Welcome to Healthy Intelligent Training

This book is for all serious middle distance athletes and coaches. It is based on the proven principles of New Zealand’s Arthur Lydiard, the Runner’s World ‘Coach of the Century’, who trained a motley band of neighborhood kids into feared Olympic medalists, and kept on doing it, around the world.

These principles have since guided athletes from many nations to world records and Olympic Gold medals. Now you can plan your own campaigns, and understand exactly what you’re doing at every step. This book can be used and understood by everyone.

Successful middle distance training

How to reach your peak performance

The methods of the "Runner's World Coach of the Century" for today

"The most comprehensive description of Lydiard's training ever written. It blends the scientific explanations of his training with fascinating examples and interesting anecdotes of real situations. If people followed this through as it is written by Keith, they will certainly become champions."
Brian Taylor, (Christchurch, New Zealand): 43 years of coaching runners to national and international levels following the Lydiard methods as well as 22 years teaching human physiology and biology at secondary and tertiary levels.

HI! Middle Distance Training can be described best as an Art, Philosophy and Science. It involves training THREE differing energy systems and muscle fibre types, hopefully to a point where each system is fully trained, and fully rested, “ready to go” at the most important time of the season. This book is based on the work of the legendary New Zealand middle distance coach, Arthur Lydiard, and explores the basic physiology of what his simple system did to produce multiple Olympic gold medals and world records.

Sprinters can get away with working predominantly in one energy system (the alactic or creatine phosphate system) and training one muscle fibre type (the explosive 11B fast twitch) and one neurological pathway.

Distance runners concentrate on the other end of the spectrum, and can again reach very high levels by concentrating mainly on one system (the aerobic) and one muscle fibre type (the slow twitch type 1 fibre).

However, middle distance training is different and far more ‘complex’. It requires a good grasp of the main three energy systems and muscle fibre types involved in racing, and the varying ways we train specific speed endurance and explosive speed in the context of a constantly underlying, highly developed aerobic background. You’ll see, from reading this book, why each of the very fast, powerful anaerobic energy systems relies ultimately on the lower intensity aerobic systems being well-trained and well-rested going into competition.

Enjoy the site, and I’ll keep posting new information as time goes by.

Keith Livingstone



  • 08 Mar 2010
  • Posted by Keith Livingstone
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L-R: Bill Baillie, Barry Magee, Jeff Julian

L-R: Bill Baillie, Barry Magee, Jeff Julian

Bill Baillie was one of the all-time greats of New Zealand athletics, winning 15 national titles from 880 yards through to the 6 miles on the track, as well as cross-country and road titles. He placed a close 6th in the Tokyo Olympic 5000m, and also pipped Ron Clarke on the post in an international 2-mile race. Bill set world records over 20000m and 1 hour on the track in 1963; these were broken by Ron Clarke, but they still stand as New zealand records. After 40 laps of 72s, going through 10000m in 29:48, he switched down to 70s a lap for the next 10 or so laps to make sure he set the New Zealand 10-mile track record on the way through. In later years, Bill established himself as a world force in age-group triathlon.

Barry won bronze in the Rome Olympic marathon in 1960, and later that year won the inaugural Fukuoka marathon. Barry won many national titles over 6 miles track, cross country, and road. A career highlight apart from his Olympic medal would be ranking first in the world over 10000m in 1961. Barry won the World Cup 10,000m in Helsinki in 28:51, with a very hard last 800m, and ranked 3rd world-wide over 5000m in 13:39.

Jeff Julian was one of the icons of New Zealand distance running, winning 11 national titles: 4 marathons, 2 cross-country titles, and 5 road race titles. He was famous for his prodigious fast mileage training. Jeff had an amazing year in 1963, when he set world 30-mile (2 hr:47.34) and 40-mile (3hr:53.36) track records in the one race. He also clocked 47:36 for 10 miles, and won Fukuoka in 2hr 14mins, beating a world-class lineup. Unfortunately he couldn’t reproduce this form the next year in the Tokyo Olympics, but his place in the pantheon of all-time greats was cemented by his victory in Fukuoka, often described as “harder to win than the Olympics”.

Other New Zealanders to have won Fukuoka include 1968 Olympic bronze medalist Mike Ryan,(1967, 2hr 13m), and Paul Ballinger (2hr 10min).

Bill Baillie is married to Jeff’s sister Val, who took the photo for coach Randy Smith, who runs the Arthur Lydiard Classic, a high school track meet in Ohio.

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