Nov 57 min read

Arthur Lydiard Training: Lessons From The Coach Who Revolutionised Running

When I was a young runner I felt lost in my training. I was often injured or burned out. My coaches at my club had coached some great runners, however, all they prescribed were fast hard intervals all the time. I was tired, run-down, and quite far off any of my PBs and my coaches would set me 20x 200m with a 200m jog recovery, this just wasn't what I needed at the time. My race results were inconsistent at best and for some reason I would always run my best in the 2-3 month period after having time off for an injury, then my results would decline- a clear sign of burnout. My dad noticed this and also disagreed with the training my coaches were setting me, he decided to buy me a book that would lead to my biggest breakthroughs yet. It was called 'Healthy Intelligent Training' by Keith Livingstone (I will put a link to this book at the bottom of this blog), and it was about the training of Arthur Lydiard. Lydiard's training was revolutionary at the time and his athletes broke many world records and medals. Although I don't agree with all the training set by Lydiard, the principles of this training definitely helped me improve.

There are certainly a few things that I would change about Lydiard's methods, however, a lot can be learned from how he periodises training.

Who was Arthur Lydiard?

Arthur Lydiard, born in 1917, was a running coach from New Zealand. His methods were very unorthodox at the time, however, a few lucky runners trusted his training and found great success.

His star pupil was Peter Snell, and his accomplishments are some of the best in the sport:

800m Gold in the 1960 Olympics
800m and 1500m double Gold in the 1964 Olympics
Commonwealth gold in the 880-yard and the mile in 1962
800m world record in 1962
880-yard world record in 1962
1000m world record in 1964
Mile world record in 1962
1:44.3 800m on grass

Despite the fact Peter Snell was mainly an 800m runner, Lydiard had him run a 22-mile long run weekly during his base phase.

Lydiard coached one other runner to an Olympic gold medal; Murray Halberg in the 5000m in the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

Lydiard never refused to train an athlete based on their ability and had a lot of success with runners of all levels.

Lydiard was named by RunnersWorld as the best coach of all time. Although there are certainly some coaches that come to mind who could challenge that status, he is in my opinion the most revolutionary coach of all time.

Read this article from 'ChampionEverywhere' about his 22-mile long run: Secrets of Arthur Lydiard’s Waiatarua long run.

Lydiard's training principles

To say Arthur Lydiard's training was unorthodox at the time would be an understatement.

The main thing that makes people question what Lydiard was thinking is the fact he put his athletes through marathon training to prepare for their track training- some of his athletes only ran 800m.

Although Lydiard was a great coach, he wasn't quite as great at writing his training down. People interpret what he meant during certain phases differently, here is my interpretation based on the books I have read.

Lydiard's training program consisted of 2 cycles of a 24-week schedule:

12 weeks of aerobic base development
4 weeks of hill training and leg speed training
8 weeks of anaerobic training
10-14 days taper
2 weeks off before repeating the cycle again

Lydiard believed in fully developing each energy system before moving on to the next. He saw the base phase as the most important and that is partly why it was given the most time. Lydiard said the hill training was essentially a further month of the base phase, however, the athletes would develop their strength as well during this phase.

It is important to note that Lydiard didn't publish his schedules as he felt like every runner was different and the training would vary depending on the runner.

12-Week Lydiard's base phase

Lydiard's athletes would essentially spend 12 weeks training for a marathon during this phase, sometimes his athletes would even do a marathon at the end of this phase.

Lydiard's view on the aerobic base was that every runner has a limited anaerobic capacity, and it was limited by their aerobic capacity. The aerobic capacity takes the longest to develop and when the runner finishes their base phase, their potential for that 24-week block has become limited. Lydiard would judge how well his athletes would run based on how well the base phase had gone.

During this phase, Lydiard emphasised the importance of never building up any lactate acid (we now know that lactate acid doesn't build up in our bodies but it is lactate, and the hydrogen ions are the thing that makes our legs ache- but that's just getting complicated ain't it).

Lydiard would have his athletes run tempo runs of 20 minutes in the last 4 weeks of the base phase rather than sub-threshold.

During this phase, a week for his fastest athletes could look like:

22-mile long run
18-mile-long run
3x 60-minute sub-threshold sessions per week, these runs had long warm-up and warm-down
2x 10-15 mile easy runs
Very short sprints 8-10 seconds with a 2-5 minute recovery

This base phase would total at least 100 miles per week for the top athletes.

Check out our guide to building your aerobic base here: Aerobic Base Building: The Ultimate Guide.

