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



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On February 23rd this year, the world was rocked by the news of the Christchurch earthquake that destroyed much of this beautiful city. Brian Taylor, who was one of the most enthusiastic Lydiard-based coaches in New Zealand, was killed in the collapse of the CTV building, where he was former CEO of King’s Education, a specialist English-language school for Japanese and Asian students. Although he had officially stepped down from his former role, he just popped in on that fateful lunch-time to greet a new batch of students to the course. Brian was a “strong man” in every sense of the word, and it would take a building falling on him to end his vibrant outgoing life. Sadly missed…. 1200 people from all over New Zealand and as far away as Canada attended his funeral. Brian leaves behind his wife Prue, and two adult sons, Ben and Hamish.

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Hit Squad member Kyle Martin-Alcaide showed that his individual victory in the World Schoolboys Cross-Country Champs, run in Slovakia in April, was no fluke. On November 27th, Kyle ran 3:49.5 for 1500m, over 3 seconds below the qualifying time for the World Youth Championships in 2011. Kyle ran second by 1 second to Box Hill team-mate and fellow squad member, Daniel Clarke, who won the Victorian State 1500m title several seasons ago, and has a best time of around 3:45. Squad coach Johnny Meagher (47) finished 14th in the 45-49 age group in the Hawaiian Ironman in October, with a 9hr 47min clocking.

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Hitsystem co-coach Johnny Meagher’s champion Marcellin squad won the Australian teams Schools cross-country titles in the 16 yr age group for the 10th year in a row this year, and won the annual trip to Europe to compete against the best schools from around the world, this time in Slovakia. The squad finished as the 3rd best school team in the world, beating the best United States and UK high schools, amongst others. Busy Johnny is the current world age-group champion (45-49) in the Olympic distance triathlon!

To top this off, young-gun Kyle Martin-Alcaide won the individual title by several seconds, breaking away from a pack of Morrocans and Turks on a very steep uphill about 500m from the finishing line.

Marcellin Team:Individual world champ Kyle on left

Marcellin Team:Individual world champ Kyle on left

Barry Magee’s girl athlete Margot Gibson from Christchurch won the individual girl’s title for New Zealand.

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