogging marathons is now more important to many people than seeing a Brit run 2.05. Sad sad sad. My training views are old school in regards volume and I liked Lydiard when I was a runner. Performance - I was a teen in the 80s and ran 4.37 for a mile and 16.37 for 5km (outdoor lifestyle, joy of being young and a bit of talent) At 38 I ran 4.58 for a mile and 16.16 for 5km (a bit of talent and a love of hard graft)