4-Week Hill training and leg speed training

Lydiard's hill training is very different from the modern hill training session. As mentioned before: Lydiard saw this phase as an extension of the base phase.

The hill session during this phase was performed on a loop just short of 2 miles long- 800m uphill, 800m across the top of the hill, 800m downhill, and 800m across the bottom of the hill. This loop was repeated 4 times and the runners would do 3-4 mile warm-ups and warm-downs, so this run would really help to develop his athlete's aerobic capacity.

The 800m uphill was broken down into 3 stages: 200m hill bounding, 400m steep hill running, and 200m hill springing. These were effectively plyometric exercises and were designed to prepare his runners for the next phase of training.

Lydiard said, "I’ve never ever had an athlete with Achilles tendon or hamstring troubles because training on hills gives you a nice balance of resistance in muscle groups." This phase would really help to develop proper ankle mobility.

The 800m along the top of the hill was run very slowly to allow his athletes to recover before they hit the 800m downhill very fast. Peter Snell reportedly ran 1:50 for this downhill section of the loop towards the end of the hill phase and regularly ran sub-2 for this section.

The 800m at the bottom of the hill was broken down into 200m of jogging to recover, and 400m of sprints (either a 50m sprint with 50m recovery or a 100m sprint with 100m recovery). Then 200m jogging at the end before starting the loop again.

The leg speed training was done by doing a 15-minute warm-up, then 10 reps of 120-150m reps where the athlete focuses on running fast and with as high of a cadence as possible, then a 15-minute warm-down. These sessions have a similar impact as strides. Athletes would often do these sessions on their easy run days.

During this phase, a week for his fastest athletes could look like:

22-mile long run
3x hill training sessions
4x 10-15 mile easy runs
Very short sprints 8-10 seconds with a 2-5 minute recovery
3x leg speed training

8 Week Anaerobic/Glycolytic training

This phase is one in which Lydiard was less clear in his writing and many people interpret it differently. Keith Livingstone broke this phase down into 2 separate 4- week blocks in his book.

The first 4-weeks were named the Vo2 max training (that name confuses many people). However, Lydiard meant Vo2 max intervals which were intervals run at between 3000m and 5000m pace. Lydiard said that although 3000m pace intervals would train this energy system faster, it was less safe than 5000m pace intervals, so he recommended training at 5k pace for these intervals.

The second 4-week phase was called glycolytic training. This would include intervals at 800m pace or 1500m pace, time trials, and an 8-minute track interval session.

The 8-minute interval session would consist of either 50m of fast running with a 50m float (faster than a jog) or 100m of fast running with a 100m float. The athlete would do this for either 8-10 minutes or the runner would just go for as long as they could.

Other sessions during this phase included; sprint training, 4-6x 120m leg speed training, and occasional races.

During this phase, Lydiard would have his athletes do their long runs at a more leisurely pace.

The taper

By the time the athlete reaches this phase, they will be very physically tired. The taper would allow the athlete to freshen up ready for their peak races.

The taper would usually be 10-14 days. The athlete should focus on reducing the volume of their speed training and the longer runs should be done at a very leisurely pace.

In this phase, the athlete should be doing leg speed training, sprints, low-volume race pace sessions, and easy running.

Check out: THE LYDIARD TRAINING SYSTEM for MIDDLE and LONG DISTANCE RUNNERS.

How can runners use the principles of Lydiard's training?

I wouldn't recommend every runner to go and train 100 miles a week, certainly not straight away. Lydiard used to have runners run by time instead of distance so instead of the 22-mile long run which his best runners would do in as little as 2 hours, he would have runners just do a 2-hour run.

Runners could use a lower-volume version of the Lydiard system, but what is important is that the principles stay the same.

Lydiard's 5 principles:

Build your aerobic capacity first
Adjust your training based on how your body is responding to the training
Train by feel rather than sticking rigidly to paces
Train 1 system at a time. Develop your aerobic capacity, strength, and anaerobic capacity all in separate phases.
Peaking. Focus on a race you want to run do well in and design your training around that race.

Read more about Lydiard's principles here: The Lydiard 5 Principles Explained.

As I mentioned before, I coach slightly differently from how Lydiard does, however, a lot can be learned from his style of coaching. Most great runners have coaches who learned to periodise training from Lydiard, however, the training schedule may look very different.

One great quote from Lydiard that everyone who has a coach should keep in mind "If your coach cannot explain why you are doing any particular run, get a new coach."

Here is the book I previously recommended for people wanting to learn more about Lydiard's training: 'Health Intelligent Training' - Keith Livingstone.