I don't know what he said in "Run to the Top" or any other place or time in his life, but in "Running the Lydiard Way" he states that a low-2:08 is the physiological limit for man on a loop-course without an aiding wind.
And this was written in 1978. He is close to correct in a way though. /Brian -----Original Message----- From: Tom Derderian [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2001 4:59 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: t-and-f: Lydiard's prophecy on marathon record Not many people now would wed themselves to an absolute prediction but Lydiard did. About the 2:05:42, I think he would say, "Wow, I was wrong." That's one of the reason's he is a legend. Those who qualify their statements will never become legends. Lydiard was my unofficial coach when I was in high school near Boston. My official track coach was the football coach who knew nothing about training for track. But I had a pen pal in New Zealand who ran and sent me his workouts which I did. The workouts came down a few steps from Lydiard. I matched the workouts of my pen pal and ran the same times as he did, then I did more and ran a faster time than he did, but return mail always showed that while the mails crossed he had gone faster yet. The only trouble I had was doing the 20 mile run on Sundays through paddocks and hills. I had no idea what a paddocks was. Tom D. > > "During a recent office visit, (legendary New Zealand coach Arthur) Lydiard > > opined that 2:06 is the absolute limit for the marathon as it is > > physiologically impossible to run faster." > > > > Wonder what Lydiard (or Bert) thinks of the impossible (2:05:42) Mr. > > Khannouchi. > > >> > > No, Lydiard would probably say "...give or take 18 seconds..." > > JT
