Who was Arthur Lydiard
The short answer
Arthur Lydiard (1917 to 2004) was a New Zealand coach whose athletes Peter Snell and Murray Halberg won Olympic gold in Rome in 1960. His method, a long aerobic base followed by hills, speed and a taper, is the root of modern periodised running training.
Lydiard was not a scientist. He tested training on himself first, running very high mileage in the hills around Auckland, and found that his endurance and his speed both improved when the base was big enough. He then applied it to a small group of local runners. At the 1960 Rome Olympics, Snell won the 800 m and Halberg the 5,000 m within an hour of each other. Snell went on to win the 800 m and 1500 m in Tokyo in 1964.
Lydiard is also credited with starting the jogging movement in New Zealand, and he coached national programmes in Finland, Mexico and Denmark.
The Lydiard phases
| Phase | Focus | Typical length |
|---|---|---|
| Aerobic base | High volume at steady, aerobic effort | 10 weeks or more |
| Hills | Strength and form: hill bounding, springing, steep running | About 4 weeks |
| Anaerobic | Intervals and repetitions to build speed endurance | About 4 weeks |
| Coordination | Race-pace work, sharpening, time trials | About 4 weeks |
| Taper | Freshening up for the race | 1 to 2 weeks |