“Train, Don’t Strain”– Basic Military Training, Healthy Running, Lydiard and More

I recently spent time at the San Antonio-Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The ground floor of injury prevention for military members is Basic Military Training.  For the US Air Force this is San Antonio-Lackland.  Preventable injuries during physical praining in all the Armed Services costs millions of dollars a year in lost duty time and rehab treatments. For busy Airman, the need is for exercise programs and concepts that are simple, clear, understandable, and most importantly, they must be evidence-based—hard science, nothing less.

Most of what it takes to succeed in a 1.5 mile PT test is archived in this Sports Illustrated article from 1962 by Arthur Lydiard. http://rundynamics4.webs.com/SI031962lydiard.pdf.  “Why I Prescribe Marathons for Milers.”

A legendary New Zealand coach who trained Olympic and world-champion distance runners in the late 50s and 60s, Lydiard’s methods are still replicated today around the world.  His primary contribution to America was slow running or “jogging” after University Oregon track coach and Nike cofounder Bill Bowerman visited him with his team, regained his own health, lost weight, and later cowrote a simple book titled “Jogging” that changed the nation’s attitude toward running. One million copies of “Jogging were sold.

“Train, don’t strain” was Lydiard’s mantra. Bowerman reinforced this concept. It still rings true today.  Back then, it was popularized as Long Slow Distance. Running at a relaxed heart rate also evolved out of Lydiard cardiac rehab as at-risk patients took up jogging in New Zealand well before U.S. doctors allowed them to begin physical activity.  Bed rest in the U.S. was the prescribed norm.  A good piece documenting this medical mindset of the Eisenhower ‘50s is here:   http://drmirkin.com/histories-and-mysteries/dwight-eisenhower-the-history-of-bed-rest.html

In the 1962 Sports Illustrated article, Lydiard discusses why building endurance is key.  His methods have only been further validated over last 50 plus years..The life work of Dr Stephen Seiler shows that even the world’s best endurance athletes do no more that 20% of their training at a hard or even moderately hard effort.

Of course, in the military we are not training marathoners or suggest the kinds of mileage elite runners do, but by easier running one builds up a fatigue resistance and the body’s motor pattern becomes more efficient by repetition. Essentially a 12-minute 1.5 mile PT test is six 2 minute laps of a 400m track.  Almost every Airman or candidate can run a lap in 2 minutes.  So it is not about speed, but rather endurance, skill, and fatigue resistance.

Lydiard said that there is a skill to running also which needs to be trained. Put simply the only goal of form was a to learn a “smooth relaxed ease”. Now Lydiard was working with world-class running talent. So when I am teaching others about proper running form, it’s important to teach some basic skills but then set individuals free to move.  At Lackland, for example, I brought the TrueForm Runner motorless treadmill.  Repeated use produces a smooth relaxed ease .  The belt will not go if you are unbalanced and activated muscles inefficiently. It’s that simple.  The 5 principles  as well as the 1-2-3 Run drill help set the stage to begin the learning but I see the effects on folks after several efforts; their form soon smooth out.  I also get folks to take shoes off for brief interventions so that they even smoother/. You cannot create friction barefoot.

Lydiard’s runners did lots of “calisthenics” as mentioned in the SI article.  These are basically the plyo drills and dynamics, both we are teaching today. His runners were farm kids so they could lift and throw things well too.  Lydiard used flat gum-soldes runner tennis shoes (no EVA-cushioned shoes then).  He wrote about the dangers of modern shoes too (dampens foot and Achilles natural spring). Read this great piece from my friend Rene Borg of Ireland. So we are also addressing footwear issues too which might contribute to injury.

Here is additional wisdom from one of history’s leading sports scientist, Dr. Tim Noakes of South Africa.  I have had the privilege of teaching along side him. I asked his opinion when designing the Efficient Running modules at www.efficientrunning.net  .

Dear Mark

 Thank you so much for your e-mail.

I would obviously be very keen to help your programme.  I also agree that if you want to sustain activity for life you have to do the long slow distance type running and I think that that is more healthy in the long term for the air force.  So any way I can help you get that message across I would be more than happy to do so.  I would think that one needs to promote the idea that you are not training to run 1.5 miles; what you are training for is to live a long and productive life and maintaining health optimally.  For that there is no question that whatever is sustainable is the best type of training.  My view is that it is much more sustainable to run longer distances at one’s own comfortable pace on a daily basis than to have to force guys to do anaerobic work, which really is not sustainable in the long term for most athletes. With warm regards and again thank you so much for your kind comments about my work.  It is a privilege to know that it is making an impact somewhere in the world.

 Additional wisdom from legendary Air Force Flight Surgeon Dr. Ken Cooper (author of the widely successful bestseller 1968 “Aerobics”) on training for PT test.

Our general philosophy here at Cooper {Institute} is that the most effective exercise training programs combine the principles of overload, progression, and specificity. By overload, we mean training longer/more frequently and/or harder this week than last week and longer/more frequently and/or harder next week than this week.  By progression we mean increasing the overload very gradually, i.e. just a little longer/more frequently and/or little harder each week.  Too much overload too soon leads to musculoskeletal injury.  By specificity, we mean training according to the goal, i.e. running is a lot more effective for improving 1.5 mile run score than swimming. That doesn’t mean that the member needs to run at the exclusion of all other aerobic activities, but certainly running needs to be a part of their exercise training program.”

Finally the main reason for easier activity outside of all the science and experience is that is works is that folks sustain it.  Most looking for quick fix and therefor adopting HIIT (high intensity interval programs) quit. For most of us, HIIT is not fun (Marines aside) and often leads to injury.  Do not put pain into your body. What you put in is what you put in.  Put good things in your mind and body and it thanks you for it.

On nutrition there is a lot of misinformation out there too.   Airman who are overfat need to be living and exercising off the “savings account” (body fat) in my opinion, and this is backed by tons of evidence and experience from Drs. Phinney, Volek, Westman, and recently Dr. Noakes.   The fat-burning style of lower carbs does include lots of veggies, but not so many fruits and little to no grains.  Ounces are lost in gym, pounds in kitchen. The myths of “calorie balance” and “burn more than you eat” still persist at the peril of our Airman who are motivated.

The hospital nutritionists give all the prudent diet information, but most in the medical arena also have metabolic syndrome (as do many recruits and active duty members of the military).  So if we do not address nutrition simply and clearly we are not helping many folks. And here in West Virginia, we are using grants to help get the word out.

Also from the SI article:“Most of the boys like plenty of eggs and good, fresh meat. We eat a lot of ice cream. We have an occasional glass of ale, too. But never any hard liquor and rarely any pastry stuff. On the day of a race one chap may have eggs, another baked beans, but they both run well.”

 A career in the military and maintaining fitness for duty as well as health is not a sprint, it is a marathon.  So I truly think Lydiard got it right.

Photo at top is by Jose Garza and appeared in the San Antonio-Lackland Air Force Base’s publication, “Tailspinner.”

For a nice story from the Tailspinner on our visit see page 8

http://extras.mysanantonio.com/_CreativeServices/_militaryPubs/lackland-talespinner/2015/03-20-2015-talespinner.pdf