Long May You Run

The first snow of the season fell Wednesday morning.  The day before, the temperature had been near 80 degrees.  I have come to expect weather like this in my 22 years of living in The Centennial State.  I was quite pleased with myself for something I did at last spring after the last snow had melted.  I put all of my winter running gear, hats, gloves, tights and shells, in one bag so I wouldn’t have to go on a scavenger hunt to find them in the fall.  I needed that gear Thursday and Saturday mornings.

Arthur Lydiard (July 6, 1917 –December 11, 2004), from New Zealand was recognized by Runner's World as the all time best running coach.  Lydiard's ground-breaking impact on distance running is epitomized by the use of periodization.  Lydiard proposed four phases: Base, Strength, Anaerobic and Coordination.  In the base training phase of his system Lydiard insisted that his athletes must train 100 miles a week.  If I ran 100 miles in a week, my legs would stop working. 

After the base training phase, Lydiard advocated four weeks of strength work.  This included hill running and springing, followed by a maximum of four weeks of anaerobic training.  Then followed a coordination phase of six weeks in which anaerobic work and volume taper off and the athlete races each week, learning from each race to fine-tune for a target race.

The base training phase creates the foundation for all subsequent training.  Lydiard's emphasis on an endurance base for his athletes, combined with his introduction of periodization in the training of distance runners, were the significant changes in the way athletes trained.  The physiological reason for the base phase is that it increases the number of capillaries in your muscles which deliver oxygen to your muscles.  This increases the number and size of mitochondria, the aerobic power plants of the muscle which increases your body’s ability to burn fat at higher rates. 

My racing is done for the year, so I am in my based training phase, which was how I found myself on the High Line Canal this Saturday morning.  The High Line Canal runs 66 miles from Waterton Canyon to Green Valley Ranch, passing through Douglas, Arapahoe, and Denver Counties.  It took three and a half years to build and was completed in 1883. 

The canal itself is owned by Denver Water, and the adjoining maintenance road (which we run on) was entirely closed to the public until 1970.  Designated a National Landmark Trail, it is a popular amongst outdoor enthusiasts and is open all year to hikers, bikers, joggers, runners, skippers and equestrians.  The High Line Canal Trail is shaded for much of its length by mature cottonwood trees, and the surface is mostly hard-packed dirt.  The trail begins at an elevation of 5,542 ft. and ends at an elevation of 5,410 ft. which makes it ideal for long runs.  It is virtually flat. 

It is a two and a half mile run from my house to the trail via the open space trail and the C-470 bike path.  I run past Heritage High School and my dentist’s office in the eight miles I am on the trail.  At deKoevend Park I take a sharp right onto the Little Dry Creek Trail which takes me south toward home.  I cover 15 miles altogether.  The leaves of the deciduous trees were changing on the wet, blustery morning.  I was dressed for the weather and enjoyed the solitude.